Happy Fall! And a finish!

The leaves are turning beautiful colors,

 Big Leaf Maples are losing their leaves,

and I finished this cozy hat!

Have a great week!

 

Friday Felines

Apparently Ginger really likes this project!

 

Surprise! I finally Posted Something!

 It's been quite a long time since I posted anything, but we've been busy taking long walks,  working in our yard, and keeping up with our family.  In early August we had our first family gathering since 2019.  Despite the hazy skies from smoke, we had a really nice time.  It was fun seeing the cousins together also. All of them sure have grown in the past 2 years!

 We've taken lots of walks nearby and in the mountains. And we've also seen lots of animals, including a cougar on a trail near home! (We were too surprised to get a photo of that!)

In August I only finished 3 dishcloths, but this month I've been more productive: 2 prayer shawls for 2 friends with health challenges and a pair of booties for a choir friend's grand baby.

 So, that's what I've been up to lately. Now that our rainy weather seems to be back, I hope to post more frequently.

Happy July and Some Finishes!!

 Finally a new post!  It's been a bit crazy here. First, much to my surprise, my sister and BIL arrived on my birthday and made it extra special.  Then we had a terrible heat wave. One day the temperature at our house was almost a record setting 109 degrees, and keeping our plants alive was a challenge. However, we used some of the hot weather to get out of town, and we've also taken lots of walks in our local woods to keep cool.

Our first escape was to the North Cascades ranger station where we took a nice hike from there called the River Loop Trail.  The Three Fingers Mountain was in clear view also.

Then last week Wednesday we went to Mount Rainier. Typically, it was hiding, but we saw lots of other mountains and lots of pretty wild flowers plus SNOW!

Here's a bit of the view from the lodge. All those cars are in just one of the parking lots! We were surprised how crowded it was for the middle of the week. I did see quite a lot of out of state liscense plates though.

There were lots of water falls, thanks to the melting snow.

Avalanche lilies were everywhere, and we saw some Pasque flowers, as well.

There was still snow on some of the trails though.

And since my last post, I have finished 3 pairs of socks and a tiny dolly.

Monkey Socks

Embossed Leaves

Spring Forward

 

Covid Nurse (for a choir friend)

Tomorrow we are headed off to Hurricane Ridge for another adventure, and of course I'll be taking along some knitting! Have a great week! 😊

A Nice Walk on a Hot Day

Happy Flag Day! That photo of Mt. Rainier was taken about a week ago, and since then it's been pretty rainy. That day it  was really hot (for here), so we went to Coulon Beach to take our walk. The day before on our walk in our neighborhood, we watched a bunch of crows chasing a hawk! This time we saw turtles and a heron.

The turtles love to sunbathe.

A little ways down the path, we saw a lot of Canadian geese.  Within the flock was this Mama and her babies.  We chuckled to see the goslings trying to flap their "wings".

 

At the entrance to the walking/bike path entrance is this cairn.

I added a rock, and then we headed back to our car which was on the other side of the park. It's a fun place to go on a hot day!

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Yesterday we helped our church organist celebrate his retirement. It's so hard to see him go, but he deserves some time with his families after 30+ years on the job. (He and his wife liked the cross stitch tray, and I hope they will find it to be useful.)

Eye Candy Friday:

 Another  photo of our Favorite Mountain! You can see it from lots of places! Or do you think it moves around? 😉

Finally a Couple Finishes!!

 Now that this project has been finished and delivered, I can finally share it.  When I saw this kit, I knew it would be just perfect for our organist who is retiring next Sunday after 30+ years at our church. He also plays the piano, and his wife is an amazing flute player. It took a long time to stitch though.

And I actually completed a pair of socks as well as another bracelet.

At the moment, I'm working on another cross stitch that is quite complicated and another pair of socks, but in the meantime we 've been doing  lots of yardwork and taking lots of walks.

   Last Wednesday we had a crazy afternoon. It was really warm, so we decided to go to Gig Harbor, WA, for dinner and also visit one of my favorite yarnshops. When we pulled into the parking lot at the shop, I nearly fainted because the yarnshop was GONE! Luckily I looked up and saw that it had moved upstairs on the other side of the building.  After that we decided to go for a walk on the Cushman Trail before dinner.  Well,  we could only  find the alternate trail and got way too hot looking for the "real" trail.  We did see an interesting piece of artwork though as well as a great view of Mount Rainier.

 The post had carvings all the way around but this was my favorite part.

And then it was time to eat. Well guess what? The restaurant was closed for construction for 2 more days.  Luckily and thanks to our GPS we found another of the same restaurants on our way back home.  Our next walk wasn't nearly as exciting, but more about that another day.