Monday, July 10, 2006
It's lavender time!!!
This is the harvest from one of the big lavender bushes in the back yard. I got six big bunches, and there's still the second bush to harvest. I found that I didn't cut the bushes back hard enough last year, and they went all sprawly and floppy this summer. I whacked them severely (cut back by about half, this time) and they should be much happier next year.
This is the harvest from one of the big lavender bushes in the back yard. I got six big bunches, and there's still the second bush to harvest. I found that I didn't cut the bushes back hard enough last year, and they went all sprawly and floppy this summer. I whacked them severely (cut back by about half, this time) and they should be much happier next year.
Friday, July 07, 2006
OK, so I may be in trouble with this urchin shawl and my self-imposed deadline. Here's how much of the charts I have done so far:
And here's what I have left:
If I think I can get this done in slightly over a month, it's possible that I've finally lost it. The last round I did had 800 stitches, and every fourth round adds 20.
I did four rounds last night, and it took two hours. I have 142 rounds left. Plus 40 repeats of the 40 stitch wide/ 35 row tall edging.
I have 39 days remaining until the Fair.
And here's what I have left:
If I think I can get this done in slightly over a month, it's possible that I've finally lost it. The last round I did had 800 stitches, and every fourth round adds 20.
I did four rounds last night, and it took two hours. I have 142 rounds left. Plus 40 repeats of the 40 stitch wide/ 35 row tall edging.
I have 39 days remaining until the Fair.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
My sister and her boyfriend were here last week, and we had such fun! (Hence the lack of posting all last week.) One of the things we did was go camping, the first time I’ve been camping in several years, and Emma’s first time ever. It was a huge success, and I think we’ll be going more this summer and fall.
We left Thursday morning, and drove over the Cascades on Rt. 20, toward Winthrop. This is the same route Shaun and Emma and I took last October to look at the leaves, and it was just as beautiful this time.
We drove to Winthrop again, to admire the mountains and have lunch and get dinner fixings, then went back a little ways along Rt. 20 to the Lone Fir campground in the Okanogan National Forest. It was so beautiful!!! We camped alongside a lovely stream, Early Winters Creek, which was sparkly and clear and noisy and cold.
Before dinner, we went hiking on a trail that left from the campground, which was quite convenient. It went in a loop along Early Winters Creek, crossing several tributaries and the main stream along the way. Such a pretty area! The trail was only about two miles long, and the first part is paved for wheelchair access, so it was a nice walk.
Emma thought the tent was super fun, and spent quite a while that evening (after she was supposed to be in bed) walking around and around inside, singing to herself and rearranging the sleeping bags.
Unfortunately, this also continued after Shaun and I went to bed. Luckily, after it got really dark, around 10:30 or so, she settled down.
Emma and I were up bright and early at 6:00 the next morning, and took ourselves on a bird and flower walk around the campground so the rest could sleep some more. It’s so much easier to get up early when you’re camping and there are lots of things to look at! I got a great close up look at a McGillivray’s warbler and some evening grosbeaks, and heard three kinds of thrushes, several sparrow species, chickadees, goldfinches, ravens, etc.
There were some gorgeous wildflowers out, too, most of which I had never seen before! Woot! The Life List expands!
Most spectacular, and spotted from the moving car as well as in the campground, were the lilies and lupines.
Columbia tiger lily (Lilium columbiana).
Not quite as big as hybrid garden lilies, but just as orange and more beautiful because they’re wild.
Broadleaf lupine (Lupinus latifolius)
There were lots of other flowers scattered all over the campground:
Crimson columbine (Aquilegia formosa)
Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
Queen cup (Clintonia uniflora)
And an orchid!
Slender bog orchid (Platanthera stricta)
This was growing near the stream, in a small boggy depression. A good-sized population; I saw at least a dozen plants in about 50 square feet of that particular boggy spot.
The next day we headed home, stopping along the way a couple times. The first time was to hike the Blue Lake Trail, but we couldn’t because after about a hundred yards, it was snowed in! I did get to see some marsh marigolds in a streambed where the snow had already melted.
Marsh marigold (Caltha leptosepala)
Emma enjoyed playing in the snow and throwing snowballs at Daddy for a while, and then we moved on in search of a trail that was open.
We ended up at the Thunder Creek Nature Hike, which is a shortish loop hike (though it has some steep sections!) in the woods upstream of the Colonial Creek Campground. There’s also the main Thunder Creek Trail that goes along the river, and we did a bit of this trail, intending to turn around when we got to the bridge over Thunder Creek, but we never did find the bridge. Either the map distances were a bit misleading and we didn’t go far enough or we missed the turnoff.
I did, however, get to see lots more wildflowers, including
Bog wintergreen (Pyrola asarifolia)
And another new orchid!
Western coralroot (Corallorhiza mertensiana)
These are much more pink and white than any of my books show, with no brown or yellow tones. I feel pretty confident, though, that this is the correct identification, and the University of Washington Herbarium website has some pictures that look almost this pink.
Such a fun trip!
We left Thursday morning, and drove over the Cascades on Rt. 20, toward Winthrop. This is the same route Shaun and Emma and I took last October to look at the leaves, and it was just as beautiful this time.
We drove to Winthrop again, to admire the mountains and have lunch and get dinner fixings, then went back a little ways along Rt. 20 to the Lone Fir campground in the Okanogan National Forest. It was so beautiful!!! We camped alongside a lovely stream, Early Winters Creek, which was sparkly and clear and noisy and cold.
Before dinner, we went hiking on a trail that left from the campground, which was quite convenient. It went in a loop along Early Winters Creek, crossing several tributaries and the main stream along the way. Such a pretty area! The trail was only about two miles long, and the first part is paved for wheelchair access, so it was a nice walk.
Emma thought the tent was super fun, and spent quite a while that evening (after she was supposed to be in bed) walking around and around inside, singing to herself and rearranging the sleeping bags.
Unfortunately, this also continued after Shaun and I went to bed. Luckily, after it got really dark, around 10:30 or so, she settled down.
Emma and I were up bright and early at 6:00 the next morning, and took ourselves on a bird and flower walk around the campground so the rest could sleep some more. It’s so much easier to get up early when you’re camping and there are lots of things to look at! I got a great close up look at a McGillivray’s warbler and some evening grosbeaks, and heard three kinds of thrushes, several sparrow species, chickadees, goldfinches, ravens, etc.
There were some gorgeous wildflowers out, too, most of which I had never seen before! Woot! The Life List expands!
Most spectacular, and spotted from the moving car as well as in the campground, were the lilies and lupines.
Columbia tiger lily (Lilium columbiana).
Not quite as big as hybrid garden lilies, but just as orange and more beautiful because they’re wild.
Broadleaf lupine (Lupinus latifolius)
There were lots of other flowers scattered all over the campground:
Crimson columbine (Aquilegia formosa)
Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
Queen cup (Clintonia uniflora)
And an orchid!
Slender bog orchid (Platanthera stricta)
This was growing near the stream, in a small boggy depression. A good-sized population; I saw at least a dozen plants in about 50 square feet of that particular boggy spot.
The next day we headed home, stopping along the way a couple times. The first time was to hike the Blue Lake Trail, but we couldn’t because after about a hundred yards, it was snowed in! I did get to see some marsh marigolds in a streambed where the snow had already melted.
Marsh marigold (Caltha leptosepala)
Emma enjoyed playing in the snow and throwing snowballs at Daddy for a while, and then we moved on in search of a trail that was open.
We ended up at the Thunder Creek Nature Hike, which is a shortish loop hike (though it has some steep sections!) in the woods upstream of the Colonial Creek Campground. There’s also the main Thunder Creek Trail that goes along the river, and we did a bit of this trail, intending to turn around when we got to the bridge over Thunder Creek, but we never did find the bridge. Either the map distances were a bit misleading and we didn’t go far enough or we missed the turnoff.
I did, however, get to see lots more wildflowers, including
Bog wintergreen (Pyrola asarifolia)
And another new orchid!
Western coralroot (Corallorhiza mertensiana)
These are much more pink and white than any of my books show, with no brown or yellow tones. I feel pretty confident, though, that this is the correct identification, and the University of Washington Herbarium website has some pictures that look almost this pink.
Such a fun trip!
Last Thursday morning, we got the sad news of the death of one of Shaun’s one-month-old twin nieces. She died of SIDS. It’s such a horrible thing to have happen, and I feel just awful for her parents and siblings.
As hard as it was for me to lose my mom, I think it would be even worse to lose a child. Just the though that something might happen to Emma makes me get a panicky, crushing, suffocating feeling in my chest. I would do literally anything to protect her. I would jump into an icy river, I would run into a burning building, I would stand up to a giant mean dog. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic, but there you go. Anything.
The thought of what my sister-in-law must be going through is terrible. She was the one to find the baby. I’m sure she feels the same way about her kids as I do about Emma, but in this case there was nothing she could do for her little girl. She had already taken all the precautions like laying her on her back to sleep, breastfeeding, not smoking, etc. It’s just so tragic.
Shaun went to California to the funeral, but we couldn’t afford for all of us to go. I wanted to do something for them, more than just sending a store-bought card, so I made this card on Sunday night.
The angel is crocheted with #80 tatting thread, and is removable from the card. I hope it serves as a loving remembrance of their little one who has gone back to the angels.
As hard as it was for me to lose my mom, I think it would be even worse to lose a child. Just the though that something might happen to Emma makes me get a panicky, crushing, suffocating feeling in my chest. I would do literally anything to protect her. I would jump into an icy river, I would run into a burning building, I would stand up to a giant mean dog. I don’t mean to sound overly dramatic, but there you go. Anything.
The thought of what my sister-in-law must be going through is terrible. She was the one to find the baby. I’m sure she feels the same way about her kids as I do about Emma, but in this case there was nothing she could do for her little girl. She had already taken all the precautions like laying her on her back to sleep, breastfeeding, not smoking, etc. It’s just so tragic.
Shaun went to California to the funeral, but we couldn’t afford for all of us to go. I wanted to do something for them, more than just sending a store-bought card, so I made this card on Sunday night.
The angel is crocheted with #80 tatting thread, and is removable from the card. I hope it serves as a loving remembrance of their little one who has gone back to the angels.
Has it really been almost two weeks since I posted? Gosh. It’s certainly not for lack of anything to say- there’s been a lot I wanted to post about, but there’s been so much going on and it seems like I could never get a post organized until something else happened that I wanted to talk about as well. The behind-er I got, the harder to catch up! Therefore, I’m going to split up one overwhelmingly long post into four smaller posts, even though I’m writing them all at one sitting.
Anyway, first an update on the garden:
One of the volunteer sunflowers is now almost as tall as I am. The other is much shorter, with a stouter stem. The tall one is starting to lean alarmingly when it’s windy, and I may have to stake it. I did see it leaning against the rosebush today, though, so maybe they will hold each other up.
The rosebush? See for yourself:
I believe I said in a previous post that each spray had 15 or so 3” flowers. What was I thinking? Each has more like 50 flowers!
The volunteer petunias (ten plants at last count) are also blooming full tilt, and so far they all look pretty much like the stripey parents. Yay!
I’m tickled no end that the petunias reseeded themselves and are blooming. It’s like a present! I’m feeling the gardening itch again, and hope that wherever we end up living next year has space for a garden. It’s been six years since I had a veggie garden, and I think I miss it. Of course, seeing pictures of beautiful gardens on people's blogs may have something to do with it.
I’ve also been enjoying the nature-made garden of San Juan Island, and in the past week or so have seen two new orchid species for my Life List.
Alaska rein-orchid (Piperia unalascensis)
This is a three foot tall species with tiny green flowers in a long spike. The individual flowers are unobtrusive (though beautiful close up), but the overall effect of a stand of them is pretty.
Lesser round-leaved orchid (Habenaria orbiculata).
I first saw this in leaf a couple years ago, but this is the first time I’ve seen it blooming. The flower spike is about a foot tall, with many small white and green flowers. Just lovely.
Another update- the aquarium. So far no Corydoras eggs have been spotted. Either all the activity last week was just practice, or they’ve been eating the eggs. Or hiding them really, really well. I did a water change and cleaning today, and didn’t see any babies, so I’m thinking that if there were any, they didn’t make it past the gauntlet of tetras and catfish. I know Corydoras will sometimes eat their own eggs, and I’d bet that the tetras would eat any babies they encountered. I fed the tank frozen brine shrimp Monday for the first time, and apparently brine shrimp, even more than tubifex worms, are “fishy crack.” Quite a spectacular feeding frenzy.
The last miscellaneous update from around the house is that I finished the daffodil filet crochet piece. No picture yet, though. I started blocking it and ran out of T-pins, so it's not ready for its public debut yet. But it's done!!!!! I also finished the first set of charts on the urchin shawl, and am having serious doubts whether I will actually be able to finish it by the Fair. If I do, it will be a serious marathon.
Anyway, first an update on the garden:
One of the volunteer sunflowers is now almost as tall as I am. The other is much shorter, with a stouter stem. The tall one is starting to lean alarmingly when it’s windy, and I may have to stake it. I did see it leaning against the rosebush today, though, so maybe they will hold each other up.
The rosebush? See for yourself:
I believe I said in a previous post that each spray had 15 or so 3” flowers. What was I thinking? Each has more like 50 flowers!
The volunteer petunias (ten plants at last count) are also blooming full tilt, and so far they all look pretty much like the stripey parents. Yay!
I’m tickled no end that the petunias reseeded themselves and are blooming. It’s like a present! I’m feeling the gardening itch again, and hope that wherever we end up living next year has space for a garden. It’s been six years since I had a veggie garden, and I think I miss it. Of course, seeing pictures of beautiful gardens on people's blogs may have something to do with it.
I’ve also been enjoying the nature-made garden of San Juan Island, and in the past week or so have seen two new orchid species for my Life List.
Alaska rein-orchid (Piperia unalascensis)
This is a three foot tall species with tiny green flowers in a long spike. The individual flowers are unobtrusive (though beautiful close up), but the overall effect of a stand of them is pretty.
Lesser round-leaved orchid (Habenaria orbiculata).
I first saw this in leaf a couple years ago, but this is the first time I’ve seen it blooming. The flower spike is about a foot tall, with many small white and green flowers. Just lovely.
Another update- the aquarium. So far no Corydoras eggs have been spotted. Either all the activity last week was just practice, or they’ve been eating the eggs. Or hiding them really, really well. I did a water change and cleaning today, and didn’t see any babies, so I’m thinking that if there were any, they didn’t make it past the gauntlet of tetras and catfish. I know Corydoras will sometimes eat their own eggs, and I’d bet that the tetras would eat any babies they encountered. I fed the tank frozen brine shrimp Monday for the first time, and apparently brine shrimp, even more than tubifex worms, are “fishy crack.” Quite a spectacular feeding frenzy.
The last miscellaneous update from around the house is that I finished the daffodil filet crochet piece. No picture yet, though. I started blocking it and ran out of T-pins, so it's not ready for its public debut yet. But it's done!!!!! I also finished the first set of charts on the urchin shawl, and am having serious doubts whether I will actually be able to finish it by the Fair. If I do, it will be a serious marathon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)