May « 2008 « Stoneview

Sushi

Earlier this week a friend was in town so we got together for dinner and some knitting. I missed the early-in-the-week get together as I still had company but I made it to the late-in-the-week one despite some nasty allergy shots.

There’s a new-ish sushi restaurant in town that’s my current favorite. They also serve Chinese food so those who don’t care for sushi can find something they like too. The best part, of course, is always the company. Thanks ladies for a lovely evening!

Button button, who’s got the button?

While my niece was visiting we played around with the FIMO clay and the molds I’d made earlier in the week. I made a set of black buttons that turned out quite nicely. These have small jump rings embedded in the back as button shanks. I may try something molded on the back next time using a toothpick to bore a hole parallel to the top of the button. I have several metal buttons with that sort of shank and I think it may be sturdier than embedded jump rings.

Lagoon Progress

Throughout a week or so of visitors and graduations activities I’ve continued to plug away on the Lagoon Tie Shawl. This is 11 balls into the shawl with 4 left to go and then the edging. I think it’s a great marriage between Pia and Tarragon’s fleeces and I can’t wait to see what it looks like all finished.

Birding

Yesterday Chris and I went out to Parker River National Wildlife Refug e with Dad who is an avid birder. We arrived a bit later than is optimum but still saw quite a few interesting birds. I especially enjoyed seeing the mute swan with a juvenile on it’s back. I didn’t know they carried them around that way.

My best spot of the day was an Eastern Wood Pewee who I thought at fisrt (without binoculars) was a hummer. Dad recognized his song and we found him again for a nicer look with the binocs shortly after. It was a bit chilly at the start but the clouds quickly burned off and it was soon humid and quite warm. A stiff breeze meant we didn’t see as many birds as we might. We stopped in at Bob’s Lobster for a fantastic lunch. Dad and I had fried shrimp and there was even a chicken finger sandwich for Chris who’s not fond of seafood (how in the world could he be related to me?).

ETA: I meant to add that the full set of graduation week activity photos is quite disorganized but available for viewing here.

Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge

Dad is an avid birder so we planned to do some nature walks with him while he visited. Yesterday we drove out to Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge Sudbury Unit for a picnic lunch and a stroll around the trail.

Matriculation

Over the weekend there was much celebrating as Chris finished his college career and received his diploma in Mechanical Engineering from UMass Amherst. My parents were both in town as well as my sister and her family. Chris and Daniel were all decked out in fancy duds. The weather couldn’t have been nicer, breezy enough that we didn’t melt and cloudy enough that those unwise enough to pass on the sunscreen were only sunburned on their faces. We had a fantastic dinner afterwards at Gibbet Hill.

Reorganization

What with the tea stash really having grown this year I decided it was long past time for reorganization. The stash had crept into various nooks and crannies and bits of different cabinets and shelves. I cleared off the middle shelf in the coffee cabinet and claimed that for my tea. Here it is all tidied up and stored away properly.

Four ducks on a pond…

I was heading out to run errands earlier this week but when I saw the dramatic clouds I had to run back in for the camera and snap a few pictures for Sandy.

Four ducks on a pond,
A grass-bank behond,
A blue sky of spring,
White clouds on the wing…

William Allingham

Where flowers bloom so does hope. Lady Bird Johnson

Despite getting my feeder up a week or so late, my little friends have been visiting regularly. As you can see from the state of my window it’s been raining fairly frequently. That means loads of blooms in the garden. It’s putting on a wonderful show this year and the cooler temperatures mean the flowers are hanging around much longer than they usually do.

Experimentation

I don’t remember how I got there but recently I ran across this nifty tutorial. I have a wee stash of Fimo I’d been using to make stitch markers and suddenly it became much more interesting. The first project I had in mind was a belated Mother’s Day gift (Mom is visiting this weekend for Chris’s graduation so the timing works out). I bought a heart stamp and created a mold from that. There’s definitely a little learning curve but the initial experiments went fairly well and I’ve got a pin ready for Mom who’s arriving later today.