1/1.11 - setting the stage

today i wanted to set the tone for 2011, but i also wanted it to be relaxed. i started it by lying around in bed reading a most charming little epistolary novel from 1912 - daddy long legs by jean webster. why doesn't anyone write epistolary novels anymore? (already, i digress.) i finished it, all too quickly and got up to stitch. sabin and i spent some time looking at the fun japanese-influenced designs of the folks at lesportsac and harajuku lovers and i decided to stitch one of the fifi lapin bunnies, just for fun.

after that, i finally broke into my stash of anna maria horner's innocent crush and using the wonderful new quilt book - fresh quilting - by malka dubrawsky that mom got me for christmas, i began a whirligig quilt.

since the sun was shining, we popped over to give some happy new year carrots to matilde and i managed to catch the neighbor's yearlings against the golden sunset. we walked down to the lake to check the ice, as it's been thawing for more than 24 hours now. our snow is gone and there was a thin layer of water on top of the ice on the lake (making it very, very slippery), but it's supposed to freeze again tonight so we'll be skating again in no time on a new, smooth surface.

the sun was gorgeous today, so i grabbed some shots of the latest windows husband has acquired...round ones that say 1934 and 1939 - aren't they great? i want to use them somehow in the garden house we're going to build.

last evening the wind was blowing fiercely so we didn't do our fireworks but we did manage to do them today, so i leave you with the fireworks of 1/1.11. doesn't that number seem somehow significant? (fireworks are really hard to photograph, by the way, so these aren't my best shots ever - tho' i did learn about the "bulb" setting on my camera, so i even pushed my photography in a new direction today, which was another goal.)

happy new year, one and all. may you keep your resolutions (if you make them).

and we won't mention the number of episodes of toddlers & tiaras sabin and i watched today, because that definitely wasn't part of the resolutions around here...