Sunday, September 20, 2015

what happens at the beach

Rocky and I spent last weekend at the coast.  I had been feeling antsy and anxious and like I needed to get away for a little while.  I found a really great price per night at the hotel I usually stay at and packed up my boy and we went!  It was great.  So so good.

Here we are in the driveway - Rocky doesn't even know we'd be at the beach in 4 hours!

We got to Crescent City at about 4:30pm and luckily the yarn store was still open!  So the last time I was in CC was in April and I had bought some delicious yarn.  But, I had hemmed and hawed about this one skein and didn't end up buying it.  And then on the drive to Trinidad I immediately kicked myself because the greens were exactly reflected in the canopy of trees and ferns and bit of blue sky.  On this trip I was determined to find and buy that skein of yarn, which I did :) 
Okay so I know that the picture on the left is not great, I took it just on the side of the road.  But, you can kind of see the different greens and imagine that the foggy sky was actually blue.  I'm so glad I got there in time to buy this yarn!  I'm thinking of making the Whispering Pines shawl from Molly of a Homespun House.  

Next stop, the beach!  One of the great things about Crescent City is that almost any road you turn down will get you to the ocean.  There's an easy to get to beach that Rocky and I strolled down for a couple hours.  Lots of fun for my boy!  There were tide pools, barnacles, kelp, stinky stuff, sticks, rocks - all the good stuff.




 Right before dark we drove to another beach and saw the coolest, different thing.  A lady was riding a horse up and down the beach holding an American flag.  Keep in mind Friday was September 11th so it was quite meaningful.  At first I thought it was odd, then I thought it was cool - she was actively expressing herself in a way that everyone watching understood and could feel.


Saturday was Trinidad day.  It was perfect.  Yes, overcast and foggy but still warm.  Rocky is used to the beach now so didn't need my constant reassurance and affection, he just stayed close and chilled.  I laid right on the beach and hunted for agates.  Early in the evening Rocky let me know he was hungry and thirsty and chilly so we left.  For so many reasons, so many, that beach has my heart.

It used to be when I'd go over to the coast I'd wake up early on Sunday and jet home to pick up the dogs from the kennel.  But!  With my boy alongside me I could take my time, meander one last time along the beach.
Of course, Rocky and I did have a difference of opinion about what was fun that day.  I wanted to walk along the shore in the water.  He wanted nothing to do with the water.  ha!  Good thing for long retractable leashes, yes?  
Oh!  One oddball thing we saw before we left!  I know the bottom pic is hard to see what's going on.  But maybe you can just see there is a gathering of people in the distance.  If you click on the picture you'll get a better view.

I didn't get too close because I wasn't sure at first what was happening.  Turns out it was a group letting a seal go back to the ocean.  There were people holding signs and at first I thought it was going to be some sort of protest about to happen.  Then someone wheeled a large kennel on wheels down the beach.  There was someone videoing someone else talking, I couldn't hear it over the waves.  And then I saw a light colored seal squirming itself along back into the water.  It was very quick!  After it was out of sight the crowd dissipated except for a few stragglers.  It seemed very meaningful to them, one couple was holding each other crying. (?) After that I felt like Rocky and I should skeedaddle.
All in all it was perfect.  We relaxed a ton.  Rocky got more familiar with the beach, I got some more freckles.  So good.


Saturday, September 19, 2015

oh baby {quilt}

I almost forgot to post this!  I finished this baby quilt that I had started a few months back.  I got distracted from it for a bit....and then realized that the recipient was due soon so I'd better get sewing!


I'm really pleased with the results!  I did straight line stitching that echoes the chevron shapes.  I used my even feed foot on my sewing machine for the first time.  I do think that it helped with puckering and pulling on the back.  Possibly.  I guess the only way to tell is to quilt something without it and compare?  

It's bigger than crib sized because I thought this way she can use it longer and as a lap quilt.  Oh!  I did something I don't normally do on this one.  I had an aha! moment while I was doing the quilting and trying to keep my lines fairly even and straight.  It dawned on me, why don't I draw some guide lines???  duh.  Maybe everyone does that - but just in case - do yourself a favor and draw some lines on with disappearing ink.  I used one of my clear quilting rulers so they are easy to make even measurements.  I used a water soluble ink pen that I rubbed off before I washed the quilt and it seriously saved my bacon!

I gave Meghan this quilt last week and this week she had her baby!  It was perfect timing.

Friday, September 18, 2015

permission

I think I'm at the age of mid life crisis - or almost.  With most things in life, you have to experience something to understand.  Like, I never understood the things people would do like buy a sports car or get a divorce and seek a younger fling or whatever people do.  But!  I imagine that I may have a little perspective lately.  I feel like I'm feeling my age.  Sometimes.  Most of the time I go through feeling the same way I did at 17! ha.  and I'm surprised a lot of the time that I'm almost 40.  yikes!

But lately I'm feeling life slip away...and realizing that if I'm lucky enough to live to 78 years old then I am middle age!  So, it's like an urge to take stock and think of what I want and catalogue what is and what isn't.  Does that make sense?

So in the midst of these ponderings I've realized that in a lot of ways I don't do things that I want to do.

One biggie is that I've let myself get caught up with what other people think I should do.  Example: I know I need to work out.  I want to work out.  Well meaning friends say I should get up early and go to a certain class at 5:30am.  AM!  as in early morning.  It's just not going to happen.  At all.  Ever.  And then I feel guilty.  I feel like not only have I let them down (?) I've also let myself down.  I don't know why I do that.  I don't know why I care?  But, here's the result - I don't do anything then because I feel like I blew it!

That's just one example.  But, rest assured, not the only thing.  In a lot of ways I've always sort of danced to my own beat.  But in a lot of other ways I feel paralyzed by expectations and disappointments I imagine.  I know I think too much and sometimes that's a problem.  So, even if it may be imperceptible to anyone but me I'm working on giving myself permission to let things go and do what I want.

I don't really have a huge point to this post.  It's just been thoughts rolling around in my head and I need to get them out.  Which is part of why I blog.  It's sometimes a journal for me cuz I can type faster than I can write!

I will hopefully have pictures to share of my shawl that I finally finished this week! eeeeee! and I'm back to sock knitting which is nice.  It's definitely Fall here.  Which makes me want to stitch all the cozy things.  Like this morning was foggy, 39 degrees and ended up 68 and sunny!  That's typical here and I admit I love it!

Monday, September 7, 2015

first bit of Fall

Since I got that dresser set up in the spare room I've been determined to get the room put together into a functional guest room.  I went through the rest of the boxes and sorted out stuff I no longer use.  And I found this little llama!!!!  I love this llama.  Love.it.  It was a gift from Scott.  I have no idea where he came up with it...but he knew how much I've always loved llamas and that it would make me smile :)  I thought it had gotten lost or tossed somewhere along the say and a few months ago I looked high and low for it but didn't find it.  I had tucked it into a box with picture frames!  It is now perched atop the dresser.  Months had sort of munched it's fleece and yarn poms.  I am thinking maybe I'll make some new little poms to dress it up?

I just have to share this picture of my Rocky dog.  This is his thing, he eats laying down.  He does drink standing up, apparently eating, though, is too exhausting!


I've been picking the pears from the tree in the back corner of the yard.  They are small, relatively pest free fruit!  I just get the ones I can reach on the low branches.  The ones up high are pretty big!  It's been a treat.


All weekend I've been super lazy.  Kind of.  Like I've done the laundry and things around the house that need done but not the organizing I had planned in the craft house.  Instead I distracted myself with stitching!  I honestly don't know the last time I cross stitched on my Story time Sampler.  But, I'm now 4 months behind on the frames.  


I got stuck on the Peter Pan month, which was June's frame.  I really liked the frame except it didn't have Tinkerbell!  So I was waiting to see what the other people stitching came up with.  The cool thing about Instagram is that you can #(hashtag) your pictures and they go into a pool of similar pictures from other people.  So there's a pool for story time sampler stitchers and usually there are lots of cool modifications where I can get ideas.  This time there were maybe 3-4 Tinks.  So I got stuck.  But, I've come up with a plan to modify the pattern so was inspired again.  Plus, I need a break from knitting.



This week we've had a definite dip in temps - 40 in the morning and maybe 60-ish in the afternoon.  The air has a brisk, icy chill to it.  So I put the first flannel backed quilt on my bed today.  My lightweight summer quilt is just not warm enough at night.  This is the first time I've used this quilt!

I hope you all have a great week!