Off Camping!

I'm packing my bags and heading off for a week's worth of camping. No phones. No internet. Just us and the (hopefully) blue sky and lots of great scenery.

We're heading to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to uncharted (for us) territory. We're walking between Tahquamenon Falls and then heading further up to the Porcupine Mountains and the Lake of the Clouds. Don't it sound like a really beautiful place??!! Hopefully when we come back I'll have lots of photos to share.

I hope everyone has a really good week. A week without internet!! How will I manage?  I'll leave with a photo I took the other day.

WOYWW - A hot one!

It's Wednesday again and I've finally taken a (bad) phone photo of my desk to join in with the gang over at Stamping Ground for another What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. It's a hot one here in Michigan. It's been hot the last few days. Really need a break from it. It's been up in the 30s (90s) in the daytime and only down in the 20s (70s) at night. I could handle the day if the night was cooler. It was so muggy last night I kept waking up looking at the clock. Ug. We're camping up north next week so it will definitely be cooler.

Here's the bad phone photo of my desk. My craft room is upstairs and it's been so hot I haven't spent a lot of time up there. Please forgive the mess!

It's a long view of the desk and you can see the mess in all its glory. Usually I only take a pic of the bit in the middle where I'm working but there isn't a lot going on right now. I'm stamping out some sentiments and images from some kits I bought from Unity Stamps. I am going to clean up - I am.

I've been taking walks early in the morning (look at previous posts if interested). There is lots going on at the lake right now. So many different animals and things growing. Yesterday I saw these two bucks and a doe. They were weary of  me but not outright scared. I managed to take this of one of the bucks. Such a magnificent creature!

I've been posting some of my nature photos on my instagram account too. https://www.instagram.com/sharonkoole/  

I'm going to get some things done early before the heat sets in and then I'll pop around desks. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone is up to!

Hot days yesterday and today. Yesterday we took a walk at a state park near the lakeshore so at least it was cooler. It was actually really nice walking along there - the temperature was certainly a lot more bearable. The air conditioner has been running for days now (do turn off at night) so I dread to think what the electric bill will look like! Another reason to enjoy the end of April and May - too warm to need heat, too cool for the air conditioner!

I walked early today. Good thing too. It would have been too hot later. My poor plants are looking rather dry - doesn't matter if I do water them. Of course it looks like it's going to rain when we go camping next week but who knows, they may have changed the forecast by then. If not, we make the best of things.

Here's an image from today. A deer with a little attitude. I imagine it was wondering why I was taking photos of it.

Lazy Saturday

It's going to be a hot one today - looks like it's going to be a hot week in general. Temperatures are supposed to be above 30C most of the week and even the lows are going to around 20C. It sounds really good but can be stifling after a few days. It means early morning housework and walks before gets too hot. I'll have to work out cooler meals - lots of salads, veggies and maybe a slow cooker recipe or two. Hubby grills food but I'm not that good at it.

Even though it's getting hot I'm still doing some knitting. Sounds weird, right? I haven't been learning too long and I'm afraid I'll forget it all so I'm keeping my hand in, so to speak. I've just finished this scarf. It has a pattern which includes yarn overs and knitting together. I'm finally getting the hang of following a pattern ha ha.

There are more scarves in my future. Not sure what I'm going to do with them all but they seem a good way to work on patterns. This one is nice and thick. I'm sure it will work good in the winter.

Flowers from my walk this morning. I've been trying to improve my flower photography. I have trouble making the colours pop, but this worked out okay. Daughter says I should start marking my photography somehow (now that I'm improving lol) but haven't figured out how to do it. Sigh.

I'm off to Skype my Mum. Hope everyone has a lovely Saturday.

Thank Goodness That's Over!

This is a rant. Well, a little bit of one. I hate the dentist. Really hate the dentist. I knew my cleaning/check-up appointment was coming up and have literally been dreading about it. I've been thinking about it for weeks. I even thought about cancelling. I had nightmares that my usual hygienist had left and I'd been seeing someone strange. I got that one from my friend whose knew person ended up scraping some sealant off her teeth and giving her a tooth ache!

I went. I admit I rang in for some anxiety meds and while I was on the phone confirmed that my usual woman was there. That helped a little. Only a little. I work myself up so much. I think I'm my own worst enemy. Once I'm there I'm okay.  It didn't help that on Monday I knocked something hard I was eating against my tooth, felt a pain and when I poked around there was a really sharp pain between a tooth and my bridge (goes away immediately, no pain flossing or sensitivity).

I can happily report that all went well! I don't have to go back for six months! Yippeee! Dentist checked out the spot that was bothering me and says it just looks like the gum. She put some stuff on it and it should feel better. Keeping my fingers crossed! My purse is a lot lighter, but so is my mood!

Monday Morning

Ug it's Monday again. The weekend was SO hot. We still haven't got our window air conditioners in and apparently hubby didn't feel like putting them in so we suffered through heat. It was horribly hot and stuffy. Despite leaving the windows open last night it is still hot and stuffy in the house. He says he's putting them in tonight when he gets home from work. It is supposed to be cooler today but the air conditioner will help with the humidity too. I don't put them on all the time as I don't like it too cold, but a little relief would be nice!

It must be egg laying season for the turtles other at the lake. I've come across several of them on the path laying eggs.

These two I saw today. They were in different spots along the path and stayed still while I took their photos. There were a lot of broken eggs where I saw the second one. I hope they were broken because they hatched and not because someone had uncovered and damaged.

Even a chipmunk sat still (or rather froze trying not to attract attention) while I took its photo. I've been seeing deer too (finally). I think now that things are growing in the woods they are out eating. This is one I saw the other day. I think we startled one another and just stood staring. I managed to snap a few photos and then go on my way leaving the doe where she was.

Hope everyone has a good Monday!

Creative Cards

It seems lately I haven't been doing so much crafting or posting photos of anything I have created. I participated in an ATC (Artist's Trading Card) swap for the WOYWW 8th Anniversary party. I join in at least every other week so it was fun to create some ATCs and send them out to people in the group. They are on their way now so I thought I'd share. This year I chose a theme of fun sayings.

Hopefully I'll get up in the craft room again soon creating some cards. When the weather has been cool enough I've been doing some knitting too - keeping up on what I've learned.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!