Birthday Pictures

Breakfast!

Delphinium blooming!

Flowers in the planter!

Random Video

Pretty things

Breakfast this morning!  Wild blackberries (picked by Dan) with yogurt cream.

A new baby bonnet for my new niece!  (ravelry link)

This was done in doubled Cherry Blossom Sock Yarn

by Sundara Yarn. So pretty!

And today I will start a new thing

or keep on going with what has been started.

Wednesday morning Dan took this picture around 6 am--gorgeous, huh?  He's so good at catching beautiful morning light (I'm better with the evening light--probably because I don't have to be at work at 7 am (and this week it has been even earlier for him)--and these mornings on the farm are the mornings he wishes he could stay home all day rather then head on the 20 minute trip two towns over to work)

That picture reminds me of a song I just heard on Radio Heartland -- don't know the name of it (I could look it up--found it Choose Joy by Buskin & Batteau--and downloaded it, too!), but the lyrics said that every morning when you wake up you have a choice to start the day with joy--what a neat song!

Anyway, I thought I would also show you some updated photos of things/critters on the farm . . .

My pretty blue planter fill with pretty flowers (I just love the combo I put in there this year--I love last year's as well, but this puts a smile on my face)

Little Donald is growing by leaps and bounds!  We figure (or Dan did) that he was at least 100 lbs when he was born and he has gotten SO much bigger!

Kittens are growing, too!  L to R: Dewey, Bunny, & Hughey  The ones on the left and right are brothers and little Bunny in the middle is a few weeks younger.  She is part Manx(?), so she has no tail.  She is really sweet.

Lastly, some knitting:

I started these Endpaper Mitt's (ravelry link) last week--they were all the rage a couple of years ago and now that I was finally able to purchase the yarn I wanted for them I am able to come a little late to the party.  I am always a year or two late on trends (or a few years early--never the right time)

 A little closer look.

So pretty!  Can't wait to finish them, weave in the ends, and block them!

Oh, and last night the Dairy/Berry Day events got canceled due to bad weather, so next Thursday we'll try again!

I come from a small town

So, I come from a small town . . .

that means so many things . . .

it means tonight in our town we have a fun event at the bandstand
Dairy/Berry Day--free root beer floats and strawberry sundaes served by the Dassel Ambassadors and Ambassador candidates--live music by local musicians in the Mid-Minnesota Concert Band.

. . . but there will be someone sorely missed tonight at Dairy/Berry Day

this was her small town, too

our local newspaper editor, Lynda Jensen -- a fixture at any local event, willing to share pictures with me of event happenings (as I update the city's website or cable channel), a woman in her 40's with 3 children who knew what true sacrifice is, with a husband who was in Iraq while she was pregnant with her last child (and I can't remember for sure, but I think he was still there when she had her), the wife of a police officer with all of those crazy hours -- she died on Tuesday after suffering a brain hemorrhage from a fall she had a couple of weeks ago that went undetected.

We had just laughed last week at a local chamber of commerce meeting about her 18 year old daughter's need for her cell phone.

Praying for your family, Lynda, and for your co-workers at the newspaper.
Elisabeth

June, june, joon, joooooon

I like June--it's my birthday month--things are growing in the garden and I usually haven't lost my ambition to keep the weeds down yet--strawberries are ripening--school's out (not that it makes much difference in my life--no kids and I am no longer in school or work at one, but still I've always loved that feel of school being out)--cute critters are out and about--and on and on and on--now, Dan doesn't love June so much--it means work (really hard work) trying to judge when to cut hay, keeping the wildness in the pasture at bay, working on things out in the mosquitoes (I guess these things can be said for me as well, but Dan is the one who really feels the pressure of all of it and is the one who does the really hard labor of it all--I help him with the hard labor, but he's the one who really gets down and dirty--I drive the tractor:he picks up the bales, I somehow throw the bales onto the hay elevator:he somehow pulls the bales off the elevator, stacks them up in the heat of the hay mow, and comes back ready for more as I finally drag another bale onto the elevator) . . . but, I digress--I really came here to show you some pretty pictures, so  . . .

Strawflower--I'll have to get a photo of the whole pot of flowers I put together on the deck--yellow and white flowers in a pretty blue pot!

The old wooden manure carrier that used to sit out behind the barn just going to waste.  Now it is in the front yard with a couple of rose bushes, painted daisies, and some lilies.  I planted it full of canna lily bulbs and they are starting to poke through the surface now.  I can't wait to see how it will look!

Last year's kittens!  Murphy, Betty, and Maggie--Murphy's saying, "What aren't you petting me? You could be petting me if you weren't taking that picture!"

Well, that's where life stands at the moment!  Hope you are enjoying your summer beginnings!

It's Spring, so that means it is time for . . .

. . . millions of things to be happening at the same time.  Planting the garden, fresh kittens, a new baby calf, and pretty things blossoming outdoors.

  Molly's kittens!

Little Donald born on May 8th!

Donald and his momma, Bessie.

Flowering crab tree at one of the local parks!

It is officially tick season around here--I don't know that I really need to announce it far and wide and even if I did, I am sure there is someone far more important that actually knows when tick season really is or if there is an official tick season around here.  Friday and Saturday there were ticks abounding out in the pasture where Dan was working on a new fence line.  I was only out there briefly those days, but both days I had 3 on me.  Sunday ticks at the park where we went for a picnic in the afternoon and Monday I weeded through the weed patches right by the house (otherwise known as my flower beds) and ended up with two ticks crawling on me.

Aren't you happy that I spared you pictures of those?  I've been feeling all creepy crawly since then!

Just saw . . .

. . . this and it made me think of the nice bowls I made for Norman a bunch of years ago for Christmas.  It is very important to make sure your animals have beautiful things to eat from (even if they'll never care or notice) ;D

  Norman and a couple of orphaned kittens (Ernie and Bernie, in case you're interested) eating in the back room of the house.  (The kittens finished their food, so Norman is finishing it up--but hey look over in the corner--that is his nice wheel-thrown food bowl made especially for him by me!)

A close-up shot (not a very good one, but at least it gives shows you what the bowl basically looks like).

Ummm . . . that's all, nothing more important to say.

I Think I Like Him

Dan on Easter Sunday

Yet again, the bathtub is unfinished

 Trip Around the World baby quilt

. . . but we made about 15 quarts of maple syrup, I finished up the cutest baby quilt ever (well, it is the cutest one until I end up making one for my own child which has yet to appear on the horizon), the church is decorated for Easter, and I am going to make a broccoli/grape salad and a spinach/artichoke dip for our get-together at Dan's parent's house tomorrow!

More gratuitous, gorgeous baby quilt pictures (made for a new niece that will be arriving in the next couple of weeks--don't worry, there is a little bit of knitting that will be made, too, but I know her mom has been working on things for her as well!)

The back--isn't is cute?

Detail of the top-stitched binding

I just fell in love with all of these little patterns that I got a JoAnne Fabrics!

Oh, and we brought a load of scrap iron to the scrap iron place yesterday.  We went there a couple of years ago and I took a bunch of fun pictures of all the metal and cool stuff around there and I kept meaning to bring them copies of pictures (scroll down a bit--but also check out those cute kittens!) that I had taken.  I brought them with me yesterday and the woman who gave us our check for the metal just loved them and was so excited to get them framed and put up on the wall!  That was so nice of her to love them--I thought they were cool, too, but sometimes people think differently than me.

Soooo . . . in honor of that here is a quick shot that I took yesterday!

Dan at the metal scrap yard (I stayed in the truck--too many giant cranes picking things up and such)

Anyway, I hope your Easter is a good one!

Bathtub is in about the same place as last time, but . . .

. . . the old water tower in my home town is not. 

We said goodbye to our friendly old water tower on Tuesday.

It was my job to be the historical recorder.  (I stood outside all day video taping the taking down of the tower and taking still shots of it as well). 

We sure are going to miss it (couldn't keep it due to rules and regulations related to people suing the city and lead paint and all sorts of craziness--the city looked into all sorts of options),

 but we do have a beautiful new tower and maybe someday when people have money again the town can put on some kind of fundraiser to make small replica of the tower. 

I have also been taking pictures of the tower from all angles for the past year. 

So anyway for the next week or so or more I will be working on a comprehensive video of our old water tower--hope I do good!

The current state . . .

 . . . of my bathtub

 

 Ah, the joys of 1940's era pipes and tubs

Knitting Olympics-Shetland Triangle

I have never joined any group before this, but I knew when I got done with all the Christmas knitting I did this year that I would finally want to make a shawl of my very own.  I knew which one it would be-- The Shetland Triangle.  I knew what yarn I would make it out of-- Sundara Yarn aran silky merino in the black cherry colorway.  Last year I was involved in one of Sundara's yarn club things and I was just waiting to see what yarn I would get and hoping that the silky merino color would be just what I might want to have in order to make my Shetland Triangle.  I have to say that every yarn I got was just absolutely gorgeous.  (Still need to show you some more of the things I made with it all).

Anyway, I cast on for my shawl on the evening of Feb. 12 during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games not knowing if I could really get it done and blocked before the games were up.  I have knitted shawls before and this didn't seem like a giant one, but I have never knitted a shawl (or anything much bigger than a mitten) in two weeks time.  So anyway, I've done it!  It is still in the blocking pins (I hope--there are two cats inside afterall) at home and it is a couple days before the Olympics are over!  I didn't even knit every night--I did need to take some recuperating time between long evenings of knitting as my hands would start to ache.  (Much like Olympic athletes appreciate a break between events).

So here are my progress photos . . . (and a link to my shawl in Ravelry and the Ravelympics! and also a link to The Knitting Olympics!)

The start!

 

Partway through!

The lump--all knitted!

Pattern detail before blocking

Edge detail before blocking

Being blocked in the morning sun

Just look at those swirly bits and edges!

I mean--look at those--aren't they gorgeous!

Whoopee or whatever!

 

The Knitting Olympics Athletes Pledge

I, a knitter of able hands and quick wits, to hereby swear that over the course of these Olympics I will uphold the highest standard of knitterly excellence.

I will be deft of hand and sure of pattern, I will overcome troubles of yarn overs and misplaced decreases. I will use the gifts of intelligence and persistence (as well as caffeine and chocolate) and I will execute my art to the highest form, carrying with me the hope for excellence known to every knitter.

I strive to win. To do my best, and to approach the needles with my own best effort in mind, without comparing myself to my fellow knitters, for they have challenges unique to them.

While I engage in this pursuit of excellence and my own personal, individual best, I also swear that I will continue to engage with my family in conversation, care for my pets, speak kindly with those who would ask me to do something other than knit, and above all, above every stitch thrown or picked, above every cable, every heel stitch, every change of colour, I swear this:

That I will remember that this is not the real Olympics, that I'm supposed to be having fun and that my happiness and self-worth ride not on my success....
but on my trying.

Let the games begin!
 

from the Yarn Harlot's blog

and just a couple more wintery thoughts (in pictures)

Golly, I love thick, frosty mornings!

Snowfall Photos

It is snowing here today and I decided to try and make it into town to do a couple things that I needed to get done on my normal day off (gallery is closed).  Of course, one of the things that I was really trying to get down was to work on bookmarking a video of the local city council meeting that I sent to upload on Friday and should have been up on the site already, but isn't and all that jazz--it takes a while--don't know why, but it just does, so I couldn't do that and the other thing I had to do wasn't exceedingly important, but at least I can do that.  In process of my little drive in, I decided to get a few shots of the house and around the farm during our pretty snowfall!

Enjoy!

 

  

  

  

  

  

Have a happy day!