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!

Surprise!

Please don't faint! I know, I don't often post 2 days in a row, but I wasn't done sharing my pre- Christmas finishes. Today is our youngest grandson's 9th birthday, and I topped off his gift with this guy.

I also made this cowl for our daughter for Christmas and this bracelet for her birthday which is 3 days after Christmas. The shawl pattern/kit was created by our nephew's wife, Kate. She has a knitting shop in MN called Harriet and Alice named after her 2 grandmothers.

I got the bracelet kits from Earthfaire.

This bracelet was a birthday gift for a good friend.

Those bracelets were so much fun I ordered some more kits,  this time from Caravan Beads because Earthfaire had run out of them.  Have a fun, creative day!

Happy New Year!

 Where does the time go? The holidays are over, and I can finally share my finishes, but it's been almost a month since my last post. We had a quiet Christmas but not a quiet New Year. Our local neighborhood goes crazy shooting off fireworks, and this year the noise was louder than ever and went on for several hours. I am glad we don't have a dog! But, I sure can understand why everyone was glad to see 2020 go!  

Earlier this past week, we had a fun adventure. During December and January bald eagles gather in trees along the Skagit River which runs through the town of Rockport. The eagles like to feed on salmon that come down the river to spawn. Rockport's a couple hours' drive from here, but we decided to go see if we could find them. (The last time we made this drive in late February and were too late.  We saw only one eagle then and that was on the drive back home!)This time though we lucked out!  The birds are a little hard to see from a distance, but we must have seen at least ten.  Dick caught a few photos.

Boy, whatever they've done to Blogger sure has made things difficult! Sorry about all the white spaces!  So I will go on and try to post some of my finishes.  I made mittens for the Chicago grandkids,

and hats for the the local ones. 

The patterns are all on Ravelry:  mitten pattern, the pink hat ,  and the cat hat . ( I added the eyes and nose.)

Well, that's it for now.  I need to post more often before I forget all the tricks!  Right now I need to get back to my knitting.  A new baby arrived, and he needs a blanket!  Happy New Year! Take care all of you, and stay well.