Austen

Found this little quiz over at At Altitude and just *had* to give it a go. :)

Take the Quiz here!

Spring has done sprung, y'all

First up, we have the little volunteer species tulips that spring up around my mulberry tree.






And the redbud, which gloriously blossomed...





The bees have been hard at work on the peach blossoms...




As well as the little grape hyacinths that people always mistake for bluebonnets... No, people, the much-heralded Lupinus texensis won't come along for another couple of weeks or so.

Skwerls are EEEEEEEVIL, I tell you!

There's one attacking people in Vermont as we speak, y'all.

BENNINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont neighborhood is being stalked by a renegade gray squirrel.

Several people in Bennington say they’ve been attacked by a squirrel over the last few weeks.

Kevin McDonald tells the Bennington Banner he was shoveling snow when the squirrel jumped onto him. He says he threw the animal off, but it twice jumped back onto him. A game warden says there have been other reports, too.

Repeat after me: SKWERLS are NOT OUR FRIENDS. SKWERLS are EVIL VERMIN who want to ATTACK YOU.

More signs have appeared!

More signs of spring in my yard:



The peach tree, which just this weekend didn't even appear to be considering blooming anytime soon, has adorned herself in a lovely new pink frock!

Down the street in the yard on the corner:



Forsythia!

And across the street, juuuuust beginning to break buds:



Redbud tree!

Yay! It's like the end of Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, when the Forest Spirit re-inhabits the brown, dead land and you see the gradual creep of green become more and more colorful and lush on the faraway hillsides. I'm not trying to rub my northern pals' nose in it -- I'm just sending encouragement to the troops behind enemy lines that reinforcements really ARE on the way!

DO. WANT.

I've been scanning the highlights from the Fall 2011 fashion weeks in NYC, London, Milan, and (this week) Paris. I have only seen a few items that really gave me kerwallops of the heart, and this little number from the Prada Fall 2011 Collection just sends me over the moon.

Okay, first, the obvious references to Piet Mondrian... done in desaturated colors rather than the in-your-face primaries Mondrian was so famous for using... but then that saucy red belt just sticks its tongue out in a nyah-nyah gesture! Delightful.

But then the shape of this dress makes me think of the late 1960s and very early 1970s... think "Jan Brady"...the big wide schoolgirl pleats, the big round buttons on a wide placket, the dropped waist. It's a shape I haven't seen at all since that time and I guess I didn't realize how much I missed it!

I would wear this with a dark heathery turtleneck, dark opaque stockings, and knee-high leather boots with a low chunky heel and a rounded stubby toe. I'd even be tempted to wear stub-toed Mary-Janes, but that would depend on how I felt about my legs that day.