A New Era Begins

On Saturday morning, my husband and I stood watching our youngest son waiting in line for his turn to go through airport security before boarding a plane and whisking off to South Carolina where he will be living and attending college. When he reached the last snaking curve from which we could still see him, I waved (well, actually, I gave him the 'Live long and prosper' Vulcan salute), my husband and I turned to head for the car, and 28+ years of active parenting came to a quiet close.

So now it begins.  Empty nest.  Okay...  It's a bit surreal, to use Wyatt's own term, but I have high hopes for a new burst of creativity to begin. I'll have a bit more time, a bit more space, and a heck of a lot less laundry to do!  I've been, at best, sporadic at making things, but perhaps now is my time. My head is full of projects and aspirations upon which I am eager to embark.

But first, a bit of Peppy news:  He climbed the stairs yesterday for the first time since his surgery!  It's onward and upward for him from here on.  I'm so glad he had the surgery at long last, even though it was a tough recovery for him.

Proper summer weather finally arrived last week, just in time for 4th of July. Hallelujah! I was so weary of rain and cold. This morning I snapped this shot of a beautiful new daylily blooming in earnest for the first time:

If memory serves, the name of this variety is "Dublin Elaine", and it is listed as a frequent rebloomer.  Nice!  I planted it last spring; one of several I purchased from Oakes Daylilies. Its first year, it was not striking (I find that's often so with first year hemerocallis) but this year, I can see it's going to be a real beauty.  I have some others in containers coming along--"Chorus Line" and "Siloam Bye-Lo"--and I'm anxious to see what they look like this year, as they were planted the same time as Dublin Elaine.  Now, if I can only get caught up on the weeding!

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My Etsy shops  "MelmacParadise" and "MyPalPeppy" are in vacation mode right now, partly because I've been so busy helping my son prepare to depart, and also because I've been on call for jury duty. And now that both those duties are completed, I'm keeping the shops inactive for a week or two more so I can reorganize and just "chill". 

Yesterday I used my lovely newly-acquired free time to sew bags for my shops (I always strive to ship things out in pretty packaging) and I worked on some curtains, too. I made a new valance to go over the kitchen sink, and I've started on some gathered sheers of beautiful off-white organza with gold dots speckled over it for my sitting room. (The sitting room was acquired when my oldest son grew up and moved out!  It was his bedroom.)

Here's the fabric I used for the valance.  It's called "Rise and Shine" and it's a new fabric designed in the style of a charming old 1930s feedsack print. Isn't it delightful?

I should finish up the sheers today, and I'll take photos of them, too, and post them--unless they turn out to be completely ghastly, which could well happen!

I must say, it's a novel feeling, having both time and options at my disposal.

My strange new mission:  
To seek out new avenues of creative endeavor and new forms of personal recreation--to boldly go where I've been too frazzled to go before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!