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V-Stitch Fingerless Gloves | Quick Crochet Project
Ever since I made these fingerless gloves I have wanted to make more. For some reason it has taken me six years (!!!) to get around to making more! I was at Hobby Lobby recently and they had a huge pile of yarn on clearance. I was about to put the blinders on and walk on by but curiosity got the better of me and the hankering for fingerless gloves was there, so I had a look. I walked away with a two rolls of sport weight in neutral and brown colored yarn by Sinfonia. And some other cheaper yarn in Christmas colors for my weaving project. I have a…
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Life Lately | Late August 2016
+In My Head Another summer is over. I know there’s three weeks or so until the equinox and more weeks after that in which it will still be hot here in Texas, but the sterotypical ‘summer’ is winding down. Forest’s birthday is next weekend and the little baby will be two! TWO! He’s becoming such a little kid and all summer, with an increase the last month, his language skills have been flourishing. I am really loving this age so far because there’s just so much fun surrounding it. Chris has already reframed two to be Terrific instead of Terrible. Let’s hope! +Watching As I type this we’re watching Peppa…
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August 2016 Book Report
I haven’t read a whole lot this summer. Evenings until recently were spent outside in the garden and I kind of lost interest in reading on my phone while Forest fell asleep at night in favor of scrolling social media. Now that it is pretty much dark by the time Forest falls asleep and I escape his room around 8-8:15 every night I have evening time to read or craft. I’m also trying to make a point to read again on my phone instead of endless scrolling. I don’t have a huge update but here’s what I can brief you on. The last update was for May. Completed Olive Kitteredge…
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100 Years of the National Park Service – National Parks Part II
Great Smoky Mountains Even though I had been to the adjacent town of Cherokee, NC several times for work, I had never ventured over to see the Smoky Mountains until our thru-hike on the AT. Clingman’s Dome hosts the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, the joke being that once you climb the summit then it is all downhill from there! Hah! My experience with the Smoky’s is limited to the AT and seeing it via the road down into Cherokee where Chris and I took a zero day with his mom and step-dad while we were hiking. To ease usage of the natural areas around the shelters, it is…
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100 Years of the National Park Service – Monuments, Historical Parks, and Memorials
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument Less than an hour from Billings, Montana on the Crow Reservation is the memorial to the battle of Little Big Horn, or what many people know it as, Custer’s Last Stand. One of the perks of my job in Florida was being able to travel multiple times a year and seeing a lot of different and unique places. Standing in what as once a battlefield was a little spooky and it wasn’t difficult to imagine the carnage that went on. Yet it seemed a little surreal to see the wide-open expanse around me and imagine that in the 1870s and think of just how much…
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100 Years of the National Park Service – Trails and Recreation Areas
Appalachian National Scenic Trail All of my Appalachian Trail posts are here Florida National Scenic Trail – While part of the National Trails System, it is administered by the US Forest Service. All of my Florida Trail posts are here Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area This recreation area we hit up on our AT thru-hike, but I’m still going to count it as a separate visit! Sunfish Pond El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail This historic trail dates from the Spanish colonization period and multiple paths from western Louisiana were forged through Texas as a highway to Mexico City. I’m mostly familiar with the area of…
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100 Years of the National Park Service – National Seashores
Canaveral National Seashore I think Chris probably spent more time on this seashore than I did—really I may have only been once when Chris stopped to fish somewhere on the Indian River Lagoon. I know he went up to fish fairly often when we lived on the Space Coast. Gulf Islands National Seashore My visit to this park is intermingled with our Florida Trail thru-hike since the end/beginning of the trail is at Fort Pickens. Padre Island National Seashore Padre is one national seashore I have always wanted to hike or drive the length of. When we moved back to Texas I had the grand idea to hike the beach…
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100 Years of the National Park Service – National Parks Part I
Acadia When we finished our Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 2010 my mom came up to Maine and spent a few days with us tooling around the state with us. We stayed in Bar Harbor a couple of days and visited Acadia National Park just briefly with a hike up Cadillac Mountain to watch the sun set. I know that we barely saw what this national park had to offer and for that I am sorry because I have no idea when we will go back to Maine. Big Bend Chris and I went to Big Bend with four of our college friends during spring break in 2000. Oh boy, what…
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100 Years of the National Park Service – Park List
In honor of the National Park Service’s 100th Birthday on August 25th, I’m going to spend this week sharing snippets of parks that I’ve been to under the jurisdiction of the NPS. Many people don’t realize there are more than just ‘parks’ that are part of that system and it extends out to seashores, monuments, preserves, and trails. I’ll be breaking down my posts this week into those parks that I’ve visted, linking photos and previous blog posts to share. While I love the National Park system I wish there was more love for the USFWS refuge system as well as the US Forest Service. Both are highly undervalued resources…
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Rainy Garden
It’s never a perfect scenario weather wise, right? Too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry. Spring flooding, summer drought. But we got a nice break in the drought over the weekend with rain. Rain that’s now forecast daily until early next week. Which is good for the most part but also puts a damper in finalizing summer gardening chores, pulling those ‘last’ weeds, etc. The wheelbarrow has been sitting in that spot for over a week with little activity. From a distance the garden looks good. You can’t see the weeds and it is evident that the yard needs to be mowed but the mower is on the fritz…