Weekend Wanderings!

Another cold weekend, so shopping was more on the agenda than going for walks. The good thing is, we got to enjoy a few nice rides and check out the frozen scenery.

We drove down some back roads to see the rivers. With the snow and rain melting it all, the rivers were running fast and high. This area is part of an old mill village. There are mills all along the different sections and the main mill was a textile mill.

With the rising rivers, it meant rising waters. The boat ramp was getting swallowed up. A lot of people like to start here and go down river, along the rapids. We always start further down and paddle the slower moving, section. I noticed a few areas that I can get down to the mill section, so when the weather is better, I will have to do some exploring.

On Sunday we did our ride to the ocean. It is nice to get out and hit the stores at the south end and then enjoy the scenic drive, along the waterways to the ocean. The problem was, way too cold to get out. On the way home, we stopped at the boat launch in town. Even with the rains, the cove is still half frozen.

There are still boats in the water and I was surprised to see this pirate ship at the docks. I heard it is wintering in our harbor. It is actually a motor boat that was outfitted with a pirate facade. Even comes with it's own lady pirate.

I love shopping this time of year, got some great bargains and even found a large Glitter house church with lights for only 3.50. Another thing I have been looking at is bean bag chairs. I thought it might be a fun and comfy chair for my room, something I can sack out in when I am drawing or creating. I was surprised when I found one in a TJ Maxx home store and a matching ottoman, and half the price. So, it came home with me and it is so comfortable, but it is a lot bigger than I thought, lol. Now I have to redo my room, maybe time to get rid of things I just stuck in there. I will have to find a nice crate to use as a table.

For now I decided to leave the chaise in the room and I actually like it much better, now that it is in the other corner. Seems more cozy and with some large pillows and a quilt, it will be another cozy spot to relax. Still a work in progress, so I may change my mind again.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Time to get going on my projects and I even found two new greens to match up my stockings better.

Wonderful start to the New Year!

Today was another cold day, they all seem to be. But, I wanted to get out and thought a walk on the beach would be good, since I was all bundled up. But, it was still cold and it got through and my fingers got cold trying to get a photo, so I gave up.

This evening I wanted to get the moon rise. It is still cold, but we could sit in the car and I could get out when I wanted a photo. We went to Beavertail lighthouse and the sun was setting fast and I couldn't see the moon, so we stopped to get a few photos. It was fast, but beautiful.

We drove to the other side to catch the moon and it had already risen. I really wanted to catch it as it came up, but it was still beautiful. It is rising over Newport's Castle Hill Inn and you can see the lighthouse to the right.

We came back around through the town and stopped at the wharf. It was getting darker so my photos had to be lightened and I lost quality with the slow shutter, but it was still beautiful with the Christmas lights and the bridge.

On the way home, we stopped in the village to get a shot of the moon, over Wickford Harbor. Love how the lights play on the ice.

On the way out, I took a shot of some of the buildings in town, they always look so beautiful, decorated for Christmas. It was a nice way to end the first day of the new year. And to top it off, when I got home and went on the porch, a meteorite flew overhead.

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year and will be blessed with love, joy and good health, in the coming year. I am ready to relax and start working on new projects. I decided to start with the brighter fabrics and even found a fun print, that I will use for the middle section and the border, so the stars and trees will be on this and the stockings on the shiny, solid black. I may give this one to the kids next year and make a primitive one for me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This weekend was a slow one, seems I have been overdoing it and my body let me know, so this week I am resting and trying to get a bit done, so we are ready for Thanksgiving. I did finish the stockings, so I will get photos and show those on friday.

This weekend we did a little shopping and on the way home I wanted to stop at one of our favorite spots, Pettaquamscutt Rock. It is a small park with a trail leading to the rocks, so not a big climb but spectacular views from the top.

Bill and Bean enjoying a view from the top, it goes all the way out to the ocean. There was a storm out to sea so you could see the thick clouds rolling across the sea.

Looking to the left, you can see the Jamestown Bridge.

Since it was a short walk, we walked along the bottom area for a bit, you can see how tall the rock is, and on the right it is higher and a popular spot for beginner rock climbers.

As we headed home we enjoyed the colors of pre-twilight, it warms up everything and made a beautiful scene at the farm.

We stopped at our local seafood store to get scallops for dinner and while Bill was getting scallops, I was able to get a few shots of the local harbor.

Still a few sailboats docked in the harbor, won't be long before they come out.

The fishing boats are always docked at this pier, a popular spot to drop off the catches of the day.

The rest of the week has been rest and letting Bean play outside, he loves leaves and rather play in those, than play ball.  I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of my local area and I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Happy Fourth!

I hope everyone has fun plans for the fourth. We are going to go to my sister in laws, time to say yes to invites and we will be seeing her husbands side of the family for the first time and My son and Daughter in law will be meeting all of them for the first time too. If you have ever seen the movie, Moonrise Kingdom, it was filmed in Rhode Island and my sister in law was actually in it, Bruce Willis came to her door when he was looking for the kids that ran away in the movie. It is hard to know it is her, but still neat  that she got to meet him and be in the movie.

Bill and I have been able to get out and enjoy the beauty of our own area this week. Yesterday we visited a dog friendly beach at the old base. It is in between the ferry and a ship builder, but the beach is nice and clean and a perfect place to let Bean have some fun at the beach. He finally realized that water is fun to go in and getting braver so next we will have to try him on a kayak.

Today I wanted to try out my mini sit on kayak to see how she handles on the water. Well Bill, who needs a hearing aid, put my sea kayak on, so I used that instead;) I am out of shape, so it was just a nice easy paddle in the main coves and time on the beach to enjoy the cool breezes.

There are two small islands in the cove, they were home to the indian queen at one time, it was there summer place.

We went out to the breakers, we had to go the long way around since it was low tide and we had to avoid the mud flats.

Coming back we enjoyed another trip around the islands and the beautiful views of the harbor. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

Weekend Wanderings and Winner!

First I will announce the winner of the giveaway. The winner is Sunny! Sunny please pick a pattern from my ecrater site and email me with your choice, congratulations! And thanks to everyone for playing along with me this week. I had some fun and I wore myself out, lol.

The last paddle was Sunday and we stayed close to home since the traffic get to be too much on the weekends, at our favorite spots.

We went out of the harbor and planned on paddling down the bay. As we were getting ready to take off, Bill started talking to another paddler and he ended up paddling with us for a bit, so we had to take it slower and didn't go as far, as I planned.

Here are the guys chatting away, nice for me since I could relax and enjoy the views and take photos;)

The wind was blowing and of course against us, so that made paddling slower too. The fun thing is the waves were larger and I love rolling on the ocean. We decided to paddle to the point and stop there since the cove side is calmer and there is a nice spot for swimming.

And the point is narrow at this end, so I could walk across to the bay side and enjoy the views and the breezes.

On the way back we spotted a trawler coming in, the seagulls were flocking all around it.

Once the trawler came though the breakers, the seagulls all congregated on the rocks. I guess all that tailgating tired them out. Of course the week is over and I am finally relaxing and wanting to go out again, lol. I hope everyone had a fun weekend and now it is time to get back to creating, I have a lot of projects, waiting to be finished.

Sunday Paddle Giveaway!

We have been getting a lot of rain this month and this weekend was threats of storms. It was also very foggy on the bay, so we decided to stay close to home in the cove. Luckily it was high tide so we could paddle in the coves and get a nice long paddle in.

The nice thing was, the clouds kept the sun from beating on us, but it was still humid.

We took at break at the beach and enjoyed the views, at least what we could see of them. The bridge was shrouded in a fog bank.

We also enjoyed walking in the water and spied this.... What do you think it is?
I will choose a name on Wednesday night from ( any) right guesses and the winner can pick one of my epatterns or booklets.
This month is my 5th anniversary of blogging so look for weekly giveaways and a final giveaway of goodies,  at the end of the month.

Sunday Paddle and Caption Giveaway!

The weatherman said that it would not be as humid today, but I think he lied, lol. It was a beautiful day and a nice breeze on the bay, but still hot and the type of heat that you do not notice until you are done and totally exhausted;)

This weekend was the art festival, but I had a choice and I wanted to paddle, so I decided to go into town to check it out. 

Going into the town's harbor, we were greeted by feathery fowl.

You can see the artist's tents, over 200 artist's displayed their work, this year. 

Way too hot to sit in the coves, it was time to leave and head for the bay. We went out and straight for our town beach, the perfect place to go for a swim.

That helped refresh me, so back out on the bay and down the coast. Blue skies and blue seas, is the only place for me.

Around the next point, the water gets rougher, wind, tides and lots of boat swells, better than a roller coaster.

With high tides, we can go into coves that are normally cut off by land. Usually the island to Bill's right, goes all the way across during low tide.

In the cove we paddled down the river that runs behind the old mill.

And now for the contest photo. As I was getting this one ready, I noticed some funny things, sooooo, give me a caption for the photo and I will put all the names into a drawing and one lucky winner will receive one of my epatterns or booklets. I will draw a name on Tuesday night and announce the winner on my blog post. I will be doing a traveling box, just need to decide on a box size and what I will put in it, so stay tuned for that.

Sunday Paddle!

Another Sunday paddle, even though I was out of energy before I started. It was a beautiful day but a bit warm for me, so I stayed at the end of the cove and enjoyed the cool breezes. I also used my waterproof camera, it is easier to carry in my pocket and I can use it while I am moving, but  I can't get zoom on it.

 There were a lot of different birds out today, sea and land varieties.

 When we got to the beach, I found a couple of these guys. I had no idea that we had squid in RI and found out that we are famous for them, I learned something new today, lol.

I thought about going out onto the bay, but that is as far as I got, the thought;)

We decided to go back into the coves since it was high tide, we could enjoy going into the inlets that are usually mud flats. This cove is home to a condominium community, beautiful place with wonderful views and a variety of song birds.

Bill finally noticed that I was not behind him.

Sunday Paddle and Freebie!

Yes, I was out on the bay again, it was just too beautiful to be inside and I had no desire to do any real work, like cleaning or yard work;)

We went back to the cove, it is close by, nice launch and no traffic. It was hotter today, but nice cool breezes on the bay.

At the beach stop, there was a family having an outing and they pulled this guy out of the water. He was not too happy about that and was crawling back to the water.

Since it was low tide, we couldn't get into the coves as well, so today we did a short practice run into the bay. I love paddling in the bay and riding the waves, so maybe next week, we will try a short run in the open waters.

And if you would like a wonderful freebie to make, check out Kathy Schmitz's blog, she has a beautiful sewing roll to make, definitely on my to do list.

Fabric choices and Giveaway Prizes!

Last week I went to the quilt stores to find something that matched the blue and white that would match what is in the Jefferson Davis's Daughter quilt, by Barbara Brackman, that I am working on. Of course there was nothing like it or in the shades I wanted, so this is what I found. The darker blue will be the sashing, it seems a lot brighter in the photo. The reproduction border fabric is from the abe lincoln collection, that is all I remember.

What do you think of these fabrics? I am finishing up the second tree and then I can sew the middle section together and add the rest of the appliqués.

I also won a few wonderful giveaways this month. Deborah O'Hare has a wonderful blog, actually two and I have been following her for over a year, her pieces inspire me to create my own art pieces. I won the book, Seaside Home, and I love it. It has a lot of patterns to make things for the home, or summer cottage.

This is Deborah's pattern, I plan on making it and changing it a little by adding inspirational words to the stones. Deborah has done that in one of her patterns and she said it was ok, if I used her idea in my piece.

I also participated in the 100 blocks, blog hop and I did win a copy from Nancy at One Stitch at a Time, I also won a free pattern from Cyndi of Carter Creek Quilts. It is a wonderful pattern and will look beautiful in a lot of different colors and fabrics. 

I was finally able to get out for a paddle, a nice way to spend Mother's Day. It was a beautify day and there were so many wonderful birds out, and I didn't have my good camera with the zoom. I had to use my waterproof camera, so this is the best I could get from the photos I took. I need to find a larger, waterproof case for my  new camera.

This is my bow, as usual, it got windy and I had to paddle against the wind, most of the day. I also had a tetanus shot friday, so you could say, it wasn't an easy paddle, but well worth it;)

One of those Days!

Today the sun was out and I was ready to go paddling. I went to put my  new camera into the box and it didn't fit, the box is too small, so I figured, I would just have to use my point and shoot for today. Then I couldn't find my gloves, I need my gloves to paddle or I can't get a good grip and I get blisters. Then Bill couldn't find his life jacket, I think we threw it out since it was falling apart and he needed a new one. So, that killed our plans for paddling and ended up in a day long shopping trip. By the time I got home from getting what we needed, I was too tired to go out, lol.

We did get out for a walk on Friday, nice weather without being too hot. This is a photo of the inner cove, the mill is a historic mill that has been turned into condominiums. If you would like to learn about it's history and see more photos, you can see a slide show here.

Hopefully we will be able to get out tomorrow and then have a nice afternoon cookout with the kids. I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's day, whether with family or the furry babies;)

This is the front of the building, and there are other extensions of the building in the back.