Bulls Eye!!

Hello All,


What an absolutely beautiful, gorgeous weekend!  Though a bit strange for February.  We passed one time and temperature sign on Saturday and the thermometer read 71!  Amazing.  And blue, blue skies.


We headed out Saturday morning to Colin & Mailing's and from there Colin drove us all to Hawk Mountain.  We were walking/hiking by 11 a.m.  The trails are fairly rocky and a bit steep (though not as bad as Colonel Denning State Park that Fletch and I visited in late October).  BUT, these trails were also snowy and icy in places.  And muddy in other places.  Still, the weather brought everyone out.  It was not as crowded as it gets during peak raptor migration times, but there were plenty of folks on the trail.  We all hiked to North Lookout which is about a mile.  We stopped there and sat on the rocks in the sun to have lunch.  We saw one or two hawks and a bunch of buzzards.  No eagles, but we didn't really expect to see any.  It was just wonderful to be out in the fresh air.


After lunch Fletch and I decided to re-trace our steps back to the Visitor's Center.  Col and Mailing continued on for a longer loop - "Rock River Trail."  Thank goodness we opted to not join them.  When they finally made it back to the car, they told us there were places on the trail where they had to be on all fours to navigate it! 


We had enough time to get home and change before heading out to dinner at Nectar.  Wow, our food was amazing!  Appetizers were:  oysters on the half shell (for everyone but me - I don't do raw and I don't do oysters), calamari & edamame and pork buns.  Plus drinks of course.  I have a mango and ginger martini which was excellent.  I was pretty full after that, so just had some stir fried veggies for dinner and Fletch had a salad.  Col and Mailing ordered regular dinners, but none of us could fit dessert in.


Sunday was another gorgeous day.  Fletch and I were both a little sore in our legs from the hiking on Saturday (I am so out of shape!!).  We fixed breakfast and did some grocery shopping.  Later in the day we went out to "do" some archery.  I couldn't believe it, but I actually got a bulls eye!!  It was a fluke, for sure.  One of my arrows went over the target to the woods and if I had tried to do this a million times I could not have, but look what happened:

My arrow actually split a twig/branch of a little tree!  Let me tell you, archery is harder than it looks.  My shoulders and arms are feeling it today.  I am hoping that it will remedy some of that old lady "dingle-dangle" I have going on in the upper arm region - LOL.


And I did manage to (finally) finish Mailing's socks at around 9:30 last night. 

They don't look it, but they are the same size.  I used Dee's Take Five pattern and I love the way they turned out.  Hopefully they will fit!!  The top of the cuff seems a little tight to me.  I used a Long Tail Cast On, but it doesn't seem very stretchy.  How do you cast on for your socks?


I've decided to work on my Oaklet Shawl and finish that before starting anything else (let's see how long that idea lasts).  This is the shawl I cast on in September using KnitPicks Chroma in the Vermont colorway.  I did 30 or so rows and haven't picked it up since!


Here's to a fun week - enjoy!!

Friday Felines and Weekending Plans

Hello All,


It's Friday!!  And, as I understand it, for many the start of a long weekend.  I do not have Monday as a holiday and would like to protest.  I could handle a 3 day weekend for sure.


Here's a shot of Tyg that I took several weeks ago (excuse the mess all over the table).  This is often how he is when I sit in the kitchen to knit.

Fletch found Tyg stretched out on the guestroom bed the other day and decided to measure him from paw tip to paw tip:  34.5" - almost 3 feet long!  He's a beast - lol


So, what are you doing for the weekend?  It is supposed to be mild (i.e., 50's to 60's) here in Eastern PA.  We are planning to go tomorrow to Hawk Mountain with Colin and Mailing to hike.  It is one of my favorite places locally (about 1.5 hours from us) to hike.  We most likely won't see many eagles or hawks or other raptors, but the views are gorgeous and it is a good workout (which I need given the over-indulging I have done this week).  I think we are going to pick up hoagies to take with us (I see another indulgence coming my way) and have a picnic lunch at one of the overlooks.  I just need to remember to put gloves, etc. in my backpack because it will be probably 10 degrees cooler there and it is always windy.


An interesting book to read about Hawk Mountain is Hawks Aloft by Maurice Broun.  Maurice was the first warden of Hawk Mountain.  He and his wife were friends of my Aunt's.  I wish I could remember some of the stories my Aunt would tell.  I believe they all met when they were working at the Long Trail Lodge in Vermont.


And, after a tiring hike we decided it would be nice if no one had to cook dinner so we are going out to one of my favorite restaurants - Nectar.  The food is always awesome and the best part this time is that I was given a gift certificate to the restaurant at Christmas, so dinner will be free!!


This weekend I should be able to finish the second sock in the pair I'm knitting for Mailing.  Unfortunately not in time for our hike tomorrow, but by Sunday the pair should be complete.  Woo-hoo!!  I have a few ideas floating around in my head for next projects...will be fun to pick something new.


Whatever you end up doing/wherever you end up going, I hope you enjoy your weekend -- have some fun!!