Sunrise, Lake Superior

Up early to take the dogs out.

It's so much easier to just let them out the door at home. But I don't get to see the sun rise over the big lake when I'm home.

That's a pretty fair trade.

Gone Camping - Well, sort of

We drove past the frozen icescapes pushed up against the shore in Duluth,








and we arrived a place only two miles north of our favorite state park campground.


As recently as the past weekend, when the weather was gorgeous, we had planned to head to the North Shore to camp for a long weekend.

But the weather returned to its normal March Minnesota weather, and we flat-out chickened out.

We thought perhaps we would go for a bit more space. Our camper has heat, but it is not spacious. (And it doesn't have an indoor fireplace like our new digs!)

But we're going to hold to the remainder of the camping experience.

No TV.

All the music, reading, knitting, playing games, and cooking that we want.

We brought the snowshoes. We're planning to hike and explore.



Or maybe, just look out at the great lake outside our window.

Spring is coming to Minnesota - finally!

We got out early Saturday morning and grabbed some brand new geocaches in the cool, crisp, sunny morning. It was unusually warm for Minnesota in March.

We got to see some wild turkeys doing their spring chase of the females.
Can you tell one of these males has a beard that goes all the way to the ground? We've never seen one quite that long/large...







There were some beautiful panoramas to enjoy.





On the geocaching site, someone mentioned that this area looked like a Maakestad painting. We weren't familiar with Maakestad.

Apparently, we should be.

See the silos on the right, with the barn roofline? Now, go look at this painting.
The silos and barn are the same - I should have taken the picture a bit more to the left.

We may be in the market for some oil pastels. These are gorgeous, and they are local. And they're amazing.



It was good to get the cache-mobile out of the shed and rev her up for the spring weather.





The nice weather continued. Today I even got the sheets out on the clothesline. Now that will be a treat for sleeping tonight!

A Picture for My Mom

I'm babysitting her Christmas Cactus while they are wintering in Texas.

We tend to keep our house too cold for the cactus to be happy enough to bloom, but apparently this year it's hardened up and decided it HAS to bloom, cold weather be damned. (We aren't telling it that it missed Christmas.)

Of course there are only four blooms so far...

HI MOM!!


In other progress, I've finished both sleeves on the Kauni cardigan.

I'm particularly proud of the way the sleeves match in color. I attempted to get them both started at the same point in the color sequence, and I think it worked!

Now, on to the collar and the front bands.

I just flew in from Canada

and boy are my arms tired!

Paul spotted a Common Redpoll outside on the ground under the feeders.

According to the information we've found, they're rare around here in the winter. They prefer Canada and north.

This little Redpoll was sleeping peacefully, head tucked under his wing.











When Paul started snapping pictures, he raised his head and looked right at him.








Apparently deciding that Paul was safe, he tucked his head back under his wing and resumed his nap.







Perhaps where they normally live, they don't have predators to worry about?

We were glad to see him fly away before one of the outdoor cats had some Canadian bird for supper. We later spotted a female on another feeder. His mate?


This has been my carry around knitting project lately.

It's a scarf from the silk caps I finished spinning in October.

There's about 2 feet so far, and it's light as a feather.