It snowed last night.  The first real snow of the winter here. How much?

The Banjo Snowmeter says:  Belly high and still snowing.

Perfect day to build a fire in the wood stove, hole up in the craft room, and try my hand at the Oh, Fransson’s Map of the States block tutorial with my new Hope Valley fabric.

Wherever you are – snow or not – I hope you are having a lovely, cozy day.

Happy Labor Day, everyone.  I hope that those of you that get a long weekend are  enjoying it weekend so far.  The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous and consequently there’s been some (really awful but fun) tennis playing, inspired by the incredible US Open in NY this past week (woah, those upsets make for fun tennis watching!), some party-going, some birthday-celebrating and dinner-eating with some fine friends at a lovely restaurant that is my new obsession, and some around-the-house homeowner stuff that’s far too boring to mention here.  I’ve even continued my strange habit of jogging.  My legs are sore.  I love that feeling.

The other morning I was up early and took Banjo for a walk to a nearby school that I pass each morning on my way to work.  I always remark to myself in my head, or sometimes out loud if no one’s around, that the sun shines really beautifully on the field on sunny mornings.  So, since I was up, I took her to the park, and brought my camera to see if I could get a little photo-love with the sunshine.  Alas, not that many great pictures to show for it, but a little portrait of the soggy, dew-soaked girl above, and my favorite one, below.  I think I’ll call it:  “Am I going to have to throw this myself?”

Banjo and I are friends again.  And I threw out the carpet!

It’s been all doom, gloom and a big rainy mess in these parts for what feels like almost all of June.  I caught a small bit of sun in pictures during this stormy, rainy period we’ve been having (and apparently will endure for several more days.  Ick).

I’m trying to see if I can turn my thumb green once again this year.  I’ve had several failed attempts at this same goal, but this year, just maybe it will stick!  Or perhaps I am starting to find the plants that I’m not able to kill very easily.  So far I’ve planted 3 tomato plants and two pickling cucumber plants (to help offset the money to buy cukes for our pickling endeavors).  I’ve never tried growing vegetables in the past, but so far, so good!  Two of the three tomato plants have already begun to yield many, many tomatoes.  See?

These are the Orange Blossoms.  It appears they’ll be early and plentiful!  Banjo observes wistfully in the background.

But now confession time!  Today you can definitely subtract Green Thumb Points from my record: this afternoon I checked on the tomatoes, whose branches have grown like crazy with all this rain, and by the time I was done, I think I’d snapped 3 branches.  Oops.  Oh well.  (Worse: this is not the first time this has happened).

Is it any wonder I can barely keep plants alive?

]]> http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/2009/06/23/small-sunny-joys/feed/ 0 http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/2009/06/18/did-you-have-to/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=did-you-have-to http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/2009/06/18/did-you-have-to/#comments Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:00:16 +0000 robyn http://www.dognamedbanjo.com/?p=381

I think Banjo and I are fighting.  You might wonder how I could be mad at this precious, crazy specimen of a dog with floppy ears and an eager tongue….  Well, I’ll tell you why.  One day last week, Little B busted into the craft room, went straight over to my carpet, and decided to throw up aaaaaaall over it.  Just like that.  Like it was a great new present that she couldn’t wait to share.  We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, but I think the carpet is doomed for the dumpster.  It is decidedly Not Good in the craft room right now.

I also think we’re spoiling B too much and she’s getting less disciplined.  We need to channel our inner Cesar Milans over the next little while and get her back into shape.

Despite the current room situation, I managed to whip up a custom Macbook cover for a friend (hi Tom!) who has a wife that loves him (hi Julz!) and wanted to give it to him for Father’s day.  I forgot to photograph it before I released it into the wild, but it contained the following components:  Man colors, an appliqued street sign, and monkeys (they were on the inside).  It was really a first attempt at designing for a guy.  When you take the pretty flowery fabrics out of the picture, it’s not so easy, but it’s a start.

Oh!  And I found a “door” for my closet.  It was briefly our shower curtain, but I repurposed it when I realized that my closet door fantasy was not going to pan out anytime soon (sad news).  I found it on sale at Anthropologie, and it’s one of my favorite Marimekko prints (happy news!):

What are your favorite fabrics for designing for guys?  Oh, and another question.  How do I get out the folds/creases from this shower curtain?  I’ve washed multiple times to no avail… scared to put an iron anywhere near it, since it’s 100% polyester.  Ideas?

I’m off to watch the elimination show of So You Think You Can Dance.  I adore this show.  You should watch it if you don’t already.

Dear Robyn,

I have an urgent message for you – more urgent than anything I’ve ever said in my entire life. The message is, if you don’t throw this ball for me, I might just die of anticipation.  You MUST throw this ball.  Ball!  Yes!  This big yellow one!  In my mouth!  Hop to it!

Love and kisses,

Banjo

I took these pictures to submit to the u-handbag AB contest this month!  And because it was a beautiful day and I have been meaning to put more Banjo on this blog.  She put up with it quite patiently!

It was a busy weekend! A quick trip up to Maine to visit family meant that Little B had fun playing with one of her best dog pals, Milos. We always wish we could stay longer, but it’s at least nice to get up for a little bit. Don’t let the green fool you in the (old) picture above. The part of Maine we were in is covered in approximately 1000 feet of snow. Piles everywhere, not even pretending that spring exists and that… oh wait it IS spring. (Could have fooled me. This might just qualify as the longest winter ever.)

More on our crafty activities in Maine in another post. Let’s just say it was a “hole” lotta fun. Ha ha. Yes, you will see just how clever I am with my little pun when all is revealed.

And I know you’ve been holding your breath and dutifully crossing your fingers, like I asked you to. And it worked! The hat fits! I will wear it tomorrow.

Banjo, meet the Internet.

Internet, this is Banjo.

This week, my role as an obsessed dog owner reached new heights. I started a Dogs Named Banjo Flickr Group today. Go see what other Banjos look like! They’re all full of doggie cuteness!

Banjo also managed to convince us to take her to an agility class, and Wednesday was the inaugural session of excitement. Despite the looks of utter disbelief from others whenever I reveal that this is her latest activity, I’m pretty sure this class is a little slice of doggie heaven for our little B. Not only is she learning to jump up on tables, hop through hoops, rock the see saw, jump the fence, and weave through poles. But in dog-terms, the class translates into a solid hour of delicious venison jerky treats, quality time with a handsome Goldendoodle named Charlie, and a trainer that she would do just about anything for.  What more could you ask for?