Snail Spirals

Not a very productive fibery weekend this time. Poor little Emma was a sick chick, with a fever of 102°-104° and extreme clinginess from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon. Tylenol and cool washcloths controlled the fever (somewhat), but all she wanted to do was be held and rocked, with the occasional book or Dora the Explorer when the Tylenol was working. She hardly ate anything, and when that happens, we know she REALLY doesn’t feel good. After she threw up three times in the wee small hours of Sunday morning (all over herself, me, my bed, and her bed, of course) and still wouldn’t drink anything, it was to the point at Sunday noon that I was concerned she was getting pretty dehydrated and considering an after-hours emergency visit to the island clinic, which isn’t usually open on the weekends. Thankfully, she got up from her nap at 5:00 without a fever, and asking for orange juice. Whew. Color me a relieved mama.

Anyway, here’s the progress so far on the Daffodil Runner. This 30 rows, about 11 hours of crocheting.



I’ve just gotten to the point where the picture of the daffodils starts. The forked blob in the middle is the bottom of the stem, the swoop on the right is the first leaf. I really like the way this is working up- the mesh is coming out nice and even, and like the other doily I made from this thread, the fabric is drapey, smooth, and has a nice sheen.

In other flowery news, my Phalaenopsis has opened two more flowers, and is looking very pretty.



The blooms this time are definately more stripey-veined than last time. I wonder if it's the temperature that has such an effect on the coloration.



Since Emma was feeling so much better today, I decided that we could go for a walk in the afternoon. I wanted to go back to Jakle's Lagoon to see if the Heart-leaf Twayblade orchids that were in bud last weekend are blooming yet. Plus, it was a really beautiful day today, and after not leaving the house all weekend we both needed some fresh air.

This is the view from the parking lot at Jakle's Lagoon, looking northwest across Griffin Bay.



And here are the orchids blooming!



What? You don't see anything? Believe it or not, there are 34 orchid plants in that photo! They're fairly unobtrusive....



But like so many things, when you really look, they are beautiful. There's a purple form...



a pale form...



and an intermediate form...



All three color morphs occur mixed together, and a stand of these is quite beautiful even if it is only four inches tall. The flowers are so small and well camoflaged that I'd wager most of the people who walk the trails at Jakle's Lagoon never even know they're there.

In addition to the orchids, we saw some lovely morels. After Emma saw these she spent the next five minutes bouncing along chirping "Shroom!"



We also saw some of the slimier denizens of the Northwest. These are the last pictures in the post, and if you're squeamish about crawly things, you might want to stop reading now.

OK?

Ready?

For those of you who are still here, we saw lots of big banana slugs. Emma loves these, and kept picking them up and saying, "Yum yum yummy 'nanas.... Nooooo! Icky! HeeHeeHee!" She is just so cute.



This one didn't have the dark spots that they commonly show.


BOO!