HodgePodge

1) I've floated various ideas around for decorating the wall above my sofa, changing my mind with the winds. In Israel, I picked up a postcard (the three men you see on the bottom) from the souvenir shop lady who kindly arranged a ride for me to Ein Gedi and I bought a photograph from a lady at the crafts market in Tel Aviv (graffitti bird next to fire hydrant). Since the frames in no way match the white one and the topics are varied, I've now decided to just add whatever I like gradually to the wall and hope it looks all right at the end. I'm currently knitting a piece of blue yarn together to put into yet a different white frame.

2) Portland has been quite quite cloudy white and rainy recently. I can't tell if it's Portland winter or Portland spring. Someone told me summer doesn't start here until July 4th; I hope he was exaggerating. The other day I looked out my windows though and spotted this crow (or raven? whatever, a big black cawing bird). He called to his friends for a while, but since they wouldn't fly to this roof, he decided to fly away and join them on theirs.

3) The urge to grow things has become almost unbearable. I can't start any seedlings indoors yet, not until my flies all die off. I think next weekend I ought to be able to. But I started a container outside and have sown lettuces, swiss chard and nasturtiums. The long green shoots you see here are the garlic bulbs Laurie gave me. It's the first time I'm growing garlic and I'm very excited. I think I probably crowded everything too much in the container, but there were just so many things I wanted to grow. The things (except for garlic) in this container will not survive the heat of summer so when that time comes, I will fish them out and plant new things. I plan to dedicate a second container just to herbs and would like a third for a squash plant.