Weather Extremes

We were at home and it was in the low 90's.  Our grandson came to swim.  At first he was a little hesitant.  He will be 4 in August, and he really does not remember much about swimming but he picked it right up again and got braver as the time went on.

He swam so long he got wore out.  But he was till smiling.  

We left on Friday to go to the cabin, so beat the heat.  Our temps were going to be up to 108 so we headed north were it was only going to be in the 90's.  It wasn't too bad, we figured out how to make the air conditioning and ceiling fan work together.  On Saturday I went to Weed to check out the thrift store and The Mercantile and the local Ray's Market.  I found these hankies.  I thought my daughter might like them.

I remember these as a child.  People gave them as tokens, a small gift for someone.  I remember how important it was to pick the perfect one for someone.  I have a few of my own tucked away, but these were too sweet to pass up.  

I also found this pie plate.  For me it ends up having another fond memory.  I have 2 dear friends who still live in Texas.  At one time the Fisherman worked for Texas Instruments, on the Hudson River and a lot of the people were from Texas.  The Fisherman went often to Dallas for meetings.  I never got to go.  So there was an opportunity for me to visit my friends in Texas when we lived in CA the first time.  I remember the East Texas Pottery from Marshall, Texas.  At the time I couldn't afford to buy any pieces, but I remember how much I liked it.  So for me this was a find at a quarter of its retail price.  I had been looking for something for fruit to have on the counter and this fits the bill perfectly and if I want to make a pie even better.  

The Fisherman was going to float the Scott River on Monday because the weather had already started to be slightly cooler.  He had to scrap that thought as in places it was too low even for the inflatable.  But the river at this bridge was gorgeous and I had to take these pictures.

I did drop them off in a different spot and he and his assistant walked a mile and a half up the river and back and I went to the little town of Etna.  I got to spend time with a fellow blogger Yetzirah and we talked and knitted.  She has this great garden going.  She gave me a yummy salad from the garden and a specially brewed tea she is working on.  We met through our commonality of knitting and a knitting group we both belonged to in Sacramento.  I truly enjoy her company and sense of humor.  

We will head home on Wednesday as the Fisherman ended up going to a meeting on Tuesday.  The weather last night turned completely as a front moved through and it became much cooler.  The birds on the island were actually quiet, probably because they were cold.  

Bats in My Belfry

I actually do not have a picture of the "bats in my belfry", the bats reside in a vent in a roof peak.  We are protected from them but they do make rustling noises.  In fact the picture of Pippi is not the one I wished I had taken.  Earlier she had hid her head between the pillows on the sofa so she couldn't hear them. They eventually calm down and you don't hear them.  They are only here during the warm months.  No one disturbs them because they are great bug catchers.

She is so sweet, loving and patient, and one of the best companions.  

I was finally able to finish the Five Hour (ha ha) Sweater, I am pleased with how it turned out, the buttons are mother of pearl in a pink-mauve tone shaped like flowers.  They are the same ones I used on Granddaughters sweater. I will make a hat to go with it next.  

We came to the cabin on Wednesday, the Fisherman found out Tuesday afternoon he had to be at a meeting on Wednesday.  It was a whirlwind, luckily we were basically ready to go.  We will probably have to always be ready to go for the Fisherman's job.  

The weather is gorgeous, what can I say.  We have had the Pelicans visiting in front, at first it was 2 and then at one point it was 6.  They are herding fish so they can catch them.  There are other birds there with them, but it is fun to watch them

The photo is not too clear, I did take a photo with a regular camera, which I will work on uploading.  Another group that appeared are the deer, they are like squirrels around here.  There are so many wandering around.  I guess they are a nuisance for the gardens and the landscaped yards, but there are not as many of those as you think.  Around the golf course there are more landscaped houses, but not where we are.  

I promise to do a better job about photos, will have to work on it.  

Finds and close to finished

We came up on Thursday and the Fisherman stopped at one of his favorite fishing holes to see how The Shasta River was doing.  The smell of the Scotch Broom drew me in.  We decided to pick some and when we drew up to the cabin the blue flowers were blooming, and perfect so I added them.

I started knitting Thursday night on a baby sweater,  it is a gift for a grandmother to give to her first grand-daughter.  She has 6 grandsons and this will be the first girl.  When they were changing residences we bought a loveseat, lamp, and some other goodies from their sale.  This pattern is one of my favorite easies.  It is made with Caron SImply Soft yarn this is my go to yarn for people who I don't know well and it is wash and wear, no worries.  I will probably make a hat and bunny slippers to go with it.

The color doesn't show as well as I would like in this picture, but the yarn is soft pink and the multi is a pink ombre.  I don't know if I like the combination as well as I would like, but it looks better now at this point.

I always snort when I say this is a 5 hour sweater.  It is from Ravelry and it is the 

Five hour baby boy sweater.  It is a great pattern and I can play with it.  It takes more than 5 hours, at least I think it does.  I knit Continental and I a pretty fast.  But then I have never just sat and knit on it for 5 hours.  So who knows.  The pattern book underneath was from a local Thrift store.  There are some great ones in the area and I have some goodies I have been picking up.  I think I mentioned the bread maker that had only been used a few times and works marvelously.  If we run out of bread I can make some.  I pre-bagged my measured out flour and have the other ingredients on hand, so easy and it does all the work.  

This is my favorite find.  It is a milk glass footed bowl and was a bargain.  I love milk glass and I was excited by this find.  The basket I will show another day, it was also from a thrift store and will be perfect with yarn in it.  

This little rocker was from the same store, it was too cute to pass up.  The pound puppy was found in a box in the garage, so I brought it along.

The bottle of wine was marvelous, we had it with our Friday night dinner.  I was looking for a wine that didn't give the Fisherman a headache.  I was at Trader Joe's on Greenback in Citrus Heights and ran into the Sommelier, they have now.  She is a wonderful lady who had just started there.  We got in a discussion and I was telling her about the Fisherman and she recommended 9 different wines in my price point of 5 to 6 dollars.  I was going to bring them all up and we decided to leave some at home.  She told me to take pictures of the wine I liked from the choices so I could buy them again.  This was just yummy.  Will buy it again.

Finished object (finally)

Here are 2 photos of my granddaughter in her finished sweater.  I finally sewed in all the ends from the stripes and put on the buttons.  The yarn is from Cascade it is a washable wool blend and great to work with.  The white looking base came from a local thrift store and was a real bargain.  The pink/purple/multi yarn was also Cascade from my local yarn shop, Babetta's.  Babetta helped me pick out the yarn to use for the mix.  I was worried there wouldn't be enough yarn as I had no true pattern I was following and no idea of how much I would need.  The pattern is an amalgam of 3 patterns.  It is a top down raglan with added button bands and hood.  I felt the white based yarn was too much white to stand alone and wanted to add color.  I used the whole skein of the multi yarn.  Of course it is too big, somehow when you go from 18 months size to a size 2 the patterns make a large leap in size, but she is definitely still growing so that isn't a problem And my model is only available every 8-10 weeks or so, so it is a guesstimate.  I finished it the day before we left to come home.

On Sunday grandson came to spend part of the day.  In the background you can see everything from the trip.  It still isn't gone yet, as some is going back with us tomorrow.  He loves his rocking horse and his cowboy hat.  I was very fortunate to find the old timey wooden rocking horse at a garage sale.  It is solid and wonderfully made by somebodies grandmother.  Who would almost be a great great grandmother to my grandson.  When I bought it I didn't even have a hint of grandchildren and I was mocked by my husband and my children for getting it.  Ha jokes on you!  It is painted wonderfully and it rocks great.  The cowboy hat sits on the horses head and when grandson comes he always goes for a ride wearing his hat.  He loves hats and anytime I come across a different one we pick it up.  

Well by for now, off to get better organized for tomorrow morning.

Sunset Views

On Thursday evening when we got to the cabin from Seattle, it had been storming off and on, some places got rain and some did not.  I took these photos from the deck as the sun was getting ready to set.  They are in the order of early to late.

It was very interesting to see the changes.  Friday there was fairly cool, very pleasant and on Saturday it was still cool for our 4 hour drive home.  It is nice to be home, we will be going back up on Tuesday.  So I will have more things to show and tell.

Last Day at Baby Girl's

There she is enjoying a day in the sun (very rare in the Seattle area.)  She loves her babies and playing with them.  Her imagination is very good for a 2.5 year old.

She is doing some play acting here, telling the Fisherman about her activity.

I had hoped to finish the POLE sweater but have run out of time.  I had to check out all my old haunts.  We lived here for 9 years and I know a lot of places to get in trouble.  One of my favorites is a Ben Franklin store, which has yarn, crafts, fabrics and way more ideas than I can even consider.  I always go to see what kind of yarn they have that I must have.  This time though I didn't have anything to catch my eye, not even sock yarn.  I did find some fabric though,  it is a black ground with assorted fish on it.  Years ago they had something similar and I used it to trim Christmas stockings for our son and the Fisherman.  I got 2 yards and it was an extravagance, but I have enough to do some pillow covers and use the extra to trim things.  It will be fun to figure out how to use it.  I also went to 2 Value Villages (a thrift store) and was very tempted by some things but didn't find what I wanted.  Another thrift store and nothing there, but they were all quick stops.  Traffic here is worse than when we lived here.  I complain about Sacramento, that is a piece of cake.  

Baby girl is enjoying her at-home day and so are we, I am doing all the mundane things to get ready to head out in the morning back to the Cabin at the Lake and a day, at least of relaxation before we head home.  

Baby Girl

We are here on the eastside of Seattle, taking care of our darling, adorable granddaughter, who I call "Bubbles."  She is so much fun and and busy, busy.  She is 2 years and 5 months.  Her Mom and Dad are off on a junket to look at Austin, Texas.  So we have 5 days to cherish and spoil our little girl.

"Bubbles" and the Fisherman are watching PBS on the IPad, which she is very proficient on.

This was at nap time yesterday, I think we wore her out. 

                                         
And here she is playing Peek a Boo.  We are having  good time with her.