May-mas & more weeds

Yay–I finally gave 2 of 3 late Christmas May-mas gifts to the girls and am risking that #3 doesn’t check my blog before I give her the last one, because I am impatient like that.  I am also impatient enough to post horrible pictures:

They are fully lined (and reversible) totes with a pocket on the inside.  I used fabrics that reminded me of each friend (Ikea modern print and linen for Sheasy on the left and dark green canvas and vintage floral for Jen on the right).  Mr. Man was even able to look at the stacks of fabric and tell who was getting which.  Now I have one left to hand out and I will be finished with Christmas…five months later!  And if I ever learn how to email pictures from my phone I can share the repurposed tunic I made into a tote for my dear friend Jolie (whoiscomingtovisitinonlyoneweekohmygoodnessImsoexcited).  A girl can never have too many totes.

Now, since I am very often scattered and like to randomly switch topics here is the amazing thing from my yard:

That little round-leaf green thing in the back of the pot is the flower we bought last year and never planted.  We did our best to kill it (see the brown twig at the top left?), but it managed to regrow this spring.  Then a little weed started growing in the pot as well.  (That is the greenery that is reaching toward you frantically in the foreground.)  I had already pulled it up once to save my poor, determined little flower and went to pull it up once and for all when I found this:

Flower: top half of pot.  Evil invasive weed: bottom left corner.  Amazing bit: that round, brown lump in the center.

When I started to pull out the “weed” I was amazed to find a walnut attached to the roots!  I know most people would not be so affected, but I find nature to be wow-inducing.  And most of that wow around here comes in the form of “Wow–look how tall that dandelion plant tree can grow.”  Not “Wow–a squirrel must have buried one of our neighbor’s walnuts last winter and it decided to grow without any human intervention.”  Needless to say I pushed it back into the dirt and am trying to find a good home for it.  I think I will name it Archibald.  Or Herbert.