Wild Waves at the Lakeshore

I did end up going to the lakeshore a little later in the afternoon after ringing my Mum and chatting with her. I was going to wait until husband got off work, but he's on nine hour days and by the time he had got home and we got to the lakeshore I knew the light would be fading. So I got up the courage to go by myself. The drive wasn't too bad, but I was glad I left when I did. When I got there the water had come up over half of the car park. Some people were driving through it to go round and park, but I wasn't that brave. I ended up pulling through a parking place to another that was out of the water. The water got higher and was quite deep by the time I left.  It was cold and a little rainy so I had to make sure to try to keep my lens dry and clean. I did get a little wet as - though I was standing what I thought was well enough back - a wave came up and went over my boots wetting my feet. Brrr… it was cold!

It always amazes me just how wild the waves get. The lake looked really angry as the skies were dark too. I ended up moving up to the cliff top and walking down some steps to higher beach to get some photos. I wish I had started out there as it seemed a little less crowded and safer. There are lots of people who come to see the water when it gets that wild.

I took this photo just so I could document how far up the water came. The car is not even in the furthest part of the car park. They were a lot braver (or more stupid) than me. I would not have parked there! You can see nothing of the beach at all.

A couple of different views.  I'm glad I went - but I've had enough excitement for a couple of days!

I hope everyone in America who celebrates Thanksgiving had an enjoyable day. It was a pretty quiet one here. We did go to MIL's for dinner - lovely as always.

Windy Wednesday

It's a terribly windy day today. I am thinking of maybe heading over to the lakeshore for the waves. Usually I'd look at the online camera by the lighthouse but it isn't working. We are under a warning of some kind so hoping the power doesn't go out. I think I'd rather have the wind/rain than the snow daughter is having over in Minnesota. Luckily she chose to work from home today. The place she works for allows them x amount of days to work from home per quarter, so she chose to stay home today.

I am making progress on the Christmas projects. I have made some cards - one of which is below. I quite like them. They turned out quite cute. I now have to make the envelopes and post them maybe next week. It will feel good having them done. I always make special ones for Mum and my sisters.

I hope everyone is having a good Wednesday. I'm going to ring my mum and then make up my mind about travelling to the lake.

Weekend

Quite a quiet weekend. We did our usual Saturday morning out, Sunday out having an adventure. The weather today was actually lovely - beautiful and sunny - it was a little cold this morning. There was quite a frost which I don't think people were expecting. We saw four accidents on our way up to our first destination. The road was quite slippery in spots and we were up and out before the sun came up as we were going somewhere two and a half hours away. Luckily we were okay. Husband is a good driver in the not-so-good weather.

Yesterday I actually got out to see a sunset. I don't often get to go see one. There are three cars at our house and mine is usually hemmed in as I am the last one to go out in the morning. As we were taking my car today I was the one at the end and able to get out. As the sun was shining yesterday too (two days in a row - can't remember the last time that happened!) I decided to get out and see the sun set.

It was really pretty. The colours in the sky were quite purple and red, deep and dark. I was tempted to hang around longer, but I had to walk back to the car park and I didn't want to get caught while it was too dark. I love sunsets. I wish I lived somewhere I could just sit in my back garden and watch. There is something so calming about them.

It's back to the starting of another week tomorrow.  It looks as though there might be another sunny day so I shall be out walking if there is. I have some cleaning to do and then maybe some crafting. I have decided to scale down Christmas projects so I don't stress myself out too much.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Making Progress

Thanks for the all the comments on the last post. I still haven't made my mind up about the books - I might give the altered book a try. I think I might think on it and wait until the holidays are over. I need to make sure I get the things done that I have in mind before letting myself think about taking on new projects. Speaking of projects, I have been working on photos I need for holiday projects. I have taken a LOT of photos! Lots of ice and snow pictures! Sorting through them all took quite a bit of time, but I've managed it. I was feeling a little discouraged as sometimes I think I'm not getting any better and my photos aren't that good, but looking over the ones I've taken this year I'm actually encouraged. Even if I do say so myself I have taken some pretty nice photos! I really need to work out what I'm going to do with them. I had some ideas for this year and I've been working on them but they haven't exactly came to fruition yet. Another thing to work on. I see a theme coming on ha ha. I think I will be writing a Winter Project list to keep me going after the holidays, in the dark winter when I can't get out so much.

I am hoping to get out for a walk today. I haven't been for two days as the weather hasn't been too good and I wasn't feeling the greatest on Wednesday so I thought I'd give it a rest. Yesterday was raining like crazy and windy so I didn't go walking. I did go out with my friend for lunch. We had a lovely time, a nice chat and she brought her toddler granddaughter with her - always a treat as she's such a happy little girl. 

Photo for today - a lovely deer I saw in a local park a couple of weeks ago. I've never seen a deer here before. This park is further into the city and it's really busy (across the road from a school) so I was really surprised to see it. I love these creatures, they are so majestic!

Hope everyone has a great Friday!

Random Questions

I keep meaning to ask these questions and keep forgetting - perhaps another sign I'm either going crazy or just getting old.

First Question: Do you eat leftovers the next night?

For most of the recipes I cook there ends up being too much of it. Most of the time there is just enough for husband's lunch that he can take to work or (if it's a veggie version) I'll eat it. However once in a while there is more than an extra lunch. Not sure what I should do with it. My family has never been one for eating one night's dinner as the next night's too. It just wasn't how we did things growing up or when I had kids. I cooked enough for one meal as did Mum. If possible I would freeze but (organised I'm not) probably wouldn't be eaten. I am really trying to cut down on food waste so wondered how other people deal with it. I really try not to keep serving the same food over and over, but maybe I'm overthinking things. (?). Sometimes I feel we should just be grateful we have a problem as too much food sometimes. I really don't mind eating the same thing several times as I tend to do that anyway.

Second Question : How do you feel about cutting up books?

This is a really random question. I love books. I have a lot of them. People that regularly read my blog hear me go on about it all the time. Anyway, I've been doing some journal making and watching videos of people making junk journals. I really like the idea of them. However, some of them use books to make them, pulling apart pages and cutting covers. I'm not sure how I feel about cutting books up. Just thinking about it makes me feel a little guilty. I bought one at the $ shop to cut out the pages so I could use the cover and it's sitting in my craft room as I bought it. I'd really love to give them a try. I watched a YouTube video today that used a Little Golden Book (lots of Disney type cheap Children books).

That's it. Told you they were random questions.

Photo today - a quick make Christmas card. I did finish a little mini book (pages, but not filled) but want to take some half decent photos and the light wasn't so good. I made this from die cut decoupage so it is dimensional.

Do You Ever Feel Like You're Going Crazy?

It's the beginning of a new week and I'm trying to get back to 'normal'. I did my normal things and then, because time is flying by, I decided to work on getting photos together for printing for my Mum's calendar. As I take a lot of photos I organise them on my computer by month and then break down into weeks. Admittedly it is about the only area of my life that I'm organised in. I started making note of what photos of the 'kids' I wanted to use. I also realise that I haven't taken all that many of them! I'm hoping I have enough. Anyway I'm sorting through, coming up short on the two sons and then thought - ah middle son got his cat and brought it up to visit and I took photos. I searched and searched and found nothing. It was driving me absolutely crazy. Almost overcooked dinner because I was looking! Later son called and I decided to ask him about his cat. It wasn't this year he actually got him - it was last year! No wonder I couldn't find the photos. I hadn't even taken them this year. Sigh. 

Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy. Or maybe it's just old age creeping in.

It was a little warmer today and - despite the weather people said - it was actually sunny today! All of the snow has melted (except in shady areas) so now everything is dull and grey. The leaves have mostly all fallen. There was still some ice and snow around yesterday when we went out on our walk, so today I'm sharing one of those photos. Hopefully I'll have some crafty photos soon!

I'm feeling quite sad about this beach. We couldn't even walk on it. There has been so much erosion that they are trying to save the dunes and asking people to keep off. When we first 'discovered' this beach it was beautiful to walk along and a lot bigger than it is now. All the wood you can see is debris that has been washed up with wind and waves. It is all along our lakeshore in the winter months. Once winter is over it will be cleaned up. 

End of Week

Daughter, her boyfriend and their three huskies have gone home. Had a lovely week. Unfortunately we weren't able to go where we intended on Thursday as the snow and roads were too bad. We were going to go visit Sleeping Bear Dunes, but when we checked out the weather further up the lakeshore the forecast wasn't good and the roads looked pretty dodgy - some of them not ploughed and there were reports of major snow. Instead we went over to the lakeshore closer to us. Daughter's boyfriend hadn't been to Michigan before so it was new to him. The dogs did great. Shasta - daughter's dog - has travelled a long way before and always does good, but her bf's dogs have never travelled really far before but they did great on the way here and on the way back! They all did great here. I think they had a lot of fun - they enjoyed the snow anyway!

It was hard saying goodbye but we will see them again in four weeks. We are going over to visit them for a long weekend in December to have a before-Christmas/Birthday celebration as we won't be seeing them over the holidays. I have to make sure I have all their shopping done before we visit.

Now I have to get back into 'normal' mode.

Burst of Winter

Daughter, her boyfriend and three huskies have come to visit from Minnesota for the week. I think they have brought the snow and cold with them.

My poor body is struggling to cope with the colder temperatures. It's currently 10am and it's -6C/21F and feels like -13C/9F. Maybe a little later in the winter I could deal with it but brrr… Thankfully I don't think it's supposed to last. It just had to be this week when they visited! We were hoping to go travel a couple of places, but I'm not sure with the snow as it is. Sigh. But it's great to see them and spend time with them!

Weather Moan & Gnomes

Brrr…. it's been cold today. I did bundle up and go for a walk. It was really quiet where I usually walk. I think most sensible people were staying indoors. It seems that overnight most of the leaves have fallen off the trees! The path was lined quite thickly with them and at home, in the garden, one tree had completely lost the leaves in one day!  Soon everything will be grey and dark to match the skies. Definitely not my most favourite time of year!

I did get up into my craft room for a bit and finished a couple of gnomes. I'm going to post a link to the YouTube video I watched to do these. They really are quite easy. Not my usual type of craft but really cute. After the fact I realised that the bells I got for the hats are really bit. I shall have to see if I have smaller ones. I liked that they were really cheap to make too - must of the supplies I got from the dollar shop. The only thing I got from the craft shop was the 'fur' to make the beard. I was watching another video though and they made (completely different gnomes) using a small mop head from the dollar store as the beard so I might see how big they actually are and if I could use that instead of the beard.

I quite like how they turned out. I was thinking about maybe making some smaller ones using children's socks instead so maybe there will be more to come!

How to Make Gnomes

Short Days

I'm really struggling with the shorter days now that our time has changed. It gets dark so early and the nights seem so long. When it's cloudy outside it seems the day never brightens up at all. Now that the temperature has dropped I'm struggling with the cold too. My hands have been absolutely freezing the past couple of days and no amount of turning up the heat seems to help. I always seem to struggle when the temperature changes.

That's the moaning for the day lol.

I ran errands today as it was cloudy and cold. I walked yesterday quite a bit while it was sunny so today I decided to give it a miss. I did ring mum and have a nice chat with her. It's back to our normal time - no worrying whether I get the time right or not lol.

I did go upstairs and craft for a while. I'm trying to make some gnomes with things I found at the dollar shop. We shall see how that goes. The YouTube video makes it look so easy. Hopefully I'll have something to share in a couple of days. I have been working on Mum's calendar too. I have to sort through some photos and get them printed. While I was thinking about crafts I realised that I didn't share the Halloween cards I made. The designs are simple, but I seem to go for that rather than a lot of fussy bits on them.  I put them in a collage.

I have started on Christmas cards so hopefully I'll have some of them to share - and before the holiday too lol. Is anyone else working on crafts? Do you give out homemade gifts?

November 5

Happy Guy Fawke's Day!

It's our wedding anniversary today. I chose today to get married so I would never forget the date lol. We've been married 31 years. Yikes. Time flies!

Yesterday I went for a quick walk and then went with MIL to Michael's. I had ordered some paper pads online. They have really good sales if you chose the order online pick up in store. The paper pads were already on sale and then there was another 20% off if you ordered them online. I was good and bought nothing else while I was there. I was tempted by their $4 grab bags. After each 'season' (Halloween was this one) the store bags up things and sells them for $4. I thought about getting one just to see what was in it but decided not to bring anything else into the house.

Today I went for really long walk. It was cold, but sunny so I thought I'd get out today as tomorrow I will probably take a break. I did some sorting that I'd been putting off. I also had to call my Amazon credit card as they kept sending emails saying that there had been a charge on my account and to call the number on the back of the card. I did that. The guy (obviously) had to confirm it was me, but I hadn't updated my cell phone number (from years ago) so he couldn't send a text, so instead he wanted to ask me questions. Yikes. I know they have to verify it's me but asking me what my address 20 years ago or what cars we've owned (I can't even tell you what we own now lol) is ridiculous. My brain is too full of other useless stuff to remember those details! He finally believed it was me and will be sending me a new card. I haven't used it for ages, so I'm not sure where they got it from. The charge didn't look like me so they didn't approve it.  Glad that's over with. I shall be updating the account so I won't have to look so stupid the next time.

Today's photos are a couple of pictures I took of the Fantasy Forest hubby and I went to on Sunday. There are some great carvings there. They used some diseased trees to create the wonderful carvings.

November

I survived my dentist appointment. I was really anxious and there was a point where I didn't think I could do it, but I took a deep breath, forced myself to relax and listen to the dentist and her assistant chat. It certainly helped. The appointment took an hour and a half, but it went fairly quickly. I was certainly glad when it was over! The rest of Thursday was horrible and rainy. There was even some snow in the evening!

Friday dawned cold, but bright and sunny. I made the most of it and spent a lot of the day walking around different parks, enjoying the beautiful colours enhanced by the sunlight. It's been such a dull week that it made quite a change. I obviously didn't get a lot done at home, but you have to enjoy it while you can!

Husband worked again Saturday so I went out by myself. I managed to go somewhere new with no road closures this time!

I have been managing to get some crafty things done. Now that November has started I can certainly feel time slipping away. I hate to mention the 'c' word but I need to start thinking about things. Sigh.

I have blog posts to catch up on. I hope everyone had a good weekend. Our clocks changed here in the US last night - good thing too as I was really confused calling Mum - but this day seems to have dragged!

Photo today from a lovely covered bridge. It's one of the few left in Michigan. It's from my adventure yesterday