Big Quartzite Falls Part 2

The river really starts to flow here... down to the Big Fall. I can't believe I'm walkng in with no snow boots so early this year. See Quartzite Falls Part #1 for the beginning of my walk down the river.

Come summer , I'll share the idyllic pool of fern and moss found at the bottom of these gem veined falls but for now it's all about a power wash.

PS. You can turn the music down at bottom before viewing...

Little Quartzite Falls Part 1

March 16th... spring is coming and the snow off Mount Arvon is melting..... please check link to BIG Quartzite Falls part #2 for the real deal... I'm dreaming tank tops and vegetables, stitching on porch swings, green vistas and aqua waters early this year

PS. You can turn the music down at the bottom before viewing...

My Take on a Dorothy Bond Stitch

Page 60, bottom set ...

working my way up this seam of teensy pine stitches...and now finished, aching for another seam just like this to lose myself in.... finding great pleasure in these minute stitches after the basics are hashed out. While working it, all BS gives way. This is the stitching I crave at present. Most people don't understand why I put this much of my hand to something that is 10" x 10". Obviously, they've never prayed with a needle... so many of mine have been answered this way

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shaggy bull... from todays ride through Elo

Feeling quite bullish myself lately. I hacked down my blog feeder and rid it of all things that don't pertain directly to what my interests are. The past 2 years I've bombarded myself with ideas. Those " One day I'd love to do this" and " Isn't this cool?" kind of blogs. Let's get real here, there's only one of me... I'm done with knitting, crochet and mixed media .... done with looking at tatting, needlepoint and cross stitch, too. Necessary "house cleaning" for where I'm headed.

The Mr Has Picked the Winner

Thank you gals for entering to win the Ocean Song Mermaid fabric and pattern.

Odds were good with only 10

and drawn from the bowl.......

Dan pulled the the slip with Anita from Florida on it. I don't know Anita but her blog is full of colorful quilts. You can find her at Margret Marys Place. I'll be having another giveaway with Crazy Quilt items in the next 6 weeks or so, if you're interested in that, do visit again. Give aways are always fun to do.

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This was looking East the other evening at about 5:30... the moon gaining momentum for being Full tonight

The same evening about an hour later in the Western sky.... It's hard to catch sunsets here being so deep in the woods... horizons obscured but this red sky at night was NOT a "sailors delight" the next morn. Just like March... "Coming in like a lion and out like a lamb" ? Who made that one up?

Welcome March any way!

Keweenaw Snow Stick

Hope everyone is enduring their Big Snow Experience... I'm sure you in the throes of your artic adventure will never forget it's punch , especially when it's over, but forgive us here in the north.... we're finding "Snowmageddon" quite entertaining.

Snow in the UP is measured by the Keweenaw Snow Stick...

the record being 390.4" for the 1978-79 season vs the all time low of 81.3"

We're enjoying a balmy and quite snowless winter here with totals of a mere 123.9 inches to date up in the high country of Herman and in the low country, 34.0" . A real draught.

digging out

street in Houghton

and relieved that El Nino's pattern is blowing winter south this year

a usual winter

road comission artillery


I should shut my mouth, after all, it's only February and we're not safe away until May here. So we'll be thinking of you and your cherry blossoms come the end of March when we're still butt high to a tall indian in this white stuff. What do they say.... Those who laugh hardest, laugh last??? You'll have your turn with me...

Giveaway Teaser and O.T. Tang Update

Ohhhhhhh....

laaaaaaa

laahhhhhhhhh..... Don't you just love this pattern using this Laurel Birch fabric??? I love it too but can't see myself getting around to it. Maybe you can..... I have the pattern and fabric for the basics of this quilt and will be offering a giveaway sometime before the month of February is through.... stay tuned....

I have been busy but can't tell you doing what.... this is the kind of stuff that scares me.... the passage of time vs what I have to show for it.... January gone already....

Here is the Butthead.with kidney stones...

Mr Tang (now better known as Fang because he's bitten EVERYONE inc vet AND hubby) is still aliitle insecure.... even with his purple coat on of which I thought I had the gammet on.... obviously it's not that hard to cook up a pattern for a dog coat. Again... I almost made my fortune but was alittle tooo late once again... LOL.... Mr Tang now has a new notation on his chart..."Owner must apply muzzle before exam". I guess he does look like one of those mutts that would nail you given the chance.

Mr T is sitting pretty here ...the surgery was $524...additional outgo per month.....$17.99 for 5# bag of Royal Canin SO, can of SO $2.25 ..... Cha.Cha.....freaking ching....... his best bet is to stop biting the hand that feeds him. We have 2 other dogs that have to go on eating as normal... have I mentioned before that I must have a hole in my head to have 3 dogs???

I was hoping to use this for the Creatve Cues word "Track" but I don't think this will fly. However these stitches sure look like a track to me. This was some pretty serious surgery that I really shouldn't be making fun of... after all, he's my little butthead kid that I'd probably spend even more $ on if I had too. (Fingers crossed) If by chance any one knows anyone who is going through this with their dog... please see here.... Very good info.......that can maybe help someone out.

There have been a few glorious days of sun

and blue skies beyond imagination...

There was a sad deer who passed through our yard this week. See the weird rope attached to his foot???

It looked like the rope could have been a trap of sorts but we couldn't tell...... there was no way we could have done anything to help him and he hasn't been back as far as we know. Life sure didn't hold much good for him.

Peaceable Kingdom

Mourning Doves and Deer

I'm always amazed how different species coexist so peacefully in nature...why can't mankind do the same?

Check out how the deer just appear out of the background of trees here... feeding the birds and deer is one of our winter hobbies. Now that hunting season is over, they start to settle down and appreciate the handouts. The deer come running when they hear the coffee can of corn. We have no interest in taming them to eat from our hand... even though we have names for some of them... Fatty, The Twins, White Eye, Broken Wing, Mamma and Osama the tunneling Red Squirrel. They need to stay wild in order to survive.

I know I haven't posted for awhile, it took me that long to upload this video here, LOL. I haven't photographed any of my stitching but did manage to make most of my Christmas gifts this year. I look forward to starting out fresh with a better new year.

All Hallows Eve

My CQ'd table runner (I think I captured the "purple" pretty well via my camera)

Welcome November!

Chickadee Season... I Con-Seed

No... I CONCEDE... to coloring my hair... painting my toes...feeling my hot flashes... being overtaken by awe...yelling when I want...blushing at a sunrise... picking at my cuticles.... humming an old song...not trusting my self .... showing my feathers... holding back.... letting go....giving myself to worry...there's always something pulling good or bad...

even in the woods where I think no one can see... where no one can hear...

where I think no one notices...

in the quiet...



in the fray...

in the shadows...

in the solitude...

in the sun....

even in my sharing .... I know His Eye Is On The Sparrow ..... and His eye is on us too!!! Please listen !!!

Outhouse Hunting 10/17

My friend Roxanne has a hobby of photographing and documenting the outhouses around Skanee. Hunting camps, old farmhouses, vacation cottages and wayside parks all have them. We've spent many hours entertaining ourselves with treks through the woods .

The weather was a mix of anything you want... it's like that in Michigan, hour to hour, you never know what you're gonna get. The colors are past peak but there were still lots of splashes in sheltered spots.

Rox

Me

We ended up out at the St Cyr cliffs on Lake Superior, this is where the Huron Bay begins off the big water.

This is looking out to the Keweenaw Peninsula. The mountains on the horizon are 50 miles away.

The southern shore of Lake Superior hosts many areas of rock cliffs and outcroppings created during the Glacier Age. Trees grow horizontal out over the water defying natures gravity and in spots its quite dangerous.

On the way home we took a detour down a logging road. The farther we went the softer it got until it turned into "quick mud". There was no good place to turn around, but because I picked the place to do it, I was the fall guy, Rox ( THE DRIVER, LOL) ended up alittle far to the right and we sunk to the undercarriage. We were able to walk out to a farm across the road and get a pull out of our mess. The guy who helped us had his arm in a sling so I was the one who had to climb under the front and hook up the tow rope. We were covered in mud from hair to shoes but hadn't laughed that hard in awhile. We officially called "Outhouse Hunting Seaon" over for the year.

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Last week Dan and I drove over to the Aura side of the bay exploring.

We found a little hidden pond

The stream to the pond was flowing with little falls and pools formed in mossy recesses


Up the road we found this little cabin

Though small, it had a sleeping loft, full kitchen, bar and living area. What an awesome little studio it would make.


The view of the bay so tranquil.
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So despite yesterdays shitty little dilemna, all is well!

Till the next time...

(PS.... I won't tell about backing over the big log in the ditch, whose fault was that, hee-hee!)

Summers 2009 Pictogragh

I need to capture the fragments of summer that wove themselves in and out of the time I spent down in Detroit. My thoughts were somewhere above all of it... half here... on this place called earth and half trying to invision what the real heavens beyond would be like. Something tells me that heaven is what you love...magnified beyond all comprehension... IMAGINE THAT !!! I think I'm ready for the next stage of my life...