Needles and Pens

walking lifts the heart. walking, camera in hand, brings discovery. nature magnified, i am awed by the beauty of all Creation.

Yesterday my daughter's due date passed uneventfully, so today we decided to take a nice long walk on the boardwalk and see if that would help things along. I don't know if it worked, but she is acting kind of... funny tonight. Our fingers and toes are crossed. We're SO ready for this baby! I'm having a little trouble settling down tonight myself, so thought I'd share a few shots from our walk today. Here's the mommy-to-be, walking the dog (or maybe the dog is walking her ): Taking a little break on the beach: Little brother, watching the waves come in: Lake Superior scenery: A beautiful September day, for sure, but I'd much rather be taking pictures of my grandson! Maybe tomorrow... ;o)

I way overdid it today in the tackling department, but I guess that makes up for yesterday, which I spent wandering from one room to the next, trying to decide where to start and never actually starting anything. I really needed the Tackle it Tuesday motivation and, apparently, the exercise. Man, are my legs stiff tonight! Several random ideas kind of culminated into one big tackle today. We had our first frost last night, so we pulled in the "summer outdoor" plants last evening before clearing a place for them inside. So Tackle One was to do some rearranging and find a home for the plants. And, ta-dahh! I even got motivated enough to clear off the "bottomless" clutter pile on the kitchen counter. Note the treadmill missing from the corner above? That would be Tackle Number Two. My all-or-nothing weight loss goals of earlier this year did indeed come to... nothing. In fact, I've gained back the fifteen pounds I lost, plus a few more. Ack! The diet has been p...

Second year, the clematis is thriving... A profusion of lilies... Purple Coneflowers... and the view from the chaise lounge... "All of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today." ~ Dale Carnegie

...where I regain my sanity...

Well, maybe not quilter's block, exactly, more like ambition-block. This week I have to finish this quilt for my niece's wedding. Next week, we go on vacation, and the wedding is right after that, so this is the last minute. But I just couldn't get excited about holing up in my sewing room with the gorgeous weather we're having, so I brought the whole works outside yesterday, and it did wonders. The quilting is done, the binding is on, all it needs now is a label -- and a nice gift bag. ;o) Another plus to outdoor sewing; keeping an eye on my 10-year-old tree climber. If you look really hard, you'll see him over halfway up this 40-50-foot pine. It's enough to give a mom anxiety attacks...

I was poking around in the garden yesterday, looking for signs of life... and I found one! Several, actually. Not the type I was expecting, but it was sure a nice surprise to see butterflies flitting about so soon after all that snow. This species is new to me, so I'm searching through thumbnails at Butterflies and Moths of North America , trying to make an identification... ... hundreds of thumbnails later, I may have found it! I think it's a Mourning Cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa). I sent my photo and sighting info to the state coordinator at the site, so we'll see if I get a for-sure confirmation. Looks pretty close, though -- only mine's prettier. lol Amazing how easy it is to get completely sidetracked with a thing like this!