Friday Finish!

 

This week I finished a painting I had been working on. I had a photo of the boys at the beach, so I removed the people and just added the umbrellas and houses in the back. It was fun to do and good practice. I will need to get better paper, since this paper tends to pill when you add too much water, but it is good enough for practice.

Last weekend we got a nice walk in at the park. We spotted a turtle, half way in a hole. Not sure if it was resting or laying eggs.

I also spotted a female Eastern Towhee.

Today we did our walk at the lighthouse. It was a beautiful day and we lucked out, when the Newport Regatta came by.

These two boats were neck and neck.

When they come around the lighthouse, the waves get rougher. 

It was a nice walk, though we went back and forth and side to side to watch them. They race around the island, so we got to watch the last of them coming around the other beach. I always enjoy getting out in the fresh air, and always a fun day for Bean. 

I hope you all had a nice week and aren't stuck in the rain. We have rain coming tomorrow, so hopefully we can get out on Sunday.

In the works!

 

I am still working on my stitchery. It has a lot of stitching and some things I am thinking on, as I go. The background fabric is coffee stained color from Moda, so a bit darker than I usually do. I am using brighter threads so they show up and adding detail inside so it stands out. A bit more to do and then a christmas fabric for the border. It is another design by Cheri Saffiote. I don't like how the stitches in the mustache look, so I will redo that and I may add some glitter, red knots in the center of his robe squares.

Last weekend we took a ride around a section of Connecticut. Our first stop was the waterfall in Putnam. I never get tired of walking along the river and listening to the roar of the falls.

Our next stop was Goodwin forest, we stopped for a little walk and a view of the pond. A bit of color coming in.

Then we headed over to Diana's pool. It was a bit wet, so the falls weren't as stepped, as they usually are. After that we headed down to Mansfield to see the dam, always beautiful views.

Bill had a day off this week, so we headed to Newport. We enjoyed a walk along the cliff walk. This photo cracked me up when I realized there was a little man, sticking out of the pack.

After that, we went to the bird sanctuary and took another walk. Always a beautiful walk with views of the ocean and I was able to get a decent shot of the lighthouse across the bay.

At the cliff walk, a friendly Catbird was chatting at me and at the sanctuary, I spotted my first Black and White Warbler.

At home, my winter visitors are coming back. I hope everyone enjoyed their week and have a nice holiday weekend. As usual we have a rainy Saturday, but we will have two nice days, so I can't complain.

Weekend Wanderings!

 

This week we have been busy, getting out and trying a few new places and some old. On Sunday we went to the bike path so I could try a ride. The ride runs along some inlets and end at a beach. It was a nice ride, but I think I need more strength before I do any long rides.

We stopped at another inlet before heading home and I caught a Snowy Egret and a Great Egret, wading for fish.

Yesterday we went to Newport and hiked at the Norman Bird Sanctuary. They have several trails and one took us uphill, along a rocky cliff. Great views and a deer we spotted in the gardens.

Today we went back to the sanctuary and tried a new path. It paralleled the other, but much higher. It came to a high point with a narrow rock, that dropped on both sides. No way was I going across that, so we need the path there. There are a lot of birds there, but most take off, the minute I go to take a shot.

After that, we headed to the next sanctuary. Sachuest Refuge is on a point, surrounded by the ocean. It was a nice walk with cool breezes.

Also a great place for birding. Most are high up or further into the bush, but a few sat still long enough for a shot.

A few more birds and a deer that was hiding in the bush, when I came around a corner. On the way out, we saw a man stop and start feeding this little bird. The bird started following him as he walked away, I wish they would come up to me like that, lol.

And a nice surprise this week. I spotted 3 babies, the House Wren had a good year. My whole yard sounds like a bird nursery, the babies make quite a racket. I hope everyone is having a good week. We have one more good day and then possible storms coming in. I am hoping they hold off till the afternoon so we can get out more. Tomorrow will be a paddle day, so we shall see where the day takes us. 

Vacation Week!

Vacations do not last long and it seems, all my plans fall through and we end up doing something else. Today it was nice out but when we got to the beach, it was cool, so we walked a little and headed home. This weekend will be hotter, so hopefully some swimming with the boys.

Yesterday we headed back to Newport to visit some a few places for hiking and birding. The first stop was at Miantonomi Park. I found the back area with pathways and lots of birds in the area, but they were either hiding or flew off.

There is a tower at the top of the hill, and it is a nice walk. It would be nice if the tower were open, I can imagine how great the views would be. The tower is a World War1 Memorial.

The third photo is a beach we stopped at. I had heard it was a good glass beach. It is called pebble beach and I could see why, nothing but rocks and pebbles, no glass and the tide was high. Beautiful views though.

Our main stop was at Sachuest Point Wildlife Refuge. It has paths that run along the point and some that go into the bush, for bird watching. This is the path leading to the point.

A few views along the way, as well as a few beach heads, that we stopped to explore. With high tide, no glass was found.

And we saw a lot of birds and a few I had not seen before. Did I get any photos of them, of course not, they hid or flew away, not my day for bird photos. But I did get a couple who stayed still long enough for me to focus and a few baby bunnies were along the paths.

I haven't had any time to stitch at night, so I will catch up on projects next week. I did get to see the new baby Red-Bellied Woodpecker. It was flapping it's wings like crazy and squawking for food, but Dad didn't seem to pay attention and just filled himself. 

I hope you all have a good weekend. 

Friday Finish!

 

With the holiday, I was too busy on the weekend to do any crafting and then cleaning up and catching up, after the holiday. I cannot stand just sitting and watching tv at night, I have to have something to keep my. hands busy, so I worked up a simple project.

The design is from Kelley Belfast's sunflower and cat design, that I did before, but I separated and made two small pieces for lavender pillows. I have to store a lot of things, so I can always use them in my stash to keep it fresh smelling.

The holiday also means, 4 birthdays. The kids took Bill out for his night and then we took them all to Newport, to enjoy a day at the park. The boys flew kites and explored the ruins from an old mansion, as well as some time on the small beach area.

Afterwards we headed to Fort Adams and walked along the path by the water, to the forts.

For Memorial Day, they had Boots on the Ground and free admission to the fort. 

This is the main area, with each surrounding state, represented. 

Another area was just for Rhode Island and we visited Bill's Second Cousin who died during a flood. It was a wonderful day with the family and a wonderful way to honor those who gave up their lives to protect us.

I hope you all had a nice week and fun plans for the weekend. 

Friday Finishes!

 

This has been a busy week, but keeping busy, keeps me from letting all the crazy in this world, stress me out. I made a few new things and finished an old item. I made this rug, years ago but never bound it. I actually enjoy binding, I find it relaxing and it was so nice to see it done. The pattern is by Mad Hen Primitives and the kit was gifted to me, by a friend. I am still unsure about the bold blue on the wing, I may just change that.

I also saw a free pattern for cloth carrots, but of course I just made them myself. I just made some triangles, sewed them together and added strips of cloth for the top, fast and easy.

And I made another set of rocks, to hide. I love doing fun ones, an hopefully they will bring smiles to the recipients.

Last weekend we did a drive around the beach areas, it was cooler so we just enjoyed the views. Along the way we spotted a group of Red Breasted Mergansers. They are so funny, trying to impress the females.

On the way home, we decided to go to the old base, to see if the owl was around.  I was thrilled to find her in an area that I could get some nice shots. She is so beautiful, but it won't be long before she leaves.

We also spent a few days at the beach. Beautiful weather and great way to get some exercise, as we find treasures.

Today Bill had the day off, so we took a ride to Newport and spent our time at the bird sanctuary. As usual they all flew off when we got close, but I was able to get a few shots of a Northern Mockingbird and a Song Sparrow.

The walk around the point is beautiful, surrounded by the ocean. You can see a lighthouse in the distance, even though it was foggy around the little islands. On the way home we stopped at my favorite beach and found more glass. The Newport Beach has mostly white pottery, so it was fun to spend a little more time on my favorite beach.

I hope everyone had a nice week and fun plans for the weekend.

Week in Review!

This has been a whirlwind week, going all day and coming home to clean and cook, then back at it, the next day. Today we stayed home and I caught up with some real cleaning and resting. We did look at trailers and picked one out, but it didn't work out. I loved the size, but realized it lacked the storage I wanted. We were all set but Bill's security for credit access, shut them out, so we said it would take too long and we would rather wait. I have decided to look for a small truck camper for weekend getaways and wait until we find the right size and type of trailer, that we want.

We had a great week for getting out, a bit hot but always cooler by the beach. We made beach stops are several places, but the tides were usually high. We did find a bit of glass and some driftwood.

We spent one day in Newport, the tower was impressive, but closed, so we couldn't go to the top. We also did a 4 mile hike around the trails at the bird sanctuary and then we stopped to get photos of the Castle lighthouse. As usual, we had bad timing, there was a wedding going on and they were about to get photos at the lighthouse, so I took a quick shot from the path.

The next day was spent with the boys at the state boat launch in Burlingame. The launch has a large cove with shallow water, so it was perfect for the boys. I was so happy to see Alex get over his fears. He did not want to go in and being in deep water was ok if I held him. But after a while, he was going up to his chest without a life jacket and going out in the boat with me. Nick was showing me how he could swim and even paddled by himself.

Thursday we wanted to go back to the pond, but they closed due to high bacteria. Found out later that it was only certain areas, but better to be safe with the boys. We took them on a picnic near a waterfall and then went to another boat launch beach, lots of shallow waters. It was so crowded we couldn't park, but I got out with Nick for a quick look and someone left, so Bill parked the truck and we were able to enjoy a few hours at the shore. The kids loved playing in the water and seeing the little crabs, running around in the shells. We even go to see two large horseshoe crabs.

I got a few shots of birds at the sanctuary and spotted a Great Egret at the boat launch. Wonderful to see such a variety this week.

Today I got caught up. I also had to empty the trailer and clean it, and now it has to be repacked. But it is good, it needed a good cleaning and a lot of things will be left out so I have more storage space. We even found a good spot at the ocean in two weeks, so a three day weekend will be nice.

This week our Robin's eggs hatched. Her fist eggs never hatched, so I was happy to see that two survived. Even though I am exhausted, it was a week filled with beauty and happy memories with the boys. I hope you all had a wonderful week and a fun filled weekend.

Friday Finish!

I always love a new month, it means a new stitchery from Kathy Schmitz, for her One Stitch Club. Lately she has been doing bird themed stitcheries that are the same size, so we can make them into a quilt. This month, she went with a sweet bunny and as an added bonus, another bird theme to add to a quilt. I have so many blocks to make into quilts, I am just making mine into small pillows, fun to make and great for gifts.

This week I made the bunny, a fun piece to display for Easter. I colored him in with colored pencils before I stitched. Once he was done, I didn't like how the bunny himself, was too start with all the color, so I colored him in, after I made the pillow. I didn't have gray with the Faber Castell pencils, so I used an old Crayola pencil and was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went on and how nice it shaded, so cheap pencils work just as nice.

This one I reduced slightly, I didn't want another large pillow, so it fits nicely on the shelf with my other easter smalls.

I am still working on my rug, it is slow going with the stitching, but I am almost done with the braid I made, then I can see how much more I need to do. I find it harder to stitch it together, than the braiding, so I will stick with small rugs.

Of course last weekend was spent at the beach. We found a lot of nice pieces on Saturday, always seems to be the best day to find glass and not as many people.

On Sunday we went back, I couldn't resist. It was a little cooler and windy, so the waves were whipping up, so it makes it harder to get glass on the edges, with the waves crashing up. Not as much this time, but still a nice haul to add to the stash.

The dark piece on the bottom left, looks like a rock, but something told me to keep it. When I got home, I used the flashlight under it and it is a piece of olive sea glass. I might have to take the flashlight with me next time, they are so dark, you cannot see through them without a strong light.

Afterwards we rode around the island to enjoy the views and stopped at the cove, overlooking Newport. A nice place to relax and get out of the winds. It looks like another nice weekend, so I am sure we will be hitting the beaches and hopefully get the boys one day, to join in, on the fun.

Even though Bill is sitting on piles of rocks, it is actually comfortable, so many that they are more cushioned, lol. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy exploring the hidden gems in your area.