Mini-Horses

Today I visited a friend who has 2 miniature horses. They are cute...but I have no idea what one does with a minature horse. I asked...they will be trained to entertain at birthday parties. In the meantime, they are considered "yard art." 

The dark horse is 18 months old and the pinto is 12 months old. They are considered full sized and ready to be trained. They did like to be petted and did not mind a stranger. Given that, they might be good with children.

Tumbling Down

Sometime last night, 2 of our aspen trees fell down. One was a giant, the other was a "youngster" standing in the shadow of the giant. We never heard a thing...but this morning when we went for our walk, the front porch was obscured with green leaves.

          

The aspen, about 50 feet tall, fell between the house and another aspen, missing both. We were lucky to miss the tree attack.

Outtamyway

How about this for a grille statement? We saw this today on a pickup truck in Jackson. I've never seen an after-market grille with such a macabre look. Needless to say, I quickly snapped the picture and left before the owner came out of the store. I truly did not want to meet the critter.

Spring Time in the Rockies

In California it is early summer. The weather is hot. The green grasses have changed to gold. The wildflowers stopped blooming a month ago. Of course there's no water. 

Here in the Rockies it's a different story. It's been raining since we arrived nine days ago. The grasses are green, the wildflowers are thinking about blooming, and the robins are making nests.

We normally have 4 or 5 robin nests each spring, but they are usually high on the house. I never get a chance to see the pretty blue eggs. This time, Mama Robin made her nest in a low Alberta Spruce right off my back porch. I've yet to get a picture of her on the nest, but today I did get a picture of her upcoming family. It will be interesting to watch the chicks grow.

Hats Off

I looked at my new crochet pattern book and became overwhelmed at all the possibilities. So....I made a cap out of leftovers. I think this is called "avoidance behavior."

Number Fourteen

I just finished my 14th blanket for the year. It's a minty/white creation with stripes and diamonds. 

It's a new pattern for me...I'm trying to branch out a little this year. The next blanket might be very exotic as my Project Linus contact person sent me a crochet book titled Mosaic Magic--Afghans Made Easy by Lily M. Chin (published by Oxmoor House, 1999).

It has some very interesting patterns that I'm going to try. The patterns are pretty complex too, so I hope I have the skills. Watch this space to see what happens. 

The Tetons

Today we saw the Tetons for the first time this year. Since it was cloudy, we only the bottoms of the mountains...they are still pretty! When the weather clears up, we will see how much snow is on them.

For Californians

This is a public announcement for those of you who have forgotten what rain looks like. This is a puddle. A puddle develops when rain falls and collects in a low spot or depression on the ground. Puddles are made up of hundreds of drops of water. The water is coming from clouds in the sky. 

We are trying to send "move to CA" vibes to the rain clouds, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not working.

Fill 'er Up

Is this the next filling station? It can't be called a "gas station" as there's no gasoline. It's not really a pit stop, as there's no pit. There's definitely no service here, so it's not a service station. What is it called? Tesla calls their stations "super chargers." The Chevy Volt however does not have a network of free super chargers, so they rely on the open market. 

While I think electric cars are interesting, there's no short cut method to refill them with power. Tesla has many free filling stations on US highways where the company recommends you wait 30 minutes for 1/2 a "charge." So, does it take 60 minutes for a fill up? I see how the engine reduces emissions but does it really save energy? I think it trades one source for another, but of course that's never mentioned in the promos for this type of vehicle. 

BTW, each electric car has a different type of plug. The plug determines how quickly or slowly the power is transferred to the car. Therefore one needs to have a variety of adapters to fit the charging station. One day it will become easier. 

On the Road Again

If you should see this combination rolling down the road, honk!

One more trip. I wonder how many we have made with this truck and fiver?

Lake Oroville

Yesterday we drove past Lake Oroville which is a major reservoir for southern California only to find it  low. 

To give a comparison view...this picture was taken May 16, 2014 from a very similar location. It's a bit lower than last year. CA is definitely in need of rain. 

Update on Method

I have learned from one of my blog readers that Method products are available at Target Stores too. And based on my recommendation, she bought the All Purpose Cleaner. 

Baker's Dozen

Twelve little bunnies lined up in four rows is my latest blanket. As you know, I make a lot of 

Teddy Bear blankets, but this is my first bunny blanket. My friend Jeanne saw it today before it was finished and asked for it. I know it will be going to a good home. 

                        

Here's some detail...the pink bunnies face left and the varigated bunnies face right. I found the pattern  online, but please be advised-- do not use it. It's just wrong. 

If you know of someone who would like a bunny blanket, let me know. I'd love to make another one. 

51 and Still Rolling Down the Road!

You know how much I like old cars...this is a 1964 Beetle. She's been restored to more than she was in 1964. She has a 2 tone paint job, chrome eyelids, chrome wind deflectors on the windows and a funky bright green bug deflector on the hood. (You have to wonder if that even works?!)

If you look closely she's been carefully pinstriped too.  With white sidewall tires, mud flaps and a roof mounted luggage carrier, she's ready to go -- but remember she has only 36 horsepower. 

It's a Bear

I was visiting a friend in the mountains today when her "resident" black bear strolled onto her property. 

This bear knew exactly what to do. He walked past the little green table and sat down on the patio where the COB was, and he proceeded to his fill.

He then scratched his face

And sauntered away. 

I only wish my pictures were better but I had to take them thru a window. Nevertheless, it's always interesting to see a bear. 

Two Household Cleaners of Note

I don't believe I've recommended a product before, but I believe in these 2 cleaners so much, I'm taking a risk and making a recommendation. The two cleaners are made by The Method Company and they are Method All-Purpose Natural Surface Cleaner and Method Power Foam Dish Soap

Method All-Purpose Cleaner was recommended by one of our favorite cooking shows: America's Test Kitchen. They tested many household cleaners and determined that Method was the best. Given that recommendation, we tried to find the product and couldn't. No local stores carried the product and it was not available online. After a year of searching for Method, we finally found it in our little store in WY. Guess what? It was wonderful. We went back to the store and  bought several bottles and we were good to go. 

I have used the All-Purpose cleaner for over a year now, and I'm very impressed with it. It cleans and degreases surfaces better than any cleaner I've tried in the past. It's non-toxic, green, biodegradeable, and effective! It smells good too...it's hard to ask for more.

The other day I went to our local Ace Hardware store, and found several products made by the Method company. Since the All-Purpose Cleaner is so good, I decided to give the Power Foam Dish Soap a try. It claims to be a degreaser...and it is. In fact it's better than Dawn, which was my previous degreasing dish detergent. Even better, I spray it on my glass-topped range, let it soak a for a few seconds, then after a light scrubbing, the grease and spots disappear! I'm a happy camper. 

I'm very pleased that Ace Hardware stores carry a pretty complete line of Method products. In addition, the products are now available from a company website at http://methodhome.com and Amazon.

If you are looking for a good cleaner, that is non-toxic, plant-based, biodegradeable and WORKS, try Method. I hope you like these product as much as I do.

An Even Dozen

I just completed the twelfth blanket of the year. 

As you can see, it's not my typical zigzag pattern, but striped. To soften the design some, I crocheted a scalloped edging around the blanket. While stripes are nice, they are a bit stark. The next blanket with have bunnies on it...it will be done soon. Keep watching this space.

Given my schedule and away time for travel, it's taking about 10 days (on the average) to make a blanket. 

Happy Mother"s Day

Mother love comes in many varieties and these elephants say it as well as any one else. My friend Dottie, in Guam, made this lovely mommy and baby for me and it arrived the day before Mother's Day. The timing is perfect. Thank you Dottie. I love these little creatures and the message they embody. Stick with your mom...she loves you forever and ever!

Numero Once aka Number Eleven

I just finished a "stash-buster" blanket. For those who are new to crocheting or knitting, a stash-buster blanket uses left-over yarn. For this blanket I tried to follow the color wheel, so each color is followed by a color that should follow it on the color whieel. It was fun to figure out which color from my stash would be next. 

i don't know if this blanket is appropriate for a girl or a boy...but it has pink in it, and that generally makes it off-limits for boys. Stash-buster blankets are one of a kind creations. I doubt I will ever have this mix of remnants again.

Two Acronyms

At the meeting I learned 2 new words...YOLO and FAIL. YOLO has been around for awhile but it was off my radar screen. FAIL is just a little ditty to bring about encouragement.

What do they mean? YOLO stands for You Only Live Once..therefore do all that you can while you can. Come to find out I'm a firm believer in YOLO. Ask me about my travel schedule and its YOLO with adventure. We just booked a Swiss Train vacation that's sounds pretty exciting.

FAIL can stand for "first attempt in learning" and can be used to encourage kids to keep on trying. Edison failed over 100 times before he made a lightbulb that worked. Many other inventors have failed scores of time before reaching success. So following that logic, kids can fail several times in their attempts to learn a concept or solve a problem, but as long as they pick themselves up and start again, it's a learning experience telling them what does not work...and they should start trying again! 

Hello from San Francisco

I'm spending the weekend in San Francisco at a Delta Kappa Gamma conference. It's a sunny day! (Not all that common on SF.) There are hundreds of teachers here enjoying the camaraderie of friends and colleagues, while going to sessions or enjoying the City. 

As for me...My first agenda item this morning is at 11:30, so it's off to the hot tub for some therapy, as I threw out my back this past week. 

 

Thank You Grand Circle

As you know we travel a lot. One of the companies we use for river cruising is Grand Circle Travel. Today, they had an event in Sacramento which we attended. They talked about their new cruises and new deals, held a raffle, things like that. We thought a few people would attend, so we were surprised when about 500 folks were in the Ballroom of the Hilton! They gave us some statistics, and fully 25% of their customers are from California.

They recognized past travelers, and folks who had taken more than 10 trips were given a bouquet.

There were a lot of us who received a bouquet. There were several couples in the audience who had taken between 20 and 30 trips, but the "Grand Prize" was given to a woman who had taken 60 trips with Grand Circle. I doubt we will be able to match that!

Small Hat

A friend asked me to make a hat with a brim for her year old grand daughter...so I did. 

It's blue and white with 3 pompons on the side. The crown has an 8 inch diameter. It took about 90 minutes to make. I sure hope it fits a one year old.

I'm finding out that baby clothes are fun to make.  

Sunset

There was another spectacular sunset tonight. The sky was lit with bright yellow light....and off to the side, there were little clouds within the clouds (as it were)

What a beautiful thing to see!

Another Set of Sandals

These crocheted sandals are turning out to be popular. It's good they are easy to make and I like making them. If you would like a pair for a baby (or for you just because they are tiny and cute) ask, and I'll make a pair for you.

Pillows

After I finished blanket #9, I decided that it needed a pillow. So I made a round pillow to go with 

the blanket. It's about 9 inches across and I hope a young person will enjoy having his or her own private pillow.

I discovered that making a pillow was fun, so I made another one...this one goes with the 10th blanket I made this year. It's a heart, and only 4 1/2 inches big. It's something that a baby can hold, chew 

on, drool on and playn with. All the fibers in the blanket and pillow are baby-safe and very washable. I might have to branch out and make matching pillows for my Project Linus blankets. 

OLLI Photo Class

My Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class for Spring Semester has ended. The forty or so folks in the class took some fantastic photos. Click here to see some fantastic photos following several basic principles of photo composition.

If all goes to plan, I’ll teach the class next fall.

PS: One of my favorite pictures in the blog is titled "Lily Dancer” by Joyce. This wonderful photo was taken with a Point N Shoot camera...pretty amazing! Tell me what your favorite picture is.

Happy Birthday

My mother would be 97 today! I miss her! 

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Zip Linin'

Last week on the Oasis of the Seas, I went zip lining not once but twice! It was a hoot!

The Zip-line on the Lady O is 82 feet long and the ride lasts about 15 seconds (or less). The line is about 9 or 10 stories above the Boardwalk area of the ship...so there’s a bit of a fall if things don’t go right.

Before you get on the Zip-line you have to sign a waiver saying you are crazy enough to do the task and if anything happens the fault is yours and not the ship. Next you have to put on a pair of socks and their special zip lining shoes. No socks, no zip line! Then they fit you in a heavy-duty set of straps that do not have a glamour look at all. You have a “guide” that stays with you from the beginning. My guide was a lovely young woman from Portugal. We had a nice conversation all during the “suiting up” process and that eased my mind. She walked me over to the launch station and another young fellow double checked the straps and hooked up the hanging hook. He told me where to put my hands, and how to sit in the strapping. He also said as I approached the landing pad, I needed to make “walking movements” to help ease the landing. As you can see in the picture, I’m getting ready to land.

Landing was not that simple. I was moving at a pretty good speed, when all of a sudden the landing pad shows up. I started walking hoping I’d walk my way onto the landing pad, instead I walked my way into a heavy duty cushion. The fellow at this end, caught me, detached the hook, and it was done. 

The feeling was great! It was sort of like down hill skiing without the snow. Very exhilarating. So much so that I did it again the next day!

Blanket 10

The tenth blanket of the year is part of a baby gift. One of my friends is going to have a grand daughter soon, and this is for the shower. The set includes one of my teddy bear blankets, a cap, a pair of booties and a pair of sandals. It's all packaged in a cute pink bin. It's a good start on all the stuff that a baby needs!

Two Islands in Two Days

Yesterday we were in the US Virgin Islands--today we are in St. Maarten. Both are interesting places.

We shared the island of St. Thomas with 5 other cruise ships--which I'm guessing added another 12,000 people to the island. The island is small and the traffic is bad. To add to the confusion is the fact that folks drive on the "wrong" side of the road. It's the only place in the greater US where traffic follows the usual British fashion. The other problem is the cars are all left-hand-drive. It takes awhile to get used to seeing the driver on the other side of the car while the cars drive along on the other side of the road. 

St. Maarten is divided 60/40 between France and The Netherlands. On Sintmaartin (the Dutch side) American currency is used without a problem. On St. Martine (the French side) you need to use Euros.The liceense plate on the Dutch side is a typical "island" plate, while the French side has a European Union license plate. 

Both islands are set in the blue-green Caribbean Sea and that sea has been absolutely beautiful the last few days. As the day progresses from morning to dusk, the sea changes color from light aqua to turquoise to navy blue. The water is clear and the snorkeling is wonderful. St. Thomas looked a bit more lush than St. Maarten but both are pretty little places. 

St. Maarten is famous for the yachts that frequent it. Today I saw a huge yacht that was guarded by a private security felldow. He was dressed in black (and in this island heat, black is not a good color to wear). I asked him if I could take a picture of the yacht as it looked like it was moving 300 miles an hour standing still. He said I could take one, but I was not allowed to go in. I said I did not need to see the inside of the boat. Then we talked about fancy yachts and he was very nonchalant...I see them every day, he said, they are not a big deal. I'm happy they come here that way I have work. A short stroll to the yacht basin proved his point as several "big" boats were moored there, and there was an even bigger one getting "bunkered" next to the Celebrity ship in the cruise ship basin. If you want to see big fancy yachts, go to St. Maarten!

We have two sea days then we reach Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday. These little cruises go very fast. 

Day 3

The cruise is flying  by...it's halfway over, yet it seems like it just got started. We had our first full sea day today with 6200 of our closest friends. The ship is filled! Included in that number are over 2000 children. We cruise a lot, but we rarely cruise with a  ship full of children. As this cruise is short, and it  coinicdes with Easter, a lot of folks have the time off. It's a natural time to take a vacation, so that's what is happening. We've discovered, the longer the cruise, the older the cruiser. A 30 day cruise will have few children and lots of retired folks. A 7 day cruise will have lots of children and fewer retired folks. That's something to keep in mind when you figure out how long of a cruise you want to take. 

So after a day of hot-tubbing, talking, laughing, napping, enjoying the sunshine, and did I mention eating, we trundled over to our nighttime entertainment in The Opal Theater (aka The Big Room). Tonight we saw Jeff Tracta, a singer/impersonator. I had never heard of him before (he was on the Bold and the Beautiful, fyi) so we sat in the back row in case we needed to make an early exit (remember last night was not all that wonderful). Well, he did a wonderful job. He has a good set of pipes, and can do a large variety of celebrity voices very well. Unlike last night, the audience did not sneak away. They really enjoyed the performance giving him a standing ovation. I've had a few of those in my life, and they are special! 

Tomorrow we make landfall about 10 AM in the American Virgin Islands of St. Thomas. Another day in paradise...but someone has to it.

Nassau

Today we docked in Nassau, in the Bahamas. As some song said, Another Day in Paradise. What a beautiful day. The water is a pallette of color from turquoise to navy, light aqua to deep green.

Small boats are skimming along the surface making foamy patterns in the sea. In the distance there are hang gliders and parachute surfers playing on the almost non-existent wind.

There are 3 normal sized ships here, as well as our giant, and a smaller Regent 7 Seas ship. Probably 10,000 people disembarked today to experience the little island. The Lady O (as the Oasis of the Seas has been nicknamed) dominates the row of cruise ships. 

I just discovered that I forgot to bring an essential piece of equipment--my Apple SD Card reader. I hope there's one for sale on the ship.

Cats

The Lady O has a full fledged Broadway production of Cats onboard. It was the first time that I have seen Cats all the way through, as many years ago, PBS showed a production of Cats on TV. I did not like it and I walked away. Today I was determined to see the production, no matter what. 

The show has 2 acts, with a 15 minute intermission between. During that intermission about 1/2 of the audience left the theater.  I don't know why foks left, but generally speaking when an audience walks out, there's a problem. I stayed for the second act out of pure stubborness. I have to say that act 2 was better than act 1, but neither were worth a repeat performance. Given the fact that Cats is among one of the longest running Broadway shows out there, it's clear that I am not marching to the same drummer as the rest of the world. The show does not "work" for me. I find the cat costumes grotesque, the majority of music non-melodic, the set is dark and dingy, and the lack of a story line confusing. while there is a lot athletism in the dance, that does not tip the show in the positive direction. If you have a chance to see Cats, be warned, it might not be what you are expecting. It wasn't for me.

PS...the other DrC likes the show a lot!

PSS. I talked to a group of Cruise Critic people this morning. None of them liked Cats...and none of them stayed for the second act. They reported they liked the dance and the costumes, but could not find a story line. Since Cats does not have a story line, that makes sense. One person told me she did some of her best sleeping during the show! 

The Lady O

We are on the 2nd largest cruise ship in the world. The Allure of the Seas is 6 inches larger (and we were on her in November). The two ships are just about identical. There are a few minor differences. The Lady O has an old Auburn on the Promenade while the Allure has an old Mercedes. Both cars are fancy and exotic and real attention getters.

Both have a pool deck that is filled with color and sound and people. The kids are having a grand

time. Of course, I'm looking for the unusual...so the reflections are catching my eye. Instead of looking at the pool deck, I was "caught" by the reflection of it--it gives a very good idea how big and complex

the Lady O really is. 

As I sit on our interior balcony, I can see Central Park below, with a few strollers enjoying the birdsong. I'm guessing the birds just stay--why go away when they have everything they need right on the ship!

Sandals

Remember the cute sandals I made? 

Here's the baby who received them. 

And they fit her well!

I just love those little shoes! The shoes are almost as cute as she is!

Number 9

I just finished my 9th blanket for the year. It's my favorite pattern--a ripple. The colors are BRIGHT, with hot pink, cinnamon, orange and gold. It's a happy blanket.

I have a bit of extra yarn, so I think I'll  make a matching pillow--that's the next project.