More Finishes!

 I've done lots of knitting lately since most of our usual activities have been cancelled.  The saddest victim  was my volunteering at the UW hospital as the whole Arts in Healing program has been cancelled.  And I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.😢

Before the recent lockdown, we did get to Cannon Beach, OR, one of our favorite getaways.

As you can see by the waves, it was very windy along with a King tide.

And there are still lots of bunnies that allow you to get close enough to almost pet.  The city has posted a "do not feed" law, but the bunnies seem to be surviving well on the grass!

These were for a tiny preemie who is doing OK, thankfully.

There have been quite a few babies to knit for lately.

I spent most of October on the Sharon Shawl and Cowl and have enjoyed wearing the cowl on our walks.  Have any of you tried these patterns?  I found them challenging! They were also a great way to reduce my stash a little bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I think that's about all of my October finishes. Next time I'll share my November projects, but now I need to get back to work on the Christmas projects.  Will I ever learn to start earlier?

 

Our Friday Feline

 

It's About Time That I Posted, Don't You Think?

 Where does the time go? We are fine, but it seems like the days slip by without me posting or reading any blogs.  Our days seem to be busy with lots of walks (even in the rain!) and lots of Christmas knitting on my part.  Hope all is well with each of you in this crazy time! And now I'm noticing lots of changes on Blogger.

Yesterday was was exceptionally clear.  Do you recognize this snowy mountain?

It's not always clear weather here though.  Here's the view from another recent walk! The city in the distance is downtown Seattle.

On a recent walk in the nearby woods, we were amazed to see all these mushrooms. This tree was covered with them!

Two finished projects!

On these chilly days, Ginger loves this spot under the computer right on the register when the furnace is running.

Well, it's almost lunch time and then more knitting to do, so I will sign off and do some catching up here soon.  Stay well my friends!

Finally! Our First Adventure Since Covid Hit!

Last week we finally got out of the house, and it wasn't for grocery shopping! We hopped in our car and went to Deception Pass which is a beautiful spot not far from here. It was a beautiful day, and we even did a bit of hiking!

We stopped at a wayside on our way and discovered an amazing tree. This sign explains it's history.

 Once this tree was once 200 feet tall with a trunk that is still 20 feet in diameter! It was chopped down sometime in the 1800's, and all that's left now is this stump. Thankfully someone preserved it!

This is the landmark bridge that you cross en route to the park. It connects Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island. It is unusual in that it has both saltwater and freshwater shorelines.  It's also fun to explore.

 

We hiked down to this beach. It's a great hike; it is, however, uphill all the way back!

There are lots of interesting old trees all along the trail.

 We made it down to the beach, and here I am resting up for the trek back uphill. As you can see there are lots of trees that have washed up on the beach. It was great to get back out into the woods!

Today Is a Special Day!

 Fifty-five years ago today we started our life of love and adventure together.

Here's what our family looked like five years ago when we celebrated our 50th in Oceanside, CA.

Our grand children are more grown up now, and I guess the rest of us probably look older now, too.  But even though we can't get together today, we are counting our blessings.  Life is good!

A Younger Visitor!

This week we had a younger deer in our yard! He snacked on a few plants and then went out front to look around. 

He totally ignored the neighbor's potted plants and took off out to the back and then over to the uphill neighbor's yard.

Later in the week we saw another larger deer that was lounging in someone's yard further up on our hill.

Tucked inside this dolly's skirt is this dolly. 

The pattern is "Sister's" from Susan B. Anderson's book Itty Bitty Toys.  It's a fun but somewhat time consuming project!

We have some pretty plants blooming at the moment in our pots.  This begonia spends the winter in our garage but never fails to appear each summer!

This is probably my favorite plant this summer.  Its flowers are yellow when they first open,  then gradually add purple before the yellow pretty much disappears. I've never seen anything quite like this. Have you?

On a clear day this is our reward for walking to the top of our hill. The mountain is out!  Actually it's about 60 miles away.

Wouldn't it be nice to see this view from your window?  Can you guess what mountain this is?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enjoy the rest of the day! We are headed to a birthday celebration in a little while. Oh, BTW I think I'm using the new version of Blogger. I have no idea why my photos are so enormous! Well, I just discovered that I had to make my photos smaller. This version takes some getting used to!!  Also It pays to preview!

How'd It Get to Be August Already?

Somehow the days fly by quickly even though we're not doing much except lots of walking and gardening thanks to Covid-19. On our walks we've seen and remembered to bring our camera along to  photograph a couple examples of sidewalk/road art. It seems the color disappears after a few days though.

And during the last part of July, I finished a couple more knitting projects and am now waiting for some yard to arrive so I can finish another pair of booties. (I lost at yarn chicken!) This was the first time I ever knit a lovey.

It's not the first time I've made a this shawl pattern, however.

Then I finally finished this pair of socks for a friend who crochets. This is the sock that I ended up ripping out the second one when I was down to the heel.  But it's finally done now and being modeled by the recipient.  Best of all, it fit!! 

Apparently the garden has appreciated the extra attention because it's blessed us with some beautiful flower this summer.

Two different kinds of Hydrangeas

A  Stargazer Lily which now has 8 of the 9 buds open!

And this one is the strangest of all. All these roses are from the same bush!

For the first time I can remember, all but one of my violets are blooming at once.

This one is the prettiest with its ruffled petals.

Well, enough of this "flower show,"  I need to go water the outdoor pots.  See you next time. Hope you all are well and having a good week!

What's Up?

Nope, I've not vanished, but our garden has been calling along with lots of walking as well as some other projects to keep me busy.  I've been very bad about reading posts as you may have noticed, too. It's so hard to stay inside when the weather's nice.

Recently I finished this prayer shawl for the mom/wife of two choir members.  She is fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer, and a number of us choir folk have been providing food for the family as they are consumed every day with lots of doctor appointments.  It's very sad.

On a happier note, another choir member and his wife welcomed their first child, so I made her some booties. I have several other projects in progress....actually a whole lot!

This beautiful guy paid a surprise visit to our backyard recently! He looked around a bit and chomped a little on the dogwood before strolling on his way somewhere else.

This tiny baby bunny visited us, too. Now if we could only teach it to just eat the grass and skip everything else!

The  roses are about done now, but

there still are other flowers to enjoy fortunately.

Oh, I just remembered a couple other finishes.

I surprised a choir friend who's a nurse with this little person

and made a couple of hats, one for a baby boy that's yet to arrive and his big sister.

~~~

Well, that's all for now; it's time for a walk.  I hope you are all weathering this strange time in good health!  Take care.