Lots of Walking!

On the way home from getting our second COVID shot we caught a glimpse of the new moon! 

Since then we've had some really nice days, so we've been exploring the local trails. We started out with a trail built where there were originally rail road tracks and did a few sections over four different days. Most recently we walked on the part of the trail that goes through our town.

Much to our surprise we came upon this art called "Nails. It's on the trail that passes The Soun Transit light rail link in Bellevue. Just prior to that, the trail splits and passes a very marshy area  where we saw these ducks.

Art and nature all in one walk!

Yesterday because it was cloudy we just walked on our neighboring hills. A couple of days ago though we decided to check out another trail called the Lake to Lake. We haven't walked on a lot of it, but it seems to connect with the lakes in our city.

 

 We did go to Phantom Lake and also saw Phantom Creek on a side trail. There are lots of houses around this lake but we found one spot where we saw some folks with their bikes; they'd actually been wading Brrrr!  On the street side, we saw a Monkey Tree! They have the strangest looking fruit.

And then we saw the most amazing outdoor train layout. Have you ever seen anything like this outside?

Today we walked in the other direction on this part of the trail, but I will save those photos for another post.  I did, however, finish one whole project in February! Another bracelet.  These are so fun to do.

The quilt and counted X stitch aren't  close to being done though.  Enjoy the rest of your week!

All Gone!

Our snow is all gone except for this little bit. The good news is that the plants seem to have survived the cold!

Warmer temperatures and the rain helped a lot.

 One day recently, after we had walked in the rain,the skies cleared and we had a beautiful sunset.

 A few days ago I got a surprise package in the mail, this beautiful table runner that was crocheted by my friend Becca.  She knows that I love anything with hearts.  Isn't it lovely?

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Nothing else to report.  My current projects are coming along but won't be finished any time soon.  We'll see whether I can finish something totally different this week!

Lots More Snow!

We had a crazy weekend! The snow started on Friday with little flurries on our walk, but then the snow got serious. By Saturday evening we probably had a foot of snow which is really unusual for this part of the world! Here's what our backyard looked like:

Can you see the bird bath? There have been no birds in sight for the last couple of days!

The Holly looks kind of Christmasy, doesn't it?

However this little rose looks pretty sad!

The last time it snowed this much was in January of 2019, and our neighbor made this chair. Someone who saw it recently said it needs Bernie! I got a good laugh at that. But our neighbor didn't make another chair this time; she and her husband and my DH helped shovel out enough of our driveway so that an uphill neighbor could park her car here since she couldn't get up the hill to her house. Me, I've not been outside since our walk in the snow on Friday. I've been cooking more than usual and doing a bit of counted X-stitch and piecing a quilt for a change!

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 It sounds like the weather everywhere isn't very nice. My sister lives in MN and it's been really cold there, and the news says it's even pretty frigid as far south as Texas!  So, wherever you are at the moment, I hope you're staying warm.

Crazy Weather Here!

 This morning we woke up to a little snow, but it's almost gone now.

The snow was a surprise although it's predicted for later in the week. Having been drenched on our walk the day before and the evening ended in a beautiful sunset, yesterday we set out under blue skies!

And on top of a nearby hill, we even had a great view of Seattle! Can you see the Space Needle? It's there, but hard to see!

But most surprising of all were the flowers that have popped up in our garden! (Today I'll have to check to see how they are after the snow.)

 I love primroses and Helebore because they are early signs of spring!

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Not really much of anything crafty to show today; I am working on the SAHHR quilt and actually went through my cross stitch stash. Oh my, there's way more there than I remembered. And then there's the fabric and yarn supplies.  Gotta go get busy, right?

First Socks of 2021

 Happily, I just finished a WIP, the first pair of socks for this year. This yarn makes me think of chocolate sundaes. They don't quite match, but who cares?

When I sit at our computer, I can see this out of the window. I guess it's either the last rose of summer, or maybe the first rose of spring.  This morning I saw a humming bird checking it out. It always surprises me to see hummers when it's this chilly!

We've been trying to take our daily walks despite the weather and had a new experience the other day as it started to hail as we were headed home.  Luckily the hailstones were small and it was actually kind of fun and not as wet as walking in the rain. On one of our recent walks we were greeted by these plants. I am always happy to see them because it reminds me that spring is coming eventually!

Can you guess what they are?  See you later, it's about time for another walk!

Our Latest Adventure

Before yesterday's 17 hour power outage and Tuesday night's incredible windstorm, we took a drive on the backroads to Snohomish and just off the road we saw a huge flock of snow geese. I just learned that these birds come from Russia and stick around until May! 

This is what it looked like, although these  photos were taken near Mount Vernon a couple of years ago.

That time we got to see them leaving the field where they were.

The other thing that happened around here lately, two of our supposed Christmas cactus plants tried to bloom. (One other one bloomed at Thanksgiving.) They are confused, aren't they?

Thanks to yesterday's power outage not much of anything was accomplished here; we didn't even take our usual walk.  We did go for a little drive in the neighborhood to see what other areas were out, and when we got back home everyone's power was back on. Today's paper though said there are still some folks without light/heat. Hope that gets fixed soon!

A Little Getaway and a January Finish

On Thursday we drove up to the Summit at Snoqualmie Pass, elevation 3022. It's pretty snowy up there, isn't it? And the best part is there's not even one flake at our house!

Can you see the lady and her dog?

Here's my first finish of 2021.  It's a blanket for a very special little boy who was born on December 29th. It's our Chicago daughter's newest nephew, and we know his parents. That's it for today.  Happy Sunday!