Working on!

 

This week I have been fighting off something. I am seriously thinking it was from mosquito bites I got when I was working in the garden. Luckily I had meds and Lyme meds, so took what I had and rested a lot. It affected my bones and joints, so I didn't have much energy this week.

I decided to make up a stitchery to work on, when I felt better. This is an old Cheri pattern and thought it would be nice as a gift. I will add buttons and maybe do a pillow or small wall hanging, will decide on that later.

Last weekend we went out for a little ride around the island and enjoyed seeing the birds in the coves. 

I also got some shots of the new Osprey. I guess they only had one this year. Dad bringing in the catch.

Coming in with dinner

And feeding time

At home I have been watching a lot of new arrivals. Unfortunately I spotted this juvenile Coopers Hawk with its meal. They are not the best hunters, so they tend to go after birds. The photos are at dusk, so a bit odd looking.

And this is what he had, another Flicker. This one was enjoying bugs in my yard, so hopefully the hawk doesn't get him too.

And another new arrival. This is a juvenile Cowbird. It can fly on its own and eat, but it's a bit confused. It is all alone, so I think his mother left her egg in another birds nest. Once they get too big, the other bird will stop feeding it. It also calls out constantly, but no sound comes out, so it lost its voice. 

Today we went back to the island. I am feeling better, so enjoyed a nice walk around the cliffs. Lots of sailboats are out now.

We also had company, thousands of Dragonflies. 

We decided to explore the inner paths and got a closer look at the Osprey on the radar tower.

After we went to the other park and I got to enjoy a swim in the cove. The tide was going out, so I swam in the channel, against the tide, so I stayed in one place.

There were a lot of Egrets in the surrounding area, so I had plenty of company. Bean was enjoying swimming too, but he won't go that deep. I hope you all had a good week and enjoy your weekend. 

Quilt progress!

 

Not a lot got done this week and no weekend fun, since it rained on and off. When it is not raining, it is so hot, the beaches are filled to capacity early in the day, so not worth fighting the traffic and crowds. 

I was able to come up with a new idea for my quilt. I added some more appliqués, going up the quilt. I think I need to fix the pointy cloud, that is what happens when you work when you are tired. I hand drew and cut out the shapes, keeping them simple. 

The next step is to do the quilting. I am thinking of doing straight lines along the strips to keep it simple and more puffy, for kids. After I will add some sail lines, so I can quilt across without having to go through them, and a whale eye and water spout. I tend to change my mind as I go, so we will see how it ends up.

We did get out one day, an hour at the town beach. Going later in the day is nice, since there are less people and the tide was high, so we could swim without having to walk out too far. I was surprised at how clean and sandy the bottom was, a nice change from the rocky, seaweed beaches we usually go to.

Looking to the right of the beach. 

And to the left side. The area has picnic areas, a playground and treed areas to sit under. 

I hope you all have a good weekend and enjoying good weather. It seems it is a summer of weather extremes for all of us.

Friday Finish!

 

This week I realized that my hoop idea wasn't going to work. The large hoop would go tight, so I had to come up with another idea. I looked online for ideas and found this one by The Old Tattered Flag. I have a larger frame, so I used the idea and on the part that I had punched, I laid a piece of batting on the frame, to keep the teeth from digging in. I was able to stretch the rest of the fabric on the teeth to hold it tight for punching. It will take me longer, but it works much better now and I will have more even loops.

Since I like to have something simple to work on at night, I made up a couple of stitcheries. These are from a larger design, by Kathy Schmitz,  that I have done and the smaller designs in it, work perfect for lavender sachets. The fabric is something I aged years ago.

This week has been hot and muggy, so not as much time outdoors. Last weekend we went for a ride around the beach areas and even though it was misting, went for a walk along the park path. The paths are dry and the views are always beautiful.

In the last photo you can see the marsh area. In the distance, an Osprey was eating his meal.  We like this area since we can go to several places along the route, to enjoy the views and the birds in the marsh. Lots of egrets this year and always fun to watch.

We tried a day at the beach on the island. The water is freezing, so I had no desire to go swimming. I walked up and down and enjoyed the cooler air. As you can see, we were the only ones left on the beach.

I hope you all had a good week and enjoy your weekend. We have rain tomorrow, so no outdoor fun till Sunday.

Friday working on!

 

This week I did not get anything done. With the holiday I was busy getting out and doing things around the house. I also spent a lot of time, looking for my smaller hoop. I still can't figure out where it is, so today I finally thought of a solution.

I added extra fabric on the top and bottom and now it fits on my larger Morgan hoop. It is the only hoop that will hold the fabric tight when you have the thicker punching started. What I did was, sew a thick edge so I can pull it really tight and it will hold.

Last week we were all set to go to the seaport and see the wooden boat show. We left early and when we got there, the lot was full and they were parking people on what grass areas were left. I figured it was way too crowded to bother, so we headed to the owl sanctuary.

We took all the paths we could for a longer walk and in the fields, we were delighted with the bird boxes and watching the parents, feed their young. One box had Bluebird babies.

Another had swallows. They were harder to catch, they fly in fast and leave fast. As you can see in the first photo, I was getting some dirty looks. They had enough of me, staring at their box and one covered the hole with its body, while the other threw darts at me. 

We also walked some new paths, further in the woods and stumbled onto a few critters along the way.  The deer let me get pretty close and the bottom right photo is a nesting Dove that I spotted, hiding in a tree over the pond.

With the humidity and crowds at the beaches, we spent more time on the island this week. The air is so much cooler and I am able to get in nice walks. This day the weather was kicking up so more boats were heading in, then out.

This guy was sailing alone and it looked like he might tip any moment, but he didn't.

A few more scenes while walking around.

Another day we walked around and we stopped in the lighthouse museum for fun. They had open hours that day and I really wanted to go up into the lighthouse, but that is a lot of steps and a ladder to get to the top, so I decided I didn't have the legs for that. The egrets I saw in a field, on the way back.

We also stopped at the park on the way back. There is a path that takes you to a platform to see the Osprey nest. I only spotted one baby, so not sure if more were hidden, but it seemed like just one.

They are very vocal when they want to eat. Dad was hanging out in the marsh.

And then there was today. It was cloudy with a chance of rain so we went to the beach, so bean could play in the water. It was way too rough to swim, I just went into my waist.

And then it poured, so everyone left and we hid under the picnic area. Once it stopped we got to enjoy the beach, all to ourselves. No good treasures, but Bean found a nice dog ball that washed in.

At home, the feeder has been busy with the new babes. I was even surprised when I spotted a new one, a Rose-breasted Grossbeak, in the lower left.

And since we put out an orange and grape Jelly, I have had a lot of Baltimore Orioles. First the parents were feeding the babes, now the babes come alone and they are less timid. 

I hope you all had a nice week and can enjoy the weekend. Hopefully the winds will die down here and I can get out for some paddling and swimming.

Friday Finish!

 

This week I have been getting my energy back, so catching up around the house and yard. I made another heart sachet, something I enjoy doing while watching tv at night. It is fun to do something with bright colors and something cheerful. You can find this design, along with others at  Pinker N' Punkin.

This week I had a new visitor. The first time I have seen a buck, not sure where its mother is.

And more birds are coming to visit. Lots of young and the new jelly feeder, has bought the Baltimore Orioles.

Last weekend we got in some walks at the lighthouse. It is always cooler there and a good way for me to get my strength back.

We got out for a walk at Ninigret park. I was able to catch a Common Yellowthroat.

And I was able to catch a few others along the paths.

Today we got to Trustom Pond. It is a 3 mile walk and always full of wildlife. The humidity was gone and we had a nice breeze, so it was nice to get out for a longer walk.

The Osprey was giving me the eye, they do not like it when you get near their nesting grounds.

I saw a lady, taking photos of something and she showed me the Swallows in the nest. I would have missed it, if she wasn't there. The mom was feeding her baby, a large dragonfly. The other two were fledged and out on their own.

More of the critters we saw along the paths.

Afterwards we heading to a nearby beach for a short walk along the shoreline. I almost missed the baby Piping Plovers, they blend in with the rocks and are tiny. They are so fun to watch. The moms were close by, watching and if you got too close, the mom would feign a broken wing. The males fly over head and dive bomb you, if. you are in their area.

The Fishing boats are coming back to bring in their daily catch. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon and unwind. I hope you all have a nice weekend and are not in the paths of the storms.

Friday vacation: NOT

 

This was not my week for vacation, even though it started out ok. Our first day was a paddle on the lake. The weather was nice, but the wind was awful, so we were only able to paddle along the back cove since the wind was too hard to paddle against. Of course Bean was happy, he got to go swimming in the shallow waters.

The next day we went to the kayak store and got a tandem kayak. I wanted something safe and something we could both paddle, to make it easy to cross to the islands in the bay. We got out gear and tested it in the local cove. It wasn't as easy to paddle as I was hoping and we were both dogged when we got back. Later that evening, we both got sicker and realized we were sick. Then Bill got email from a coworker to let him know, he had gone home sick and had covid, lucky us. The good thing is, we can fit bean and the boys with Bill in this kayak, a lot better.

The next day I stayed home since I felt like garbage. I sat in the back yard and caught a few of the birds that love the berries on the Mulberry tree. I am still trying to get the colorful orioles.

The next day I decided I needed an upgrade for my phone. The new ones have better pixels and camera capabilities, and the battery lasts longer. I was able to catch this baby Wren in the nest, we have 4 different houses with wrens in them, this year.

We spent a couple of days at the lighthouse. It has been too humid, but the ocean areas had cool breezes. Perfect place to get out for some easy walks and fresh air.

We have had a lot of wind this week. I love watching the boats as they battle the waves. This one was a group of kids, learning to sail. They ended up taking the sail down and turning back, I guess it was too much for them to learn on.

There are lots of Red-winged Blackbirds on the island, this one was guarding his territory, his mate was nesting nearby.

Today we went out for a paddle, I took my peddle boat. It was a beautiful day and not too windy. As you can see, it was low tide, so I had to stay in the channels. I have long peddles underneath, so the water has to be deep enough to move.

We went up the cove and landed on the inner beach. Beautiful views and we were able to take a swim on the bay side, where it was deeper.

I took a close up of the light at the end, with my zoom. I didn't realize that there was a nest on top. 

And a view from the beach landing. The clouds were coming in, but the storm wasn't expected for hours. So we headed back into the cove and went around the islands. At the last one, I got stuck in mud, so bill tried pushing me forward with his boat to get into deeper water, but there was none. I finally got half his paddle and had to single paddle out of the muck. It too forever to get through it and moving was hard with a half paddle and just as I got into deeper water, the storm hit. So, we were trying to paddle, which isn't easy with a flat stand up boat and lightening was coming down.

We made it to shore, just as it started to rain, then it started to pour. Luckily the lighting stayed away from us and we made it home safely. I was able to snap a shot of the crabs on the beach, they are fun to watch. Hopefully the next two days will be less eventful, but I won't count on it. 

I am doing ok and more of a light flu for me. I have had it before and with meds, can fight it off. I hope this finds all of you well and enjoying your summer.