photography

The big picture

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Loki spends a lot of time sitting on the windowsills and basking in the sun.  He is actually not all that interested in the birds at the feeder and in fact the crows and blue jays scare him away.  We’ve had some lovely snow and the birds spend a lot of time at the feeders.  I heard robins this morning and a woodpecker tapping a tree across the road.  We seem to be feeding all the wildlife.  I saw deer tracks around the tree and only hope they are eating from the feeder’s spill and not the tree itself!

Goldfinch on the sunflower feeder

 

 

There must be something good in the feeders because the birds leave the most colorful eggs.  This batch has been sent south in search of the Easter Bunny. I believe in spring, fertility and rebirth but never understood why a bunny delivered eggs.  Why don’t we have an Easter Chicken?

Wet rope keeps feet dry

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weaving

I am intrigued by rag rugs, braided wool rugs and more recently rope rugs.  The Mountaineer, a local backcountry outfitter, has several coiled rope rugs, which are simply duct taped together, in their store.  The first few turns are glued and then the balance are held together with duct tape.  Way cool.  The bright colors of climbing ropes really stand out this way.  After a rope is used fairly briefly, it looses its strength and can’t be used for climbing so they use old ropes for these rugs.  I have to figure out how to become the final resting place for old rope.
weaving

In the meantime, there was devastating flooding in the Adirondacks after Hurricane Irene last August.  This dampened the inventory of a local hardware store which happens to carry climbing rope.  It could no longer be sold as climbing rope and I bought it with the intent of taping up a rug. Then I thought it might be fun to weave a rug with it.  While the end product is fun, the weaving itself was challenging because I basically had to pass a coil of rope through the weaving shed (that little space between the upper and lower threads) about 50 times.  But in no time I had a rug, which has been claimed by my son and will be heading south today to keep his feet dry.

There’s a party going on

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Or so it seems at our compost pile. I have somehow manage to dodge the trek to the compost pile since mid- December; I couldn’t carry the bin with crutches, the ground was icy, the driveway was icy. These excuses don’t work anymore and I ventured off yesterday after 6 inches of new snow fell. To my surprise, there’s been a a party out there. All sorts of tracks lead in from the woods and encircle the compost bin. I saw deer tracks, maybe rabbit, coyote and mice. But what are these claw like marks? They are linear in groups of four. Coyote scratches? I don’t see tracks associated with them, only claw marks. I’m thinking Adirondack bear paw, one of my favorite flavors from Stewart’s. But shouldn’t they still be sleeping?

party tracks

So we had our own little party. My son and BGFF are visiting and had the makings of a key lime pie. We debated whipped cream or meringue and as you can see, meringue won. It was a joint effort and delicious outcome. Today’s baking project is spinach pie and we may head out to tap some maple sugar trees.

Lady of the river

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Lady of the river

Today was a snow day. I remembered to take my camera with me on a drive to Lake Placid. It snowed softly in the morning, continued all day into the night. There will be an early easter egg hunt, in the snow, at our house this weekend. Tradition.

These pignoli cookies always look so promising. Alas, in the end I threw out the batch. I’ve been having a problem with them rising and haven’t had suggested parchment paper in the house for a long time. This batch rose fine but got stuck to the foil. Worse yet, some had a little piece of foil still stuck to them and left a metallic taste in my mouth. Out they went.

Finally, a winter day

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We finally got some snow today and more is expected through the night. We drove out to our CSA but were dismayed to find our favorite bakery closed for the winter holiday. It has become a tradition to stop there on our way home for “pizza night”. Dogwood Bakery makes the best pizza we have ever eaten anywhere! We made all sorts of back up plans but went to a pizza place right in town that was surprisingly good. We didn’t want to wait for our pizza so took home one to “take and bake”.

Who cares about taxes

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I am the trustee of my parent’s estate, which creates a lot of frustrating paperwork at tax time. Today was gorgeous though and I have shed my cast, so what could I do but take a walk. Tim and I walked to and fro our half mile dirt road, which means that I walked a mile in my boots. Yeah!!!

My new found freedom also enabled me to venture into the local thrift store, which is situated up a long flight of stairs. The first time in 9 weeks! I have sort of hesitated from shopping there since my patients could theoretically come in for an exam and see me in their clothes but what the heck. I was really on a quest for material and fiber but I found a Harris Tweed coat for $5.00!!! I have missed these opportunities for almost two months.

So I am now the proud owner of a Harris Tweed Coat woven in a point twill by James MacDonald! In addition, I found a set of hand embroidered napkins and a table cloth for $3.00. I also spotted a pair of placemats I had crocheted while we were living on our boat and I managed to stop myself from buying them back.

Ain’t no spring chicken

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Me or this bird. I think it was a mourning dove but it looks sort of eerie. I’ve been taking baby steps without my cast. I managed to walk for ten minutes on a treadmill at a rate of 2.0 miles an hour but I still can’t dance the tango. It’s cold without much snow so I am not really missing anything. I’ve been finishing knit and woven projects so fast, I am shipping them out before I remember to take their photo! Maybe I’ll get to see them in use.

The endless quilt is complete. I tried to make some matching shams and while they didn’t work out, figured out a technique which cut the piecing time in half at least. Always learning. It’s about ready to be put into full time use.

I finished a dresser runner for my daughter and it’s already in use. I was scared it looked like a burlap bag when I was finished with it but it won approval.

The days are rapidly getting longer and we even had a flock of Robins stop by the other day.

Lake Placid hosted World Championship bobsled and skeleton races this weekend and we got to watch the action. We were able to observe the sleds and riders fly by in a tenth of a second and then follow their progress along the two mile track on television monitors. It’s so impressive to be in the company of world class athletes. They may outperform me on the treadmill.

It’s about time

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Light green trees

Jay Mountain is snow capped but not the rest of the terrain. We’ve had a warm spell, which turned anything wet to ice, and more rain and sleet is expected tonight. I think the good snow will come when I am ready to ski again this season. Today’s outing was a trip to Lake Placid, where I had to make sure the road surfaces were fairly clean so I wouldn’t go flying –  crutches, walking cast and all. I had to go out because I needed more material to finish a quilt I started two days ago. That’s right, two days ago! And I think it will be done by tomorrow. This could be very bad. If I can make quilts faster, I will finish them sooner and will have to buy more fabric. Oh these addictions.

This is the first time I made a quilt with a “jelly roll” and it was amazing. Jelly roll strips are pieces of material which are precut. I sewed a few together, cut them into triangles and sewed them together again. I never knew! My last quilt, which isn’t finished yet, took five months to piece together. This one will be done tomorrow. It’s going to cover the back of the couch to protect it from the cats. I sewed it together as it was below, but then decided it needed to be long and narrow, so took away one row and made it longer – 2 x 6 blocks. I combined it with the backing and batting when I got home, did a “quick turn” and am almost done machine quilting it. The cats are very happy with it.

One day quilt

Almost finished

On my way to town, I was reminded of the stellar athletes who come from this area and give me a sense of pride. I pass the Olympic cross country ski trails, the luge and bobcat runs, the ski jumps and the Olympic Training Center. I would like to say I contributed to the American Luge team winning a silver medal in Germany this January. I would like to say it but it’s not exactly true. I had to reschedule my follow up visit with my surgeon who traveled with them as the team doctor.

I will have to climb this peak again when I recover. The first time, I made it almost to the top – but not quite. Next time.

Snow Cascade