Margene took a picture of AJ and I on our hike.  It isn't often that I look  short!!!

Alex, Margene and I went for a hike up to Whiskeytown Falls on Sunday.  It was a bit cooler than I had hoped - Saturday was around 74 degrees, but Sunday was in the 60's but it was still beautiful,

Randa obviously felt sorry for me for my bedspread/comforter that I have in my room.  It is probably close to 20 years old (I know I had it before we moved to this house in 1999) and is having a few issues.  She gave me this:

It is absolutely beautiful!  Rufus likes it too:

After taking this picture, I immediately covered it with a sheet.  Between the three dogs and three cats, that nice light colored quilt just will not last long.  I plan on getting a solid colored comforter now, and using the quilt at the foot of the bed.  It should fare better there.

The sunset last night:

I had all sorts of ideas of what to do with yesterday - a beautiful day off, but.....plans changed.  I was still productive, I just didn't get around to some of those things I had planned.  I did take advantage of Ralph watching Alli for me and picked up fabric for a new baby quilt - the same log cabin design as the last baby quilt I made, but in blue.  I worked up one block yesterday just to test it.

I like it!  I'm still not real comfortable with the color/fabric choices, but it should work out okay.  (Babies don't mind, I know!)  My borders will be the dark center color, and the next color on the right - a light blue with stars.  We'll see what speaks to me when I choose the backing - that's a while off, I'm sure.

I also made a hat yesterday, using the softest yarn I have ever felt.  It is Bernat's Pipsqueak yarn - a baby yarn.  It is a chemo hat, so I wanted soft - and is it ever soft!  It's not that much to look at - but to feel it......wow!

Here's some of the jewelry we made on Saturday - Veronica came up for a visit, and Emma, Meredith, Veronica and I played with some beads.....

I yesterday, I finished the other two quilt blocks for my quilt club.  I'm not too sure about how I combined the colors for the blocks, but....they'll do.

Bookmarks for book club this month:

The book this month is "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok, and I learned all sorts of things about the Jewish religion.  The bookmark is made with two separate triangles and then put together.  Here's some of the triangles drying.....

Book club is at my house this month, but I didn't choose the book - I'm hosting for Malorie, who's having a hard time with her pregnancy - I'll do the "hard work" of cooking and cleaning - she just has to show up.

And here's why I should lunch out more often,  This was the view from my bench as I ate my PB&J sandwich last week at the Sundial Bridge.

My Christmas present to myself - a membership to Turtle Bay.  My New Year's resolution - to actually use it!  While I don't need a membership to walk on the River Trail, you are supposed to have a membership to visit the Arboretum.  Margene and I went for a walk there last Sunday.  The weather was a bit cool with a high overcast - not the best for pictures, but I think we did pretty good anyway.

Right as we entered the park, I noticed we had company.....

And the speck at the top of this tree is a very cold hummingbird.

When Meredith and I visited this pond earlier in the winter, it had a thin layer of ice on it.  Now, it has beautiful reflections instead.

Something startled the sea gulls as we were walking by......

While we were walking, we came upon a very odd sight.....

When I showed AJ the pictures, he called them 'fuzzies' - people who dress up in animal costumes just to dress up in animal costumes.  They may be odd, but they looked like they were having fun, and the little kids loved them!  The black and white creature on the right didn't speak - even to the others, everything was pantomimed.  They were there for a couple of hours at least - just wandering around in costume.

I made one of the three blocks for the new quilt yesterday:

I like how it turned out - my points are getting pretty darn close!  I also spent some time on 'the other quilt'.  I'm at the point that I no longer like it, so it may have to go sulk in a corner for a while.  I'll finish the part I'm working on now - adding the side pieces - and then wait a while and see if I like it again.  Whether I like it or not will determine how much more work I put into it.

Even Alli seems to have accepted Luna.  

Our only hold out is Indy, and he needs drugs.  Seriously!  He recently started peeing all over the house - the hallway, the dining room, even on Jasper's food bowl!  He had scabs on his back and tail, and was a miserable cat.  I switched his food out for (more expensive) all natural hypo allergenic, no wheat food, and flea treated him.  (I was worried that no one would like it so tried to switch it in slowly - they all loved it and would leave the 'old food' in the bowl....)  That didn't seem to help, so he went to the vet's.  They gave him two shots in his butt, and put him on prosac.  He also needs to 'be protected' from Luna, so he now spends most of his day locked in the bedroom where Luna can't scare him.  He comes out occasionally, usually in the morning, when it's quiet.

I started the newest quilt with my quilt club - All Around the Neighborhood.  This time, is it just a 5 month session - 3 quilt blocks a months for 4 months and the sashings/bindings the 5th month.  They are looking for another quilt to finish up the year with, but no decisions have been made yet.  This one is a bit different than one's I've done in the past - the only color that is mandatory is the color for the sky - and that is just because it takes more material than the other pieces.  We have the same amount of every other material in the monthly kit, so we get to pick and choose how to put the house together.  Here's the sample that the club leader made up:

Each house individually:

There is also a 'mystery' project to make.  All I was told was the number of half-triangle squares to make, and whether the colors should be 'light/dark' or 'dark/dark'.  Interesting,,,,,,,

Since I still haven't finished the last quilt, we'll see how it goes.  I have almost all of the pieces sewn together, and the thought of the next rows terrify me!  One row of the quilt is done with striped material, and includes mitered corners.  After listening to all the problems that the experienced quilters had, I may skip that!  I also will admit that I'm not a fan of the border that was done on the original anyway.  I may just finish it up 'my way'.

Today is AJ's 22 nd birthday.  Once again,  how did that happen?  He's planning on a bunch of guys in for hamburgers tonight.  I had plans to pull out pictures of him as  baby out and the didn't happen.  Maybe tomorrow.....

Well this morning started with a bang - or at least a crash.  Someone knocked off my kerosene lamp from the bookshelf. At 5:00 a.m.   Broke glass and spilled kerosene at 5:00 a.m.  Fun!  Not!  I'm assuming it was Indy.  He's been sleeping up there and he's too big I think.

Yesterday, Meredith and I went for a loooong walk at Turtle Bay.  We were gone a couple of hours - I don't know how far we walked, but I logged over 10,000 steps yesterday - most of them on the walk.  It was a beautiful day - chilly, but sunny.  We started at the Arboretum on the west side of Turtle Bay, and ended up walking past the Sundial Bridge to Hwy 44 and back into the park.

These are in the Arboretum - they looked really cool, and I forgot to take a picture of the name plate so I could remember what they are.

Same plants, different angle.  Love this one!!!

I love the sun and shadows in this shot.

One one part of the trail, "someone" put a lock on the fence (evidently as part of a trend in Paris, according to Meredith) and others followed.  Some of the locks are painted, most have writing on them - dedications, etc.

No turtles at this bay - there is a layer of ice on the pond.  I think every little boy (and some big ones) that went by while we were there had to throw a rock or something in the pond "just because".  The sound made by the rocks skittering on the ice was cool.

A view of the bridge.

This is a view of the river toward the highway from the park.

These geese just would not cooperate and let me catch a shot with both their heads up.

This guy was a little more cooperative......

I missed the shot of this guy flying off with a berry in his mouth - he grabbed one and flew right after this.

From the bridge - muskrats in the river.

I'm loosing one of my kids again.  Dallas is leaving today to go back to college.  It was nice having him here for Christmas break.  He is supposed to come back on Spring Break, but not for the summer - he has an intern job.  It sure was nice to have him home for a while.

I picked up a bad habit over the last few weeks - sitting around reading and not getting anything else done.  Now I remember why I don't read as much as I used to!  For a while, I could say it was because of the weather - it was raining, so I couldn't do anything else.  Now?  It has been gorgeous weather, and I'm still sitting on the couch reading.  (It's all the library's fault - they sent me a notice that my library card was suspended for lack of use, so I had to use it!!!!)  I didn't get nearly what I wanted to get done for Christmas, I still have a present to finish up and deliver, and I wanted to do something for everyone at book club for Christmas.  My New Year's resolution????  Besides the normal "loose weight, work out every day, blog more, etc."?  I'd like to do some more thread crochet work this year.  I think the only thing I did with thread this last year were bookmarks - not a single doily on my hook!  Maybe this year - may be even some snowflakes!!!