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!

We had a nice weekend, though a bit cool for long walks. One thing I love to do is shop at the antique  thrifts and Saturday was a good day for the barn and a visit to Chepatchet which has several antique stores and a primitive store.

With all that shopping, I didn't get much, but I treated myself to an angel valentine doll. This one hangs on the wall, but I put her on the table for the photo. She looks good, either way so once I get more decorating and cleaning done, I may give her a space of her own. For now we are keeping the main wall free of decorations so maybe, just maybe my husband will clean it up and get it repainted so I can put up my easter decorations.

I also found a plain wooden boat for a dollar, I will sand all the varnish off and remake it into something for my beach room, maybe add some fabric sails.

When we were in town, I saw a step falls but it was impossible to get a photo from the right angle, too much brush and slopes. I did see a small falls on the other side and I loved how the water at the top was smooth as glass but whorling so that the shadows looked like an art painting.

On Sunday we got a late start and headed to Woodstock Ct, for some more shopping and to visit Putnam for some photos. We always try and take a different route to find new sights and on this trip we stopped at a mill. It looks like this one is still operational.

In Putnam we found a parking lot across from the falls, so we took a walk over and I enjoyed watching the falls. With the snow and then rain, they were running, full force. It was too cold for me, to take a walk along the river, so we went back across the street to check out an antique store.

Well, it was not a store, it was an antique mall, four floors of booths and in areas, whole rooms with glass cabinets, filled with goodies. It was so overwhelming, I don't think I saw half of the things, lol. And so big, we spent hours just walking and looking. I saw a lot of nice things, but prices that seemed to be inflated compared to what I have bought. It is well worth a visit if you are in the Putnam area, they do have a lot and there are other stores in the area, as well as small shops and restaurants.

Since we spent so long in the store, I decided that I wasn't up to going up to Woodstock and doing more shoppng. But, I did realize that we were were about an hour away from sunset and if we headed back down to the ocean, we could just make it, lol, yes, we drove an hour back down and went to Barn Island, since it was the straightest point from where we were.

It was a beautiful place to enjoy the sunset, but no place to stand, so we had to go out on the marshy point and walk carefully along the thick tufts to stay out of the muck. The sunset is always the most stunning when it falls below the horizon and a beautiful way to end the day. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, filled with your own adventures.

Weekend Wanderings - Part One!

We had quite the weekend, beautiful weather and lots of traveling and lots of walking, so I will do day one, today and part two on Wednesday. The foliage maps said the foliage was best at the upper corners of Connecticut, so we went up from RI and crossed over from there.

Since we were at the upper end of Rhode Island, I wanted to visit a campground I had seen online. It is a state park and they are just putting in real bathrooms and showers this year, so I wasn't sure how nice it was. I was surprised at how beautiful the campground was, large sites and a beautiful wooded area on a lake. We will definitely try a weekend next year.

They have a beautiful beach area, lots of sand but the dry season really lowered the lake. Of course Bean was happy to get out and enjoy some beach time. This would be a wonderful place to paddle, as well.

From there we crossed into Connecticut and I saw the sign for Quaddick State Park. Another area I have wanted to see and I was not disappointed. The park is beautiful, lots of picnic areas and a nice place to launch the kayak, we will be returning here.

We continued on and enjoyed the beautiful foliage and headed down to Putnam, our main destination. I always go online and looks for fun things to do in areas, we are traveling in and the Putnam River Trail looked like the perfect place to go for a walk. There are various places to park, so we took the one, closest to the falls.

The falls are amazing and this is with a lower water level.

We walked down the trail a bit further and I took a photo looking back up to where the falls come out to the river. The river has several old mills along the banks.

I saw several interesting building across the river, and the bridges were narrow, so I decided to drive around, since I was nervous about walking Bean on a narrow sidewalk. The first building that caught my attention was this old stone, Baptist church, framed by the beautiful foliage. It was on the corner of two streets, so it was hard to get all of it in a photo.

We found a park and walked a bit down the river, to another mill and waterfall. It is a beautiful area, and there are also a lot of antique stores and art studios, but we skipped that, on this trip.

Another area that I wanted to visit was Old Furnace State Park in Killingly. It was later in the day and I wasn't sure if I was up to another hike, but I wanted to at least visit to see what it was like and maybe enjoy some views from the lake.

We got there and found a nice parking area, and a trail that led up from the backside of the cliff. I couldn't pass up a view from the top, so up we went. The trail was not that bad, but it was all climb, the good thing is, it was a short hike and the view from the top, was well worth it.

No photos with Bean at the top, I wouldn't let him near the edge, he doesn't comprehend heights and is always trying to pull towards water, so not this time.

When we came down, we walked along a path at the bottom of the lake, and found an opening so we could look out at the pond and see the ledge, where we were standing. It was a long day, lots of walking and hiking, but rejuvenating. When we got home, the kids were here, so they visited and had some dinner with us and I crashed. And instead of staying home and resting, we took off on Sunday, stay tuned for part two, coming Wednesday.