Walk By The Creek

Hi Dear Folk,

All week I over dressed it has been up in the mid sixties by mid day.  Even yesterday when we went out for a walk, I was over dressed, then in came a thunderstorm and brought back the cold weather.

Saturday we took the opportunity to walk by the creek looking for signs of spring.  There are very few bright greens throughout winter here mostly browns.  Except for the moss and lichen.

Signs of spring leaves in the undergrowth.

An American robin.

Celandine flower.

Fungi on a tree.

In fact there was so much fungi on the tree it looked like a sea reef with embedded shells.

I have finished my scarf, it is very bright and a little different, but I did enjoy putting all those colours together.

The Boy is up in Ithaca for the weekend and I think he's had nice sunny weather.  He is picking something up for his mum.  Something I saw a year ago but never bought and asked Rob to stop by and see if it was still there and it was so he negotiated a good price on it last time he was there and is picking it up this weekend, because last time although he paid for it, he forgot to go back and pick up, and it's a very heavy item, wait and see.

Christy

Cheering My Way Through February

Hi Dear Folk,

Today is sunny and in the fifties, yesterday was almost seventy and all this week it is meant to be quite warm.  I always feel that the month of February is in no mans land, unless you take a trip up north to enjoy the snow, or down south to enjoy the sun.  It's when you think one must plan a trip, in fuse hope.  So how does one get through February, this is my formula.

Buy pie or make a pie.

Think about previous vacations.

Treat oneself to a new colour lipstick.  A friend always wears this colour and I like it.  So hard to find that just right colour, Revlon Mauvy Night.

Buy flowers, a Calla Lily, after which I went and bought three more, now I have them all on the dining room table and will baby them through the rest of the winter.

Viewing wildlife and always good it can be seen out of the kitchen window.  Let me tell you while he sat there not a squirrel was to be seen, they were all hiding out in the pine tree near our house.

Gift for a friend, Peacock Shawl.  I love the rhythm of this crochet stitch pattern.

Snow day off work.  Viewing all the birds just so busy looking for food.

Robins in the neighbors apple tree, bright little cheery dears.

Colourful yarn, given to me by a friend.  It was her mothers and she is in a nursing home.

Crocheting a scarf from all that yarn.  It's called the Circle of Life scarf, but I call it the Ammonite Scarf, because that is what all the endings look like to me.

Snow Day, the sun comes out.

More crochet, the finishing of my Dunvegan Loch Shawl, that is what the colours look like, colors seen along the waters edge.  I added crystal beads along the edge of the shawl as I ran out of yarn, I really wanted to go with a Picot edge which is what I put on the Peacock Shawl.

It is very warm.

Still thinking about the vacation.

Christy

Ethel and Ernest

Hi Dear Folk,

I just thought we needed some nostalgia, to counteract the doldrums of February.

Raymond Briggs honors his parents, Ethel and Ernest see here.

See here for the Telegraph Review and trailer.

With all my train travel to and from work, and not wanting to tote a book around, which I have been doing, I have downloaded an app called OverDrive that enables me to download books from my Library for free. I'm reading The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.

I would like to say it was a very thought out download, but being technically challenged and after having downloaded one book, which says was a successful download, but having zapped off into oblivion, in other words I can't find it on my Fire, I therefore tried to download the next book with different options and this actually showed up on my bookshelf.  I know all of you are way ahead of me on this, but a new world has opened.

Just to set everything up and then get to find the overdue book, that Mr. B. had promised he would return that very day, which was not posted to my library account and therefore was stopping me from downloading anything, I phoned the library and they said they would look for the book and in walks Mr. B. and plonks it down, all unbeknownst to me, and the lady says "here it is."  So Mr. B. had walked in at the very time they promised to hunt down the returned book.  Mr. B. and I are not in constant communication as some folk are.  So after said book was logged in I was able to download.

A book I have added to my reading list is It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclar Lewis, first published in 1935.  If it is as good a read as The Jungle it will be thought provoking.

Christy