Here are some gladiolas I made for myself. They ended up in a niche in the hallway just outside my bedroom. I really love making gladiolas and found a new way to make them taller than before. Instead of floral wire, which is at most 16″ long and usually 12″, another crafter pointed me to “stay” wire which is used to repair sofas. It can be cut to any length and gives the stems a nice, spring-like bounce just like real flowers.

As many of you know, there has been a lot happening since my last post in February. First, I moved across town to a nice house, but as always seems to happen, there was a lot that needed doing. I actually moved in at the beginning of April.

The main reason for the move was to be closer to doctors and labs, etc. as my partner, Jackie, was suffering from a long-term illness. Living out where we did before necessitated a 30-minute or more drive each way and making sure we had enough oxygen resources to get her to her appointments and back was getting dicey.

Unfortunately, only a month after the move, Jackie passed away and I just didn’t have the heart or the time or the energy to think about this blog.

After visiting friends up in Eureka this month, however, I feel more energized and have started seriously crafting again. Here, for instance, are some tulips I put together for the receptionists at my physical therapist’s office:

I’ve finished several other projects, but I will save them for another post.

I decided to rearrange some of my woodland plants and flowers. Here’re the before and after photos.

These flowers aren’t new, but it’s a new arrangement. I especially like that it looks different from every side. I have it on a table where I’m always seeing it from various angles.

Latest flower:

I am back from a 9-day trip to Mexico City. My first real vacation since 2018!

It’s the first time I’ve been to the inland part of Mexico; all my previous times in Mexico have been in one coastal town or another. I quite enjoyed it. I stayed in the center of the city; at this holiday season it was crowded, but everyone was in an upbeat mood.

I traveled with a friend through a tour we booked with Road Scholar. We had terrific guides, and I would go back again as there is so much more to see.

Here I am in front of Frieda Kholo’s house with my Coca Cola Light:

Hope you all are having a fun holiday season.

Here’s what I’ve been working on lately:

Here’s what I’m printing up for mom’s service:

Yesterday is the first time I had to leave Brindy alone in the house for a few hours in both the morning and the afternoon. No problem when I came home from lunch, but here’s what I found when I came home yesterday evening:

The gray/green stuff is dried moss, about 3 lbs. of it. All the little colored pieces of paper had been in separate bags of each color. Not really visible, but hundreds of buttons on the floor, all my spools of thread off their spindles, etc., etc. And yet, she didn’t actually destroy anything, just opened everything up and spread it around.

I was most impressed that she pulled each of the bags of colored paper out of the storage box and yet left the storage box itself in place (it’s the one on the shelf next to the wall). Then she tore the top off the bags and spread them around. It took me quite a little while this morning to get them all resorted!

This is what my dining room table looked like when I left the house the other day (you can see Brindy curled up in her favorite chair in the background):

Here is what it looked like when I got home:

I have no idea why Brindy is so fascinated with the table. There is no food on it. And this is not new behavior; she has always done it, even though she never shows any interest in the table when I am there. She doesn’t destroy anything; she just takes a good look around.

She seems to enjoy climbing up on things like tables, chairs, weight benches, beds, balustrades, etc. She certainly has no fear of heights!