Dogwoods, Overseas Trips, and a Zebra

After all, I don’t see why I am always asking for private, individual, selfish miracles when every year there are miracles like white dogwood.  --Anne Morrow

The dogwood trees are in bloom right now. I forget about these flowers a lot of the time. The showy magnificence of the cherry blossoms and magnolias are fabulous and awe-inspiring, but there's something about the simple, clean beauty of dogwood blossoms that always draws me closer. 

My last post was a bit of a cliff-hanger, and I'm sorry to leave things like that. I feel as though I'm just starting to peek through the curtains after closing myself off and trying to come back to the world. My mother-in-law passed away in February in Belfast, and my own family members were/are having their own health issues, so my mind has been busy with worry and planning and fixing and more worry. We flew over to Belfast and stayed with relatives as we dealt with funerals and the like. It wasn't a holiday by any means, and I think I spent most of it just napping a lot, but we got some lovely weather while we were there, which made for some nice days when we decided to venture out.

I'd been wanting to visit the Lisburn Linen Centre for a long time, and since we were staying nearby we took the opportunity to drop in. It's a small museum in the town centre with a lovely display of all things related to Irish linen. Linen was a huge industry in Ireland from the 17th century until competition from the relatively lower-cost cotton industry eventually brought it to decline.

We were also able to visit Hillsborough Castle, which is where the Royal Family stays when they are in Northern Ireland. The grounds have only been open to the public for the past five years, and even though it was still early spring, there were plenty of lovely things growing:

One thing I did not know was that Hillsborough Castle grew pineapples in pineapple houses or pineries since the 18th century. It amazes me that such a tropical fruit could be grown somewhere like Northern Ireland. They are currently restoring the pineries for public view. Of course, I had to sample some pineapple gateau in the cafe during our visit!

As far as making anything... my energy levels have been really low over the past couple of months, so the production of anything particularly interesting has been really hard. We did get a weekend in March up Island at a cottage on the water at Qualicum Bay, and the weather was really beautiful. I had an article due for the local arts council, so I took the opportunity to try to get some solar power for my brain and try to get some work done... under supervision of course:

But I did have a baby shower to attend last weekend, so that motivated me to get going and make a couple of gifts: a jersey-knit baby blanket and a crochet zebra. I won't tell you how long it took me to tie each strand of yarn on for the mane.... but it was worth it:

So, those are the updates. I'm feeling a little better these days and I'm hoping that will continue as the days get brighter and warmer. I do have a couple of things to share that I've been slowly plugging away at and I'm feeling the need to share and connect, so I do hope that I still have some people reading this blog. I've felt a bit lonely in my creative world. I'm grateful for any chance at all to find like-minded folk.

Have a good week.