I packed my bag and in it I put...

...probably too much! It's an early start for me tomorrow (long story) and a long layover in Chicago (part of the long story) but I'm stocked up with books on the kindle and music. This is one time I really like reading on my kindle otherwise I'd have to take a stack of books with me.

I plan on checking in now and then, but I won't be online much as I plan to be spending time with Mum and getting out and about.

One more photo of The Lake of the Clouds and I'll be off.  Going to try to have a somewhat early night - if I can sleep lol

Finished!

It's almost down to the wire now - I fly out Friday morning. I'm beginning to panic a little as I'm sure I'm not going to get everything just so before I leave. I know hubby will still be here, but I was hoping to organise a few things before I left. I suppose they will still be here when I return.

I did manage to finish my sister's cross stitch and frame it so it is all ready to put in my case.

I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I was hoping to put a mat around it before going in the frame, but it is an awkward size and I'm in a time crunch. It is sitting on the dining room table along with Mum's album and a couple of other pre-made albums I'm taking to her.

Tomorrow I have to check-in online, go get a couple last minute items from the store and then pack. It's going to be a busy day! 

Lazy Weekend

I should be doing things, but instead I'm sitting watching the World Cup and doing some cross stitch. I suppose that's something I should be doing as it's the one for my sister that I'm hoping to take with me. I'll start on housework tomorrow.  I did go for a little walk today just to get out of the house for a bit. It was very quiet down by Asylum Lake though I did see a raccoon climbing a tree back up to his lair (perhaps).

I'm still sorting through photos. I took lots of them. While sorting through them I did something where all my photos started to leave my computer and go onto the cloud drive. I do have them stored on there, but I wanted them on my computer too! I ended up having to download them all again. Sigh.

It's funny how you find delight in the small things. On our first day camping (at St. Ignace) I saw this lovely little family of Mallards (I think). They were so funny to watch. At one point they headed out into Lake Michigan and had to ride a small wave to get out there.

I sat watching them for quite a while. They were so funny trying to flap wings that weren't really developed yet. I'm just so easily entertained!

Back Again (from Camping)

We're back from our week long camping trip. Phew. I thought about calling this post Mud, Mosquitoes and flies, but that makes it sound really bad. We had a good trip, but there was an infestation (the only thing to call it) of big flies at one campsite the day we arrived and lots of mosquitoes and mud (the last two due to the downpours the day before we arrived).

When we left home last Saturday morning it was raining and storms were forecast for the area we were camping at the first night, but none came. We had a little rain overnight, but not much. We did see that our final destination (for five days, four nights) was having torrential rain. I looked when we got back (we didn't have phone connection up there) and they recorded five inches of rain in one day! Our trip up to the Porcupine Mountains the weather was beautiful. We stopped at a couple of places on the way and walked for a bit. It was still dry when we got to the campsite so we decided to set up the tent. The spot we had reserved was bigger (thank goodness) and a muddy in places where a camper had left tyre holes. We found a semi-dry spot to set up the tent and canopy. Managed to get it up before it started pouring again. Rather than sit under the canopy and watch the rain we decided to drive the 10+ miles to the nearest restaurant and get something to eat. Good thing. It fell down and began to storm a little. A local couple told us about a nearby town where some roads were underwater and there was severe damage.

It had almost stopped raining by the time we returned to the campsite and the rest of our holiday there was glorious sunshine and quite nice warm days. Perfect walking weather.

I won't make this an ultra long post. I'll share some more photos on the next post. I have to sort through them. This is me looking out on Lake Superior right near our camp site. Glorious to wake up to this view and see it just before going to sleep.

This place makes me quite happy. There weren't too many people who would go out there to sit so very peaceful.

I have a busy week ahead. I leave on Friday to visit Mum in England. Can't wait! I hope everyone had a good week.

I Packed my Bag and in it I Put...

Well, basically lots of warm clothes for the cool camping nights in the U.P of Michigan and some hiking gear. We're off camping for the next week! I can't believe it's come around so soon. Then I'll be back here for a week before I leave to visit Mum in England! Wow, where did the time go? I have all my clothes packed and now I get to pick some fun things I think I might do when we have some down time. I have a couple of magazines and books but that's about it. I think I'll mainly be taking lots of photos. I have my tripod ready to go and my camera all charged up.

I did get my Mum's scrapbook done! It was my goal for the week and I'm excited I got it done. I haven't taken photos yet, but will take some to share when I get back. My sister's cross stitch is coming along nicely too.  I am not so stressed over that because if it isn't finished I'll just take it with me and finish it up while I'm there. I'll know what frame it will fit in and will take that with me too.

I am all caught up on my 100 Days of All About Me. The book is becoming quite bulky.

I hope everyone has a good week. It's going to be nice to be away. We don't have phone service when we go up north so it will be a nice break.

Ack!

Why is it I can never find something when I need it? I finally got a start on my sister's cross stitch that I'm (hopefully!) doing for her to take when I go. I was waiting on a speciality thread. I was going to use something in my stash but this colour is variegated and such a beautiful shade I didn't want to change it. Anyway, I go to get a new needle and can't find one! Well, I can find one (or a couple) but not the specific needle I want! The ones I have are all big and clunky as they probably came with little kits. I have trouble using those needles. I tend to use a 28 petite which is (as it sounds) quite small, but I'm used to it and can stitch pretty fast with it. I thought I had lots! Apparently not - or if I do they are somewhere that I can't find. I should have looked before I put in for the speciality thread order as I could have ordered the needles then. None of the big craft stores stock them as they are something not many people use. Sigh. I'm hoping to find one somewhere or I'll have to plod along for a while with the big clunky needle.

Mum's album is coming along pretty well. I've sorted all the photos and got quite a few of them already in the album. I'm probably about a third of the way done with it. I'm hoping to finish by the end of the week.

This is the design I'm doing for sister. It is by Handblessings.

Rainy Weekend

What a horrible weekend! It rained most of the two days - isn't that usually the way? We didn't go out walking at all on Saturday. It made for a really long day. I did have a nice Skype with Mum. Won't be long until I see her again! Sunday we did manage to get out for a little walk. We did about 2 1/2 miles and were heading back to the car when it started to rain so we got a little wet. On the way home it absolutely fell down, so I suppose we did well to finish when we did!

On our way up to the park where we were walking we decided to stop by the Rabbit River Trestle Bridge in Hamilton. It's a lovely little park. We had tried to stop by there several times in the winter, but it was apparently shut. I wanted to take a couple of photos as the challenge for this month in my A Year with my Camera Grads Group is all about architecture.

The bridge looks a little dodgy to me but apparently - from what I read - some trains still go across it!

On another good note Stubby put in another appearance in the garden. It's been weeks since we've seen him and both hubby and I were thinking something had happened to him, but he showed up again!

I think it's his favourite position to eat. He tries sitting up the top sometimes, but I think that, without his tail, he isn't so good at balancing.

Well, the weekend is over and another week starts. This week will be about working on that photo album and preparing for our camping trip beginning next weekend.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and the weather was better than mine!

Friday - few knitting finishes

I finally got around to photographing some of the small knitting projects I've been doing. I have put aside knitting for now to concentrate on some cross stitch. I want to make a small design for my sister. She loves gardening so it will be a garden design. I think she'll appreciate it. She's always so sweet to me when I go home. She knows I collect hedgehog things so she looks out for them and gives them to me when I visit. I want to bring her something in return.

Anyway here are the knits. Really simple dish cloths - I had bought some cotton to take with me to daughter's so I could do these in the evenings. We all know how that turned out. Anyway I didn't want to put the cotton away so I knitted them up.

And a patterned scarf. I liked this pattern. It certainly took me quite a while but I don't knit all the time. 

It was a free pattern SCARF.

We're hoping to go walking this weekend but the weather tomorrow doesn't look too good - storms and rain rolling through. Sunday looks a little more promising. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Ack

I dropped my phone again. The small crack that was on the screen has gotten bigger. I like my phone. It's a cheap-ish model, but it does what I want and I know how it works. I am not a big fan of getting a new one but I fear it's in the near future. Sigh.

As I got up early this morning and was out walking at 7.30am I decided I'd go to a clothing shop after my walk and try on some more bottoms. Sigh. Not a good experience. I could only find one (yes 1) pair in the size I needed and they weren't a great fit or a particularly nice colour. Back to square one. I am promptly running out of time and it is starting to get to me. This week is almost over and I want to get them before we go camping so I don't leave it until the week I leave as I'll be running around like crazy as it is.

Chatted with Mum today and sorted out some photos to put in her album. Last year when I was home we took a bus to Holywells Park in Ipswich and the area she grew up in including passing by the house she grew up in. I took photos and I'm sure she'll like copies of them. I had forgotten that I had taken them. Luckily when I got last year's photos developed I had organised them.

This is a photo I took of the Starling and baby in my garden yesterday. The babies are as big as the adults but they still want feeding! They are really impatient too and look to be quite violent. There are a lot of them about in my garden at the moment. On another note, mother and father sparrow have abandoned their home. Not sure if their babies flew the nest, but one morning when I woke up there was a lot of nest stuffing on the ground and Mother and Father didn't hang around much longer than that.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Wednesday and the sun is shining wherever you are. Thanks for reading my blog.

Clothes Shopping

I was reminded today why I hate clothes shopping so much. I avoid it whenever possible. I can't avoid it any longer. I'm going to visit Mum at the end of the month and I need a couple pairs of trousers (or capris) and a few tee shirts. I tried on two pairs of capris today. I'm a little fluffy (especially on the bottom end) so I shop at the beginning sizes of the plus sizes as they tend to have more room in the bum area. However I never seem to be a full size. I tried on two pairs of capris. One a size smaller and then the next size up. Neither fit. Surely there can't be that much difference between sizes? The smaller one was too tight and the next size up was so big I looked like a clown! Perhaps it's just that brand? Ug. I hate it. I'm quite tall too so any shirt I get tends to be too short. If I raise my arms I flash my belly and nobody wants to see that! Sigh.

That's my moan for the day.

On a good note I am all caught up on my 100 Days of All About Me book. I'm so glad to be up-to-date. I was so sure I'd never catch up! Just a couple pages posted below.

I have also made a few quick cards. I haven't really had my mojo lately so I've just been playing and see where it takes me. My favourite is the girl with the sunflowers. I love that stamp and just colouring the sunflowers seems to work.

Hope everyone has a good Tuesday! Thanks for all the lovely comments. I do read them and appreciate them. Also if anyone has a blog they'd like to share please let me know. I'm looking for new ones to read. I seem to have become a creature of habit and read the same (wonderful!) blogs.

Relaxing Weekend

We had a nice relaxing weekend. The heat had lifted and the weather was quite pleasant.  It was quite a lazy weekend as they all seem to be lately! We did go out yesterday for a walk. When hubby woke up it was raining but by the time we left the house the rain had stopped and a fog had settled in. We went up to Muskegon State Park to do the ridge walk. I wasn't sure how I would do as there are a LOT of hills. You are basically walk up and down sand dunes. It's only four and a quarter miles, but it seems much more. I did manage to get through it though so things are looking up for our camping trip. I might actually make some of the walks!

I could barely see the lighthouse in the distance!

By the time we had got done with the walk the day had turned out gloriously sunny. Such a change from the morning!

When we got home hubby cooked dinner - chicken on the grill. I appreciate it when he cooks! Son didn't come up yesterday as he had to work. He'll be up today.

Today will consist of tidying up from the weekend, doing some shopping for weekly meals and hopefully some crafting. When I talked to Mum at the weekend she was saying that, although she had photos of the holiday we had last year, she didn't have any of the days out we did, so I'm hoping (with only a few weeks to go) to put together an album for her that I can take with me when I go.

Hope everyone has a great day!

June Already!

I can't believe it's already June! Seems like not too long ago there was still snow on the ground and I was complaining about the long winter. The last few days it's been too hot and I've had to bite my tongue not to complain about the heat. It's cooled down a little today and it's nice to be able to turn the window air conditioner off and open the windows to let some fresh air in. There is a cool breeze in the air today. It didn't stop people being out and about when we went out for a walk.

It's going to be a lazy day today. I'm going to Skype with my Mum and spend the day either crafting or sorting things out. I want to get a few more things organised before I leave for my holiday with Mum. I can't believe there's only a few weeks before I leave! I can't wait.

Despite the heat the last few days I have been going for a walk. I was sad to see that the swans are down to only two babies. There were three earlier in the week and four when they were first born.

I suppose that's how nature is though. I wish I could get a little closer to them but they are sticking to the outer edges of Asylum Lake.

I hope everyone has a good weekend!