People, including Randy, keep offering to mow my ‘lawn’ for me but I decline. I don’t even call it a lawn. It was a meadow before this cabin was built. In fact, when we first moved in we had tadpoles each spring where it stood water. But they put in drains so that’s gone, but I am the one who cares for the place so I choose to only mow twice a year. I have a lovely bunch of rose clover this year and there are ox-eye daisies, English daisies, ajuga, self heal, dandelions, thyme, and oregano escaped from planters. Sage and roses and black-caps around the edges, wild flocks (make that phlox!:blush: ), lungwort, many many grasses and lots of different ferns along the creek edge. There’s a little pink flower whose name I don’t know but who’s face I enjoy, too. And bees & butterflies and other pollinators. The birds were pictured earlier, but there’s also hummers, and robins, and grosbeaks, and little ones we hear but hardly ever see. flickers and woodpeckers (including the pileated pair) who we certainly hear! And the doe brings her fawns in the summer. I fence my tomatoes and the rest is open. Well, my point is, I have a lovely yard and I Don’t Have To Mow Or Poison anything! 🙂
If I want a golf course… my poor deluded neighbor has one. 😦

Well, fluffy big clouds, anyway. I never heard any thunder and the rain we got was just a regular fall-down-and-wet-everything-for-several-hours type of rain rather than the noisy frog strangler that usually comes with a Thunder storm. But the clouds were pretty and the rain was welcomed so it was all okay as it was. Today was a lovely warm rainless day, with temperature back up into the 70’s. I worked on rearranging the studio and the storeroom. Made lots of room and organized some stuff so that (hopefully!) I can find it when I need it without searching for days. I want to set up my knitting machine again & I think I have room for it now. Once Himself gets my shelves built I’ll start sorting yarn and once that’s done I’ll post an invitation to anyone who wants to drop by and craft. I think I’ll offer weaving, knitting, or crocheting lessons if anyone wants to learn the basics, too.
I think it’ll be fun. 🙂

They get up every now and then and look to see if it’s still raining. It is, so they have a bit of a snack and go back to bed. I’ve been a little more active but not a lot! Got some loom business done this morning, bade the cousins goodbye as they left to go back to Oakland for a couple weeks, and since then have mostly been trying to teach myself to knit cables. Guess I’ll have to do something domestic in a bit… vacuum maybe. On the other hand, it’ll just get mucked up again so I may just join the cats!
Hope your day is relaxing! 😉

Isn’t she elegant?! This is Margaret and she’s wearing the first sweater that I ever steeked. I think that’s the correct word. I designed it as I went along, stitched and cut without fear. It being as small as it is I could be brave! I think it turned out very nice and could even lead to larger projects. But this is another one that I did not write a pattern for so will not get into the book. The first one is a rather lovely (if I do say so) entrelac pull over in lavender and yellow.

I love knitting for Margaret, tho. She never complains about the fit or that the wool itches or she doesn’t like the colors, and she looks good in everything. Her sweater and faux pleated skirt were also designed by me. 🙄 Sis is test knitting my patterns (woo, was that necessary!) and I hope to be ready to Publish soon.

No, not mine! Randy and his cousin Dan hiked up to Stoddard Lake, elevation +/-6000′. They got snowed on in the night. I was a little worried when it started raining here bout 10pm last night. It rained all night, too, but I guess they enjoyed their hike in any case, and arrived home this afternoon only partially wet. 😉
This is Stoddard lake yesterday evening, the ice is breaking up in a rather interesting pattern, I thought. And the foreground reflection has not a ripple. He took another photo this morning with the clouds sitting down nearly to the water. A very cold looking view! :O
Lots of Horse trailers headed for the Alps yesterday but I think there’s going to be some disappointed riders as the trails are still pretty solidly closed by snow. There’s very likely quite a few wet campers, too! Well, we have been needing this rain, even if the timing is inconvenient. 😀

One of the two born (hatched?) in my rose bush. The cats are locked up for a couple days until these guys get the hang of flying. The cats sit at the window and show their Evil Sides. It’s a Stellar Jay. I walked around just now and saw one of the parents but not the young’ns. One of them was taking short flights off the back steps this morning. Good luck, Guys! 🙂

Springtime brings us thoughts of flowers and babies but the babies we think of first are usually chicks or lambs… fluffy sorts of babies. Here’s one just as cute, tho! That’s my bro-in-law’s foot there to show how tiny this guy was. He was ‘truckin’ across the pasture and managed to avoid being stepped on by donkeys and alpacas but he got a helping hand to safer ground, anyway.

Springtime brings us thoughts of flowers and babies but the babies we think of first are usually chicks or lambs… fluffy sorts of babies. Here’s one just as cute, tho! That’s my bro-in-law’s foot there to show how tiny this guy was. He was ‘truckin’ across the pasture and managed to avoid being stepped on by donkeys and alpacas but he got a helping hand to safer ground, anyway.

People frequently ask why it’s called Coffee Creek. Now you know. The spring run-off comes as latte’, I guess it’d be, with cream?, but it’s always brown when the snow melts as rapidly as it has been doing the last two days. You should hear it! It’s roaring. But tho it’s high, into the first over-flow, there no danger of flooding this year and I expect it to start dropping today or tomorrow. The mountains are turning green again. And our cousin and some friends hiked to Stoddard lake yesterday, too. If they can get there (or nearly there) this time of year, summer is here.
Randy’s gone hiking today, too. Cuz was supposed to go with him but opted out. I’m not happy for him to be going alone, but it’s just a day hike and he’s experienced and has never had any ‘adventures’.
Hope you’re seeing wonderful hiking weather where you are.

My just about to turn 13 grandson, Shane winning the track race. It was his first attempt at sports and he did us up proudly! He did not inherit his athletic abilities from his gramma! 😀 Way to go, Shane!

It’s finally warm here in the north west! Beautiful! I love it! Spent the day doing what is pretty much spring cleaning… digging out from under all the stuff that has accumulated in the studio over the winter. Still have a way to go, but it’s thinning! My next project is to hang all my looms artistically on the wall. They’ll look nice and I’ll be able to find the one I need at a moments notice.