TREE OF LIFE KAL

Lion Brand yarn company started a Tree of Life KAL. I love the pattern and thought I would give it a go, I have enjoyed working on the afghan and am pleased with my progress.

I have learned that is a pattern best to be worked on at home when no one is around to disturb me. I find myself knitting with my mpg3 player going so I don't hear the phone or the door.

I tried to work on it while out with Scott when he went fishing on day, but found myself making more mistakes than not so I figure just work on it alone.

I am using Caron Simply Soft in woodland heather. The pictures I took do not show the color well at all. The color is actually a soft sage like green.

I am excited to get this one done, it will be my first full size afghan.

I have more yarn in the mail to start a twin set, so I will have 2 big projects going, I usually don't have two big ones going at a time, should be fun.

BIRDS & BLOOMS

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This year we have been getting all kinds of birds in the yard. Some we usually get and others are new friends to us.

We of course get the wrens, the finches, the starlings and the jays. But this year we have been lucky to have Goldfinches, Western Tanager, Black-Headed Grosbeak and some others that I have identified yet.

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We planted Black Irises several years ago and we love them. We just haven't seen the ones in the back bloom for several years, lawn mower pruning by kids who should know better. But this year they are blooming and showing their glory. The color is so pretty.

We have columbine up to our ears this year, they are very tall and are attracting the humming birds.

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Mother's Day

I was not looking forward to Mother's day this as Scott had to work, DD had to work and DS was just not himself. We had talked about going to the Mission Mills Museum up in Salem but with gas prices what they are and all I was pretty sure the trip wasn't going to happen.

Then Friday night Scott surprised me by saying that the next day would be going. I have wanted to go up and take a look around for several years but we just never have. So this was going to be a real treat.

Scott and I went up on Saturday and spent about 4 1/2 hours going through everything. There really is so much to see. You can go in the different buildings that were once part of the mill and see the different equipment that was used for many years to make wool fabric. The entire process is explained and you can just imagine what it was like to work there. I loved the grounds that the museum is set on it is so pretty and the sound of the rushing water is soothing to me. I can see why a lot of people get married there.

When we left the mills we went somewhere else that I have wanted to go for years.....The Salem Riverfront Carousel. I love carousel horses and carousels, I love all the detail in each and every horse. I absolutely love the old wooden horses, I always think about all the people who have ridden the horses. We even rode the carousel!!!!! I had so much fun, I haven't ridden one in years so it was a real treat.

We did some shopping and then headed back home. On Mother's Day Scott and I got up and decided we would take Frank on our annual trip to Hendricks Gardens (this is a rhoddy garden) but to our surprise he wasn't allowed in the gardens just outside, so we packed it up and went to Owens Rose Gardens. The three of us had fun walking around and looking at what little is in bloom.

Yard Project

We have a nice sized back yard and for several years we have had flower beds here and there. Last year we connected two of the beds together to make one big one. Scott and I have talked about doing this for a long time, so we were happy with the results but knew it could be better.

During the fall Scott started planning out how he would like to see the yard done. I figured it might happen but did count on it just because we have done this before. We make the plans and then don't always do the work. So when he started talking about again a couple weeks ago I was a bit surprised.

Then he ordered the plants for the garden. so I knew we would be digging. We spent 3 hours on Sunday skimming grass and preparing for the new soil. We were smart this time and used an edger to cut the outline of the garden and then Scott cut cross hatches in the inside so it would make the remove easier to do. It was so much easier this way than the old dig and skim method that we have used in the past.

After we removed the sod we then added new soil, rich in nitrogen so the flowers will grow like crazy. We still have a bit of heavy weeding to do on the one end of the bed. So we are waiting for the plants to come and then all we have to do is plant and add bark.

I thought I had before pictures to show but once again I forgot to take any. But it is pretty easy to tell what we did. If you look in the picture you will see the dark soil, that is where we dug. Oh and if you go to the video of Frank you can see how it was in the background. I will post new photos once the planting is done.