MEA break

 We headed to Alpharetta, Georgia for the Minnesota Education Association fall break.  (Really just a long weekend - Thursday and Friday there was no school.)

Wednesday evening, we piled into the truck and headed south, dogs and all.

20 hours later, we were at our long-awaited destination.

Paul's brother Harlan and his fabulous wife Coleen, have been living in Georgia for more than a year, and we've intended to get there for a visit for a quite some time.

 

We feasted!

(Repeatedly.  YUM!)

 

Dogs ran amuck!

Their two and our two.

 

We spent one day at Stone Mountain Park, climbing the big rock.

 

People have been climbing the Stone Mountain for years and years.

(We managed to restrain ourselves from marking our passage up the mountain with our own carvings.)

We geocached on the way up.  There's a ton of geocaches on that big ol' rock.

Part way up the mountain, a gal coming down said "Be sure to check out that ancient gum tree just ahead".  We were prepared to be impressed.  

Impressive, eh?!

 

The view at the top was amazing.

 

Harlan pointed out one of the few trees at the top.

 

We found a few more geocaches at the top.

(Some times you really need to get down and look closely...)

 

There is a tram that will take you to the top of the mountain.

Or in our case, to the bottom of the mountain.

While waiting for the tram, we discovered the penny machine.  When was the last time you've seen one of these?

Of course, at the top of the tram, there was a gift shop.  At the bottom of the tram there was a gift shop.  As you ride the tram down, the tram operator makes a pitch for coming back to Stone Mountain. 

Perhaps for Snow Mountain in December?

Yes, they were making snow, getting ready for a sliding hill. A sliding hill  you can buy tickets for now, to slide for a two hour period in December.

Be sure to get your tickets now!

At the base of Stone Mountain is a carving,  a full three acres in size, featuring three confederate Civil War generals.  This was an early work of Gutzon Borglum, who later carved Mt. Rushmore.

They do laser light shows at the base of the carving.

Saturday evening, we piled back in the truck for the overnight drive home.  By Sunday evening we were home, tired and lonesome for Harlan and Coleen.

Many thanks to the Georgia branch of the family for a fabulous time!!

Mountain spindling

 This summer we had a lovely week camping in the mountains of Wyoming and Montana.  

No, not Yellowstone.  We hid out in several National Forest Service campgrounds in the Bighorns and the Absarokas.

Even though it was late July, the slopes were still full of flowers.

It was an amazing time.

Even though we were just across the mountain pass from where the bear killed a man and mauled another woman while they were asleep in tents.

We didn't hear about that til we were home.

Yeeks!  Made me happy we don't sleep in a tent!

While camping, I spindled up this four ounce bump of merino/bamboo fiber.

I kept looking at the mountains, and then the fiber, and back to the mountains.  The colors were perfect:  sky blues, high meadow grass green and the color of the mountain rock.

This may need to be woven into a scarf, full of mountain memories.

A Freeze?

The weather service says it's going to freeze tonight.  I could have told you that.  Want to know how?

 

We have two hibiscus plants on our deck.  They come in the house and suffer through the winter.  The pink hibiscus gets happy right away when it goes back outside and produces beautiful blooms all summer.

The yellow hibiscus produced its first bloom today.   Just before the frost tonight.  

 

Oh yeah, I knew it would freeze tonight...

Baby booties for a soon to be mom. Undeclared baby gender.

I'd put these on a girl baby, wouldn't you?  Blue isn't just for boys, and the variegation helps, eh?

Reassure me.

These are from one of my most favorite bootie patterns:  Christine's Baby Booties.  They're a good use for sock yarn leftovers. 

(And I've got a bin full of those.)

The turkeys are bulking up

 The wild turkeys, that is.

We've developed quite the little crowd of turkeys that come up and eat under our bird feeders.

It's almost a shame that no one here is a turkey hunter. 

Summer knitting again.

Generic socks from Trekking yarn.

I can't resist rainbow yarn.

Girl of the House LOVES her honeycrisps

Enter our refrigerator with care.  Dangers lurk.

Actually, it is the last apple...

 Another summer project.  (Doesn't everyone knit mittens in the summer?)

Fiesta Mittens from a pattern by Lucy Neatby.  Purchased as a kit from Blackberry Ridge at the Shepherd's Harvest Festival in May.

These were a fun knit, and Girl of the House has claimed them.

Ribbed Shrug (summer knitting)

For the Girl of the House, on those cool winter days when she wants to wear a sleeveless or short sleeve to school.

 

Two-tone Ribbed Shrug, from Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel.

I've made one for Bekky, too, but need a picture. 

 

(What d'ya say, Bekky, can you send a picture?)

Five months? For real?

Hasn't the summer just melted away? OK, I do know it's October...

Although this past weekend in Minnesota has been very summer-like - upper 70s and even 88° on Saturday. 

Anyway, it's time to get back on this blogger-horse.

Have you seen this clip? Yes, essentially it leads to information on a book, but I think the clip has alot to say to all women about body image and what we are teaching the next generation. It made an impact on me, as parent to a teen-age girl.  (I'll probably even check out the book!)

Have a look, won't you?