In Search of Cranes and Sunshine

Becca of Patina Moon has some lovely photos of the greenery of Washington state that's quite in keeping with its nickname as the Evergreen State. Our state has another side, however, one that we recently explored. In the spring sandhill cranes stop in Eastern Washington enroute to their summer breeding grounds much further north. One recent sunny day, we headed over Snoqualmie Pass to see if we could find some of these big birds. This is what we found instead, something even larger!

Lots and lots of wind turbines. Did you know those blades are 121 feet long and weigh just under 6 TONS? And this particular windfarm consists of 149 turbines, working hard to create energy.

Perhaps you can enlarge this photo and read all about it yourself? Many people think that the weather in Washington state is mostly rainy; and yes, here in Western Washington we do have our share of cloudy days and sometimes lots of rain (7" in March here in Seattle!), but in the eastern part of the state where the apples, cherries and wheat grow, the farmers actually have to irrigate their fields, and the landscape looks like this.

No matter where you are though, east or west, if you know where to look and the sun is out, you can see "The Mountain" (Mount Rainier~can you see it?) or  these mountains too.

When we weren't busy chasing the sunshine, I've been working in the yard, knitting, and stitching on a new Sunbonnet Sue, my TAST project for May and of course, playing with Max.

Another Busy Week~~~

While trying to finish up this Sunbonnet Sue block, I was also working on this project.

Max just got home from his first family vacation and is trying to tell you all about it. He's happy with his new sweater, too, since Seattle isn't nearly as warm as Hawaii!

His feet haven't outgrown these.....yet.

Thanks to encouragement from Debra , I've been experimenting a bit with the embroidery features of my sewing machine. That was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Now though, the sun is out and the garden is calling.....LOUDLY!

PS Thanks again to Brian Walter, Carl's diving friend, we have this Diving Video. I couldn't figure out how to embed it, but it's a fun one to watch.  Enjoy!

Catching Up~~~

This past week has been a busy one. Besides our "normal" stuff, we've had visitors from Colorado. We did a few of the touristy things before taking them up to Mount Vernon to meet Nancy's brother. And no, we didn't get to see the tulips because it was RAINING, and we ran out of time. We did see a beautiful clump of trilliums on a walk through our neigborhood though.

Some of our family were off vacationing. Uncle Carl went SCUBA diving in the Bahamas. He got back last night, and it sounds like he had a very good time. (Photo courtesy Brian Walter)

This little fellow is enjoying the sunshine in Hawaii with his mommy and daddy, so we didn't get our "Max-fix" this week. I made the socks a long time ago for Cousin David.

Sunbonnet Sue had a few more french knots added to her dress along with a bit of stitching on it and her hat. Today, however, it's way too nice out to stay inside, and I'm headed to the garden. See ya!

This and That~~~

It took me a long time to finish the second sock, but it's done! The pattern is Cookie A's Monkey, details on Ravelry.

Our group quilt for the local Ronald MacDonald house only lacks a binding. Each of us made a row, using the challenge fabric. Can you tell which one that is? Linda sewed it together and quilted it, and Nancy is probably sewing the binding as I'm typing this. My row is the hearts.

Easter in Chicago. Looks like fun, doesn't it? Thanks, Michael, for taking this photo!

Max is too little to hunt for eggs, but his mommy talked him into modeling these light-up bunny ears. I doubt she'll get him to cooperate in this scheme in the future!

Male Bonding ~~

It looks to me like Max is thinking, "I wish Oma'd hurry up and make a new sweater. This one is getting awfully tight!"

Opa and Max, one of the few photos of the photographer~~

Uncle Carl and Max, the only photo of these two together so far~~

Here's our normally happy boy!

And this photo I forgot to post earlier. It was taken a couple Saturdays ago out the backdoor window at Brent and Catherine's house. (One of the few times recently we could even see the moon!) Now I'm off to work on this month's Sunbonnet Sue. Happy Easter everyone!

One Happy Little Fellow!

Max loves "going to the gym"!

Just what he needs for a workout, don't you think?

Waiting for Spring!

When we left Chicago last week, the temperatures were rising. Little did we know that we'd be waking up to dustings of snow almost daily back home! The gloomy cold weather has made it easy to stay inside and knit or stitch.

As a result, I finished this pair of socks~

And this scarf. (Details for both are on Ravelry~link on sidebar)


I also finished my third Sunbonnet Sue block for TAST. This month there were two completely new stitches to me: the whipped wheel and the barred chain stitch. It was a challenge to use them on the block, but I did. Can you find them?


Here's Mocha inspecting my practice piece. I wonder what she's thinking?


PS The sun's out today, so I'm going OUTSIDE!