Another Rough Day at the Office

When I started today I wasn't looking forward to being out in the field, which is uncharacteristic for me. It was supposed to be a foggy, dreary, rainy and unseasonably warm day. I knew the rocks would be slick and I also know I've been having some rough days with this bum knee of mine. Rainy days are not my friend because of this bum knee. As I type this I am sitting with my leg splayed and a bag of ice on the knee. That being said, I had my annual check on some fencing in one of our wildlife management areas today. We're desperately trying to heal the landscape and we have some certain members of the public that seem intent on destroying things. So once a year I hike in this beautiful piece of country and check the fence. I get dropped off by boat and spend half an afternoon enjoying the outdoors with my camera and my thoughts. Not a bad day I would say. I brought my camera today in hopes that I would catch some more Mule Deer or an Eagle on film. Nobody was out an about today, Feeling uninspired, and blah I decided to challenge myself to find some color and inspiration in the muck of winter. That's when I stumbled upon a huge field of boulders covered in lichen. I find lichen extremely interesting, and beautiful. I ended up (as you can tell from these photos) spending a good 30 min waiting for my boat ride back, and photographing all the interesting lichen on the boulders. I love these photos. I love how they look like giant boulders covered in moss but really they were no bigger than a small stone or pebble. I love macro setting.

Anyway, it's past my bed time, Bald Eagle Nesting surveys are coming up in March, and I can't wait to get back out there again with the camera! In the mean time, this weekend I will actually post a glimpse of a special gourd project as well as some tropical looking knitted fish.

Good night all!

S.Jones

Random January Musings

Life has been busy since returning from the holidays. I have much more to post but lately no time it seems. My plan is to post once a week. So far though I have been so committed to my new healthy life plan that I have spent all my time after work either at the gym or cooking and then going to bed. I have some 2010 goals to share, I have more FO’s to share and I need to get back out with my camera some more and post some more photos. I would also like to introduce some more color this week. I am starting to feel the winter blues, with all this gray around and I find myself thinking of ways to incorporate bright colors into my day. One of my very best friends sent me a fantastic care package in the mail the other day. Among all the goodies in there was a pair of brightly colored stripey socks. I LOVE these socks. If I could wear them every day from now until summer I would but I don’t think anyone would appreciate that kind of odor.

Anyway, I digress…. ,I have decided that I need to start getting more creative with my photos of finished knit objects as well, but when you leave the house before the sun comes up and you come home after the sun has gone down, there seems to be no opportunity to shoot in natural light except on the weekends. Still I dream of photographing a bright orange pair of socks up against the blue sky or a bed of sunflowers. Then again I would have to learn to knit socks and I would have to grow some sunflowers.

And so, until I can find my creative juices again, I present my newest FO, “The Irish Hiking Scarf” in a nice subtle variegated cranberry color….. my first attempt at cables (Loved doing cables btw….I had no idea they were so easy). Oh yes and it’s on the fence again. I do love this fence though. It has so much character and color to it, that it does really highlight my craft projects well. Still change is good and more interesting, and I need ot find more inspring ways to photograph my work. I’ll see what I can come up with. I’ve often thought of using my pooches to highlight some of my knit goods, but they always want to play or chew on the item and not sit pretty for the camera. The joy of having labs. Anyway, there you have it, my latest crafting item with more to come.
In other news, I almost had a tree in our backyard crash down on my house. We were very lucky. There was a big storm the other night with high winds. At 1am I woke up suddenly to a loud crashing sound outside my window. It scared the living daylights out of me. Brett was still awake in the livingroom watching a movie and I ran out there yelling “something really bad just happened outside and I’m afraid to check it out, you’ll have to do it!” He walked outside and said “Well the old willow fell down, but strangely enough and fortunately, there’s no damage”. I can’t believe there was no damage. That tree fell in the only place in the whole yard where it couldn’t hurt anything or anyone. We were really lucky. It could have fallen on the house and our bedroom is all the way at the back of the house on the side where the tree would have fallen. Crazy. So here are the photos of the tree before we had someone come and cut it down and haul it off. I’m glad to see it go. It had been dead for sometime and now it opens up so much more space in the yard. Good bye eye sore, hello easy mowing!

More to come, have a great week all!
Sandiana

Frosty Morning

Woke up on Sunday morning to a winter wonderland. We have about 6 inches of snow on the ground but are in the middle of an inversion which caused some serious fog Saturday night. The termperatures were low enough on Saturday that the fog froze to anything standing still and the result was amazing. I couldn't help but get outside early and take some photos around the house. Hoping for more white stuff in the near future. I'd like to actually get my snowshoes on this year and this icy crusty stuff just won't do.

Happy New Year!

SJ