Busy weekend.

“I needed to stop being what everyone thought I was.”
― Sarah Addison Allen

 

What a long weekend. I hate car shopping. But that is done and over and Marv is happy with his new to him vehicle. I think it will fit our needs nicely.

But it really did kill most of the weekend. We were both exhausted by the time we were done.

Though we did sneak off Sunday morning and took a long walk along the Salt river. Made Pip happy. It was  great day for a walk and we thoroughly enjoy ourselves.

I did get some work done on a new design this weekend. Had to have my busy work with me for when we were driving or waiting.  I will set this design aside though now and get back to work on the large project I have going and just work on it when I need to go someplace until the more pressing project is done.

I am shooting for the end of the week for that project.  Here is a shot of all the motifs done and ready for me to finish up the afghan. Oh there is much more to the afghan than just these motifs. But they are the base. The stack is already about a third of the way assembled. So it will not take me too much longer to get this done.

 

I love this shot of Marv and Pip. It just looks so serene.

I liked how the tree framed the view of the river for me.

They have raised the level of the water in the river.

These are the end of the bluffs along our walk.

Looking down the river towards Red mountain.

Marve took this shot of the tree stump with it's interesting rings.

Wonder what sort of tale it could tell.

We have quit hauling home every rock that catches our eyes. So Marv took a picture of the beauty of this one.

Love the colors and the suggestion of a scene in it.

 

1 year today

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." - Douglas Adams

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of my arriving down here in Arizona. It has been a year of adjustments. Not all of them easy. But my outlook is better these days and I no longer cry when I look across the desert and don't see the beautiful green forests of my previous home. I have learned to embrace the beauty of the desert and to quit comparing the two. That wasn't fair. Sort of like comparing apples and oranges. 
I am happy being able to pursue my dream of being a crochet designer. That has been a anchor for me when things got a bit rough. And yes it has gotten rough at times. You don't make such a major change in one's life without things getting a bit rocky at times. But I decided that I would not dwell on what isn't and learn to enjoy what is.
So I will continue to share pictures of my new world as I discover the beauty and the joy that it offers me if I remember to open my eyes and my heart to it.
Today I am sharing some of my favorites that I have taken since we started our hikes,

View of the 4 peaks mountain Range

The Salt river in the late afternoon.

The Superstition mountains that I see everyday

Marv thoroughly enjoying himself.

Me on the heights

Pip telling us to get a move on it.......

peaceful waters

Proof there are real trees in Arizona

A pool in the late afternoon.

The desert flowers

The Salt river canyon.

Reflections and flowers.

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”
― Henry Miller

 

Today is the sort of day I truly enjoy. I have a project going that requires a lot of relaxing repetitious work.

 

Why do i like that sort of day? Well I can let my mind wander a bit while I work. Think of new ideas, decide where I want to go with the things I am doing in my life, What things have priority in my life and that sort of thing. Sometimes we get so busy just doing that we forget to take stock of where we are and where we want to go.

So I have enjoyed my day. Nothing earth crashing in my thinking, but feel more focused and relaxed about things.

Project is progressing, But still has a ways to go. Think I might just go crochet outside for a little while since the sun is shining.

I promised Flower pictures. These are from our hike on the 19th.

 

The Desert amazes me when I see such beauty. Or should I say I am amazed by such beauty in a desert?

I just love the delicacy of these flowers. One of my favorites if you can't tell. 

Nature paints with the most exquisite palette

These are truly delicate little flowers. I almost missed them.

Such soft colors. These really appeal to me.

Even the berries are striking. The promise of new growth.

Of course more fairy dusters.

Love the pristine white of these.

And then there are the ones that cry out to be noticed.

No matter how small they are.

These are also some of my favorites. The humming birds love these.

Even some of the cactus are beginning to bloom

And who can't help but be touched by such simple beauty.

 

Another one bites the dust.....

“Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect.”
― Margaret Mitchell

 

OH MY! But that pattern was a bear to get written up. But I finally got it done. I still need to proof it before I send it to my testers but I feel so good getting this done. A filet pattern isn't that tough to write up. But  a filet pattern in three sizes with 3 pieces each can be agonizing. I only wrote out the 1st 2 rows of each piece but that is 9 pieces x 2 as I had to write it up for both right and left handed people since it is a one way design. I am just so glad I don't have to write up the whole pattern in this manner. You know what I doubt it would have ever gotten done. I have had people ask me to write up filet patterns before. ( Which I refused to do )  I do not think they realize what they were asking. It took me a day and half just to do what I did and that doesn't include the time I had already put into it.

I am feeling a tad bit frazzled at the moment.  So I think I will go soak in a hot tub before I get busy on the current project I am working on. I will have some pattern writing to do this afternoon, But it will be nothing compared to what I have just done.

I am going to post pictures from our hike on the 19th of this month.  Today I will post hike shots and tomorrow I will post my flower shots.

 

Our morning started early and the morning light was gorgeous

A View down the Salt River

It was so quiet and still that I was able to get this reflection shot.

This was later in the day, the clouds had moved in and gave everything a soft light 

A view up the Salt river at the end of our loop.

I love the look of the 4 peaks mountain range. I look forward to hiking up there this summer

Another shot of the four peaks with the clouds moving in.

This is a wood knot that appealed to me. Love seeing patterns in nature.

This is a shot of the sun coming up over the Salt River

Pip playing king of the mountain. He decided he just had to jump up on this boulder.

I think it was so we could pet him better.

The clouds moved in as we hiked and painted the sky for us.

I wanted to see how my camera would do trying to capture this.

\

Again the sun behind the clouds.

Monday! Monday..... The song is in my head

“People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
― Abraham Lincoln

 

Ah another week begins and I am starting mine with some serious pattern writing this morning. While my head is clear and uncluttered from the demands of the day. I always find I do my best pattern writing at this time of the day.

Figured I had better get off the stick and get my pattern for my vest written up. I have had quite a few people asking about it and I can only put it off so long.

I will put in a mornings worth of work on it and then move to crocheting in the afternoon. 

The project on my hook is progressing as planned. All my motifs are ready to be assembled, so feeling wonderful about that.  To me that is the hardest part of this design. I have 48 motifs done and waiting. Will need to do some writing on this on the afternoon also. Oh My!!!!  it looks like it is going to be a writing sort of day. The hardest part of my job...... :(  Well it is a Monday so what can I truly expect. Just grin Kathy and get on with it. I will try and remember how happy I will be when all that writing is done.............

 

Well I am going to post the pictures I took at the Renaissance Festival today. I thinned out what I was going to post as I will never get all my pictures posted otherwise.

 

We had such a wonderful day gawking like tourists when we went to the Festival.

Watching the craftsmen working on age old skills was fascinating.

The setting they have created is truly a work of art in it's self

I kept trying to capture the true feel of the Festival and the Celebration of the way of life it remembers.

OH I could have done a whole spread on the different costumes we saw.

Thinking of making Marv and I one for the next time we go. We shall see.

Another set of costumes.

They had a great show of birds Wish I could have gotten a better picture of the hawk.

Did catch a half way decent one of the owl.

Again another scene of the lifestyle this festival celebrates.

Another craftsman at work.

Of course some flowers caught my eye and I couldn't resist.

One of our favorite shows was the Jousting

Of course I picked out my favorite horse and cheered him on.

Okay the knight too........

But the horse was my favorite thing to watch.

I liked this simple moment.

Makes me really miss my horse

And finally another horse that I couldn't help but admire. This fellow was so patient.