Canoes, Penguins and Giraffes, Oh My

Good Morning to all of you.  I hope you are having a great week.  It's been beautiful, beautiful up here in the Pacific Northwest.  Very few clouds, although the wind has been blowing.
We had an enjoyable weekend at the lake.  It does seem a bit strange not to be decorating gravesites on Memorial Day as we did when we lived in Nebraska.  We don't have any family buried up here.  My sister-in-law and niece are good about visiting all of the family and friends graves back home and putting flowers on them.

I did watch a few ceremonies on television honoring our veterans.  I am so grateful to each and every person who has served or is still serving in the military of the United States of America.  My father, brother, brother-in-law and my wonderful husband Dennis, have all been active duty military.  We have many friends who have sacrificed for each of us, and to them and all veterans I say "Thank You."  I know I'm a day or two late, but I don't think it's ever to late to say thank you.  We should remember them every day.

I have been working on this baby blanket all weekend and it's still not done.  There were lots of visitors and lots of talking and walking at the lake this weekend and not much knitting done.  In fact, yesterday I had almost 16,000 steps on my fitbit!  WOW!  I don't know the last time I walked so much.  I took a walk with Lori before coming home and then it was yard work and cleaning once I got home.  It's nice to see that number going up though.

I trimmed bushes and Dennis mowed last night.  Then I planted some flowers and did some weeding.

 Dennis' shed.  The sign over the door says "Papa's House."  That's what Piper named it while it was being built.

 I picked three grocery bags full of rhubarb yesterday and distributed it to neighbors.  As you can see there is still more.  It's been prolific this year.

 The marigolds are establishing themselves well.  There are even a few "volunteer" plants from last year that have joined in.  I love marigolds.  They will eventually grow big enough to completely fill in the bed and it will be one mass of color.  At least that's what it normally does.

Alex is building a canoe in the back of his office building in Towada.  He sent for the plans and discussed the procedure with his Dad over facetime and has begun building it this week.  It's looking good and I see by the photo he sent that he has found a helper!  Do you think it will be watertight?

Piper went to the zoo again yesterday and got to feed the giraffes...

 ...and pet the penguins!  How fun is that?  The company that her Daddy works for is building some new exhibits and they were able to get special passes to actually get "up close and personal" with some of the animals.

This little girl and her Mommy are coming to see us in June.  Yippee!  They are bringing the cats, Amelia and Franny to live with us.  They are 14 & 16 years old but Piper has developed a severe allergy to cats.  Of course they can't go to a shelter because who would adopt such elderly cats?  They are used to us and to Chloe so the obvious choice is to bring them to us.  They know our house and they know us.  It will all work out well.  We're hoping they will do okay on the flight from Omaha.  They flew from here to Washington, D.C. so that's not new for them either.

I have decided that after I finish the blanket in the above photo, I need to do a mitten marathon for awhile.  Kathyb has me wanting to do a log cabin afghan and I really want to work on my nine-patch knitted squares, but winter will be here and I haven't made very many mittens for the school kids yet.  Shame on me. Of course, there will be socks on the needles too, but the mittens need to be a priority for awhile.  I figure that they are small and therefore easy to work on in the heat of the summer.

What about you?  Are you working on a special project this summer?  I'll be back soon to visit and I'm tryinig to keep up with all of your summer news too.

'Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

James 1:16-17

"My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." James 1:19-20

Blessings always my friends,
Betsy

It's been a week!

Oh my goodness.  It's been an entire week since I last posted!  It's been a fun week with most of it spent at the lake.  I was there from early Friday morning until Sunday night.  Then I went back Tuesday morning and came home this morning for Bible study, errands and laundry.  Tomorrow morning I'm going back and don't plan to come home until next Wednesday!  Oh, I love these spring days when it's quiet out there during the week.  Once school gets out, look out!  It's busy, busy, busy all summer long, but I enjoy that too.  I love to hear the kids laughing and running up and down the road on their way to the beach and fishing.  But the quietness of spring has it's many virtues too. :-)

I spent a lot of time walking and averaged 8000-12,000 steps each day on my Fitbit.  I walk a lot more there than at home.  Isn't this a beautiful view?

 The cabins have all been cleaned and are waiting for the summer guests to arrive.  Which I'm sure will be this weekend.

 Do you see the guy on the jet ski to the right in the picture?  He was video taping and talking, (yelling), into the camera as he drove around the lake.  I wonder if he has a u-tube channel or something?

 I never get tired of looking at the different views around the lake.

 I had five garbage bags of partial skeins of yarn given to me at church on Sunday.  Most of it is probably over 50 years old and will have to be tossed for one reason or another, but there is still enough for a few baby blankets.  I crocheted this one on Monday while watching the water skiers go by the trailer.  Sorry it isn't a nice photo.  I didn't have a place to lay it flat that wasn't covered with pollen from the pine trees.

 I also made seven more dishcloths this week for my gift closet.

 And look what arrived last Friday from Tammy at T's Daily Treasures on my sidebar.  She was in the States for her son's college graduation.  Tammy and her husband live in Kuwait and I've been blogging friends with her for several years.  She is so sweet.

 There is this beautiful post card of the Holy City of Bethlehem with different scenes.

 Also this beautiful piece crocheted by Tammy herself and a keychain made from Olive wood from the Holy Land.  Tammy knows how much these items mean to me and I thank her for thinking of me while she was here visiting her family. 

These ladies, these women all around the world have come to mean so much to me.  From the ladies I have met in person who live in the Portland area, to women far away in the United Kingdom, in Kuwait, in Australia and in Japan, along with many, many others here in the States and around the world, I have made friends, sisters of the heart and I am so thankful for this blog that has given me that opportunity.

How else would I know to pray for Lorraine and her husband Gerald in the U.K., or Sharon and her father in Austraila?   My dear friend Cheryl has had several family tragedy's this year and each time she reaches out to ask for prayer from her sisters here in blogland.  I am so grateful for each and everyone of you as you come to visit my little corner of the world here.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and for those of you here in the States, a fun and SAFE Memorial Day weekend.

"A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

Blessings,
Betsy

Rain, Sun, Rain...Rinse and repeat!

We have had a wonderful week of sunny days...until today.  It's been raining fairly steadily most of the day which is fine with me, but there is severe flooding all around northern Washington and Idaho and I feel so bad for the people in those areas.  Flooding now and then forest fires in a few months.  That seems to be the cycle in the past few years.

Big family news!

Miss Piper graduated!  Here are a few photos of her. This first one was sent to me before they left for school yesterday.  She looks so old!  Oh, my goodness, where have the years gone?   She chose her own dress and accessories.

 Here she is with Brad's mom, Marilyn.  I'm so glad that at least one of us Grandma's were able to go to her special programs, (and graduation), this year.  I am VERY sad that I'm missing all of these milestones, but very grateful that Mandy sends us lots of picturees.

 This was sent to us at bedtime last night.  Apparently she didn't want to remove her graduation cap.  Papa said she's already studying for college.  I think we need to let her go to kindergarten first. :-)

 I've been knitting on a couple of dishcloths since I last wrote on Monday.  I realized my gift shelf was getting pretty low so I thought I should get some made up.  I have another on the needles now and really enjoy this pattern.  It's become my "go to" pattern for dishcloths.  It's memorized so very easy to do on the go.

It was a busy morning for me today.  I went out to the lake yesterday morning and we spent the night.  Dennis left for work about 4:45 a.m. and I left about 7:00.  After a quick stop at home to drop Chloe off and shower I was off to Weight Watchers.  It was a good week there where I was down 1.2 lbs. for a total of almost 20!  Only a little tiny bit more to reach that first big goal.  I still have lots more to lose, (about 30 lbs.), but it will be good to reach another milestone.

After W.W. I stopped at Hobby Lobby because they have their "I Love This Cotton" on sale for 30% off.  Since I was almost completely out, I thought I should get some.  All of this was less than $20.00.  Normally it's $3.49 per skein so it was a good time to stock up a little.

 After Hobby Lobby, I ran to get my hair trimmed then it was time for acupuncture on my feet, the grocery store and finally home about 2:30.  Now I need to clean house and finish some laundry because we have Bible Study here tonight.  Whew!  I'm tired.

Tomorrow I'll go back to the lake for the weekend.  Yippee!  We have a birthday party to attend for Hayden on Saturday out at their new house.  I hope the weather is good.  They have a new addition to their family.  The boys were promised a dog when they got settled in a forever home so look who came home last week!  Meet Denali!  He is SO cute.  They love Chloe so much that they decided to get a lab puppy, although he is an American lab and she is a British lab.

Jenny gave me and her daughters each a couple of roses on Mother's day.  Wasn't that sweet?  I think they're beautiful and they still look gorgeous.

Okay.  Enough sitting.  I need to sweep floors and switch the clothes from the washer to dryer and fold the sheets.  A woman's work is never done is it?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of love and blessings, both seen and unseen.

"In thier hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps." Proberbs 16:9

Blessings,
Betsy

Summertime, Summertime!

It's Monday and I don't know where the time has gone since I last posted. We did have a couple of guests from Monday until Friday morning.  Becky, who is GrandmaBeckyL on my sidebar and her husband Phil came to stay with us.  They live south of Portland, OR and Becky and I have gotten together with other bloggers, Teresa, Gracie and Taci before for lunch when I made the trek to Portland.  Our husbands all also had dinner with us one evening when we were visiting.  I think they had a good time, although the weather was cool and rainy most of the week.  Of course after they left it turned glorious outside.  Sunshine and 80F.  Isn't that the way it happens?

Dennis took a day off of work and we took them out to the lake for a few hours.  Here Phil and Becky are relaxing in the camper while it rained outside.  Or as Phil said, they're from Portland, they call it "heavy air!"

 Once there was a long enough break in between rain showers, we walked down to the little store at the lake, (which was closed for some strange reason. Here we're pointing at the picture on the back of the bench.

  

 Becky very graciously brought me some sweet gifts.  Choclate, wonderful smelling soap, a magnet and a cute hand towel with a beachy theme.  She knows how much I love the ocean!

 She also brought me this cute purple planter that I planted some geraniums and grass in last night.  Sorry about the shadows, the sun is shining very brightly right now and I wanted to include a photo of the flower pot in this post.

Nita gave me some squares for a toddler blanket so last night I began putting them together.  I'm about halfway done.  This will be for the Crisis Nursery.

 Oops.  The picture is upside down and I can't seem to get it to go rightside up!  You can probably tell that they are two baby hats made with sock yarn from Nancy's pattern over at Wyoming Breezes blog.  Thank you for the pattern Nancy.  It was a nice easy one to work on while chatting with friends at the lake this weekend.

I also have both legs done and one heel turned on the socks I was working on last week.  It took me all day to turn the heel on Saturday.  I kept picking it up and putting it down. :-)

My back did pretty well while Phil and Becky were here, and although I had several doctor appointments, they had plans of things that they wanted to go see so it all worked out.  Only on Thursday evening did the back spasms start and I think I had just done too much that day.

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise though, because I saw the chiropractor the next morning and he was able to actually feel the knots in my back for the first time.  He did a "twisty" thing to my back that he's never done before and do you know what?  It's been better.  Not great, but much, much better.  I have hope finally.  He thinks the scapula is pressing on a nerve in my mid back.  Oh, I hope we can get this figured out.  He gave me a few exercises to do since he'll be out of town all of this week.  Believe me, I'm faithfully doing them!  I actually worked in the yard for awhile this morning trimming bushes.  Then did some grocery shopping...and I'm still upright!  I will take it easy the rest of the day though.

Look at this precious little girl.  This is a sweater I made her a while ago and a dress we sent her a few weeks ago.  Look how short those sleeves are!  She's growinng so fast.

 I thought this one was really cute too.  I'm afraid she's 5 going on 16. :-)

We talked to all three of the kids yesterday and that made my Mother's Day wonderful.  It would have been better to actually be with them, but hearing voices is pretty good too.  Jamie told us that our granddaughter Kyleigh won a citizenship award for her grade at school.  She also won it for the entire school!  This is the second year in a row that she's won it for the entire school.  She is 13 and pretty special.  She cares about everyone is is very active in anti-bullying projects, etc.  

I had planned to stay at the lake until tomorrow, but some unexpected things came up so we came home last night.  The hope  is to go back out tomorrow night and stay until Thursday morning when I have an acupuncture appointment and we have Bible study in the evening.  I love the weekdays at the trailer, especially at this time of year when it's so quiet up there.  Once school is out, it's pure craziness!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend.  I've been enjoying reading blogs and trying to keep up with everyone. 

"Fight the good fight of the faith.  Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." 1 Timothy 6:12

"Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." John 3:18

Blessings,
Betsy

Happy Sunday!

It's unusual for me to post on a Sunday, but here I am.  It may be a busy week so I thought I would just stop in and say hi in case it doesn't happen later in the week. :-)

We were able to spend the nights Friday and Saturday at the lake.  Oh my goodness!  It was wonderful.  We walked some and Dennis got some jobs done out there.  We drove in early this morning, around 7:00 a.m., took our showers and headed off to church.  Lunch out with friends and now we're home.  Dennis is mowing and I have some ice on my back while I write this.  Hopefully we'll be going back to the lake for a few hours this afternoon before coming back this evening.

You can barely see the grab bar across the screen door here.  This is Larry and Nita's trailer and Dennis installed it for them yesterday to make it easier to open & close the door on the camper.  We have one on ours and it was very helpful for them so he's surprising them with one of their own!  You can see Lori carrying a garbage can FULL of pinecones to the golfcart to take them to the burn pile.  Mattie is laying on the mat outside the door.  The corner of our trailer can be seen across the way with just Dennis' legs in view!  Spring clean-up has begun.

We were planning to put new handrails on the steps of all three trailersr to make it easier for Larry and Nita to go in and out.  Here a great consultation was going on between Dennis and Paul outside our trailer.  Ultimately they decided to put the handrail that Dennis is holding on the stairs going down the hill and I bought new handrails for all of us on Amazon that "should" work better for everyone.  They are supposed to arrive this week.  There is always a project or two happening at the lake.

My Knit Picks order arrived and I had so much fun going through it when the box arrived.

First of all is five pair of socks worth of Tweed fingering weight.

Three skeins of Chroma Twist.  I've never used it before and it looks like fun!  And on the right is a Hawthorne fingering skein.  There was a great sale going on and I got all of this yarn for around $65.00!  I think that was a fantastic bargain.  Enough for nine pair of socks unless I decide another shawl should be made with some of it. :-)

Thursday morning was spent at the hospital with Larry and Nita while he had surgery on his knee to repair a tear in something or other!  I think it was the miniscus.  When the surgeon came out to talk to us she said he has "bone on bone" in two places and the tear was much larger than they thought.  A knee replacement is in his very near future according to her.  He looks happy here but not so much afterward.  He hasn't been able to keep anything down since surgery and that is VERY unlike Larry.

Since Nita just had a hip replacement about 6 weeks ago, I've been spending lots of time at their house.  Grocery runs, etc. have been the order of the day.  I have NO time to deal with a back that keeps giving me issues.  I have too many things to do.  That's a lot of the reason why my whole back issue is so annoying.  The pain I can deal with, but the spasms incapacitate me.

Chloe and I were walking down the street to get mail when the young, (college age), boy next door called her over.  He loves her and it looks like the feeling is mutual doesn't it?  They had a nice love-fest before we meandered on down the road.  

I have finished the first leg on my "Petty Harbour" socks and started the cuff of the second sock.  It's

working very well for me to do both socks at one time.

 I just finished the 5th square on this bigger nine-patch square while driving into town this morning.  These little squares are quite addicting.

And now I hear Dennis washing the lawn mower so I know he'll be ready to go back to the lake in a few minutes.  I hope you all have a lovely week and I'll be reading your blogs to say hello.  I must admit, I'm quite jealous of Debra, (Araignee on my sidebar).  She just attended the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival this week and I would have loved to see the cute baby sheep and dog and sheep trials she posted about today.  Maybe next year.  I really should have gone when Mandy lived in Maryland.  It would have been so convenient wouldn't it?  Oh well.

Take care my friends and enjoy the week.

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and His understandinng no one can fathom.  Isaiah 40:28

Blessings,
Betsy

A little of this and a little of that...

Good Morning everyone!  I "think" spring has finally sprung in our neck of the woods.  I woke up  to this yesterday morning, although it was downright chilly, in the 40's.

 The flowering pear didn't seem to know that it was still cold.  Today is supposed to be 70F and I'm really looking forward to that.  I just snapped all of these pictures of the outside and it's beautiful out.  Spring is definitely my favorite season.

 Sorry the garage door is open.  I just got home from some errands and forgot to close it before taking this photo.   Chloe loves to be outside with me and never leaves the yard without us.  Even if Dennis is mowing in the backyard, she'll lay in the grass in front like an antelope and just watch people, (and dogs), walk by.  She's SO good.

 The first batch of rhubarb is almost ready to pull.

 The leaves are getting huge!

 Another view of the backyard.  Everything is so green at this time of year.

 The patio and back deck.  I love the yellow paint we chose for the house.  To me, it's a happy color.  I get so tired of earthtones all of the time.  A bright house is a happy house!  Ha! Ha!

 And there in the distance is Mt. Spokane, still with it's cap of snow.  I took this from the deck. 

I have done some knitting this week but not much progress seems to be happening because it's all on little needles.  First of all I finished this pair of socks made with Patton's Kroy socks in the Blue Rag colorway.  (I think it's Blue Rag, I threw the label away.)  I used the Hermione's Everyday pattern for these.  I really like this pattern.  It's easily memorized and stay up well.  And they're for me!  I got to use my new sock blockers that Sherri gave me.

 I also finished another nine patch cozy memory square.  These take a really long time, although they may not look like it.  Especially the border.  I think that cream border takes longer to knit than the nine little squares.  I have another block started on my new Knit Pro Zings.

 And, of course, another pair of socks begun.  This time I'm using the "Petty Harbour" pattern that is free on Ravelry.  I am really liking these Zings and wish I had gotten them years ago.

I also have an order of sock yarn from Knit Picks on the way that is supposed to be arriving today.  I need to get started on Christmas sock knitting.  Yes, I know that's a dreaded word, but when you make things you have to start really early. 

We spent Friday night at the lake.  Friday was 82F  and gorgeous.  Saturday was 44F and pouring rain.  What a big change overnight. We stayed until about 4:00 p.m. and then decided to come home and get a few things done.

It was a gorgeous day.  You can see Larry there in the corner.  He got quite sunburned.  We kept telling him to move but he didn't think it was that bright out.  He's having laproscopic surgery on his knee tomorrow from a fall he took on their last cruise. 

Last picture is one of my precious Piper.  Mandy sent it too me yesterday.  She's a yard fairy.  So sweet and she does resemble one doesn't she?  Love the wings. :-)

My friends, I'm tired of doctors, etc.  I've been going to the chiropractor on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  The acupuncturist on Tuesday and Thursday and also having massages on my back twice a week.  There is absolutely no change.  I still can't stand for more than a very few minutes or sit in a straight chair for any length of time without the spasms starting again.  I don't know how long I'm supposed to do all of this before admitting it's not working.  I'm going to give it a couple of more weeks I guess and then make a decision.  Aside from the obvious cost of all of these visits, it's really inconvenient too.  I have to drive clear across town to the chiropractor.

And tomorrow I get to have a follow-up ultrasound and mammogram because they found some lumps during my annual check up six months ago.  I'm sure it's nothing, but they are painful, because of course, it's on the side with my pacemaker! 

It's always something isn't it?  But spring is here and I'm really excited about that.  I need to find some new projects to work on.  Make some mittens, blankets and hats for charity, but I'm kind of in a knitting slump.  Choosing projects  that are comfortable and portable, like the squares and socks.  Do any of you get in a knit/crochet slump where you're just not excited about anything in particular?

The cable guy is supposed to be here in a little while because our internet has been acting up lately.  It's always when I'm in a hurry to look something up and then it doesn't work.  Isn't that the way it always is?  Compared to many, I have no reason to complain and yet I do.  My back hurts.  The internet doesn't work.  It's hot.  It's cold.  I'm hungry!  It's cloudy.  It's sunny.  Gosh, I'm spoiled aren't I?  I think many of us are.  We want things when we want them and don't want to be inconvenienced.  I'm really trying to be better about not complaining.  I give you, my friends, updates once a week on my "stuff" but otherwise try not to say much about it because really, who wants to be around someone who whines all of the time?

I hope you're all enjoying some sunshine and flowers.  It seems to have been a long, long winter for most of us.  I'll be back soon and I'm trying to keep up with all of  your blogs too.

"Come to me, all you who are burdened and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

"Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light on my path." Psalm 119:105

Blessings Always,
Betsy