A walk in the woods

This past Sunday, my fabulously furious friend Katie came down for a bit of mushroom hunting.  She is, without a doubt, in the top ten "wickedly smart women" I have the pleasure of knowing.  It was such a treat to have a chance to hang out in my backyard with Katie and her extensive knowledge of the local flora.

We were on the hunt for edible mushrooms.  Chanterelles specifically.  This is an off year for mushrooms because of the drought.  Mushrooms need rain.  We spotted all sorts of mushrooms.  The Pseuydohydnum gelatinosum is my favorite.  Commonly known as the jelly tongue mushroom.  Isn't it fabulous?

And then Katie found a chanterelle.  Soon we were finding them all around us; hidden under the pine needles and fallen leaves.  Pops of orange marking the spot.

We also found a huge coral mushroom by the creek.  Absolutely incredible but not edible.  I have to research it yet, but Katie thought the coral mushrooms might be good for dyeing and I have plans for delving into dyeing next summer!

I am still blown away that this is my backyard.  After a couple more days of rain, I will be headed back up to hunt for more chanterelles.

My Week in Photos :: Random

This week:

The smoker's lounge at the Roadhouse no longer resembles a stable.

Fletcher  "helped" me in the studio with a bit of sewing.

After 72 hours of rain, the waterfall has returned in our backyard.

We saw another rainbow on our morning walk.

On Turkey Day, we drove out the Umpqua Highway to Dean Creek to visit with the elk.

After our visit with the elk, we went to the beach.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and Sister Moon rising above the tree line.

How was your week?

On & Off the Needles

News from the holiday knitting front:
Items are falling off the needles quickly around here.  I feel like Molly Weasley.  Accomplishing all sorts of domestic tasks while my needles are busy click clacking away in front of a warm fire.  I am eighty percent done with my holiday gift making!  My deadline is the first week of December since I have to mail everything this year.  Here is a peek at my finished gifts without giving anything away!

Other news in knitting:
I finished my Gryffindor House Scarf!  After consulting with Kara and Amber (both started their scarves long after I started mine and finished theirs promptly!); I opted to do without the fringe (I think fringe is kind of juvenile).  Now, I just need a hat and some fingerless mitts to go with my scarf and I am ready for the next Quidditch match.  Go Gryffindor!

Pattern:  House Scarves Year 3-4 by Lauren Kent

Yarn:  Cascade 220 in Wine and Gold

While my sister, Nikki, was visiting a couple of weeks ago; she brought back a cowl I made her last year.  She liked it well enough but it was "itchy".  So, together we went through my stash and found a yarn that was not "itchy".

Pattern: Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho

Yarn:  Reynolds Andean Alpaca Regal (discontinued)

I have plenty of the Reynolds Alpaca in my stash (a great buy from a great friend) and I think there might be a a couple lovely ladies in my life that need a "bird of prey" headdress.  In return for making Nikki a new cowl; I got to keep the original!  Itchy?  Not. At. All.

Yarn: Berroco Peruvia

Other news in my knitting world:

Awhile back, I revised my Ravelry Groups and joined the Shibui Knits group.  The very talented Lidia Tsymbal was hosting a pattern give away for the then new Shibui Geometry Series.  All that was required was to follow and comment on her blog.  Done and done.  Lucky me, I won!

Pattern: Parabola by Lidia Tsymbal

Pattern:  Rectangle by Jenny Trygg

Pattern:  Radii by Kirsten Johnstone

Recently, I took the plunge and purchased the Signature Needles straight needle set.  It was a bit of a splurge since I do not have an income right now.  I am happy I did it because they truly are awesome.  And beautiful.  And magical.  I was only going to buy the US7; since that was the pair I needed for a specific project (p5tog and making 15 from 1 stitch is a breeze with these needles).  After doing the math, it made more sense to buy the set because I knew that I would want and need them all eventually.  The best thing is I will never need to buy another pair of straight needles and sometimes you just have to invest in yourself!  Now, all I need to do is find employment so that I can purchase all of them (ha!).  Seriously, I want them all.

Happy Knitting friends!

My Week in Photos:: On our morning walks

we saw:

 a rainbow (can you see it?),

 trees holding on the last of their foliage,

 remains of an overnight rain,

 

a carpet of pine needles,

mushrooms,

deer tracks,

and wild apples.

Hugs and Kisses,

   Scout & Fletcher

My Week in Photos :: Random

In an effort to take more photos; I will be posting a photo essay each week.  My week in photos.   Some weeks will be random and other weeks will have a theme.

 Welcome to Oregon, no dress code here.

I lichen you...a lot.

All legs.

The work continues.

Hot on the trail...of a chipmunk.

Just another Friday night.

Defense vs Offense

Happy New Year

The thirty-first of October marked the Wiccan sabbat Samhain (pronounced sowen or saw-win). The holy day observing the end of the harvest season as well as the night where the veils between the worlds of living and the dead is at its thinnest. A night to remember and honor loved ones and ancestors. It is also known as the Wiccan New Year.

As with the traditional calendar, New Years is a time for personal reflections and making changes. The personal reflections for me began before Mabon and with that, I have six things that I will be working on over the next year.

No. One :: lose the extra fifty pounds I have been carrying around.
I will be thirty-six in March and it is not going to get any easier to get back into shape the closer I get to forty. I have been getting back into the habit of walking with the hounds and this week I will be starting a daily exercise program...what that is exactly is still being worked out. (I do see Jillian Micheals 30 Day Shred in my future.)

No. Two :: read more.
I read a ton but it mostly tends to fiction. Brain candy. I have been building a feminist library for over a decade and there are so many wonderful books that I own and have not yet read. For every work of fiction I read; I will be reading two non-fiction books. You can follow my current reading list here!  The non-fiction book I will be reading first is:  Reality Bites Back:  How Guilty Pleasure TV is Making Us Sexist, Shallow, and Socially Irresponsible by Jennifer L. Pozner.  I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Pozner years ago at Ball State University during Women's Week.  She is an awesome force and I am looking forward to reading this book.  Cowboy and I do not watch T.V..  We own a television but limit our viewing to mostly film.  There are T.V. shows that I love (ahem, Battlestar Galactica) but all of them are viewed long after they have aired via Netflix through the US Postal Service.  I have never gotten into Reality T.V. and I am sure that after reading this book I will better prepared to articulate exactly why.

No. Three :: write more.
Blog posts, knitting patterns, and letters to friends and family.  I am going to be researching grants as well and hopefully apply for one or more that will benefit our creek and/or our acres of forest.

No. Four ::  take more photos.
With a real camera.  The iPad is great but it really does not take the best pictures.  I have a point and shoot camera at the moment and in the next year I would like to invest in a real camera like this one.

This wonderful hat was knit for me by the amazing Knitsnips.  This hat has become a staple in my wardrobe.  I absolutely adore it.

Pattern:  Sockhead Hat by Kelly McClure

Yarn:  Cherry Tree Hill Fingerpaints in Sweet Pea (I think!)

No. Five :: be fearless.
Fearless in everything.  This one is a bit harder to expand upon, but my fabulous wonderfully magical friend Courtney summed it up perfectly awhile back with these words, "i just hope my girls see that spark - i want them to be fearless in every facet of their lives - even in the most domestic ones".  I have been thinking about this (and been inspired by this) so much since she posted this blog entry.  I am not fearless most days but I want to be.  Click on fearless to read her post in its entirety.  One of my sisters visited me last week and we made a pie.  From scratch.  A first for the both of us.  The kitchen is one area that I intend on conquering my fear of...more on that later!

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

No. Six ::  knit a pair of fucking socks!
Seriously, every knitter I know has knitted socks in their repertoire.  I will have a pair or pairs this time next year!

It is my hope that I will be making progress reports over the next year to keep anyone interested up to date on my progress.  This blog post was my inspiration.  A year from now I will be happy I started.

Happy New Year Friends!

Let me stand next to your fire

In preparation for building my fire pit, I searched the Internet for DIY tutorials.  In the end, I choose the This Old House tutorial.  I love this show.  It was important to me that my fire pit be sound and not collect water.  This tutorial exceeded those two expectations.

There was a spot in the lower pasture that had been previously used as a burn area so we felt that it would suit our needs as well.  Cowboy (Stephen's blog pseudonym) gave me a hand with the tractor to break up the earth.  He also gave me tips and pointers on how to get started on the trench.

Once I had the grass cleared away, Fletcher inspected the area and gave it his approval.  He would have you believe that he built the fire pit all by himself.  Do not be fooled by that sweet face.

I followed the tutorial step-by-step, only omitting the metal campfire ring and the capping of the blocks.  Trenching is probably one of the most labor intensive things that I have ever done.  It was also one of the most rewarding.  The trench is 12" deep, 12" wide and approximately 48" in diameter.  Creating a level base was challenging, especially since the ground slops in this spot.

Here are a few photos of our Mabon Celebration.  A great time was had by all.  Lots of amazing food and amazing friends.  This is the first of many gatherings.

This was my Mabon alter.  My first alter ever.  I had more plans for it but I ran out of time. 

The morning after.

This is just the first phase for this area.  Eventually, I would like to put paving stones down in a circular pattern and build these.  Next year!  Everything is a work in progress and each year we have plans to expand upon what we have started this first year.

As I mentioned before, the area we choose was already a burn site.  In removing layers of dirt and grass, I found all these artifacts.  I am not sure what I will do with all of this but there are some fun and interesting finds.  A lot of it is horse related and I think that I can clean it up and use it for decor in the Roadhouse. 

Since I started this post over a month ago; the demo/remodel of the Roadhouse has begun.  

Here is a sneak peek of the new skin and windows.  We had to choose to either preserve the exterior or the interior.  We choose the interior.  Roofing felt was put down first, then ridged foam insulation and finally the metal siding in Blackberry (ahem, purple).  More to come on the Roadhouse transformation!