Deer Me!

We'll just get this out of the way first.

We were coming out of the home of our host for an Italian dinner with people from the meet-up groups in Bend, when we found ourselves needing to "pass the buck." They aren't as dangerous as the moose we had in Park City, but we gave him a wide berth as we passed.
We had just finished a wonderful dinner, cooked for us by a great Italian chef who likes to host small dinner parties (eight people, including himself). The people who attend pitch in to pay the costs of the dinner. He gets to indulge in his hobby and enjoy the company of congenial people. I was too busy eating to get photos of everything, but this was the bread (home baked, of course).

We had rice balls as an appetizer, then a celery and anise salad with shaved parmesan, followed by two entrees. Mine was vegetarian. Eggplant. Yum!

We had two desserts. Lemon ice cream:

Then a citrus cheesecake, made with ricotta cheese.

Then we had some (also homemade) limoncello, which was marvelous, not syrupy like most commercial brands.
When it was time to go home, we went out the front door, and there was our deer. What a perfect evening.

We didn't take the buck home, of course. We leave the wild animals in the wild where they belong and where everyone can enjoy them. It made me think of this part of last week's story, though, which was about pets. Jolena brought home this creature from the wild.

Victor, shown in the photo, was a present a few years ago from my friend Joanie. He isn't a pet. The point, of course, was that we should leave wild animals where they belong, and if we see a wild animal in trouble, we should tell an adult, who will call someone who knows how to help. We shouldn't bring it home and try to make a pet out of it.

In the story, Mandy takes Marmalade to the vet, and our vet obliged by allowing me to shoot this photo "on location." He suggested we might do a story on the vet's office, with one or two of the dolls getting a tour.

This week's story is ready to go, so now I'm planning the one for the following week.

Our choir has grown, which is very exciting, so of course I had to get a photo of everyone putting their music in order.

When I take photos like this, I always ask first if anyone is in the Witness Protection Program, so they can hide their faces or I can edit them out. I was sitting in the back but got up to take this photo.

The washcloths for the troops go out today. I managed to finish five.

I ran them through the wash, so they wouldn't bleed odd colors into the recipient's laundry. It also pre-shrinks them.

My new orthotics seem to be helping with my foot problem, and I've been told I can wear pretty shoes occasionally, so now I'm back to knitting my Trickle-brick socks, since I actually should be able to wear them.

What's on my needles: Back to the Trickle-brick socks. I may be able to wear them, so I might as well finish them.

What's on my sewing machines: Getting oiled, both of them. 

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Keeping Pets. The dolls show us what they have to do to be responsible pet owners.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Blowout. Not much time to listen this past week.

What's in my wine glass:  Colossal Casa Santos Lima Red, 2015. Another great discovery.

What's my tip of the week: Letting the sunshine in through a window helps warm up the house, but if the sun shines in through on your quilt on the bed, it can cause it to fade. You can protect the quilt with a blanket until the sun moves.

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.

A Feast for the Eyes, Ears and Stomachs

I spent most of last week cleaning house for our visitors and the appraiser, so I wanted to take some photos while it was clean. Here's the living room.

(I just noticed the pillow is slipping off the Carolina rocker, but...oh, well!)

Here's the dining room.

The kitchen hasn't been this clean since we moved in.

Here's the kitchen eating area. (We need to get some chairs for this table.)

A couple of shots of my "fiber studio," still a work in progress.

I had the dolls sitting around for the enjoyment of our visitors. (They're free-range dolls, after all.)

The master bedroom.

The guest room.

This was the view out the guest room window when I got up Wednesday morning. "Red sky at morning...."

That white structure in the lower left-hand corner is our 5th wheel's roof.

I managed to get some more kimchi made. (You can see I've already been into the first jar.)

I finished my second washcloth for the "Washcloths for Africa" effort. The yarn was some I bought in Finland years ago for a pullover. The pullover didn't need as much as I bought. (That's better than the other way. I bought plenty, because I knew it would be hard to get more in the days before Ravelry.) The brand is "Holiday," and it was made in Belgium by Gustaf Werner AB. It's a little thinner than the Sugar 'n Cream I've used for washcloths and dishcloths. I think it's DK.

I washed and dried the first one. I had to show it to the iron, because the edges curled up, but it blocked nicely with steam. It's darker than it appears in this photo. It's also Sugar 'n Cream, and the color name is "Teal."

I've started one in Sugar 'n Cream in "Warm Brown," and it's almost done. I worked on it while watching the American League Playoffs. My beloved Red Sox weren't in the matchup, so I cheered for the Astros, since Houston is one of the cities we've lived in. I hope to make a couple more washcloths after this one before I have to send them off.

This week's story was about how Emil has discovered he can learn to do a lot of things, but he's the only one who can communicate with animals. This was one of my favorite photos, where Mandy is teaching Emil to knit.

For a knit-along (also a crochet-along and sew-along) in one of the doll groups on Ravelry, I made some capri-length leggings for Charlotte. The theme was "Go Pink Day," for breast-cancer awareness and to remind everyone to get their mammograms. Some of the dolls had been shopping, and Charlotte found a pink ducky.

I also released the pattern for the twinset she's wearing in the photo. It's free on Ravelry and found here.

We went out to eat with DBIL on Thursday at the home of someone in the meet-up groups. It was a potluck, and I was busy, so I took my Italian Pronto. There were only six of us, but we had a great time, and DH and I met three new people. We will see them again soon. I didn't take any photos, but I hope to remember to do that next time.

The Central Oregon Symphony had a performance (three performances actually, at three different times) at the Bend High School. The tickets were free. We went yesterday. We heard Brahms Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15, with Ednaldo Borba at the piano. He was amazing. After an intermission, the orchestra played Haydn's Symphony No. 104 in D Major, the "London." I used to have it on vinyl, and it was nice to hear it again. It made me laugh. I loved the venue. The acoustics were perfect and we could see over the heads of the people in front of us. It was fun to see people I knew from church. Here are the musicians, warming up before the performance. (One of the violinists was our host for the scotch-tasting event a couple of weeks ago.)

Also this past week, on Thursday, Soren and Johan's school had a "fun run" to raise money for a track at the school. Soren is a good runner, so this is an important asset to have at his school.

Johan ran, too. He claimed to have run 1500 laps. He may have been exaggerating, but I don't know for sure.

We managed to keep up our two-mile walks each day for another week. 

I'm looking forward to another busy week ahead!

What's on my needles: More washcloths for Africa

What's on my sewing machine: More costumes (clothes) for the dolls.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Talking to Animals," where Emil realizes we each have different gifts.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Rachel Maddow's Blowout. I'm just getting into it, so I can't say much about it, but since DH worked most of his career in the oil and gas industry, I think it will be of interest.

What's in my wine glass: Terrain Vineyards California Red Blend, 2016. I think this was the same bottle as last week

What's my tip of the week: You've probably thought of this yourself, but if you wash your sheets as soon as you strip the bed, you can have them dry in time to put them right back on the bed, thus saving the time to fold them.

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.