Spring Creek Retreat

We just got back on Sunday from another amazing weekend at Spring Creek Retreat. It was a wonderfully relaxing, restorative trip. We had lots of fun frolicking in the creek. I have some pictures to share. The first picture is of an amazing nature made creek that is in the caretaker's front yard. I can't believe how beautiful this creek is. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to come home to this every day after a long day at work and unwind. The sound was amazing too. The next time we go, I'm going to see if I can borrow a video camera and film it so that I can get the sound. This picture doesn't even do the creek justice. You just have to see in person.


This next picture is of a really odd looking, but beautiful mushroom that we saw on the grounds of the creek house.


Here is a yellow mushroom that we found when we were walking on one of the trails.


As we were walking on the trail we went through this amazing covering that was so cool looking. Eddie said it looked like a rainforest.


I also took a picture of algae that was growing in the creek. This picture was taken during one of our trail walks. I can't believe how beautiful the algae is and how well it shows up through the water.


The house that we stayed in had a forest theme with forest wallpaper border and in the laundry room there was this cute little wooden birdhouse. I took a picture of it because I want to try to make one of my own.


We always have a wonderful time at Spring Creek. In my mind, I'm still there and I want to go back really soon.

St. Petersburg Stitch

This weekend I've been learning the St. Petersburg stitch that is featured in the June issue of Bead and Button magazine. I love this stitch. I'm really proud of the bracelet that I made this weekend. This has just whetted my appetite to make another one. I also want to try some earrings and a necklace at some point.


Since I'm still learning, I used 6/0 size seed beads and just a regular sewing needle to stitch the bracelet. I used a standard beading thread that I bought at Hobby Lobby. The thread is sort of stiff and it worked beautifully on this bracelet.

Bunny Rabbits, Chickadees, and Hens and Chicks

My post today is all about wildlife and plants. I love seeing unexpected wildlife in my yard and actually having my camera handy so I can get good shots. Yesterday when I got home from work, I was getting out of my car and I noticed that Mr. Bunny Rabbit came back for another visit.


I couldn't get my computer at home to work so that I could crop and get a closer view, but he was posing for me again and I was able to get fairly close this time before he scampered off.

At about the same time I saw him, I looked up into a pine tree that we have and I saw 2 little Chickadees. Darn it, they were hopping through the tree so fast that I didn't have time to get a picture of them, so I found one on the Internet. You might think this is really odd, but never in all of my 56 years have I ever seen a Chickadee in real life. I've seen lots and lots of pictures, but had never, ever actually seen one until yesterday. I just wanted to keep watching and keep watching. They are some of the prettiest birds I've ever seen with the Cardinal (or Redbird) being the exception. We see lots and lots of Redbirds in our yard. And our yard is always full of rabbits running around playing and chasing each other. I love it!




I've been meaning to take some pictures of my Hens and Chicks because this year they are doing really well. I guess we've had so much rain this Spring that they are just flourishing.

Bunny Rabbit

One evening this week I was outside doing some stuff and I happened to look over and saw this.


It was a really cute Peter Cottontail Bunny Rabbit. He was just sitting looking at me. It looked like he was posing, so I ran in and grabbed my camera and took this picture. I don't know why, but I couldn't steady my hand enough to get a really clear picture, but I still thought it wasn't too bad. It's enough that I could paint him in watercolor maybe, if I want to. I might do that.

A good friend of mine has a new pet that's a cute little white rabbit. As soon as I can remember to take my camera to his house, I'm going to take a picture of him too. Or her. We don't know yet.

Pansy Doily and Fresh Cut Flowers

This week I finished crocheting my first pansy doily. My mother-in-law made some similar to these back when she was a young married woman with 3 young children. Eddie said he remembers the doilies from when he was a little boy. She gave me 2 of the pansy doilies that she made and I have them on a corner cabinet with my teapots. I plan to paint this corner cabinet white very soon. I'll be sure to post before and after pictures of it.


Her doilies were my inspiration for trying one myself. I found a great free pattern for this doily. I will say there is a very slight mistake in this pattern. In the Doily Center pattern on Round 7, the pattern should read:

Ch 3, dc in same place, *dc in next dc, ch 1, skip next dc, (dc in next ch-1 sp, ch 1) twice, skip next dc, dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc, ch 2, 2 dc in next dc, rep from * around, end last rep with ch 2, join with sl st in top of beg ch-3. (64 dc).

Like I said, it's a very minor mistake, but if you are like me and read crochet and knitting patterns word for word, this could be a real problem for a beginning crocheter. This is a very easy crochet pattern, and it went very quickly too. Here are some pictures of my finished pansy doily.



I love fresh cut flowers. There is something about them that just gives me a lift. At my last job, there was a lady who worked in the office with me and she told me that every week when she went to the grocery store, she bought a bouquet of fresh flowers to put in a vase on her desk. She said she just felt like this was one thing she could do for herself and it always made her feel better and gave her something pretty to look at while she was working. I love that idea. At the time I didn't do it, but where I work now I have my own office and I've made it my own. I figured that since I spend probably more time here than at home, I might as well make it as homey and uplifting as possible. So, now I've adopted the habit of getting fresh cut flowers every week at the grocery store too. These are the flowers I bought this week.

Take It Easy

In my last post, I talked about driving my husband's truck, bad to the bone kind of thing, listening to music really loudly. One of my favorite songs to listen to while driving and singing it horribly offkey is Take It Easy by the Eagles.