Macrame

I was chatting in the breezeway with a neighbor in my complex when I noticed through her partially open door a beautiful macrame wall-hanging in her living room.  I did some searching on line and discovered some really pretty items.  I decided to give it a try.

I first got some books from the library for information on tools, fibers, design ideas, and most of all, knots.

Then I drew out my pattern and figured out how many strands, length, etc.

I decided to practice first with some regular twine.

I bought cording and a dowel rod and went to work.

Ready to start tying knots.  

The knot tying was the best.  It was so relaxing to stand (or perch on the edge of our kitchen table) and tie knots and watch the design emerge.

I estimated the cording in feet then bought that many feet in yards by accident.  (It was fairly cheap so I didn't feel too bad.)  I cut my dowel in half and made two hanging shelves.  

I am absolutely delighted with how they turned out.  A really fancy shelf for baby wipes and butt paste.

Will I do this again... I don't know.  I enjoyed it, but I don't know if I enjoyed it enough to order more cord.  I still have one whole skein left so we'll see what I do with it.

Apple Hill

About 15 miles east of us on Hwy 50 is a farming community known as Apple Hill.  Each fall, the farms open their properties to the public for general everything apple goodness.

I got one each of five different types of apples that I'd never heard of.  Gil and I enjoyed sampling each one over the next few days.  Imaging three more rows of bins like this, full of different varieties of apples.  It was amazing.

One of the farms we visited had a pond with ducks.  One of the few sounds Wesley makes is a duck.  He is quite good and will quack on command.  It sounds more like "kak" but it is our favorite.  He saw the ducks, immediately recognized them, and went running after them, yelling, "kak, kak, kak!"  It was very exciting.

That farm also had craft booths and vendors selling their wares.  My mom got Wesley a cute Christmas ornament with his name on it.

We went to a second farm that is known for its apple donuts.  We got a half dozen and a small quart of apple cider and sat at a picnic table to eat the lunch we had brought with us.  The donuts were amazing and the cider was delicious.  Gil wasn't able to come because of school but I saved him some of both.

There was a tractor in the picnic area and Wesley had a blast "driving" the tractor.

It was a fun outing but not sure I need to go again.  I'm curious to see what some of the farms do when there aren't virus restrictions in place though.

Echo Lake

My friend Andrea invited us on another outing (previously adventured with her to Big Trees).  Gil had too much homework to be able to go but Wesley and I were game.  The weather has been spectacular and since it hasn't snowed yet, we ventured to Echo Summit.

Wesley did great.  I brought the carrier but he hiked most of the way.

The lake was beautiful and so blue!

We went to a look-out point where we could see Echo Lake on one side of us and Lake Tahoe on the other.  It was beautiful.  Wesley discovered that other people have more exciting and interesting things for lunch and helped Andrea eat her sandwich and some of her kiwi.  He did share his blueberry puffs with her.

He was a happy, dusty boy by the time we got back to the car and he slept most of the way home.