"The Guesthouse........"

After returning to Brethren from our lunch date with Claire in Traverse City, we regrouped and got ready to go to the horse stable where Julie and Abigail ride. My duty in this regroup, was to take the dogs out.

Abigail watching Grandpa from the front door wondering why she is not outside, too.......

Here is Copper with Morgan. Morgan was raised by Copper. Patrick had lived at the cabin with me for a bit before getting his position with the state up in Manistee. During that time, he'd found this little puppy running loose along one of the back roads......much too small to have been out and about with permission. After attempting to find his owner, with no luck, this little puppy was named Morgan Riley, and has been a part of the family ever since. As you can see, the little puppy grew into a much larger dog, surpassing Copper in size.

Here is the "Guesthouse", which I have posted on here before. I posted it this time so that you could see the colorful view which I had during my visit.

I made some changes inside the camper, too. In stead of pulling out the couch and sleeping there, I chose to lower the table and sleep in the booth instead. It is plenty long enough for my body frame, plus I like the looks of it, too. :) Although, after sleeping on it during this longer visit, I've come to the conclusion that I really should think about buying a regular mattress for more comfort. If I do buy a mattress, instead of sleeping in the booth, I will pull the couch out and have the mattress there in the permanent position. It should be able to be either a full or a queen mattress, and so much more comfort! ;) Maybe next trip..........

The "Jazz String" runner that I wove just prior to my trip fit perfectly, too! I was very pleased. As you can see in this photo, I have a "Looper rug" also.....that is right as you come in the front door. I imagine I will be weaving a small runner for the kitchen area, too, but it isn't a top priority yet. Too many woven items to do yet before Christmas! ;)

Abigail and Julie on horseback tomorrow........

"Birthday Present Opening"

After lunch and our walk through the marina, we headed back to the parking area so that Claire could get started for Glen Arbor to begin the wedding festivities, and we to go back to Brethren. But.......Abigail had to open her birthday presents from Claire. What could be better than a "mini tailgate party"! ;)

Abigail has opened a large bucket full Play-Doh!

And how about this tee shirt? I guess it is pretty obvious that Claire lives in Washington, DC, eh? Abigail, of course, has moved on to her last present.......

A box of Play-Doh! Abigail was quite taken with those little containers of Play-Doh and rode home with 2 clutched in her hands. They were opened, emptied, filled, and closed countless times from her receiving them until she went to bed. I don't remember how she was persuaded to "give them up" prior to bedtime, but Julie and Patrick were successful in doing so.

My MI visit to be continued.......

"Friday's Drive to Traverse City"

Last Friday dawned as yet another beautiful day during my visit in MI. My daughter, Claire, who now lives in Washington, DC, flew back to MI Thursday, to attend a wedding in Glen Arbor last weekend. Glen Arbor is just west of Traverse City, MI, so we made plans to get together for lunch on Friday before she had to leave for the wedding festivities. She'd spent the night up in Petoskey, with my younger son, Sean, so they were able to have a short visit, too. Unfortunately, Sean was not able to meet us in TC as he had work commitments.

The drive from Brethren to Traverse City was beautiful. I truly believe that I hit prime color season last week.

The colors were absolutely gorgeous.........

Abigail was able to get in a short power nap, too, during the drive up to TC. Daughter in law Julie was able to get off from work a bit earlier than usual (Friday's are her days in Cadillac, otherwise, she'd have been in TC already) and was able to meet Patrick, Abigail, and myself in Mesick, MI, leaving her car there.

My "kids" in downtown TC, after lunch at Mackinaw Brewing Company.

The Boardman River runs through Traverse City (which we had to cross from where we'd parked) and the Salmon were "running". We, along with several others, stopped to watch the huge fish in the river.......

Abigail checking to make sure Mommy is watching......

A view of the Boardman River towards the east. Not too far from where we stood, it flows into West Bay, which is part of Lake Michigan.

A view of the Boardman River coming from the West. It actually flows North to TC, then swings towards the West running parallel with Front Street (the main street going through downtown TC), then does a "U turn" back towards the East before flowing into West Bay.

Here is a photo of one of the many Salmon in the river.....

To be continued.....

"A Michigan Visit"

I drove over last Wednesday, to Brethren, MI, for a visit with Patrick, Julie, and Abigail. Abigail was to turn 2 years old on Saturday, so I thought a visit to coincide with that would be good timing. :) I had scheduled a visit in August, but then had the vertigo incident and had to cancel, so I'd not seen them since late April/early May, when we'd rented the Silver Lake house for a week to celebrate Don's 60th birthday. As you can imagine, Abigail has changed quite a bit and is now saying some words very clearly......especially the word, "No". ;)

Julie's birthday was in late September, but I chose not to send her the Einstein Coat I'd knitted for her, but had waited to bring it with me for this visit. Thankfully, it fit her VERY well and she liked it. I also gave her the chenille scarf I'd just woven, too, which had a brown in it that matched her knitted coat. The weather had been quite warm during my visit, but on the morning I was to leave, the temperature was cooler and she wore her new coat to work, which, of course, pleased me greatly. :)

I had also knitted Abigail an Einstein Coat to match her Mommy's, and it, too, fit nicely. Here she is modeling her new coat while holding Miss Kitty, her constant partner in crime. ;)

I has also knitted Abigail a little shrug which fits, but is a bit too large, so she will have it fit for a longer time.....definitely a good thing. I'd been afraid that it might have been too small since I'd not seen her in such a long time.

Abigail kept her eyes on me quite a bit, getting used to her Grandpa once again after so many months apart. By the end of my visit, she was sitting easily on my lap, etc. :)

She does LOVE adult shoes and boots! Here she is wearing a pair of her Mommy's work shoes. :)

My Michigan visit continued tomorrow......

"Wedding/Reception- Part 2"

Barb and Geoff asked that no one take any photos during the ceremony (except her niece who was doing their wedding), so today's blog entry jumps to after the newly wedded couple had their receiving line. :)

I wanted to make sure Barb's wedding outfit was seen in its entirety. She was a beautiful bride.....and she is a beautiful woman ALL the time, so nothing new here, right? ;)

Barb, and her sister Sarah, have a few moments together after the wedding.......

The "paperwork".......Don got to sign it as one of the "witnesses", too. ;)

A pleased Barb, with her 2 looper rugs that I wove for them.

Barb and Geoff cutting their wedding cake..........

The candles from the wedding ceremony were left to light up the evening.......

A gorgeous, crisply cool evening to top off a wonderful day.

We wish Barb and Geoff many, many years of happiness!

"Barb and Geoff's Wedding- Part 1"

Our friends, Barb and Geoff, got married last Saturday, October 1, 2011. The day couldn't have been more beautiful for such an event. Their marriage ceremony and reception was to take place at their house, amongst a small group of friends, and Don and I were honored by being invited. ;)

Here I am talking with Rick, Barb's brother in law, who is married to her sister Sara.

Barb's mother, Shirley, with grandson's Nick (on the left) and Adrian (on the right).

Barb's 3rd son, Andrew, with girlfriend, Hope.

The wedding took place in their backyard in late afternoon. Geoff's 3 daughters are in this photo. Gwen (far right in gold), with twins, Camille and Amanda, to her right (I have no idea who is who as I did not have the opportunity to meet them).

Chatting with long time friend of Barb, Diana (on the right), who flew in from the west coast are Joanne (on the left), and her partner, Martha.

Barb and Geoff were being married by their very good friend, Kelly, seen here with her son, Sam. Kelly is a minister at the First Unitarian Society here in Madison.

Kelly's husband, Dan, holding their other son, 6 week old Owen. I was fortunate enough to have time holding Owen, too. Many of you know how much I enjoy babies......until they get hungry........then back to their Moms! ;)

Part 2 tomorrow.......

"Rayon Chenille Scarf Completed......"

I was amazed at how quickly I was able to finish weaving the rayon chenille scarf once I got used to weaving such a narrow piece.....AND, once I figured out the "almost no pressure" beating of the weft. ;) It was similar to gaining a rhythm when doing anything repetitive.......the weaving motions became smoother and gained speed.

I bought this "Fringe Twister" when I was at Susan's Fiber Shop last week. If you recall, I'd asked her about weaving with chenille....the reason I came home and tried it, but I also asked about twisted fringe that I had seen on many scarves when looking at them at Sheep and Wool Festival. I'd seen these little gadgets in catalogs and online before, but didn't know how they worked. I added to my weaving equipment and bought one...... ;)

It really is quite easy to work with.....although, it does take a few minutes of "fussing" with it to see that each warp thread needs to be very close to the same tension as the others in the group to be twisted. Twisting the group by turning the "crank" to the right, until the group is twisted sufficiently, each warp thread is then held onto and gathered into the group as it is released from the alligator clip. The group is then smoothed out while holding onto the warp threads (sometimes there are kinks in a thread and you want them all to be even). When all are smooth, the group is then twisted in reverse (to the right), which the warp threads will want to do naturally, but it doesn't hurt to help control them......I found that part of the learning experience quite quickly....as in the first attempt. ;)

As with weaving the scarf.....the more twisted fringe I did, the faster the process went.

Don loves to take photos from different angles.......which I truly do appreciate, as the different views may allow the viewer to have more "ah ha!" moments visually.

The finished chenille scarf. After completing the "twisted fringe", I wet finished it by washing it in a load of towels. I also put it into the dryer as well, with the load of towels (I do the same with the rayon chenille towels I wove for our hot tub use, too). The scarf came out "super soft" and "drapes" very nicely.

Some thoughts on the fringe.........I do believe I will twist them a bit more next time. When it came out of the dryer, they were not as tight or elongated as when they had gone in, but did "shake out" somewhat after the end of the scarf was briskly whipped back and forth. All in all, I'm happy with my chenille scarf experiment and look forward to adding more colors of chenille to my yarn stock. :)