happy easter, peeps

The Washington Post hosts a diorama contest involving the loved/reviled Easter Peeps. Check out last year's winners here. This year's selection just came out today. There are some cute ones this year, but last year's "Say Anything" diorama remains my favorite. Who doesn't love Lloyd Dobler in Peep form? Thanks to poppytalk for the cute link. The photos actually made me crave Peeps, which I normally dislike, so I bought a small pack at CVS yesterday. They were yummier than I remember, but so sugary that I probably won't grab more any time soon.

Happy Easter everyone. I'll be heading out of town (again!) tomorrow for Easter and a last gasp of spring training fun. Chocolate bunnies and baseball -- what could be better?

craft update

Yup, it's embroidered marching fruit! Soon to be the front of a new purse project. I got the pattern for these colorful characters from a collection of embroidery transfer patterns I found while antiquing (in Williston of all places!)

A close-up of the fruit on parade. I think the grape cluster is my favorite.


Nope, scratch that. I love this adorable cherry that I embroidered on the back of the purse. How cute is that? I hope to finish the purse once I get back from next week's final spring training trip.

say what?

I came upon this headline over and over this morning on my morning run. (The Gainesville Guardian is a free semi-weekly newspaper targeted at the residents of the east side of town and delivered to homes on Fridays.) So naturally I spent most of my run thinking about the recent Associated Press news revealing trace levels of potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals in some of the nation's largest water supplies. I was happy that Gainesville Regional Utilities had taken the initiative to handle this issue before it became a problem, that is until I read the first paragraph of the story:

Gainesville Regional Utilities officials say they're confident the local drinking water supply is free of pharmaceuticals, even though they're not testing for the chemicals.

What?! The article does go on to say that GRU taps groundwater instead of using surface water like those cities mentioned in the AP article, but still. It claims the groundwater is protected with a 7,000-acre conservation area surrounding wells. I think I'd be happier with actual tests, especially since this claim comes from a city that's had an active Superfund site since 1983.

happy spring

It's officially spring -- hurray! To celebrate I went on a little shopping trip to Lowe's (to replace some dead plants) and the feed & seed store where I got veggies for the garden. Tip: the feed & seed store had better prices, larger quantity, and more variety than either Lowe's or Ward's when it came to veggies and herbs.

New crops for this year's garden include cucumbers, broccoli, yellow peppers and green beans. They will join the usual inhabitants Roma tomatoes, strawberries, onions, red peppers and Cubanelle peppers. I also bought extra basil and some thyme to add to the herb garden. Everything else survived the winter just fine.

Of course the garden is not big enough for all of these yummy plants so I plan to double its size, just like I did last year and the year before that. I am excited for more garden space (and less mowing!), but not that excited about removing the top grass/weed layer to get to the good stuff. That job is similar to raking, only worse. Looks like my Easter weekend will be busy.

In other news, look for baseball and crafting updates to come soon.

decisions decided

There it is then. I'm going back to the classroom this fall. Memories of exhaustion and frustration nervously collide with the thrill of kids "getting it" and my love of the challenge of on-the-spot teaching. Overall, I'm excited to go back to what will be my life's work. Wish me luck.

garden picture post

I spent most of this week in the garden before heading out of town. I raked the whole backyard and had enough leaves to create plant beds to edge the entire yard. I've got the blisters to prove it!


Spring's first dogwood blossoms.


On Sunday Lowe's had an exceptionally good selection in their half-dead plant department. I got enough flowers to fill up the containers along the back fence -- all for half price!


I like to use unusual containers to dress up the garden. This moss rose will last throughout the hot summer months without a ton of water.


Blueberry blooms are bursting out on all three bushes!


Last but not least is my favorite harbinger of spring -- orange blossoms. Their smell is absolutely intoxicating! Happy spring planting everyone.

easter treat updates

My friend Stephanie loves to blog about ads for unusual things. When I spotted these two modern interpretations of classic Easter items at the grocery store recently, I thought of her.

We found these kits prominently displayed at the entrance to a Publix in West Chase, a well-to-do Tampa suburb. I puzzled over the kit (Army eggs?) until coming to the realization that this would be a neat way to make Easter egg hunts harder. Camouflage eggs would be a big hit up my way since we have a lot of hunters and military folk in the surrounding communities. But when I went looking for them here, there were none to be found (maybe they were bought up so quickly I missed them?) Instead, I discovered this gem:

Diva da' Bunny comes with candy bling bling. As an educator with a love for the English language, it truly pains me to see major corporations help ruin conventional grammar. And people wonder why children can't spell these days? It might also be worth mentioning that I saw these bunnies in my more urban neighborhood but not in suburban West Chase. Are there other unusual Easter items I've overlooked? Please enlighten me.

grapefruit league begins

One of the best things about taking this year off of teaching has been the ability to travel whenever I feel like it. This weekend I spent time in Tampa Bay, which I enjoy more and more as I get to know the area better. Coincidentally it was also the start of one of my favorite times of the year, MLB Spring Training. The Grapefruit League consists of 18 major league teams that set up camp in Florida during the month of March to practice, check out new prospects, and play pre-season games against other GL teams. Several teams are located in the Tampa Bay area.


Sunday afternoon we went to see the Cincinnati Reds play the Toronto Blue Jays at their park in Dunedin. We missed the first inning due to my accidentally taking both Tim's wallet and phone with me when he went to park the car, forcing him to walk 10 blocks to the stadium (whoops!) The Blue Jays won the game 8-4, but more importantly we got a chance to see former Gator player David Eckstein play an amazing inning at shortstop by putting three batters away one after the other. He's so small we thought he was a prospect!


The weather was a perfect 70 degrees with not a cloud in the sky and a decent breeze from the water. It was a great day for getting some sun and laughing at all the bright pink Canadians and Ohioans. One of the best parts of the day for me was happening upon this beautiful orchid tree on the walk back to the car. That's what mine might look like if I could ever get it to bloom!


My plan for this month is to visit many of the Grapefruit League parks I've never been to before. I'm also going to catch the Dodgers and Indians at their home parks since both teams will be moving to Arizona for Spring Training next year. Now I just need to get good enough with my needles to be able to knit and watch baseball at the same time.