I love this perennial flower combination outside my office window. They are both late flowering so I have to wait all summer for this color, but it is well worth it, don’t you think? The purple one is called Physostegia. You can thank google for figuring that one out as I typed in “fisostecia” and it knew what I really wanted. As Agent J would say “Google is smarticle that way.” So anyway, here are the flowers from where I sit:

You may have noticed that there hasn’t been much fiber content around here lately. Well, I have been knitting and spinning a bit, but my big project of the month was restaining my deck. My deck is about 9 years old and I think this is my third or fourth time staining it already. It is starting to have a bit of a distressed look to it so I’m just going with that as a design feature for now.

Before:

During:

After:

Project Specs (as if this were as fun as knitting – ha!)

Started: August 30, 2008
Finished: September 21, 2008
Stain: Superdeck Transparent
Colorway: Redwood
Brushes: Old

No yarn, no needles, no fiber, no fun! But done!!! Yay!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon, I was rushing around trying to get ready for work when Agents B and J arrived home from school. I usually watch for them to get off the bus, but I was trying to eat my lunch/dinner before I had to leave in a few minutes. I heard Agent B yelling something so I went to the front door. She was saying that there was a dead, dried-up baby turtle in the driveway. So, forget eating, out I went to see.

Luckily, it turned out not to be a dead, dried-up turtle, but a very cute and very alive baby snapping turtle coated with caked-on dirt. I ran to get my camera and we had a Reptilia photo shoot.

After a bit we decided that the baby turtle was very dry and needed a bit of water. Agent J pour a little water on him and he did seem to perk up a bit.

Baby Turtle or Baby Dino?

We then decided that a driveway is not the best place for a baby turtle. There is a pond down the hill from where we live so we scooted him onto some card stock and carried him down the hill to the edge of the woods.

Sending Baby Down to the Pond

On the way back up the hill, we discovered the baby turtle’s sibling in the grass. This one must have already crossed the driveway and was already headed down the hill.

Baby Snapping Turtle Sibling

I love this part of living in the woods. We really never know what we are going to find in our yard. We have seen snapping turtles before and one was rather large so we also have to be very careful of what we find in our yard. Seeing these baby snappers does solve a mystery too. Now I know who was digging holes in the new grass all along my driveway earlier this summer! It does make me wonder what things we miss though. What if Agent B hadn’t gotten off the bus as that moment? What if she wasn’t so observant? The baby turtles could have crossed our yard and we never would have known. What other kinds of things go on here with out us knowing? Oh and look, here is a perfect tie-in to a photo that I have wanted to post since August!

I know you guys are not all big fans of larger-than-life insect photos so I won’t show any of the real close close-ups, but here is a ginormous insect from Crops-a-lot’s yard in Michigan that we saw on vacation…

Just Hanging Out in the Ornamental Grasses

Yes, this is a praying mantis and yes, this praying mantis is indeed larger than our baby snapping turtles! You should have seen it when it flew away! It was the size of a bat! Ok, it appears that I am not going to be able to resist the close up so you may want to close your eyes for this one.

I'm Watching You!

Can you believe this guy was just a few inches from her front porch. I think he knows that Croppy is not a fan of biting bugs and was trying to eat them all before they had a chance to bite her.

Does it make you wonder what else is out there? What could be in your yard? What have you seen today?

2 Handspun Hats (meets summer knitting goal #4: I will knit some things with my hand spun yarn.)

Tango Hat:

Roving: BFL in Tango from The Painted Sheep
Yarn: Navajo 3 ply, 11 w.p.i.
Pattern: Improvised – child’s size hat

Blue Epona Hat:

Roving: Superwash merino 64 ct lambswool hand dyed in the color Blue Epona
Yarn: 2 ply, 9 w.p.i.
Pattern: Improvised – child’s size hat

1 Market Bag (meets summer knitting goal #3: I will knit one market bag.)

String Bag:

Ok, so actually this is crochet…

Pattern: String Bag by Lily
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Linen Isle
Thoughts: I improvised the bottom to make it more “gussetted” but because I have a very difficult time telling where the ending of a crochet row is, the bag is slightly lopsided. Have also only successfully used it once at the grocery store. The baggers keep ignoring its existence.

1 Pair of Socks (meets summer knitting goal #1: Since I did sign up for Summer of Socks, I will knit one pair of socks from beginning to end.)

Spring Foward:

Pattern: Spring Foward by Linda Welch
Yarn: MadelineTosh Sock in Vermillion
Thoughts: Cool pattern, just very time consuming!

Some More Squares (meets summer knitting goal #2: will knit 20 more squares on my Sock Blankie.)

Sock Blankie:

Pattern: Sock Yarn Blanket by The Heathen Housewife
Yarn: Various
Thoughts: I currently have 35ish squares. I don’t know how many I knit this summer, but I did knit some. Now that the blankie is getting bigger and warmer to knit, it is good that the weather is getting cooler.

So what is new on my needles now, you wonder…

Back to School Cardi:

Pattern: Hey Teach by Hélène Rush
Yarn: Cotton Ease by Lion Brand
Thoughts: I have the back done and I’m almost done with the 2 front pieces. This is very fast knitting and the lace pattern is easy and intuitive. Surprisingly, I’m really enjoying this yarn. It is a cotton/acrylic blend so it is elastic and soft and it doesn’t hurt my fingers like 100% cotton.

The first week of school means getting up early, getting back to routines, and trying to stay organized. The girls just entered 5th, 7th, and 9th grades. They all do sports. They all want to do other things as well. There is a lot of homework, a lot of laundry, and a lot of driving. There is also a lot of quiet. From 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. my house is quiet. Of course, I need it to recover from all the time that is not between 7:45 and 3:15, but the quiet during that time is so glorious. I don’t even turn things on. I may watch the weather or listen to a bit of a cd now and then, but most of the time I just enjoy the quiet. The wind is blowing slightly and every so often the windchimes ring a soft tone. Occasionally a car drives by, but as long as the phone doesn’t ring, it is quiet.

At 3:00 though, I start preparing. What to give them for snack? What shall we have for dinner? Who is driving carpool. Will we make it through the evening? Yesterday, we had a particularly rough afternoon. Agents J and B arrived home and they were hot. Sweaty dripping hot. And they had homework and they were tired and they were hungry. Agent B is generally not a fan of school and especially not a fan of homework so she was just not happy. She wanted to tell me every injustice of her day (the teacher did not let her go to the bathroom and she had to raise her hand forever and she never noticed her and then her arms got tired…). Agent J seems to be a lover of homework and she grabs a snack and says “Come on “B” let’s do our homework!” in her characteristic singsongy high pitched voice. Agent B slugs herself over to the table, and they both pull out all the forms that compose my homework. “Ha ha Mommy, you have more forms to sign.” They seem to take glee in it.

I go to take my shower to get ready for our evening activities and it is not too long before I hear Agent B melting down. Her homework is too hard she tells J and she can’t do it. She is starting to get worked up, but then I hear something different – laughing and giggling. What happened? I go downstairs to find that J has come up with a plan. For every question that B answers, she gives her a piece of a fruit roll up. When that runs out, she moves on to chocolate chips. Maybe not the best way to get homework done, but I’m all for smiles rather than tears.

Agent J coaxes Agent B into doing her homework.