A bit of spring is springing

Amazing what a day of sunshine can provide.

As I went out to sweep the street today, I found a big fat flower bud getting ready to open.

I have no idea what this plant is. There is a patch of it in the park where I pull weeds, and I have seen it blooming once. Usually the guys with the weed-whackers slice it off at ground level before it gets to even form a bud.
Last year they yanked out a dead lilac bush behind it and pulled up some bulbs which I rescued and planted in a space along the east side of the house. It seems to be rewarding me for the rescue.

When coming through the garden to get my camera, I found an orchid in bloom ... clinging to the Biwi tree.

This is one of a number that were rescued from my friend Wally's garden before his move to a retirement home.

I see a few others are leafing out in other spots. This is really the only side of the house that gets a  few hours of sunshine.

I noticed also when I was hanging laundry in the greenhouse that the orchid cactus is getting ready to bloom.

In the fall I cut off a section of this long arm, thinking soon it would tip the pot off the top of the step-tansu.

That piece I rooted in another pot and it seems to be doing well. The bud near the cat seems like it will be first to open, and there are two above growing larger each day.

The easter cactus had a hard summer last year out on the roof
so I brought it inside for a bit of TLC over the winter.

I had been thinking of re-potting it but I will wait until after the blooms are finished.
I have one more outside on the west side, and it usually blooms much later than this one.

Two more days to go ... Looks like it might bloom on Easter.

Another little cactus is also getting ready to show off its colors. I have been putting off tidying up the greenhouse because the heater doesn't work and it has been too cold to spend much time up there other than snuggling in my sleeping bag at night.

I guess the flowers are trying to tell me that warmer days are in sight.

There has been some suggestion that Leia may be coming sometime this weekend to make batik eggs

These were batiked as raw eggs and then the innards blown out.

I was crawling under the table to get them out of the hutch, and had a big surprise.


SILK WORMS!
The past few years I have had no luck in saving the eggs from the year before, so I thought I had tossed them all out and only saved the cocoons for crafts.
Well, a few of the moths had laid eggs on the cocoons and I tipped the container on to the floor, and in picking them up, noticed a number of tiny wiggly worms.
I quickly ran to the park to snatch up a few young mulberry leaves. I had just seen them beginning to come out on Tuesday so they are not very big, but there were enough small ones to feed those little caterpillars. I spent the next hour or so picking them up with a little paintbrush and placing them on the leaves.  I guess there will be another item added to my daily list of chores.

The baby quilt is moving along and I am now quilting the last border.

I have been happy to have take-along work with these feed sack stars. 4 trips into town each week ... with about one star in each direction, (depending on how long or if I get a seat),
and an on-line District Committee Scout meeting ... They all add up.
This picture was taken earlier in the week, and yesterday's trip added #50. Not sure what the plan is, but I still have some fabrics that have not been used and also a few duplicate squares.
I thought of maybe using some of the scraps in a floral border appliqued on a solid fabric. Some of those fabrics are very rough and loosely woven so I'm not sure how the would work.

So ... it seems that spring ... though it has been taking a few small steps forward, then a giant leap backward ... is knocking on my garden door. I'd better get back to that border before there is another interruption.