North

It was a short visit to the cabin, but the northwoods never disappoints.

Spring is in full bloom,
 the woods are carpeted with trilliums.

A wild strawberry

Young ferns among the rocks.

The weather was lovely for walking

Knitting

And toasting our toes by the fire

It was a short visit, but it was glorious!

Is anyone out there?

In an effort to motivate you, the reader(s),and motivate myself, I am announcing a contest/drawing! Want to own a cool handknit pair of socks? enter the drawing!

Notice I said PAIR of socks? That's the motivation for me. I will finish these socks before the contest ends. One is finished and the other just needs the foot and toe, but they have been hiding in a pile of UFO's since last fall.
To be entered in the drawing, all you have to do is COMMENT on this or any other of my posts before May 31. Commenting is easy, You can do it Anonymously....no need to sign up for blogger. I will draw by comment number and then post the winning number on June 1, so you will need to check back to see if you are the winner. That way there is no need to leave your name.

I will send these cool socks to the lucky commenter. Keep them, wear them, give them away. Heck , you can even tell people you made them yourself, I don't care.

Socks are a lot of knitting time,why am I doing this, giving them away, possibly to a stranger? Because it feels like there is no one reading my blog. I am just wanting to see if there is anyone out there?

Let the contest begin!

Fish Sketchbook

Drawing fantasy fish is a relaxing pastime. Here is my fishbook.

unfinished

Needle in a haystack

The idiom "a needle in a haystack"

a needle in a haystack
something extremely hard to find ---It's pretty much a needle in a haystack because these fish are extremely hard to find.
Etymology: based on the idea that it is to almost impossible to find a thin sewing needle in a haystack (a very tall pile of dried grass)

I am constantly misplacing items, every day. I am not an organized person, and I have a lot of "stuff". My stuff is often missing, but eventually found, mostly when I have given up looking.

Last week, my son and my dad were undertaking the annual task of burning the dry vegetation off the asparagus patch. They used an old, old bale of straw to get the fire started.

Years ago, my folks operated a dairy farm and grew oats to feed the cows and used the straw for bedding. I was always happy to work with the straw bales, packing them in the barn, because straw bales are much lighter than hay bales. We would put hay in the mow for weeks, so when the short straw season arrived, it seemed so easy...It was one of those straw bales, left in the barn since the 1970's that was to start the fire on the asparagus patch.

As my son opened and started shaking out the old bale, my dad spied something red and shiny falling amongst the straw. It was a red crochet hook. Mine, I am sure. I do not remember losing it, But I do remember crocheting in the barn while waiting for the next loads of bales to arrive.. 40 years later..........hmmmmmm.

Eyes of a child

The first thing that my 16 month old grandson does when he visits my house is search for the "kitties".. He is a busy, busy, boy. Small for his age, he can get into tiny spaces where the cats like to hide.

After the cats have been harassed a bit, he looks for Grandpa. He really loves his Grandpa.

Invariably, the next thing he wants is "ousside". We have a big yard and he is an explorer. "Ousside" is a favorite word.



Last evening, just as it was starting to rain, before the storms, he was determined to be "ousside", asking over and over. I explained that it was raining, we needed to stay inside. Well, he is sixteen months old, the word rain means little to him. Finally I decided to take him onto the deck "ousside" and show him the rain, thinking that he would want to stay inside then.



He stood there, very still, letting the drops fall on his head. Then he turned his face to the sky, and let the rain fall on his face. He crinkled up his eyes when a drop of rain fell into them. A HUGE grin appeared..the the giggling began. He said "agua" and laughed and laughed. So did I.

Feather in a pickle dish

The day before yesterday, Friday, was lovely day. Today, like yesterday, it's raining and chilly.
On Friday, Dave and I took a short drive and visited a friends garden, and her sheep. Here are some photos.

This shrub is flowering quince, as mentioned in a previous post. We dug out a bit for our own garden.





I told you there would be sheep!

And lambs.

Upon our return home, it appeared that a bomb had been detonated just beyond our neighbor, the Tag Center.

It was only a controlled burn on the Horicon Marsh.

I found this pretty feather on the lawn. Anyone know what kind of bird it is from? I do not.

The feather looks equally pretty in my new pickle dish. Dave and I had earlier stopped at Bargains Galore and found some good stuff. Among other things, a jadeite pickle dish and a good, used recliner for naps on the sun porch.

Guess who used the recliner first? The chair was meant for cat naps, I guess.

Florida envy

I have a little bit of a tiny problem. I have Florida envy. I admit it. I know I could not live there, but another visit would be nice.
Yesterday, my daughter, Megan posted about having difficulty concentrating when she could see the ocean from her office. Then, last night, my faithful friend/customer/knitter/legal-go-to-person, Ann, reminded me that her annual trek to Florida is coming up soon. I have serious envy issues.
Isn't envy one of the seven deadly sins? I am done for.

Done for. Does everyone use that phrase? Or is a local/ family phrase? I am "done for" means-------that's it-----------finished-------fatal-----------

I digress. To combat Florida envy ,all that needs to be done is to take a look at Wisconsin in the spring. And spring is here! With gusto! Winter is done for.


Flowers from my friend Carolee's garden. Flowering quince. And many kinds of daffodils.

And my favorite weed/shrub. It smells so nice, sweet and spicy, I love to bring it inside. Even a small bouquet makes the whole house fragrant.

Take that, envy!