Back To Basics

A few days of truly warm weather, busy birds in the yard, and the blooming of the crocus mean spring is really here.


 The cold and wet days are interspersed so I embrace the nicer ones. Today seems the best shot at a bike ride in March, but it won't reach 50℉ until after noon. I finished the stencil on the coffee table for the deck and now I just need to polyurethane it to withstand the weather better.

                                    Before (peeling paint, mold on wood, cracks developing):

                         After:


 I absolutely love the moon phases. This was my 2nd attempt as the first was too sloppy. I had to sand off the stencil design, repaint with the black and try the stencil again. I used hairspray as an adhesive to keep paint from bleeding under the stencil. I used foam earplugs to paint the white on ever so lightly, 2-3 coats. Then I painted over stencil joining areas so it wouldn't look so stencilly. 

I've been fairly active this past week - walked 6 miles on the Champlain canal trail, 4 miles in the Pine Bush, and 7 miles on the Hoosac Range trail to Spruce hill (in the rain). In between, I've made sure to get in 10,000 steps a day (3-4 mi) in the neighborhood - I'm back on the Noom program since it worked so well last year. 

      Photo credit: Susan L. I'm in the teal coat at the back listening to Ron talk about his trip to Alaska. He, Esther and the rest of the group had an amazing trip.

      Pine Bush after sunset.

Tonight was a fun dinner at Peddlers Bar and Bistro with 11 of us adventurous hiking gals. The weekend just filled up with a hike to Buck Mtn tomorrow, the Flower and Garden Show on Sunday and Sebastian Maniscalco's comedy act on Monday. I'm looking forward to an absolutely nothing day on Tuesday. And a bike ride Thursday as it didn't happen today.


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