Animal Planets Untamed & Uncut

On Sunday, July 26th at 6pm Pacific time, Animal Planet will be airing the Untamed and Uncut episode that Riff, Sam, Kevin, my brother-in-law, Ron and nephew, Nick are on rescuing the cow elk in Wyoming last December. I can't wait to see it!

This is a sticky post and will remain at the top until the evening of JULY 26th. Please scroll down for newer posts.

Charmed, I'm Sure...

Charm Packs. Oh the delight. I'm always just a little bit late to the ballgame, everyone else far ahead in their charm pack love. My sewing machine and I just recently had the pleasure of meeting our first little charm pack. It came to us through a delightful shop on etsy. That charm pack sat on the shelf in my craft room for a month or so. I looked at it, it looked at me, together we just didn't know what to do with each other, though we were enjoying the company. Then, one day, as these things so often happen, I was visiting one of my favorite knitting blogs, the oh-so-creative Lynne at I Was Knit Together In My Mother's Womb, when she happened to mention the Cape May Bag and all it's charms~(pun intended). I hoped right over to Knotions and grabbed that pattern for myself, and my charm pack of course. I believe it was fate, a love affair had begun.


I would like you to meet my very first charm pack - Summer's Basket of Flowers by Terry Clothier Thompson for Moda. This charm pack was so delightful that I just may be a charm pack junkie now. Are there groups for that? CPAnonymous maybe? Actually, at my house, I'm going to call them Party Packs 'cause there's a party in every little wonderful bundle. I may even have to wear pointy paper hats and blow party horns while I'm sewing from now on.




Before the knitted top meets the sewn bag.




Wa-La! Though someone should probably tell Cape May that it's dangerous to hang out in the road like that.
I hope you enjoyed meeting Cape May. I, for one, was charmed...

Turn the Page Tuesday - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

It's time for Turn the Page Tuesday, hosted by Adrienne at Some of a Kind. A chance to tell you all what I've been reading and see what is on others nightstands.

My friend Yolanda from Perfectly Imperfect sent me this book when she ended up with two copies of it. I had seen reviews and heard so much about it, all good, that I couldn't wait to start reading it. Once I did, I couldn't put it down and finished it in record time. I love the format that the authors choose, getting to know the characters through their letters to each other. Set on Guernsey Island shortly after the German occupation ended, it tells the story of the strength of the island people. Juliet is a writer who, through her address written in a book that she had to sell during the war, becomes penpals with first Dawsey, who is an islander, and then the other members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Fascinated by them and their stories, Juliet goes to the island to meet them and research their stories in hopes of writing her next book. The authors did such a fantastic job bringing their characters to life that each and every one of them became my friends too and I couldn't wait to find out what they had to say next. On one hand, it was a good light read, on the other, gave us insight into the heartbreak of the occupation. As a mother, I cannot even fathom the heartbreak of sending your children away to keep them safe, not knowing where they are for so many years. What a horrible thing to have to do. This was such a good book, one that I will be re-reading, re-visiting old friends from time to time.

From the back cover of the book:
January 1946: Writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German Occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

"Traditional without seeming stale, and romantic without being naive...It's tempting to throw around terms like 'gem' when reading a book like this. But Guernsey is not precious....This is a book for firesides or long train rides. It's as charming and timeless as the novels for which its characters profess their love."
~San Francisco Chronicle Book Reviews

Mmmm....this one was so good.

I'm now just finishing up a silly vampire story, "Definitely Dead" by Charlaine Harris, set in New Orleans. Where has your reading taken you this week?

Breaking News!

A serial killer, or two, has been discovered in our quaint little seaside community and RNYN8T News was the first on the scene with breaking news this afternoon. From what we have been told by the authorities, it seems that a body or two has been found around a home on the hill daily. Yes, you heard that correctly - daily. It seems that the homeowners did not find this unusual and have only today decided that maybe something should be done and the authorities alerted. With this many deaths, the crime labs believe that they are looking for two subjects. One of the killers wears a black tuxedo and the other has long orange hair.


The first tragic victim of these ruthless killers was found on the front walk of a very pleasant home on Nice Avenue this afternoon. The crime fighters have placed this paper model here so that they can continue to study the crime scene. Those feathers you see are the real thing and may not be appropriate for all viewers. The victim was one Mr. Robert Blue. His family has asked that we respect their privacy in the coming days.


And in the backyard of this once peaceful home, a chalk mark mars the patio in the exact spot where a second body was discovered earlier this evening. The name of this second victim is being withheld, pending the notification of family.





Detectives believe that this birdfeeder belongs to the killer. They believe that it was set in this park-like setting in order for our feathered friends to feast calmly and happily, while unknowingly being lured to a tragic end.



THIS JUST IN! Boots Randolph FitzSimmons was captured this afternoon. After extensive questioning by detectives he has been charged with first degree murder and remains behind bars while awaiting trial. An incredibly quick job by our local law enforcement.


A second subject, a Mr. Thomas O'Malley, thought to be of Irish descent, remains at large. He is considered clawed and dangerous. If you see this individual, please call CrimeStoppers immediately.

This has been a special broadcast of Rainy Night News. We now return to your regularly scheduled program.

A year after deciding that I could, quite possibly, make myself a blouse and purchasing the pattern, it has finally come to fruition. Yes, I did it and no, it was not hard at all. Yeah Me! My very first sewn clothing item that can be worn in public - wahoo! I don't know why I put it off so long, thinking that it would be "sew" hard and I couldn't possibly make it turn out right. I did and it actually fits really nice, have already worn it to work. No one could be more surprised than I am. And delighted.
Chatting with my sister this morning, we were chuckling about the fact that we want to try it all (and have for the most part) - knitting, sewing, crocheting, painting, quilting, photography, cross-stitch. You name it, we've dabbled in it. Which means that we, especially me, can do a bit of it all but excel at none of it. But that's okay because it all makes us happy.
How about you? Are you a dabbler or a master?

Here's My Sign

Remember Bill Engvall's Here's Your Sign comedy routine for people doing and saying really stupid things? Well, last week I handed myself the stupid sign. I participated in two, (yes, count them. TWO!), 4th of July swaps. I wasn't going to do it, but I love 4th of July decorations and they aren't the easiest things to find, so I caved into the pressure in my own mind and signed up for both of these swaps. One was hosted by Mommy Holly and the other by none other than the Sweet Goodness Girls. One of the requirements for the Very Vintage Red, White and Blue swap was to send your goodies in a decorated red, white and blue box. Now how fun is it to get a decorated box on your steps? The box in the picture above is the one that I sent to my partner Katie. I decorated that box, put my swap goodies inside and taped it up to within an inch of it's life. There's no getting into that box without ruining the paper on the top. I was sitting on the floor in my craft room while doing this and after securing the last piece of tape, I stood up. Mercy Me! What the heck is that "America" banner, the one that I made for Katie, still doing hanging on the wall above my bookcase???? Holy Crap (or a few other choice words) came flying out of my mouth. I wasn't about to re-do that box, so I popped the banner into a manila envelope and Katie received two packages from me. One decorated - One not. Here's my sign...


This is the package that I received yesterday from Amy of Flamingos and Flip-Flops. Great, fun stuff! She embellished those flip-flops with red, white and blue ribbons and buttons. I can't wait to slip my toes into them, but am saving them for the 4th so that I don't get them all dirty before then. I know myself to well! There's some patriotic stars, a little wooden sign, a flag magnet, cupcake papers and sprinkles, paper plates and napkins and the most wonderful tin red and blue spoons. I love those spoons! Thank you, Amy, for a great package!




Here are the 4th of July banners that I made for these two swaps. The infamous-missed-getting-in-the-package banner is the "America" banner that went to Katie, Amy received the "Freedom" banner and I kept the "Liberty" one for myself. It's hanging across my craft room window and I really like it there. Shilo wants a "Freedom" one, so I'd better get cracking and get that one out before next week.

Katie has a brand-new baby and things are a bit hectic at her house, so I haven't yet received my package from her. I'm amazed that she's even participating and I know that she's got it under way. Don't worry, Katie. Take care of that baby and I'll be happy to get your goodies whenever they arrive!

Hope you all are having a bit of patriotic creating going on at your houses these days! If you're sending a package to someone, please remember to put the fun stuff IN the package before taping it up. Works better that way...

Playing at the Beach

My Dad and Sharon came over this week for a quick visit in-between Sharon's appointments at OHSU in Portland. She had a knee-replacement surgery about six months ago, the original surgeon ignoring the fact that she is allergic to metal. He said "No problem. Titanium is hyper-allergenic" and went ahead with the surgery without running any further tests. Well, she's having nothing but problems so there's a bunch of testing going on to make sure that it's because of the metal (they're 99.9% sure that it is) before removing the knee. Anyway, they came to visit and I took an impromptu day off of work to enjoy the sun with them. The sun decided to go away about 9 am but we meandered to the beach anyway. Here's a few of the sights we encountered along the way.


Mrs. Raccoon was wet from fishing in-between the big boulders that helps the Columbia River funnel into the Pacific Ocean. She came out to glare at me, "What you looking at?", before heading back into the rocks for more seafood. Sharon kept trying to find her again but had no luck.



Lots of pictures were taken of wildflowers at the beach.


Sharon and I got a little carried away - ended up taking pictures of each other taking pictures. Silly girls!


My Dad standing on the beach at the mouth of the Columbia River.


Coming back into town, we saw a cruise ship coming up the Columbia river. Today's ship was a Carnival Splendor, so we decided to go down to the port and watch them dock.


Watching the crew on board toss the ropes over to the guys on the docks was pretty interesting and fun. A rope's not the easiest thing to throw, it kind of uncoils and falls short of it's mark pretty often. They did finally get it and wrap those big ropes around the yellow anchors on the dock in about four different places. Interesting.
We then wandered home for naps before a dinner of burnt pork chops (so maybe I had the grill a little too hot.), baked potato's and grilled asparagus. It was a fun day at the beach and I'm so glad they came to visit.

May you all be blessed with an impromptu day off and family to share it with...

Sunday Stills - Grain Elevator

This weeks Sunday Stills Challenge was actually supposed to be either water towers or silo's. Here in Astoria we have one water tower and it's brand new and boring with power lines going in every which direction. I couldn't get even a decent shot of it, not that there's much to admire. It does sit on the same spot of our old water tower that was used in the scene from Kindergarten Cop where the little boy climbed the water tower towards the end of the movie, but that tower was torn down a couple of years ago and this new one put up. Anyway, after all that rambling on, I'm not even showing a picture of it. What you see is the PGG grain elevator that's in my little hometown of Elgin, Oregon. Elgin is a little tiny farming and logging community in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. I love this grain elevator because it signifies home to me. No matter how long I've been gone, this little town will always be home to me. It's in my heart.