Now and again I’ve taken some grief about knitting bibs for baby gifts (let’s ignore the fact that using the cats as models for the bibs might contribute to that, shall we?), but I finally have proof that a knitting parent who received a few bibs as a gift was inspired to knit more bibs! Really, what better evidence could there be? (Yes, you have seen the bibs in the linked post before…)
Saturday was gorgeous here – sunny and +60F. Most of the snow has melted. Unfortunately, it melted so fast that the ground is still frozen, so you end up with scenes like this:
Yes, that is a mallard swimming around the playground. I totally wouldn’t recommend going down the slides, which each had eight inches of water at the bottom (and a fine layer of mud immediately below that). We shall not even speak of the snow that’s predicted for tonight and tomorrow.
Reading Update
Tall Tales and Wedding Veils by Jane Graves. Definitely recommended for CursingMama and anyone else who enjoys a well-done contemporary romance. It even had me sniffling near the end.
Happy Hour at Casa Dracula and Midnight Brunch (Casa Dracula, Books 1-2) by Marta Acosta. Funny, snarky, and delightful. I wouldn’t actually classify this as paranormal romance – they have more of a chicklit sort of feel. Definitely recommended. (I will neither confirm nor deny that I got a little sniffly near the end of Midnight Brunch.)
Riding on Instinct by Jaci Burton. I won an advance reading copy of this book at Nalini Singh’s blog last month. This is the third book in Burton’s “er0tic romance” series about the Wild Riders, a group of bikers based in Dallas who work undercover for the government. In this book, the Riders are supporting a federal agent who’s working as a stripper in New Orleans, trying to find a rogue agent involved with Colombian drug runners. Burton can definitely write, but I need a little more story to support all the steam!
Kiss of a Dark Moon (Moon Chasers, Book 2) by Sharie Kohler. Um, the best part of this book was the Nathan Kamp cover. It’s a paranormal romance about evil werewolves and the people who hunt them. So-so writing, but there’s a big oversight a few pages from the end of the book that pretty much ruined it for me.
Mortal Sins (World of the Lupi, Book 5) by Eileen Wilks. This continues to be a well-written series, more urban or paranormal fantasy than romance. The main characters are FBI Agent Lily Yu and werewolf prince, Rule Turner. The series is complex and compelling. Recommended – and read it order, dammit. 😉
“A Dream of Stone & Shadow” by Marjorie M. Liu, from Dark Dreamers. A nice Dirk & Steele short story.
Date with a Devil by Anne Stuart, Cherry Adair, and Muriel Jensen. A merely ok collection of romance short stories.
Night Secrets by Cherry Adair. More T-FLAC wizards. Yum.
Dead Sexy and A Body To Die For (Harlequin Blaze) by Kimberly Raye. Hee hee – hunky vampire cowboy bikers who survive more on s3x than on blood! (Come on, you know I’m a sucker for the silliness of some of this stuff, right?) Usually I complain about people on the cover having tattoos that they don’t have in the book, but in both of these, it’s the opposite. Very rare.
Thai Die: A Needlework Mystery by Monica Ferris. Betsy Devonshire and friends are back, solving mysteries out of Betsy’s Excelsior, Minnesota, knitting and needlework shop. This was an ok addition to the series.
Things are going to continue to be cloudy and cool and rainy (maybe some snow on Wednesday) for the next several days, so I think Chaos has decided to hibernate. Wish I could join him.
*…zzzzzzz…” -Chaos
Oh yes, this is the perfect hibernating weather, Chaos. Not quite sunny, not quite cloudy and still too cool. Oh well, warmer days are ahead.
We have four inches of new snow on the ground. More coming tomorrow…move over Chaos I want to curl up, too.
We probably won’t have more snow, but it’s still way colder than I like. I am so ready for spring.
Parents do like bibs; babies go through them so quickly, you can never have enough!
Although it’s much warmer this morning than yesterday – weird? And the wind stopped blowing my house all about too. Lovely photos of the bibs in their natural habitat. They look better on babies than on kitties!
OMG – I can’t believe there was a DUCK swimming at the park. ‘Neath the slides. That’s hilarious.
Oh how I wish I could adopt Chaos’ plans! But the wind prevented any sleep last night… *sigh* I complain about the fact that snow here melts in a few days and we go through “spring” messiness regularly throughout the winter. But I forgot the “joys” of spring rains when the ground is still frozen. That is quite the playground scene!
Your comment on Thai Die is exactly why I get most of my reading material from the local library…
See, those mud warning tales are important! And those bib pix were way cute.
Chris- I had lovely bibs for my kids, until they got stained with squash and things. So I ended up tying teatowels around them- aesthetics become less important.
My first thought when I saw the playground was how much fun would a kid have sliding into that puddle!
Its rainy and gray here in GA too.. hibernation definitely seems like a plan. You mean that there really *are* babies for those bibs you knit to torture Chaos & Mayhem with? I was beginning to wonder if you just did it for fun..
Yay for bibs! : ) I doubt the snow will stick.
More snow? Say it ain’t so!
I imagine there have been some kids who have not taken your advice about not using the slide. A large puddle in the playground would be very hard to resist!
So far the bibs I’ve made .. inspired by you knitting bibs no less .. have been a hit.
Love the mallard in the playground. I bet when no one’s looking, he uses the slide.
Cute bib shots!
Hurray for all that bib knitting paying off! I’m here in Mpls for spring break now, and I was surprised at how wet it is around here.
And snow tomorrow?!? Yikes…
Yea, Spring in Minnesota, it’s a soggy thing.
Me too, Chaos, me too.
wow, well, i guess that goose has the right idea, it’s more his playground than any kid’s
It’s amazing how little time it takes ducks to find large puddles and areas of flooding.
I wish I could join Chaos too.
This weekend was a little weird in the Boston area. Sunny one day, gray the next and when I got home on Sunday there was sleet coming down only minutes later. Of course, it is now in the 30s and I’m just reminding myself that spring will be here soon!
Um…maybe they’re water slides?
Ms Mallard has good taste in playground equipment! I think we are out of the freezing days and nights. Unfortunately we are in one of our windy seasons.
You’re right, I do love a good contemporary!
I love the duck swimming in the playground! He’s going to be so confused when his “pond” disappears!
The last of our snow disappeared while I was gone last week — apparently it was gorgeous here. Now it’s rainy and they’re saying snow for the weekend….
Maeve’s little one looks much happier in those bibs then Chaos and May did.
It is so windy here today, our lovlely blooming trees that just started blooming over the weekend, are loosing all their lovely flowers.
Water slides! I think ours are better though.
Chaos and Hezekiah are in complete accord.
Sliding into a big puddle of water would have been my dream as a little kid! I wonder how many pissy Mom’s were cleaning up muddy footprints today.
Hibernating sounds soooo good. We’re at 35F again and very windy.
Thanks for posting about Monica Ferris’ series. I’ve wondered about it, and your comment confirms my wondering!
And here all that time I thought the bibs were for Chaos and May. 😉 It’s always good to see bibs in use. When I was at the last baby shower, one of the moms who I gave some bibs to commented that they were so much better than the purchased bibs because they cover more and absorb more.
I love the duck swimming in the playground!
You’ve just reminded me I ought to get some more Monica Ferris’. I’ve just finished the Laurie R Kings you sent – I woke up at 3.30am and didn’t go back to bed until I’d finished Locked Rooms!!! I’m delving into the other three books you sent now 🙂
Hey, what’s that adorable baby doing in Chaos’ bib?