Pleasurable passtimes

 My friend Melissa flew up a couple of weeks ago for a quick visit, taking advantage of the promotional prices from Alero, a new airlines that has just begun serving Redmond and several other secondary markets, like Burbank which is her airport.  We only had two full days and made the most of them.  This photo is from our visit to the High Desert Museum.  Our favorite thing was the outdoor wild raptor show.  Highly recommended!

She's been painting every day and has started moving into mixed media and collage.  I showed her how relief printing with lino works and she loved it.  We ended up doing this on two of our afternoons.

We printed a couple dozen of these Christmas ornaments which she'll assemble when she gets home.  They wouldn't travel well otherwise.  She's coming up again the end of August and by then I will have completed a two-day woodblock class so will have more to show her.

I finished this sweater for Delaney which she loves.

The buttons are perfect, from Skacel.

I started another sweater for her using the variegated yarn that a friend gave me.  I bought the muted peach to go with it as the single ball wouldn't be enough.  My friend messaged me last night that she found a second ball of the variegated and though I don't need it, I have accept it for a different project.  I sampled for over an hour trying to find a pleasing way to blend the two yarns.

I realized when I turned the work over to purl that the wrong side is the answer.  The wrong is the right!! 

Our-soon-to-be-17-year-old granddaughter Alexia is with us again this summer.  She has stepped up her knitting game and enjoys knitting with the Knitterbugs when we get together in a park.  She knitted this shell from linen, not quite a beginner project, and she nailed it.

It fits her perfectly and she is going to wear it this Wednesday when we meet up to knit.

I've done very little weaving in the past few months, other than a workshop.  I decided to return to Turned Taquete again and experiment with squares of different combinations of the same hue.  I'd like to finish in time to have something to enter into the fair this year.

It's too hot to weave in the afternoons but instead of using the morning time, I've chosen to sit outside and enjoy the fresh cool air.  I've worked hard on the yard and like to sit out with my coffee and either knit or read.  The summers are short here and I'll have the rest of the year to weave.  That's what is going on here.

And June rolls around again.

It's happened.  I'd rather do yard work that weave.  I've added six new hostas this year, bought bareroot in a bag from Costco.  They have to start from scratch every season.  You'd think I'd come up with something different since our growing season is so short.  Last week we had to put our hanging baskets in the garage so they wouldn't freeze and this week we're working overtime to keep everything watered in 90-degree days.  

I was given these iris about three years ago and they finally bloomed - worth the wait!

Ian moved the tomato pots from the back deck to the edge of the RV pad where they'll get full sun all day.  The blue things are Walls of Water, needed protection against late frost.  We've lost a plant or two every year but so far everything looks good.  That bright apple green area was barren dirt but about a month ago Ian spread some clover seed and covered it with mulch.  It looks great!

Our resident rabbit approves.  With his help we may not need to mow.

Every year we tackle some overgrown area and try to make it pretty.  This was a bear, pulling out everything including some raspberries that we regret planting.  They've encroached everywhere and I don't even like raspberries.  I bought some wildflower seed from Wilco that's specific to the PNW.  We covered it with a bag and a half of mulch and already we're seeing sprouts.  Supposedly the annuals will bloom this year and next year we're get flowers from the perennials.   

This is an AeroGarden that is a system for sprouting seeds in the house that we bought about 10 days ago.  Neither one of us has had any successful with sowing from seed.  Our friend Kathi bought two of these and said they ate from it all winter.  So far only the basil is growing.  It will be ready to set out just about the time the summer weather is in full swing.

The large field behind our house was brought inside the urban growth boundary the year after we moved in, a sure sign that development was coming.  The new high school where I'm standing is completed and will open this fall.  This area of the field is where development is starting.  The trees are coming down and excavators are rehabilitating the landscape.  This is volcanic country so the excavators have their hands full blasting and removing rock.  There are 43 acres in all, including a park and businesses.  I hope that includes a coffee shop!

Meanwhile, this is what's at the end of our street.  Its construction on the sewer extension for the new development.  We knew all of this was coming but that doesn't make me have to like it.

Our neighbor watches their grandson Jasper on Fridays.  He's three months younger than Delaney and the two have come to be friends.  Jasper goes to daycare a couple days a week so has other children to play with but this is it for Delaney.  I love watching them together.  Delaney's mommy knows to come next door when she picks Delaney up.  Next Friday we'll picking Alexia up in Lakeview and bring her home for the rest of the summer, so we'll have two granddaughters!!