Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Despite the smoky skies here during the waning days of August, our garden continued to surprise us with these pretties.

And we had a visitor that wasn't a deer!

Can you spot him?

This guy keeps showing up, too, and occasionally even brings a friend.

And best of all I finally finished this long-standing UFO!

Have a happy Labor Day weekend, everyone!

A Few More Finishes

We spent most of this weekend involved with our Worship through Music church services this morning.  However, I do have a few finishes to share.

I started this scarf/shawl a long time ago, and it's finally finished. It's an interesting pattern and include directions for a bind off that was new to me.

The colors in the second photo are truer to real life.

Like some others of my knitting friends, I've been in a dishcloth mood.  It was helped by the discovery of the fun Crazy Eights pattern which is reminiscent of the Almost Lost dishcloth.

Our recent warmer days have found me out working in the yard, or should I say fighting with Mother Nature?  Boy, is there ever a lot to do!  Our front yard camellia is really pretty this year.

Oh, and this week I got the strangest knitting request of my whole knitting life.  I may share it when it's completed.......  Have a happy week!

Cannon Beach and Last April Finishes

Wow, life got busy, and I'm later than usual with a new post.  We've been rehearsing with our choir for Sunday's Worship through Music concert.  If you are so inclined, you can watch the live stream at either 9 or 11 AM (Pacific Time) this Sunday, the 6th.  We are singing Ralph Vaughn William's Dona Nobis Pacem and a few other hymns.  We also spent a couple of other days at Cannon Beach, OR, and had the local GK at our house overnight, and Little Miss asked me to teach her to "yarn"!  (She's four.)

Can you guess this mountain?  It was visible in all its glory from a viewpoint en route.

A very low tide let us get close to Haystack Rock and its nearby companions.

This cave was approachable because of the low tide. It's on a beach south of Cannon Beach.

The bunnies are back at Tolovana and snacking on the grass!

When we got back home, we were pleasantly welcomed with these beauties.

And here are two of  my  last three April finishes:

The third one is still drying on the dining room table.  That scarf is a fun pattern for striping yarn that has fairly long color changes.  The socks also work well with striping yarn.  Can you see the one spot that has a dyeing issue?  So long for now, and a Happy May to you all!

"And Lo, the Days Are Hastening On......"

Does anyone besides me wonder who put the clock and calendar on fast forward? It's mid-December already and will soon be 2017.   Yikes!  The packages have been mailed, but there are still gifts to finish and wrap, music to learn, and, oh yeah, the Peace Project.  That is languishing, I'm afraid.  It'll get done eventually, but for sure not by the Dec. 21 date.  Oh well, it's supposed to bring peace, not stress.  I did complete another Interrupted Cowl, however.  (Don't tell anyone though that I have the yarn for two more......They won't get done any time soon either.)

I dove into my stash to find the next project, a Bead Stew bracelet, from Earthfaire.  I'd forgotten how much fun these are to make and also discovered a few more beaded projects patiently waiting for me to discover. (do?)

A while ago I promised to post more photos from the quilt show.  There's not room here for all of them, but when I saw this one I knew I had to include it for Dee.

Speaking of Dee, she is such a talented cross stitcher, and much to our delight, she sent us this sheep that is now reigning over our garden window.  Thank you, Dee!

At the moment it is pretty chilly (for us) here, and lots of plants are looking quite unhappy. Not long ago though Dick caught this photo of one of our Hydrangea plants.  The purple tipped leaves caught his eye.  Aren't they amazing?

And now I need to get back to work on an apron I'm making. Have a good evening.

Happy Autumn!

Leaves here are falling faster every day, but most of our trees have a long ways to go before they are totally bare.  Here's a leaf we found on our walk the other day.  It's pretty clear why this tree is called a Big Leaf Maple, isn't it?  (Thanks for the photo idea, Becca.)

When frost comes, this black-eyed Susan vine will be done, but we sure are enjoying its colorful flowers now.

This clematis blooms in the fall, but it would do better if we had more sunshine.

The Beauty Berry shows its tiny purple berries only in the fall.

Halloween will soon be here as well as the end of Daylight Savings. The days are getting shorter and sunrise is later, but we can still enjoy the garden.  Have a nice weekend!

A Fun Weekend!

Last weekend we had a relaxing time in Newport Oregon at Little Creek Cove, a place we discovered several years ago. We arrived there late in the day because we spent the afternoon in Portland visiting our nephew and his family. It was 106 degrees there, and somehow in the heat we failed to take any photos.  When we stepped out of our car at our destination, we were shocked to discover that the temperature on the Coast was only 55, quite a change in a matter of hours!

This area is so different from Cannon Beach, it's hard to believe.  Lots of sand dunes are between the building and the water's edge.  In fact, it takes a bit of work to get to the water! As any where on the ocean shore, the beach varies with the tide.

The next morning it was very foggy and chilly, but we walked a long ways down the beach because it was low tide.  Everywhere there were clumps of kelp that had washed ashore.

We had to watch our step a bit, too, because things like jelly fish also washed up onto the sand.  I wonder if this one survived until the tide came in?

We were entertained for a while by a sandpiper that was catching bugs hidden in the kelp. It was running to and fro so fast that Dick took a movie, hoping to catch it in action.

Just in case the upload didn't work, here's what  it looked like.

By late morning the fog started to lift and that evening we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

It was a fun place to celebrate our anniversary and all too quickly it was time to head back home.  We drove a short ways up the Coast before heading inland and stopped to take one last look at the Pacific at Cape Foulweather which was named by Captain Cook.  He must have been in a bad mood then, for the weather was wonderful, but with all the rocks, it must have been a difficult area to said through. It's supposed to be a good spot to see whales.

The day after we got back home, we had two surprises.  First there was a wonderful package from Katherine, my swap partner in Kathyb's Dishcloth swap. Aren't I lucky?  (Thanks first to Katherine for all the goodies and also to Kathy B for organizing the swap.)

The other surprise was out in our garden where the sundrop (evening primrose) decided to bloom for the second year in a row.  Our neighbor, another Kathy, gave it to us a few years ago, but it never bloomed until last summer, and hurrah, it decided to blossom again this year. 

 Life is good!

A Real Finish at Last!

One down, one to go!  Our two grand daughters have birthdays in August, 5 days apart. One gift is done and ready to mail, but I need to fill a request first. (She wants a night gown. Wish me luck!) Here it is, probably too large but that's better than too small, right?  Maybe if you enlarge the photo you will be able to see the buttons, they are suns!  Perfect for a rainbow sweater, don't you think?

I had to add these photos because the colors go so well with the sweater.  Our work in the yard has been rewarding, lots of pretty flowers.

Waiting for this fuchsia to open took a while but sure paid off!

Our newest rose tree outdid itself!  In a few days of warm weather, it looked like this.

Have a great week.  More soon of our weekend in Cannon Beach, OR, but now I have to get back to work.

Pretty in Pink.......

The garden work continues while the sun shines.  We finally got our water feature going after a year's hiatus. Hopefully, it's sturdy enough to resist the local wildlife!

Lots of plants are blooming now.  Do you notice a color theme here?

Even my most recent finished knitting project was in this color family:

However, there are other colors in the yard, and this one survived the recent 4-legged visitor. (I hope he stays away until the rest of them bloom, too!)

Have a great weekend!  We are celebrating the end of the choir season and a couple of birthdays.