Sophia, Olivia, and I took a hand-sewing leather course at the art center. The girls each made a purse.
I made a tote bag.
I visited my sister at the end of February and took some photos of her cat. This is Juliette. She's a Flamepoint Siamese cat.
This is Buttercup. Check out those blue eyes!
I saw the first robin of the year during February. The birds like the apples that have been on the tree all winter.
There's a White-Crowned Sparrow that's been hanging around our farm this winter. Normally we don't see them in the winter. So, this is a real treat!
We have a flock of pheasants that have been hanging around as well. There is a group of six of them. The one below is a male - he is more colorful and has a white ring of feathers around his neck. He also has some interesting eyebrows. It's always fun to find one of the long tail feathers in the Spring.
This is four of the six pheasants in the driveway. They use their feet to scratch up the snow and uncover seeds and grain. They are looking for corn that I put in the driveway for them.
This is a blue jay that's approaching the feeder. I wish it were a better photo. However, I like the wing span on the bird and its target: the seeds.
We've had so much snow in February this year...an excessive amount. It was the snowiest February ever recorded in the Twin Cities - in all of history!
Indoors, the pets are being patient until there is more area for them to run around outside. This is Aspen.
This is Scooby. He's getting bored with being inside so much.
Another class I took at the art center this month was papercutting. This is an example of Notan - a Japanese form of papercutting that explores negative and positive space. You start with a square piece of black paper and do free-form cutting from there.
After doing that exercise, we worked on another papercutting project. All the parts have to touch one another (including the border), otherwise it is considered collage. The size is about 8 1/2" x 11" to give a size perspective.
During the month, Cooper has enjoyed watching the birds at the feeder. He likes the small ones, but - for whatever reason - does not like the big birds at the feeders, like the mourning doves, pheasants, and pileated woodpecker - all of whom have visited the feeder he's looking at in the photo below.
We've enjoyed visits by a large number of cardinals this year. We have multiple families here which is great!
This is a female. Her feathers on her head are standing tall meaning she is on alert.
This is a black-capped chickadee who chose a peanut to eat. She (or he) will fly off with whatever nut or seed is chosen and eat it in a tree.
We had a lot of challenges with icicles this month. This is not a good sign when they are this big since it shows that we have poor insulation between the ceiling and roof. These all were removed and the roof raked in mid-February. We have to do this again in early-March before it melts otherwise we could look at water damage in our home again, like we had a few years ago in three rooms.
Olivia and I drove out to Paynesville, Minnesota, in mid-February so she could do a 4-H retreat. It's for teens who are interested in nature, photography, and leadership. On our way back on Sunday morning, we stopped in Monticello, Minnesota, at Swan Park. There are thousands of trumpeter swans, Canada geese, and mallards on the Mississippi River. They are fed each day around 10:30 a.m., so we were able to see the tail-end of the feeding session.
We drove through a small blizzard to get to St. Kate's where Sophia was invited to attend a special reception and program for scholarship finalists. We found out later in the month that she won one of the top three awards!
For Valentine's Day this year, we celebrated it twice. Once was on the 14th when the girls and I had heart-shaped pizza and garlic bread plus red pop. Not terribly healthy, but it was a tasty treat.
I decorated the windows with some stars and heart-shaped cut-outs I had made.
We also celebrated it on the 15th when Paige was back in town from a business trip. I made a recipe I saw on Pinterest that I adapted. It used two types of tortellini/ravioli (cheese filled as well as meat filled), spinach, mozzarella cheese, and spaghetti sauce.
Another class that Olivia and I took at the art center was how to do peg loom weaving. The loom is small, yet you can weave rugs on it which is interesting. It took a bit to learn, but once I got the hang of it, weaving went quickly. This is Olivia's rug:
I'm participating in a Mystery Quilt project through Minnesota Quilters. Each month, you get a clue about how to sew together some pieces that you cut in January. These are the squares I made in February. I should have waited to see how people cut them because for the square on the left, the yellow should be half of the square; and the pink and purple the other half.
My only complaint about the directions are that they assume that people have a lot of experience with quilting and cutting squares. I don't, so it's a bit of a challenge.
Another sewing project that I coordinated was sewing diapers for newborns from t-shirts for Global Health Ministries. The diapers are used for incentives for women in developing countries to get prenatal care.
It was part of a larger service event that I coordinated on February 12th for our local Lions club. We had 21 people there - despite the snowy and icy roads.
We visited the girls' step-grandfather (Paige's step-father) in a transitional care unit. He is getting stronger now that he is getting 24/7 care. He will be moving to the nursing unit now that is part of the graduated-living community where he lives. It is an exceptional facility; and he is getting very good care.
One last photo that summarizes how the month felt.
Literally we feel buried in snow, it's so high we literally have to trudge through parts of non-shoveled parts. Cooper was looking for something in the snow...thus, his face is covered in snow.
We are looking for Spring. Hopefully it comes soon.
