The journey continues...

Brian Bilbrey

6 May 2026

The Favorite Quilt I was "talking" with someone about what I'm hanging onto, the mementos of my life with Marcia that bring me joy and happy memories. This quilt is perhaps my favorite one that she made. The blocks that make up the image of the Japanese lady are individually embroidered in metallic and jewel tone threads. The "frame" is blue tone-on-tone embroidery. She assembled the blocks and then quilted it. It's four feet wide by five tall. If it takes longer to load on the page, it's because I left it at full resolution for y'all. I've moved the…

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Brian Bilbrey

19 April 2026

Coffee Changes For the last several years, I've been brewing my home-roasted coffee in a Behmor Brazen - it is a neat brewer with a bunch of settings that make it come pretty close to emulating a good hand pour-over. It'll put a few ounces over the ground beans in the basket, then wait for a programmed amount of time for the grind to bloom. Once done, it releases 4 oz. at a time of hot water over the grind until the water's gone. It's worked fine for me over the years, although I'm on the second Brazen, as after…

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Brian Bilbrey

13 April 2026

Friday the Thirteenth The thirteenth falls on a Monday this month, so ... meh? On the other hand, more flowers: The first daffodils of the year (in my yard) bloomed on Sunday morning, along the south side of the house. More are going to pop up all around the property over the next week or so, since we're expecting lows in the 50's and highs in the high 60's and low 70's for the next several days... along with nearly daily rain, and breezy/gusty winds. Spring cleaning continues, and is likely to extend through Summer and into Fall, since there's…

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Brian Bilbrey

10 April 2026

Springing Back in late March, the first blooms started showing up in the yard. Galanthus nivalis, commonly known as snowdrops, made their appearance in the bed on the south side of the house, where I expect to find the most warmth, and thus the earliest bloomers: Then a few days later, the first Crocus vernus showed up in a front yard sunny bed. Of course, that progress was offset by snow a couple of days ago, about a half an inch on Tuesday afternoon, and another inch overnight to decorate the Wednesday morning landscape: Good news - that didn't even…

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