rough cuff

One of the great things about our new location is that there are always little unexplored hiking areas within a 30-minute drive.  On Valentine's Day, we drove out to Lake Monroe, which is about 11 miles from our temporary apartment.  Blue skies...

...big water.

Borga was not a fan.

It's mid-February, but I'm definitely noticing signs of spring.  Even on dark, 20 degree mornings, birds are starting to sing around 6:30 a.m.  The winter palettes of morning sunrises continue to be amazing.

And I'm seeing some green on the trails.

Still plenty of earth tones and fall leftovers...

...but I'm loving the slow changes.  As the weather warms, we'll be out on the trails several times a week.  I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm still working on my watercolors...

...and knitting.  I've finished one arm and cuff and am working on the final side panel.  The cuff construction is pretty remarkable.  You cast on several stitches with a spare needle and knit the stitches, picking up another stitch from the sleeve end each time you make a round.  Although it looks strange at first...

...the cuff emerges, sideways, and first-row slipped stitches create a tidy "braid" that separates the cuff from the sleeve.

It's unblocked, but I'm really pleased with the finished piece.

There's a little 'V' where the cuff gaps open.  I think it's a really cute detail.

I'll keep working on it and hopefully will finish up in the next few weeks!

Todd asked me to create a "We've Moved!" picture for our website, which hasn't been updated in a while.  I made a few silly ones...

...but to me, this really epitomizes my feeling about those horrible sleepless weeks preceding our trip.

We love living in Bloomington and have slowly started looking for properties again.  Moves are always tough, and we have about 8 storage units crammed full that will be a pain to relocate, but it won't be anything like our move from South Carolina.  I'm so excited about finally setting up a hobby farm and slowly adding animals to it, to establishing a large garden, and to customizing our house to our specific needs.  Hopefully I'll have some news in the next month or so.

Have a great week! 

Pond Perks

It's very popular here in upstate South Carolina to live "on the lake," but I don't think I would enjoy it very much.  Noisy boats, loud parties, close neighbors, people talking right offshore?  No thanks.  However, I can't say enough about living on a large semi-private pond, and having a sun room overlooking the water.

PEACEFUL.  Quiet.  Beautiful light.  Best of all, we don't even have to go outside into the heat to enjoy the water, although we do, quite a bit.

After all, how can we resist a visit from our "goz," who come right over when we walk down to the water's edge?

Our resident heron is always around, although he's pretty cranky and squawks in irritation when disturbed.

I've talked a lot about the little mammals we've had...the river otter, beavers, and muskrats...but we also enjoy a dizzying array of dragonflies (this is a Slaty Skimmer, single and mating pair)...

...and colorful butterflies.  By the way, this is Limenitis arthemis.  The tiny orange spots tell predators that it's poisonous, but it's actually not.  It's mimicking the poisonous Battus philenor, but this little guy is perfectly harmless.

A hawk pair hunts here regularly.  They're really beautiful, majestic creatures. Check out those talons and the strong beak!

Here's the male across the pond.  He dove onto some small rodent and then ate it leisurely.

Really beautiful birds. 

We've got an abundance of anole lizards here.  More beauties.

Not always seen, but always leaving their presence felt, is our pack of white-tailed deer.  Scat all over the driveway and garden...

...and they're nibbling everything.  This liriope grass should have large arching fronds, but it's trimmed tidily by the deer, all over the yard.

The deer don't turn to the liriope until they've exhausted everything else, so this drought must be having quite an effect on them.  There's more scorched grass than tender young shoots at this time of year.

Staying inside, I've been doing a ton of crafting and cooking in my spare time.  I'll try to devote my next post to those projects.  Have a great week!