Made it!

We are now in Minnesota at least for the week. I'm currently sitting alone in daughter's place with Shasta as hubby, daughter, her boyfriend and a couple of their friends are at an outdoor show. It's not really my type of thing so I am relaxing and going to Skype with Mum in England. As daughter is an hour behind us I have to remember to Skype at the correct time lol.

The car ride was long and I was a little concerned as, when we hit Wisconsin, there was a lot of snow still around! Yikes! Luckily St. Cloud is not covered in snow - there is still a lot of ice on the Mississippi River and I am hoping to get some good photos before it melts. We'll be taking Shasta out for a walk this afternoon when they get back.

Shasta was really happy to see me. This morning she wanted me to go out for a walk with them and is currently curled up on the couch next to me. If she didn't love daughter so much I might be tempted to take her back with me lol.

The sun is shining here so that's a good sign and the temps look above freezing for the next week! I'm hoping we can go up to Duluth and see the Split Rock Lighthouse.

Boxing Day

We're doing middle son's Christmas today as he had to work yesterday. Apparently newspapers don't have the day off lol. I suppose it sort of worked out as he lives by the lakeshore and they were under a Winter Storm Warning so driving in would have been really bad. The snow here is quite thick on the ground. Hubby said he brushed 10 inches off daughter's Jeep! We did manage to go out for a walk today. Daughter's husky loves the snow and cold - and it was cold this morning - it's -13C/8F at noon. We bundled up in long undies, hats, scarves and mittens. Daughter and I even had some handwarmers in our gloves. It was so cold we ended up with frozen hair and the dog had icicles on her chin.

The walk was beautiful. We went to the Not-so-Magnificent Pines walk. Still not sure why they are not magnificent. I like them!

I have some sorting and cleaning to do. I got lots of really nice things for gifts including some new photography toys to play with. The best thing, as always, was spending time with family. Hope everyone had a good day. 

Minnesota

I arrived safely. The flight was straight through from Kalamazoo to Minneapolis and took about an hour and a half. A really sorry flight compared to I usually take from the US to England. As we came in to land there was snow on the ground but the main roads were thankfully clear.

Despite the cold we managed to get out for a walk.

Shasta loves the snow!

Hope everyone had a good start to the week. I don't think mine will be very productive bit it will be fun!

Sunny Weekend

Daughter arrived at almost midnight on Thursday night. It was a long drive - about ten hours with stops. They had drove underneath Chicago so as to avoid going through it. I would have been REALLY nervous if she had been going that way. Cars drive crazily, darting in and out one another and not seeming to look where they are going.

We have spent a nice couple of days so far. Shadow, our cat, is far from happy. Poor thing. He does not like Shasta (husky) and Shasta doesn't like him. Luckily it is summer and he can spend the time sitting in the basement where it is cooler or the kitchen where we keep Shasta out of. Last night when I went to get Shadow after Shasta and daughter had gone to bed, he was sleeping on the treadmill in the basement! He was quite happy to get his 'spot' back for the night up in the living room.

She loved being out walking today as it was a little cooler this morning and a nice breeze on the shady walk we took. We're taking her out to the dog beach tomorrow to play in the waves!

This is the knitting I was talking about. Now that I'm done a couple of inches it is looking better. I think maybe I'm a little hard on myself regarding these patterns and perhaps I should just give it a chance before getting frustrated that it looks too loose. I really like the colours. The pattern says it is an 8 hour pattern - it's going to take me more like 8 weeks! I'm not knitting very often as in the hot weather I am finding it too hot! Maybe I'll take this project to England with me.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend with lots of sunshine.

Back in Michigan

We are back home from our trip to visit daughter. We had a wonderful time. The weather was just gorgeous. It was a really long drive back but we made it! Phew. Now to sort through all the photos, the goodies I bought and do the washing (but that will be tomorrow). Daughter lives in a beautiful state - Minnesota - and we got to see some of the lovely sights. The only downside was all the ticks! Shudder. There were a lot of them. Nevermind.

I'll be sharing some of my pics over the next few days, but yesterday, before we left, we went for an Adopt-a-husky hike to help raise money for a rescue place. We discovered Shasta likes chasing bubbles!

It's Mother's Day in the US so I hope all those women who are mothers and all those women who help make other lives a little brighter enjoy a relaxing day.