Tuesday, November 27, 2018

I'm soft

Soft like the focus of this photo.



Soft like putty in the paws of our affectionate barn cat – which you might notice is not in the barn.

It was still pitch dark yesterday morning when I arose and went to the living room to have worship. In short order, my quiet reverie was interrupted by a most piteous mewing, first at the front door and then at the deck door. I tried to ignore it, but like I said, I'm soft. I went to the deck door, scooped Chuckie up, and sat down for a love-fest. That seemed to sate him, for all was quiet after I put him back outside . . . until last night . . . and this morning. But I didn't bring him inside again; we spent our quality time at the barn at chore times.





Don't worry; there's still time and attention left for the dogs.

No pretty sunrises the last couple days, but the low clouds creeping up the hill this morning caught my eye:

Speaking of soft, I finished this gift-knit:
It's borderline too big for me; hopefully it will fit the recipient.

This evening I cast on a new project – or four:
Any guesses about what I'm making? (No, I'm not making tip-down gloves.)

That's it for tonight from . . .

Sunday, November 25, 2018

From autumn to Christmas!

This morning was a bit of a replay from yesterday. I'd done morning chores, including feeding Chuckie, and gone back to the house. Before going in, I decided to take a photo of an errant bit of candytuft blooming amid the fallen leaves.


That's when I realized that Chuckie had followed me to the house, so of course I sat down on the front step and loved on him for a bit.



While Rick went on a distant veterinary call and Brian was at his Sunday morning job, I did some of the cleaning that didn't get done Friday. Rick called on his way home and asked if we were going to get a Christmas tree today. Welp; I hadn't been planning on that, but this was about the only day we could do it – and it wasn't raining. So we drove to the other end of our lane and cut a Noble fir at the neighborhood lot. It's not as tall as we've usually gotten, making it much easier to carry, place, and decorate. We moved my recliner so we could still use the deck door to let the dogs out and access the bird feeders – and didn't do any other decorating; quick and simple!


Now to get our Christmas letter written and envelopes addressed – and make some Christmas cookies. 😋

That's it for today from . . .



Saturday, November 24, 2018

Pea soup

After a pretty sunrise, that low valley fog started crawling up our hill while I headed out to do chores, snapping photos along the way. My little Braeburn apple tree still has a lot of fruit and leaves,
but it is an outlier. The oak up by our gate is hanging on to its cloak of brown, but the volunteer cherry trees only have lacy shawls of yellow and the maples are pretty much nekkid.



By the time we got home from church, fog had fully embraced Boulderneigh. I walked down to the barn again to check hay and water and caught Blake sporting a jaunty piece of straw; going for a Zorro look, perhaps?


 On my way back to the house, I stopped to capture this spiderweb on the fence:

Chuckie was apparently watching me and decided he wanted more attention than I'd given him at the barn. Up through the pasture he trotted,
then he jumped up on the fence to posture and beg. What a character! (In the background of the video you can hear a distant chainsaw, Canadian geese flying over, and Chuckie's tiny voice.)












Back in the house I laid down to rest my eyes for a few minutes. Jackson invited himself up on the bed and tucked his nice, warm body up against my legs. I just love our furry family!


That's it from still-foggy . . .

Friday, November 23, 2018

I didn't buy a single thing

If you tackled Black Friday shopping, more power to ya. The only time I left the property was when I rode Lance down the gravel road late this afternoon when it stopped raining. I had leftovers (spicy roasted sweet potatoes and a crescent roll) for late breakfast, leftover apple pie (from my MIL, sweetened with apple juice concentrate) for late lunch; the most productive I got was making a late lunch for three guys (Brian had a friend over to target-shoot) and knitting on this:

I haven't knit anything in months, and it feels good to have something on the needles again. This is practically dessert-knitting. Bunny-soft acrylic yarn in pretty periwinkle is becoming an Owl Hat for the co-worker who bought the pattern last year so I could knit it for her. She was going to choose yarn she liked but never did; I sure hope she likes this! However, another co-worker saw and loved the pattern, bought some yarn, and I knit her two Owl Hats from the skein – one for her and one for her granddaughter. She told me she wore it on her daily walks last winter; unfortunately, she didn't live to utilize it another cold season:

Speaking of co-workers past and present, the artist below is one of the former. On Monday we went as a group from the office to see her latest show, and I may have ordered a couple signed prints. But that was on Monday, not Black Friday. ;-)

The show at home is winding down after three days of wind and rain:

(You can see the same scene in earlier posts if you scroll down.) That Japanese maple on the right, in front of the house, is much more multi-colored than that photo shows. Here is a close-up that shows it better:

It is too big for that spot now, the root stock sending up multiple fast-growing trunks after the grafted top was broken off years ago. Rick wants to rip it out but I can't bear to lose this seasonal show; I keep pruning it but you can't tell. Sigh....

On my ride this afternoon, the sun came out and highlighted a distant blueberry field and golden trees (sucky iPhone distance shot, and a better one of a closer subject).


Time for a hot drink and some more knitting. Have a great weekend!

That's it for now from . . .