Nature and Stitching

Hello! So much for getting better at this. I think every few weeks is going to be about as good as it gets! LOL!! Well, at least I have pics of most of it to jog my memory.

We have a duck/swan pond in one of the suburbs here that I love to visit. For the first time in a few years I got to see that the swan couple have eggs!! Unfortunately the day I saw them I had left my camera in the car and it was a long walk back. On the day of the pics Mama swan was sitting on the nest and Papa swan was only interested in chewing on my shoe! LOL!!

I have pics of the eggs, but I have to buy a mini SD card to get them off of Leanna's phone.

This little guy is also swimming around the pond. He's unlike any other duck there, but has stayed for well over a month now. I think central NY might be his summer home this year.

This is Clark Reservation State Park. They have beautiful walking/hiking trails. This pic is of one of the rock trails. It's a beautiful place to walk/hike as long as you have a trail guide. We didn't. The first trip Leanna and I did fine, but on the second trip we brought my mom and got completely lost and ended up back on the main road and have to walk back to the park. It was fun, but exhausting.

On 5/6 I took Erica on a shopping trip. So of course 5/7 had to be fashion show day for her mom when she came to pick her up. This is one of the dresses we bought. I think it looks so good on her. Of course she has to be a ham!! How can you beat 2 dresses and 5 skirts for $100?? This week is the last week of her 1st semester at college. I'm so very proud of her for making it this far. She has her classes all picked out for next semester and is on the path to great things.

Now for something completely off the wall...Leanna collects rubber ducks and anything with little cartoon ducks on it...like socks. Well, on this day we had to say goodbye to this pair of cute lucky duck socks as they were no longer fit for wearing. :o(

And finally, my stitchy stuff. I finished my Mother's Day Project at about 3am on Mother's Day. Sometimes working 3rd shift has it's advantages! I think they came out well. 1st pic is right after I finished framing at work. 2nd pic is of my mother (left) and aunt (right) holding their presents.

Now I'm working on my Father's Day Project. I couldn't find a chart to fit the image in my mind (ever have that problem?) so designed the chart myself. I've started stitching and hope I don't have to make too many adjustments as I go along. It took me a whole night at work to draw the chart. 1st pic is chart. 2nd is WIP.

Until we meet again ... ^o^

April in a Nutshell

Hmmm, maybe I'll get better at this as we go along. Too much happens in 21 days to blog about all at once. Well, let's see how far we get with the abridged version!

1st, meet Erica and her foster cat Princess. She's my cousin that's been staying with us. It's made life very interesting. It's hard trying to get 4 people around with one car, but we've managed. Erica got her financial aid reimbursement this week and it's looking like the dorm is a go for next semester (needed $300 down payment). I hope things work out better than I'm expecting. This semester is over in about a month and we'll see what her grades look like then.

On the 9th, Leanna had her 2 year check-up with her bariatric surgeon. It was an overall uneventful trip (6 hours roundtrip) with the exception of Bowman Lake State Park. We were on our way back home and I really needed to stretch my legs, sooo as I'm prone to do, I spotted a sign for a park and decided on an impromptu detour. Well, 25 miles (yes miles) later, after many turns and thinking we were lost a few times, we found Bowman Lake State Park, and it was beautiful. This is one of the many streams that flow into the lake. There's a big beach and lots of camping. It might be on our camping list for this summer.

Easter on the 12th. Everyone say cheese. It was a very nice day at Aunt Sher's (Erica's Mom) and Uncle Bruce's. It's just nice to spend time together as a family, small though we are. From left to right Uncle Bruce, Aunt Sher, Erica, my Mom, Leanna.

My birthday was on the 14th, but I got a nasty bug and so we celebrated on the 15th. This is the fake blowing-out-the-candles picture. No one remembered the camera until after I had already done it the 1st time. I got a bunch of stuff for my new garden, the stuffed penguin I've been eyeing forever and a 6'x6' beach towel blanket (finally a beach towel that my feet don't stick off of!) Oh, and my new bread machine that Leanna got me at the beginning of the month. Woo hoo!! Love that fresh baked bread smell!

On the 19th, we took a walk down at the lake. The sky was beautiful. There are a bunch of old trees by the water's edge and this shot just caught my eye. I love true spring in CNY when the daffodils are in full bloom and the wind always smells fresh like rain and cut grass. There was a light breeze off the lake and it was perfect for our 2 mile walk.

And last, but not least is a stitch update. Those of you who are familiar with my Mother's Day Project may think this is a regression. It's not. This is "Take Two". The biggest lesson I've learned from this project is, never do a project twice. I've had to frog an "M" and the dress on the fairy already. All because I thought for sure I knew what I was doing and made assumptions and counting errors. I cannot wait for these to be done. "Take One" is almost done. I'm still undecided about the backstitching and I need to add the beads. Wish I had a picture to show with the border and all. Oh well, next week. Hopefully by then this one will be to that point too and then I can move on to Castles In the Air, the mystery SAL by Pappillon Designs.

TTFN!

1st Post

Well, I'm almost finished with my 1st Mother's Day project. Did I bring my camera to take a pic of it, NO. Of course not. I'm worried a bit about the top of the canvas. I stretched it a bit while I was stitching. Now on to #2. I'm thinking about giving the finished project to my mother and aunt before Mother's Day, so they have time alone to deal with it. The project is in memory of my grandmother that passed January 8, 2008. Last year my aunt didn't even want to celebrate Mother's Day, so I'm sure it's gonna be a hard day this year.

In other news...Erica came back yesterday. Life has been very interesting having her at the house. Even more interesting is her mother. She can't believe that Erica listens to me. Poor kid, she's so unprepared for college. Her mother wants her to live in the dorm next semester. I don't think it's a great idea, but we'll see as we go.