Thanks for your support and kind words, Angel Spun and bikerbraid!

I'm finally back after a very busy weekend. T's academic disputation (I finally think I've found the correct term for the event!) was on Friday, and it went very well. That wasn't a surprise to me though- I know he is a very bright man who has worked very hard with this project and it also showed from his thesis. I know because I've read it.
    Though T had kept the ceremonies small, it was evening when we got back, totally exhausted. On Saturday, we went to celebrate with T's family and friends, and we stayed overnight at T's father. We came back on Sunday, did a little gardening, rested and the weekend was over before we knew. Today, T had to fly to Sweden. He'll be back on Thursday, and until then, I'm in charge of keeping this place together -of course, under Lumi The Rabbit's supervision.

The weather has been hot for spring- like sweetest summer, in fact. During the weekend I didn't have many chances to enjoy of it, but today I have worked most of the day in the garden. I decided to sow the very first vegetables. A month early, I know, but as it is this warm, it's easy to be hopeful.

Hair: Unusually lot of washing and rinsing- though I'm not sure whether this will be so unusual in the coming months. My solution for travel and celebrations of the weekend was wearing a bun with black Ficcare all the time. It's just amazing how versatile that clip is!
    Today was a plain bun and a scarf-day. The bandana works in garden for now, but it's clear that I will need to find something that provides more coverage soon. A straw hat, perhaps...
Right now, my hair is a bit damp after latest rinsing. I'm wearing a bun with LL swing stix- getting some special positive Hairstix energy, and just enjoying one of the few moments when hairsticks are the perfect thing to wear.

Country Living: It was a good idea to go observing stars yesterday- today, a storm is coming and it's already cold, windy and rainy. I did mount the binoculars, but didn't use them- the sky was in a new position so I spent my observation time just learning to navigate among unknown constellations. It was really fun, though. It's a shame that my star hobby goes to a couple of months' break just in a couple of weeks, as our Northern skies grow too light to see deep sky.
     Today, I finished my wine dress and accompanying apron as I anticipated. It seems that I need to test all the new colors individually to see what works in dresses and what doesn't. For example, this newest creation of mine looks fabulous on me. On the other hand, I don't like at all how my khaki dress looks. It's strange- khaki has been present in my wardrobe for years, in pants, skirts, shirts- you name it, and I probably have had it and liked it. So, I thought that it would be a sure bet for a dress color. But no. Some colors are just not meant for my dresses. I'm just glad that my other color selections have been better.
    
Hair: I've played with infinity buns, and I can produce the style fairly reliably.  Just the Ficcare version, but that's a good start. It occurred to me, that this bun was among the styles I've been waiting for ever since I first saw it -probably on these boards shortly after my arrival here. Perhaps, because everyone has kept saying that it is a long hair style. My hair doesn't feel long yet, but I'm starting to think that it must be at least fairly long if I can master this style! Of course, I can now make Figure 8 buns as well, secure enough to be seriously considered as an addition to my little collection of everyday styles. I've felt just a little bored with doing the same old knot bun every day, so these new additions are very welcome.

Pretty flowers!

BB: We have tulips as well- I planted some small, red botanical tulips last fall, and they are starting to bloom right now. Botanical tulips are earlier than hybrids, and I like them because they bloom well for many springs.

Kiraela: That is our highest apple tree, and it was very difficult to cut. I remember I was afraid that T would fall from it when he had to balance at the top and cut at the same time. But all went well.  I'm glad we managed it- what we have now looks like a totally different tree from that shaggy, overgrown thing we started working with.

Spring has arrived early to us this year. It's the greenhouse effect, I know, but neverthless, I can't help enjoying it.
I have already sown first veggies: corn salad and radishes. It's early and therefore a bit of a gamble, but so far everything looks good. Chives are already big enough to be used- I hope that in the coming years, we will have more perennial herbs and plants that start growing early.
     Late spring is also when our lawn will be at its prettiest. I suppose it's a modern gardeners nightmare- there is enough grass so that it can be called a lawn, but also different mosses, clovers, anemones, cowslips, bellises and other little flowers I can't even name. We find it lively and lovely, and don't even mind the dandelions because we know that Lumi's eyes will be like this  when we bring her out for the first time (we have brought some weeds for her to eat, and she loves them like crazy). It may take a long time to create a perfect velvety lawn, but I know it also takes a long time to develop a beautiful semi-wild lawn like ours. One of my goals is to figure out how to care for it without destroying its diversity. We have decided to preserve the green look of our garden -no new flower beds except around our terrace and to the front yard, so flowers that grow and spread semi-wild in the lawn become important.
    
Hair: I'm thinking my hair is boring and that I don't have any hairtoys.
       I think my hair is boring, because all I feel comfortable wearing as an everyday style are flat buns. How sad is that?
               Almost every day I make a knot bun, because I couldn't make any other buns for a while when my hair was in an awkward length.
               Of course, nowadays I could make at least three other buns, if only I remembered/wanted to. Cinnabuns are back, and there are the newcomers Figure 8 and Infinity bun. Probably my braided buns aren't as awful as they used to be, either. So, there are at least four different styles from which I can choose every day. How many options does a person with short hair have???
               If you count different hairtoys, there are dozens of variations. Oh, except that I don't have any hairtoys.
That is, because I can't afford to buy a huge load of Ficcares RIGHT NOW, and what else is there for me to wear? Woe is me!
    Even though in  a couple of months, in all likelihood, I will be able to afford fancy clips again.
Besides, I already have 6 large Maximas Ficcares, two of which have been bought just a little while ago.
    If I'm bored with them, I can always wear some other clips. Or do something with one of my scarves. I think I have only a few dozens of them, and they all are nice.
    Just like my hairstick collection. Plus the couple of baskets full of other hairtoys that I could choose to wear any moment.
     You know, the same baskets that I have had to cup to my hairtoy cupboard so tightly that sometimes they plop out and it becomes hard for me to close the door.

I'm a sad, little irrational mess, but at least I can admit it

I'm too lazy to do anything that would damage my hair  . Today, it's safely in a scarf bun I made with a new blue scarf. Scarf buns are always as pretty as the cute bandanas used to creating them, even if the hair inside them isn't.
   
Garden: Warm, sunny and absolutely lovely weather continues. Today, we did some shopping (again): some new roses and two pear trees (just to make sure that we won't run out of fruit, you know ).
    Our northern location affects to growing roses quite a lot. Many types of roses just aren't hardy enough to survive at our latitudes, and even if some less hardy species technically speaking survive, they will never grow as big and beautiful as they are meant to. Most tea roses are totally out of question, as well as most climbing roses. Growing roses meant for flower beds requires extra care. Roses that do best in our climate, are shrubs. That's ok with me, since I find shrub roses prettiest in any case (well, since I can't have that gorgeous rose arch...) I am planning to plant rose shrubs here and there, and it starts today!

Learning to sew: I finished my brown dress. For some reason, it didn't go nearly as smoothly as the previous dress. I made all kinds of mistakes, and the dress didn't turn out quite as well as the wine one. Mostly, I master the sewing process, but neckline and zipper still give me major trouble. But I'm going to persist.