11-12-2011 I Feel Safer...

...how about you?!?!?

11-11-2011 THANK YOU!!!

Thank you

to each and every Veteran

who has served our country

and defended our freedoms!!!

God bless America!

11-10-2011 BSJ#3

...is almost finished!

11-9-2011 And So It Begins...

...another long, cold winter in Iowa.

11-8-2011 BSJ in Stockinette Stitch

Using a pattern (from the www)

that modifies the original garter stitch pattern

I started knitting this BSJ in Stockinette Stitch

(for a baby due in December)...

~~~~~

and I've had to rip it out completely

and start over 4 times...

the stitch counts just don't work!

ARGH!!! I hate it when that happens!

Guess I'll just go back to knitting it in the original garter stitch.

Sigh.

11-6-2011 Turning Back the Hands of Time

It's that time of year again...

time to turn the clocks back from DST to standard time.

I wish it was that simple 

to turn back time

for real.

11-5-2011 What Is It???

What is it about art

that soooooo inspires my spirit?!?!?

This morning

DH and I visited

several (of the 500+) artists participating in the

Mississippi River Valley Art Drive

... a potter's yurt...

...a garage filled with multi-media arts...

(I did not take pictures of the art inside)

...and MY favorite...

365 Days on a Farm Yarn Shop & Boutique

in Eldridge, IA...

featuring wool yarns made in the USA

and many spun right in the shop!

They were kind enough to do a spinning demonstration

for us on this spinning wheel.  :*)

I am sooooo tempted to take a spinning class from them!

11-4-2011 Morning on the Mississippi

 Some pix of the I-74 bridge

(which connects

Iowa and Illinois)

from my walk along the river.

Saw quite a few water birds too,

ducks of various sorts,

sea gulls, geese...

11-3-2011 Made the Front Cover

Tonight DH & I

made the recipe

on the front cover

of the current "Clean Eating" magazine...

YUM!!!

11-2-2011 A Painting Class

that I spied

while on my walk

__________

...and finished knitting

Kyla's baby sweater!

11-1-2011 for Kyla

Started knitting a baby sweater for Kyla...

decided you use a Minnesota Vikings color:

PURPLE!

10-31-2011 I got the Sugar Pill

...and ended up a skeleton...

for Halloween!

10-30-2011 Confirmation

Today at church

(Reformation Sunday for Lutherans)

3 young women

confirmed their faith.

When I was growing up

we did this on Pentecost Sunday

(7 weeks after Easter).

Hmmm?!?!? Wonder when it changed?

10-29-2011 No Boil Lasagne

I tried making 'No Boil Lasagne' last night...

Super easy and

it turned out great!

10-28-2011 The Keep

Here is a photo showing my progress

on the socks I am knitting for DD

from a pattern called "The Keep"...

a pattern seen near the ceilings in Medieval castles and keeps.

10-27-2011 Car Eating Dragon!

Saw this big guy while out driving around...

fortunately I was able to pass...

un-eaten!  Whew!

10-26-2011 Farm Humor

10-25-2011 Gone Fishin'

...just my luck!

10-24-2011 Dove

spotted by my DH 

along the trail

during our morning stroll.

10-23-2011 Seeing Red!

10-22-2011 Stinky!

Today DH applied a truckload

of stinky compost

to our little garden.

I'm guessing we'll have some

awesome veggies next summer!

Thanks, sweetie!

10-21-2011 Happy Birthday

We've been celebrating our DD's birthday all week long...

here is the little 4" chocolate B-day cake 

we bought at the grocery store...

served with

ice cream

and 

corn candy mixed with salted peanuts.

Happy Birthday DD!

10-20-2011 Primero y Segundo Explore Italy

 Chef Boyardee...

I mean, Chef Primero

and sous chef Segundo
(a.k.a. Chef Monika & Cathy)

helped us explore the cooking

of northern vs. southern Italy

in cooking class tonight.

 Everything was delicioso!!!

10-19-2011 Do You know the Button Man?

DD & I had fun putting this puzzle together tonight!

10-18-2011 Ski Socks

Today I finished knitting some wool socks 

that I plan to use while cross country skiing this winter!

10-16-2011 2nd BSJ Finished

and the 3rd one is on the needles...

now to find some buttons!

10-15-2011 Bloomsbury Farm

We spent this beautiful autumn day at Bloomsbury Farm

with our DD and S-I-L

and his 'little brother'

(from the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program).

DD & I got lost in a 10 acre corn maze...

we weren't given a map like the guys were.

We finally found one of the towers

and spotted the guys off in the distance

and they helped lead us out.  :*)  

Whew!!! We were worried there for a while!

10-14-2011 Hard to Breathe!

Can you see the distinct brow line of haze on the horizon

(click on the picture to enlarge it)

from all the corn/beans/dust/molds/mildews

being thrown into the air during harvesting?

Sure makes it hard to breathe

and makes my eyes ache!

10-13-2011 Birding

DH, DD and I went birding...

on the kitchen table.

10-12-2011 A long dry spell...

...has ended today!!!

Thank you Lord for much needed rain!

I'd forgotten how wonderful rain smells.

I went outside and sat on the front porch and knit

just to enjoy the rainfall up close and personal.

10-11-2011 Don't lose your marbles!

 It took artist Kelvin

and the Augustana art students

3 days to erect this installation piece

made of thousands of marbles!