A View from Sierra County

Halloween Eye Candy

Have a fun day hanging out with the ghoulies and ghosties!

Eye Candy Friday

Time to be thinking about holiday decorating!

Eye Candy Friday

I have been really busy this week, getting ready for the approaching cold season... actually, the next two days are supposed to be unseasonably cold, after Monday and Tuesday were unseasonably warm!  We picked gooseberries in one of the high country meadows on Monday afternoon, I ran errands and babysat on Tuesday, and also started harvesting herbs, vaccinated and wormed critters on Wednesday afternoon, and then harvested more herbs, squash, last of the tomatoes, etc., and even crushed grapes for a batch of wine yesterday afternoon!  Whew... I have been working harder than usual physically, excited that I can do it again, but sore and tired.  I really didn't have any choice, as the danger of frost means I better pick and store what I can right away, including cutting what is left of my herb garden to dry and feed to the donkeys (especially good sources of vitamins and minerals).

I haven't had time to take the next round of photos of my WIPs, but a few knitted items are close to completion and I also want to share my quilt class experience from last week... hoping for some indoor time later this weekend! 

I have finished one chemo cap and started a second, just sewed on the button for baby Macie's sweater (shown here on a bear) and am completing the finish work and weaving in ends on my Diamond Square sweater, which will have to serve as a vest during the cold months.  I put it aside last fall because I couldn't finish in time to wear in warm weather, but decided a few weeks ago to finish up lots of loose ends, no matter the season or reason.  Black Sand gets to go to a training with me today, while February Lady will visit the yarn shop for my Saturday shift.

I wanted to show the last of the sunflowers... these lovely, wooly, golden orbs that will soon be gone.. have a lovely fall weekend!  I will be celebrating my birthday tomorrow by knitting more chemo caps at the shop, and then hosting what will probably be the last gathering in the outdoor kitchen for a Sunday bar-be-que

Signs of Spring

Spring comes in fits and spurts here in the Sierras.... it can be almost 80 one afternoon and then snowing the next.... however, daffodils, fruit trees and other light-sensitive plants bloom either way.  You can travel up and down the mountains to find the plants you want to view, even!

Right now, daffodils are in bloom at our Forest City house, but little else... however, around the old camp in Camptonville, lilacs are popping out... and unfortunately, so is scotch broom.
I know this stuff looks beautiful to those of you not from around these parts, but believe me, it is as invasive as kudzu or water hyacinth, and a scourge of the foothills partly for choking out other plants and partly because it is highly combustible, something definitely NOT desirable in the Sierras.  It also makes me sneeze and wheeze.

We traditionally do not plant much in our garden until Mother's Day, but DH has been busy getting ready, hauling around donkey manure and tilling.  This opens up a food festival for the birds (and the neighbor's semi-feral cats, unfortunately).  We have spied as many as two dozen Brewer's Blackbirds at the bird bath in our inner yard at once over the past several evenings....

I hope spring finds you with equally magical sights to add wonder to your days, and that you get to have a fun-filled spring weekend!

Eye Candy Friday - Husband Style

My husband is in heaven in this photo....

DD bribed him into replacing the brake pads on her car by bringing up a dozen of his two favorite kinds of doughnuts - unfrosted buttermilk bars and unfrosted old fashioneds... she also got him some beer... all for a half hour's labors.

He says he's smiling in this photo, but it's hard to tell since his mouth is full!!

Lacy Eye Candy

May I present..... the Lacy Kerchief Scarf!

She is definitely feminine, and my new favorite to coze around me and wear out into the cold.

My version of this pattern, which appeared twice in Interweave Knits (once in the Summer 2005 issue, then again in their 2006 Holiday Gifts edition) was made in Berocco's now-discontinued Denim Silk, which is a lovely blend of silk and rayon, making it a truly year-round treasure.

Just in case one photo isn't enough to whet your appetite to add this pattern to your Ravelry queue, here's another.... this time featuring the terrific shawl pattern I found online at White Lies Designs, while working up this project.

Wishing you a relaxing, knitterly weekend filled with beauty!

Eye Candy Friday

This special statue caught our eyes last week, and we hope someday to bring a similar one home for our own fish....

Christmas Eye Candy

The only decent photo I got from this year's Toy Run Parade, this bear was riding in a trailer pulled by one of the motorcycles and must have made some child very happy.

I am not sure about a Christmas posting schedule, but am in the middle of making Chicken Mole to stew away all day today for a small party of my work mates this afternoon... our two week winter break starts today, and none too soon.

I will spend the day finishing out the month's paperwork and moving furniture for the carpet cleaner, tomorrow at the LYS on one of the busiest shopping days this year, then look forward to a weekend of cooking, family and fun.  DH and I have a trip over to his parents planned for Christmas Day and the rest of next week, so posting will be sporadic... I want to wish all a peaceful Winter Solstice and a Merry Christmas.

Eye Candy Friday

It's been a long week even though it was a short one for work... as if we had to condense down five days into four.  I am glad that the Thanksgiving holiday is approaching, not just because I love the food.  I am also looking forward to some family time, some down time and maybe even some blog time!

This Friday's Eye Candy is one of the few good photos I managed to get last weekend on my visit to Reno and Virginia City.
It captures the heart of what I love about the Nevada desert... a BIG sky and a diverse terrain.  My new SIL, Ryoko has only been in the US for about three months now, and hadn't seen the desert outside of Reno.... she was fascinated by the variety of colors and the interesting rock formations... however, I was doing the driving while she was taking the photos.

If you click on the photo, you will see, right where the hills come together near the bottom of this photo, the last fall color on the cottonwoods of Six Mile Canyon, just east of Virginia City.  I love this place, even with its tacky museums and touristy shops... the history is still thick around the place, the buildings remain mostly authentic thanks to its being one of the largest historic districts in the country, and the landscape around it mostly undeveloped.

We poked around up and down the main street and admired the buildings, as well as showing her the school where Glenn and and her DH Dave's grandma Elsie went to grammar school...

The day was cloudy and cool, but this week has brought still-lingering warmer temperatures.  There isn't any snow in the mountains and I don't need gloves yet in the morning while driving to work, two sure signs that the season is dragging its feet in changing from fall to early winter.  This coming weekend will be filled with holiday preparations and Knitting Unto Others .  I hosted the first Knit Night of winter, sponsored by Stephanie and I, on Tuesday, and we decided to make a group blanket, and I will also finish my blanket started last December and donate it to my local Kare Crisis Nursery, and maybe even whip up a few four inch squares over the next two weeks. 

There are a few more small knitting projects going on around camp, and I got to get my wonderful, crimpy pencil roving from the fleece Sharon and I purchased at the end of July (she and I did NOT get a visit, which bummed us both out, but we are each happily contemplating what to make from our Coopworth treasures from Harvey Farms).
  So much to do and so little time... if only I could give up sleep!

Eye Candy Friday

Winter is starting to settle in around Sand Pond, one of my favorite high country spots, which we visited last Sunday.

The leaves were blown from the willows and aspens in the storms of two weeks ago, and the light has changed dramatically from the warm sunshine of summer afternoons, when this is a popular family swimming destination.

The fantastic forms of the Sierra Buttes are in the hazy background, but clearer reflected in the still waters of the pond.

For a bit of extra eye candy, I'm adding this photo of Glenn, looking rather sad at the thought of not seeing one of his favorite patrol stops in his high country ranger summer time duties until next spring.  He has had many pleasant summer afternoons meeting up with happy children and their parents as they play in the warm waters of Sand Pond or build sand sculptures at the pond's edge.

Isn't he cute, even when grumpy?!

Happy weekend, all.