Satin Angora Baby Booties

I just finished up knitting these darling baby booties last night. My co-worker/friend Brenda is having a baby in May and we are having a shower for her at work next Wednesday. The yarn is 60 % red Satin Angora from Garnet and 40 % BFL from Lisa's fabulous sheep. The pattern is a cinch and they knit up in about an hour a piece.Booties

Garnet with a prime coat.

Garden Sanctuary

While I was shopping yesterday with mom I was also on red alert for any clothing items that I might like for myself. I saw nothing that interested me enough to hassle with trying on. This morning we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast and of course I had to "shop" in their country store. I was excited to find this adorable dressy tee shirt and wanted to share the find in case any of my blog readers were interested in the getting one.Front design

Scoop neck tee with 3/4 length sleeves.

Shop 'til you Drop

Mom asked me to go clothes shopping with her today. I don't think I have been to a mall in three years (and haven't missed it). We went to the mall at Fairfield Commons near Dayton. She needed some clothes for spring and trip to Arizona and something to wear to her 50th reunion for nursing school. Neither of us is wild about shopping and agreed that our clothes trying on threshold is about an hour. She found two nice outfits at Christopher and Banks and another a JCP (after I made her try on a ton of clothes). We had lunch at Spinoza's. It was delicious-salads and pizza. Anyway, I made one small purchase being the kid that I am and here it is. Aren't they darling? They are only 3 inches tall.

A Week on the Beach...

...Is a nice way to recharge the 'ole batteries. We just got back ahead of the "snow storm", that dumped 4 inches on us, last night. We camped at Edisto Beach, South Carolina. An out in the boonies, nothing to do kind of place, unless you like birdwatching, beach walking, bike riding, cooking over a campfire and braving the elements. Some years the weather has been downright cruel. This year it was kind and we enjoyed 70 degree days and one episode of rain. Between the two of us we took 600 + photos. I have assembled a very abbreviated collection that can be seen here. And some highlights below.

Sunrise on the beach.

Marine life in the surf.

Shell piles at low tide.

Oyster catcher in flight.
Pleistocene age fossil horse tooth found on the beach.

Little Blue Heron at Botany Bay Wildlife Preserve.

Our little 1973 Bethany Camper.

Andrew is enjoying fresh caught scallops that I pan fried and drenched with lemon.

Bike trip down the beach.

Sunset.

Tuckered puppy.

Lilac Haven's Halo

Halo is the offspring of Lilac Haven's Ruby and Fuzzies Dylan. The 4 H'ers that I mentor got Ruby from me in 2006. They wanted to breed her last spring as a part of their project and Halo was the only offspring that survived out of a litter of 3. As you can see she is a beautiful girl and I plan to show her at the state convention in May if her coat holds that long.

“Éirinn go brách”

Paddy O'No you did not put that outfit on me!
Happy St. Patrick's Day

Wood Frogs

We went out again today to observe the wood frogs. It was 49 degrees outside-down about 15 degrees from Friday. In other words chilly in the vernal pool and not a lot of action from the frogs other than the sounds of their quack like calls. Unlike Friday however there were multitudes of egg masses floating in the water so the frogs have been very busy over the past two days. Once the frogs have mated, which can take up to 24 hours of them being attached to each other, the female lays anywhere from 300 to 1000 fertilized eggs. In about 50 days the eggs will mature to froglets. A interesting bit of info about wood frogs-they over winter in a completely frozen state and thaw out when spring arrives and begin to mate.

Another vernal pool

Slogging through the mud

Egg masses on top and underneath the surface of the water.

I'm holding a very chilled pair of mating frogs (who were released unharmed after they got their picture taken).

A male wood frog in his woodland habitat.

Andrew's holding some frogs too.

The first flower of spring-the Skunk Cabbage-whose fragrance smells like-you guessed it-a skunk!