Monday, April 28, 2025

Ups and Downs

Ta-da!



Here it is, the Field Cardigan, just off the needles and with the buttons sewn on.


I had to haul the wet cardigan wrapped in a towel, my blocking mats and the pins down the stairs to the dining room. It took a little over a day to dry. The buttons turned dark and the design disappeared when they got wet.


Fortunately, they returned to their original color and the design reappeared when the sweater was dry.


Here's a look at the back. I"m happy with the fit, and it's a nice weight for spring and summer.


I had to have something to work on, so I started The Love of Spiders shawl. I had admired Alexa's, both the colors and the design.


It's coming along nicely.


The pups and I managed to get in a walk every day, sometimes with Charlie. The Larkspur trail is pretty flat, and I wanted to get some uphill work. Good Dog Trail is the best place to do that but is a bit of a drive. The closest trail with an uphill climb is just that: an uphill climb. Pilot Butte is only about five minutes by car. The pups and I went alone on Wednesday. We parked at the bottom of the trail and walked up. It's about 490' of elevation gain, so a nice workout.


There's a parking lot at the top, so you can drive up (on the road, of course, not on the trail), but for us it was about the process, not the product. We ate our lunch and had some water at the top.

Going down was more challenging, because the pups were more willing to pull, and I had to be careful. I think it was more of a workout going down than up, and my thigh muscles really got a workout.


At one point we could see Greenwood Ave. below us, with the cars moving along in both directions. Sandy had never seen cars from a distance and from above. He stopped to stare, fascinated. I wonder if he thought they were little creatures moving along. 

Here's a screenshot of the Walk for a Dog app for the walk. The faint line spiraling up to the top is the road. The yellow line is where we walked on the trail and back. The blue line is Greenwood Ave.



Our other walks were along the Larkspur Trail. On one walk we went through the wooded area near us, and the pups had some off-leash time.

On Saturday we got in an actual hike, this time with a group of people from our church at Shevlin Park. The dogs were required to be on a leash. Charlie took Dusty and I took Sandy, using my belt leash. The trail makes a loop, starting with a slow, steady climb and coming back down along the river. This was Sandy's first time to hike with a group, other than family members. For a while he struggled between wanting to be out in front with another dog, who also wanted to be in front, or checking on Daddy and Dusty, who were behind us. As we started back toward the parking lot, though, he seemed to have satisfied himself that our family members could be counted on to stay with the group.




Most of the group went for lunch afterwards at Bangers and Brews.



They had vegetarian options, and I had the Smoked Apple Veggie sausage and a nonalcoholic beer. It was very nice. I loved that the pups were allowed to come in and sit with us, because it was hot in the car by the time we were ready to have lunch. Other people had brought their dogs in with them. Pet dogs are allowed to dine with people in restaurants that have an "outdoor" seating area. Bangers and Brews has an extensive outdoor area that is enclosed with a clear-plastic windbreak, so it was comfortable while still allowing the dogs to come in with us. The rules for Oregon are here.


Besides the walks and hikes, a few medical appointments, the continuing pile of laundry, cooking, and a little work on the new book, we had a MadroƱa Vineyards Pop-up meeting on Tuesday. My Field Cardigan was taking up the dining room table, so we sat on our couch, which allowed the participants a view of my Pickle Dish quilt.



The quilt did not escape notice, and that led to a short discussion of paper-piecing, which was probably not of much interest to anyone besides the person who asked me about it and me.

This reminds me that it's about time to put up my Spring Flowers quilt, which I like to display on that wall during the late spring, summer and early fall.


I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.


If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales RetoldOur Favorite Verses or More Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.


Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Finished the Field Cardigan. Now working on The Love of Spiders shawl by Melanie Berg.

What's on my iPhone: Just started listening to Secrets and Lies by Selena Montgomery using the Chirp app.

What's on my sewing machine: Still waiting to do some repairs.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Our 200th story was a fashion show. I've reworked it to provide inspiration for a JAL (Join Along) in the Goetz Doll group on Ravelry, which will take place throughout May. Here's The Doll's Storybook Join-Along.



What's my tip of the week: If a company is liquidating and selling off stock at fantastic discounts, be careful about ordering online. I made that mistake and then wondered why I didn't get a confirmation from JoAnn about my order. It turns out They stopped taking orders online in March. I had to cancel my credit card.


If you can't read the screenshot, this is what it says:

FRAUDULENT JOANN WEBSITES

Important Notice: Beware of Fake JOANN Websites

It has come to our attention that there are multiple websites that are imitating JOANN as clearance outlets. These websites are in no way affiliated with JOANN. As of Wednesday, March 5th, purchases on JOANN.com have been disabled, and there are no other authorized JOANN shopping websites. You can still browse our products at JOANN.com, but purchases are unavailable at this time. Please immediately report any fraudulent website to us at customer.service@joann.com, as well as the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. If you have purchased from a fraudulent website please dispute the claim with your financial institution.


Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 


The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a StrangerThe RescueUnmaskedFuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's DayKeeping PetsBack to School, Victor the VultureThe Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green GreatcoatThe Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best BudsGetting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being LittleBesties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut. You can also find my books at Barbara's Bookstore here.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Monday, April 21, 2025

Pacific Hiking, Camping and Easter

What a week! We stayed at Sunset Bay State Park Campground for four nights and had a great time. We hiked each day, usually about 2 miles or more. The dogs wanted to stay up with Jim, but we didn't want him to trip over them, so we kept some distance.


We stopped from time to time to enjoy the views or eat lunch.


The dogs really enjoyed it, especially Sandy.


We didn't go to the lighthouse, but we could see if from several vantage points, and we could hear the foghorn all the way to the campground.


We tried to get down on the beach at the end of the point, and you can do it, but we had the dogs with us, and the last 10 feet or so requires hanging on to a rope. Charlie and Jim made it down, so Charlie could check out the rocks. The person you can see on the beach is Jim. Charlie is down there somewhere.


The pups and I waited above the point where you need to use the rope. There was a bench to sit on, and we ate our lunch.


Jim had tried out his new r-pod during an overnight trip previously, but this was the first time he had used all of the equipment and features. His r-pod looks like ours, except that we have a big window in front. This was his campsite. Ours was behind the trees in the middle of the photo.


The pups fell into their usual routine when traveling with the trailer. 


We had full hookups, so I got to use the microwave/convection oven a number of times. I had found some refrigerator cinnamon rolls with all natural ingredients made by Annie's, and I baked them for breakfast one morning. I heated up food, baked biscuits and pizza.


We ate dinner together each night in one of the r-pods. We alternated providing the main dish or salad and dessert. We had some nice chats over dinner.


We accidentally had the water heater element on with no water in the tank, so it burned out, but it still works on propane. The toilet got clogged just before we were leaving to return home. We decided to drive a bit and then check it, and that worked. We must have been using the wrong toilet tissue. 


On the way home, we didn't go through Florence. It was shorter to go back through La Pine, to the south of us, so we said goodbye to Jim as we drove through North Bend. We got home in time to unload the pod during the daylight, which is nice.


On Saturday there was a combination protest and party organized by some of the clergy in Bend. They felt that people who were distressed by the happenings in DC needed something to do that would not just help them feel as if they were taking action but also to bring a little joy back into their lives. It was a good idea. Drake Park was packed. We had a couple of musical groups play and sing. A group called "Good Trouble was made up of folks of Boomer age and older. They led the crowd in singing some of the old protest songs of the '60s to the music from acoustic instruments. The group passed out kazoos so some people could play along. A few people had received little song books, but I don't think they realized how many people would show up, so they ran out of everything. I remembered a lot of the words to the songs, so I sang what I could.



It was a good warmup for my voice for the Easter Vigil service at Trinity. At 8:00 PM that night. A fire in what looked like a little barbecue provided the fire to light the Pascal Candle. We started the service in darkness. Then, midway through the service, the lights went on and we began to celebrate Easter.



Easter Sunday was busy. We sang for both services, so the choir had to be at the church at 7:00 AM. I had missed choir practice on Wednesday, due to the camping trip, but I had managed to find some time to go over my music, so I was prepared for the Easter Vigil and both Easter services. The little church was packed for the 8:00 AM service, and so many people showed up for the 10:00 AM service in the big sanctuary, they had to open the balcony. I've never seen that before. (That empty seat in the front row was for me, so I could sit there and hear the sermon better.)



I got a lot of knitting done during the week, especially during the driving time. I'm almost ready to bind off the second sleeve. Then on to blocking, weaving in the ends and sewing on the buttons.



The buttons were coming from an Etsy shop in the UK. They were two weeks overdue, but they arrived on Saturday, so I'm all set.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.


If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for More Classic Tales Retold or Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales RetoldOur Favorite Verses or More Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.


Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Almost finished with the Field Cardigan.

What's on my iPhone: Finished listening to Jan Karon's These High, Green Hills, which is the third book in her The Mitford Years series. I need to download a new book. While driving we finished listening to The Vision by Dean Koontz, which we had started during our trip to Portland for the Rose City Yard Crawl.

What's on my sewing machine: Still waiting to do some repairs.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In A Bigger Footprint, Part Two, Jolena and Mandy have a snack while Mandy reassures the younger doll she doesn't need to give up being on the ski team to save the earth, but there are some things she can do.


What's my tip of the week: I don't know if this applies to all cell phones, but the iPhone has a function that keeps the battery from overcharging if it's left plugged in past reaching 100%, That mechanism can wear out if the phone is plugged in for too long. I tend to forget I've had it plugged in, so I set the timer for 30 minutes, so I can check it. 

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 


The stories in More Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Welcoming a StrangerThe RescueUnmaskedFuzzy Town––A Play and Sky Blue.

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook. Poems included are Valentine's DayKeeping PetsBack to School, Victor the VultureThe Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green GreatcoatThe Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

The stories in Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Best BudsGetting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The stories in Mariah are Being LittleBesties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, because the publisher gets a cut. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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