it's called stacking the deck

What do you do when you don't have time for the beautiful things in your life? When you don't have time to fuss with them and enjoy them like you usually do? Here's my life strategy at the moment: it's called stacking the deck.




You surround yourself with beautiful things so that when you're stumbling around in that blind daze of "I must do twenty things at once" you can't help but trip over something beautiful.




These somethings are usually tiny and fragile: flowers from the garden, seedlings reaching for the sun, chives plants about to explode in purple blossoms, the last days of color on a neighbor's flowering shrub and wicker baskets over-flowing with fiber.



The seeds that I planted three weeks ago are finally pushing up through the earth in my garden. When I catch a moment I like to go out there and poke around. Soon I'll be able to wander out there in the evenings with a glass of wine, but for now I'm grateful for the evidence of all the hidden abundance in my life and the lovely world around me.

chasing [not counting] sheep

I was up at the farm this weekend and one of the first things I did was walk out to the barnyard to see my mother's new lambs. These rascals were not easy to catch on film. Their mothers were a bit skittish, so that means everyone was skittish. I kept trying to get close to a resting lamb for a good shot and the mama ewe would suddenly bolt and then all the sheep were suddenly blotting around me.

Little flashes of cream, black, caramel, dark brown and calico wool.

I caught the little bugger above on a pile of black dirt. He paused, cocked his head a me, struck a pose and then bolted off to join his comrades in the corner of the barnyard.



Here's a preview of some of the lovely shades of wool we're going to sheering off next spring. We've never had this shade of warm, caramel brown. I'm guessing it will lighten up a bit, but that's all the better.



Up, and ready to run away!



The sweetest speckled ears . . . but I couldn't catch this little lamb to pet them.




So, I went inside and had a glass of wine and some Easter candy.