Backyard Field Guide: Busy Bee in Springtime

Like a bee to nectar, I'm buzzing! Did you know that the bumble bees you usually see among the spring bulbs and flowers are usually the queens? I find it just remarkable how after overwintering alone these little ladies found the year's new colonies themselves. Sweet humble bumbles.

I was reading this week that some gardens have little nooks and caves built into the walls just for this event--brilliant, right? Other times the bees will just make themselves at home an empty birdhouse (I love this one answering the doorbell above!). I'm thinking I need to find some more places in our backyard plot for them.

(This might just be another clue to my secret project!*)

(Images from here and here.)

Simply Sweet Courthouse Wedding

Isn't this Portland wedding so vintage and darling? I just love the floral work of Ink & Peat--pop on over to the blog to see more.

Pretty Belly Pics

Jo had these cute mama photos up today. Photog Ryan Marshall is taking weekly pics of his wife to go along with these charming journal entries to their baby. I keep thinking I need to write a letter to our little-person-to-be and this has me so inspired!

The New Heath

The new special edition Heath pieces are so minimal and so vibrant. Don't you just want to eat your granita out of one of these? (Maggie & Shiv, any recipes for us?) The color is simply just right.

Luck o' the Irish!

A thousand lucky clovers to you! Hope everyone's enjoying this fine St. Patty's Day--I've been dancing all day in my kelly green!

(This pic might be a clue for what's to come with my secret project!*)

Colorography: Sentimental Shades

It's not too often that I'm really struck--I mean, with a strong visceral reaction--by a combination of colors. For some reason, the palette behind these tees got me: they're the color of my childhood. Light aqua, light lavender, a faint peach and grey. Maybe it's a New England thing. There's something so sweet and fine there. Like wild irises. Or icicles clinging to the eaves. I can't place it but I think one of my first memories of beauty had to do with this scheme. Ever had an experience like this?

Oh, and, by the way, if you haven't seen it, the new JCrew spring collection is wonderful...! If you were to do a wedding in any of their color combinations, it couldn't help but be an aesthetic success.

Hard at Work, Missing You!

So sorry to be absent, ladies! I've been busily working on a soon-to-be-not-so-secret project-- saying 'yes' to a dream, really. I hope you'll forgive me for not posting daily--I'm hoping my time away will be more like 'worth the wait'! More on that soon as well as more posts! What fun things have you all been pursuing? I'd love to hear!

(Image via Desire to Inspire.)

New York Times Wedding

Such a sweet wedding story from the NYTimes (and, yes, that is Stephen Colbert!).

Location, Location

Readymade's WPA poster series is so spot on--especially these two. I've lived on both coasts but somehow not until I moved to Nebraska did these ways of living really come into focus for me--farmer's markets, gardening, bicycling, local schools. I'm a city girl at heart but somehow living here is the perfect fit.

Sweet Find: Laura's Left Hook

Cute, kitschy and a little bit squishy--I love Laura's lovely little letters! I can see them on couches, in cribs...what great gifts too!

Sweet Find: Bonpoint

Parisian designs for the little ones--Bonpoint has some utterly charming clothes.

Pretty Primer: Crafty Books

Friday evenings, sometimes S and I go out for dinner and head to the bookstore--it's one of the best dates, hands down. We dream about travel, art, nature, music...there's simply nothing better.

This trip I found some lovely new sewing books: Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing for Baby by Lotta Jansdotter, Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule and Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross and John Gruen. I just adore the aprons and baby bloomers in the Ross and Gruen book--patterns included. So many great projects, now I just need to learn how to run a sewing machine--this girl can hand sew like there's no tomorrow but...! Most of my clothes were handmade as a kid--isn't it great that the trend is returning and with style?

Browsing the shelves, I also leafed through How to Be an Explorer of the World by Keri Smith and she has come up with such a refreshing list of 'explorations' (one of my favorite words, by the way!)--many of which would be great for the kids, too. Take this one for example:

Exploration #46: "Found Patterns -- Collect or document as many patterns as you can find while on your travels. You may decide to use only patterns in nature, or human-made, or both. Pencil rubbings work well for this."

You could write, collect scraps, draw, paint, record audio descriptions...so many possibilities. Once upon a time, when I was in ed school, I had a professor who had a whole lecture class--I'm talking 100+ people--observe the moon. Those were the instructions: 'observe the moon.' It was simply remarkable how many ways we approached the assignment. I've never forgotten--what a lesson in the range and depth of human curiosity. What are your favorite explorations?

Heirloom Nursery: Handmade Baby Bibs

When it comes to preparing for baby, I've been pretty disappointed in the mealtime linens out there--the bibs simply aren't practical, they're expensive, they're (dare I say it) so gaudy or they just seem so industrial for a little person. Instead, I'm thinking of trying to make a handful of these Martha Stewart towel bibs--I imagine they'll be soft, sturdy, tastefully colorful, imminently washable. What a great shower gift, too! My best friend got us these beautiful jacquard hand towels from Anthropologie (she's got the best taste!) and I'm thinking of getting a few more to try them out. If not for a little person, then why not for sewing up one of these great tea towel aprons? Oh, how I love Martha's craftiness!

In the Spotlight: Naomi Shihab Nye

One of my very favorite poets, Naomi Shihab Nye, is teaching here as a visiting writer in just a couple weeks and--it would be an understatement to say--I'm excited. I'm scurrying around trying to find poems to share with the workshop (it's been months since I wrote, eek! what do you show to someone you adore?) and can't help but think of her remarkable spirit.

The author of poetry, young adult fiction and children's anthologies, Nye lends her voice to the warm, peaceful and genuinely heartfelt: she is a true humanitarian. In an interview a couple years back, she spoke of poetry's meaning: "I think for many of us 'the fuel that feeds us' is language in the sense that language can carry us to understanding and connect us to things that matter in our lives. For those of us who trust poetry and the power of linkage that poetry gives us, it's a way of sitting quietly with words and letting them lead us somewhere." The poem Nye's referring to is called, "Hidden,"

If you place a fern
under a stone
the next day it will be
nearly invisible
as if the stone has
swallowed it.

If you tuck the name of a loved one
under your tongue too long
without speaking it
it becomes blood
sigh
the little sucked-in breath of air
hiding everywhere
beneath your words.

No one sees
the fuel that feeds you.

If you were to take one book of poetry of the library this year, I would highly recommend her collection Words Under the Words. Her poems about love and family make me believe in times like these.

Great Books: Baby's Box

In my 101 things list I mentioned expanding my children's literature collection and now I have a great excuse for doing so...such a guilty, wondrous pleasure! I found this funky 'Squirrel Brand' peanut taffy crate on eBay and I've been filling it with favorites:

The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco
For You Are a Kenyan Child by Kelly Cunnane and illustrated by Ana Juan (plus Juan's website is the most sweet and wacky thing)
The Five Senses by Herve Tullet (love this multimedia book for kids and adults alike!)
The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and David Small
Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats (Keats collages have always been magical to me--plus, little Willie looks a tad bit like our pooch!)

Don't kid's books just make you feel like the world is so curious, rich and alive?