Mersydotes

February really is the absolute worst month.  Anyone who says otherwise has either been living under a rock or a lot closer to the Equator than I am- either way, they're better off.  What other month so mercilessly combines grey skies, sleeting rain, wet socks, freezing mornings, dead foliage, and hissing radiators?  And that is precisely why I have nearly stitched myself to the couch this month- you'll have to excavate me from a pile of yarn when March finally comes around! So this post today is everything that makes up for that gloom: soft and snugly wool, warm amber tones, minimalist lines, and pleasant domesticity.  Mr. Mersy had been wanting to display his new and special decanter and glasses for a while now, but we didn't have anything to use as coasters or protect the table from their glass edges.  But I did have just a bit of leftover yarn from the amazing ball of pure wool roving that Mama and Papa Mersydotes had given me a few years back.  ...

A couple of months ago, I inherited an absolutely ginormous box of beads and told that I was their last chance of being put to good use and not going to waste.  I was pretty intimidated and didn't want to be "the bead waster", and I suddenly had to think of something brilliant and productive to do with a couple thousand delicate glass and metal beads.  They were so pretty!  So, I decided to figure out how to make little beaded earrings:  They're not too fancy, they're not too big, they're not too edgy, and they're not too perfect- they're just a bit of shiny, sparkly color to add to the day:  Working with such tiny, fiddly bits made me feel all shaky and uncoordinated, but it was really a lot of fun to see them transformed into finished products that did justice to the pretiness and delicateness of the beads.  I'll have fun sending these little guys to family and friends so they can have friendly earlobes to hang out with!  And maybe ...

Hello my friends- is today a bleak, rainy, dreary day for you as well?  The only good thing I can find to say about this gloomy weather is that it's helping melt away the enormous walls of snow from our massive blizzard.  It's funny how quickly everything has melted away.  Mr. Mersy was in California during the storm, and I was worried that when he got back to NYC there wouldn't be any evidence left of what the fuss was all about.  And now it's back in the 50s with stormy skies and rain drops.  I wish a thunderstorm would roll in- it would make me think of spring and give me the perfect atmosphere for my current Agatha Christie short story obsession (more about that later!).  But what to do about this gloomy weather?  Fancy joining me in a how bowl of soup?  I've been experimenting recently with Julia Child recipes (remember the omelettes?) and have fallen in love with her leek and potato soup: potage parmentier .   It also doesn't hurt ...