Mandala Monday

A few years ago, I found a blogger that was making mandalas with little pieces of nature...leaves, flowers, pods, seeds, etc.  I decided to give it a try.  It was fun, creative, and relaxing to be outside just focusing on nature, shapes, and colors.  I haven't made any in a while and with everything growing and blooming so much it seemed like a great time to do it again.

Wishing you a marvelous, Monday!

Weekend Happenings

How was your weekend?  I hope it was wonderful!

We had a great weekend!  It was productive, successful, and filled with pretty things.

We did some some plant shopping and came home with some beauties.  Here's one of the flowers we got for our front yard.  Isn't it gorgeous?!  I love the colors in this verbena!

We planted these and several other kinds of flowers in our front yard.  Shortly after we'd finished and we were standing in the yard admiring the pretty new flowers and how nice our yard is looking, a hummingbird buzzed around and discovered some of the new flowers.  It quickly started eating from them.  That made us so happy!  I love having flowers that the wildlife enjoy!  In fact, we bought two bushes that are supposed to attract butterflies.  I'll be sure to post pictures when they start blooming.  Maybe I'll even get some butterfly pictures.

Our spring and summer garden is shaping up nicely, so far.  We continue to add more to it.  And, we're already enjoying food from it!  Our lettuce and arugula are doing so well that we haven't been able to keep up.  It's so cool to go out and pick fresh food right before a meal.  I'm excited that the arugula is successful because I love arugula!  It's so tasty!  I usually buy a bag every week or so and they often have a lot of moisture in them and don't last long.  Right now, I get it fresh whenever I want some and don't have to worry about it spoiling in the fridge.  I find myself munching on it whenever I'm in the backyard. It makes great pesto too!

I twisted my ankle a couple of weeks ago and have been resting it since.  It's feeling quite a bit better than it has been.  So, I went out Saturday morning and tried to hike on it.  It felt SO good to get back out there again!  I love hiking SO much!  I was encouraged that it felt pretty good.  But, it started to hurt a bit after about 20 minutes.  So, I turned around and kept my hike short so I wouldn't make it worse again.  It was a short hike (only about 40 minutes) but a hike nonetheless.  So, I counted it for my 52 hike challenge and I'm still up to date.

Here's one of the pretty flowers I saw on my hike...

Probably the best part of the weekend involved our SUV (aka what we use to pull our camping trailer).  About a week ago the brakes locked up and started smoking.  We were near a mechanic/dealer that we thought we trusted and pulled in to have it checked out.  It made sense because the only other way to get it home would have been by tow truck.  Well, to make a long story short, they told us the entire brake system and more had melted and that they needed to do $8,000-$10,000 of work on it.  What?!!!  That's insane!  We thought, explored, and shopped many options and ended up having it towed home.  The tow truck driver told us that he tows cars from that mechanic to other places all they time because that place is so crooked and expensive.  Well, now we know!  And, he looked underneath and didn't see anything melted.  Hubby took it apart, found the problem, and fixed it this weekend for about $200!  Whew!  He's going to change out everything in the brake system and more just to be on the safe side.  However, the total cost will be significantly less, about $1,000!

It was a good experience to go through because we learned not to trust that mechanic.  And, we found out, after lots of shopping, that we still like our Yukon XL better than anything we could find to replace it with.  It has so much of what we want on it.  And, best of all, it's paid for!  Besides that, fixing things is so much better for the earth than constantly throwing things out and getting new.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

Finishing and Flowers

I was going through things in my craft room recently to simplify and organize.  I got rid of some stuff I didn't think I'd ever use.  That felt good.  However, I found that I had more projects that I'd started and not finished than I had expected.  So, I'm on a mission to finish them up.  I've slowly been chipping away at finishing them.  Here are the latest two projects that I've finished...

I started knitting a necklace at least a year ago.  I have no idea why I set it aside.  But, I finished it yesterday and it's ready to wear!  Yay!  I made a long I-cord and added some beads with big holes in them (I searched and searched to find them....large hole beads are tough to find!).  I made it into three strands that weave alternately through the beads.  It's adjustable to make the strands even or some longer and some shorter.  I don't remember what this yarn is called and the tag seems to have gotten lost.  But, it's a yummy, soft, cotton yarn that I fell in love with a few years ago on a trip to the Central Valley of California.  I always search out yarn shops when I travel and this one had lots of great yarns.  I think it was "Creekside Yarns" in Visalia, CA.

I found and bought a cute set of charms last year to make set of wine glass markers.  I wanted to buy some beads for these in colors to match my decor but I hadn't made it to the bead store (about an hour away) and decided it made more sense to use beads I have.  That helped with de-stashing and cost.  I love the woodland theme of them.  These work great to help everyone keep track of which wine glass they're using.  Plus, it's fun to dress up the wine glasses.  ;-)

Over the weekend, we got started on installing the new knobs (that I bought recently) onto our kitchen cabinets   We  realized that the knobs mounted very close to the cabinet and made them hard to use.  We searched for something to space them away a bit.  We found a small jewelry box knob that my husband drilled out so it would fit over the bolt.  It spaced it out perfectly and it looks like they were made to go together.  We love how it looks.  We got just one to try it.  Since it's such a success, I went back this morning to get more.  Here's a pic of the before (right) and after (left).  

We were at my husband's parent's house this weekend and a cactus they have was still blooming.  I had to snap some pics of these beauties.  Aren't they gorgeous?!

They reminded me of those sugar Easter eggs that have a scene inside.  The hole at the top beckons a closer look at the magical little world inside.  So cool!

The weather has been so nice here with temps in the 70's and 80's during the day and 50's and 60's at night.  But, it took a turn this weekend with the daytime temps around 110 and the nights not cooling off much.  Hello, Summer!  Hello, air conditioning!  Looks like much of the country is in a heat wave.  Stay cool, everyone!  And, have a fantastic week!

What's Up?

I missed posting yesterday.  So, here's an update of my weekend and what's up.

My sweet Penelope went in for surgery this morning.  I'm trying hard not to worry about my sweet girl.  I found a lump where her microchip normally is.  I Googled to see if tissue can grow around microchips or if they can cause tumors.  I was shocked to see that tons of stuff came up about microchips causing cancer and lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies that manufacture them.  YIKES!  I took her in to have it checked yesterday.  The good news is that the lump doesn't seem to be attached and can be moved around.  And, her lymph nodes seemed to be fine.  They're going to remove the lump today and send it in for testing.

Poor baby was so scared this morning.  It was so hard to take her in for this but it seems to be the right thing to do.  I don't want to wait and take a chance of it being bad and spreading to the point of not being able to do anything.  I love this girl SO much!  She's the sweetest and most loving kitty we've ever had.  She's so attached to me and wants to be with me almost constantly.  She comes to me often for snuggles and looks at me with ooey, gooey, loving, eyes and always has lots of kisses for me.  Fingers crossed she'll be just fine!

I snapped this pic over the weekend of her enjoying the morning sun.  Looks like she's meditating.

I bought a crock over the weekend that I'd had my eye on at my favorite antique shop.  They were having a sale, it was still there, and I got it for less.  Woot!  I put my antique rolling pins in it.  I love the rich color of it.

Hubby and I went to Oceanside for a bike ride on Sunday.  It was a cool, cloudy day with temps in the mid to high 60's.  Ahhhh!...a nice break from the heat wave we had for a few days at home.

These gorgeous Matilija Poppies were growing near where we parked.  The bushes were about five feet high and loaded with these beauties!

Our garden has some veggie babies!  Yay!  I snapped a few pics this morning.

A volunteer butternut plant seems to be doing well...

More tomatoes!  I'm so excited for these tasty treats!

Zucchini...

We have an eggplant blossom!  :-D

I plan to stay busy crafting and working around the house today to stay really busy and keep my mind from worrying about my sweet Penelope.  I get to pick her up sometime this afternoon.

Weaving, Warm Fuzzies, and Flowers

I started weaving on a second dish towel yesterday.  I thought it would be fun to change it up a bit.  So, I'm weaving this one in a twill pattern.

While I was weaving yesterday afternoon, my sweet little Penelope was sleeping soundly.  She was so sound asleep that she didn't even notice when I walked in the room and took pictures of her.

I took a different route on my morning walk today and saw some beautiful flowers.  Of course, I couldn't resist taking pictures.  I love the colors in this one...

The centers are interesting and the color combination is so unexpected.

The trees along this street change SO much!  At different times of the year they have green pods, bright pink pods, fall color, a little bareness, and now, they're exploding with tiny yellow blossoms.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday!

My Morning Walk

Salsa is such a great little walking partner!  Besides being extremely adorable, she's also very enthusiastic and always excited to go.  That turns out to be just the motivation I need on mornings that I'm considering the lazy alternative of not going.  She gets into the habit of it very quickly and almost expects it.  If I say the word, "walk", she bounces up and down with happiness.  Or, if she thinks I'm wearing some sort of clothing that looks like "walking" clothes or shoes, she gets excited about that too.  How could I let that precious girl down?! 

The trees surrounding our neighborhood are currently in an extreme bloom!  They must be really happy with the weather or something because I've never seen them bloom quite this much!  The ground, sidewalks, and gutters are covered in tiny yellow blossoms and pollen.  And, the trees are buzzing with bees.  Oh, and the air is very fragrant!  Luckily, it doesn't seem to bother my allergies.  Whew!

Friday!

Whooosh!  Another week has flown by!  How is it that they're going by so quickly?!  Is the world spinning faster?  I wish the days would slow down!  I'm trying to get stuff done here!

This week was a bit more productive in that I finished my weaving project.  And, I've started to get back to exercising everyday.  It's just walking with a little running here and there but it's a big deal that I'm getting back to it.  I was doing great earlier this year but fell off the fitness wagon months ago.  I haven't been all that enthused about getting back to it.  The heat had a lot to do with it.  It's VERY nice that the weather is cooling down now!  Mornings have been in the 50's and that's much more comfortable than 80's.  Especially when the sun is shining.

I snapped a couple pictures on my walk this morning.  I think it's interesting that these trees are covered in little yellow flowers when the calendar says it's Fall.  Looks a lot more like Spring to me!

Another accomplishment for this week isn't quite complete but what I've done so far feels really good!  I've been going through absolutely everything in my craft studio.  I'm getting rid of things (donating, trash and recycling) and organizing.  I'm finding so much more space!  I love that!

I also accomplished something I've been putting off...a dentist appointment.  Ugh!  I had all my old fillings replaced earlier this year and thought I was good to go and wouldn't need the dentist except for cleanings for quite a while.  Wrong!  During our June/July road trip some of my bottom teeth all of a sudden became very sensitive to cold and sometimes chewing.  The dentist checked it out and couldn't find anything wrong.  We decided to give it some time and use Sensodyne toothpaste. It's not any better and I've been putting off calling for months.  I just don't like going to the dentist!  The only  thing he found this time is that the nerves under two teeth look  inflamed.  So, I've been instructed to take Advil every six hours for three days.  He said it often fixes the problem.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  If that doesn't work I'll need to go back and get a "medicated filling" to try to calm the nerve.  If that doesn't work...root canal!  Ugh!   But, hey....going this week was an accomplishment!  Right?!  :-/

Ok....I need to get off the computer and back to work!  I want this day to be productive.

Have an awesome weekend!

Celebration Road Trip - Adventure in Escalante, Utah / Slot Canyons

So much of our anniversary, celebration trip was filled with surprises and the next stop was no exception.  After Capitol Reef, we headed south to Escalante, Utah via Utah's Highway 12/Scenic Byway.  The scenery and roads were filled with surprises...from gorgeous, tall, wooded mountain summits to winding roads that ran along ridges with drop offs on either side...

(Click on any photo to see them larger)

...to steep grades...sometimes 14% (this isn't one of those sections but it does show the rolling road)...

...vast and incredible landscapes...

Amazing!

I could see this from the passenger seat...dropping far below the road...

I snapped a photo of a vulture soaring above us when we stopped to take in the view...

After a couple hours of driving, we pulled into the Shooting Star RV Resort in the tiny town of Escalante.  We'd made reservations because there aren't many options in the area and we wanted to be sure we had a place to stay.  It turned out that there were very few people staying in this park.  They gave us a choice of sites and we chose one that was all by itself and nestled in oak trees.  Nice!

The park is interesting.  Their main attraction is Airstream trailers that can be rented like hotel rooms.

They're far apart and each one has a deck, a barbeque and chairs for taking in the gorgeous views.

Another feature is their mini drive-in movie theatre complete with vintage cars that can be rented to watch the show.  A fun idea!  We never watched any of the movies though because they weren't showing any we wanted to see.

The park has brand new owners.  When they bought it, it came complete with the vintage cars.  There's even one that runs and they use it for errands.  I think it's super cute!  The owners have a lot of great ideas and vision for the park and they have a lot of work ahead of them.  Sounds like fun!

Some of the yellow daisies I'd been seeing along roadsides were in the park.

Yay...I finally got a picture!

These plants were growing in the park too.  Pretty!

Our main reason for going to Escalante was to hike and explore some of the many slot canyons in the area.  So, early one morning, we loaded up our packs, hopped in the SUV and headed out "Hole in the Rock Road".  It was a 28 mile long trip (one way) on a rough dirt road to the trailhead of the canyons we'd picked out but the scenery was gorgeous!

Hubby got such a kick out of this sign that he had to stop and take a picture.  We can't figure out why they would call it "Cat Pasture" but it conjured up some silly ideas.

We eventually turned off onto another dirt road and drove a couple more miles.

Then, it was time to hike down into the main canyon and wash...

Luckily, there was a little bit of shade along the way as it was already hot.

There was a wash/riverbed at the bottom that several the slot canyons feed into.

There had been some substantial storms a few days earlier that had washed clay into the canyon.  The gray clay seemed like something new and different to that canyon as the sand below it was red.  It must have been quite a storm and washed that clay from somewhere quite far away that normally doesn't reach this area.  Wow!

Much of the hike through the wash to the slots was covered in dried clay that was curled and crunchy.  It was fun to walk on and hear it crunch beneath my feet.

Some of it looked like a mini moonscape...

Curly...

Really curly and thin...

We followed the directions we'd gotten from the Escalante Visitor Center and easily found the first slot canyon we'd planned to explore, "Spooky"...

Wow!  The wavy walls are so cool!  Beautiful!

The canyon quickly narrowed as we made our way into it...

Sometimes we had to duck under large boulders to get through...

It eventually got so narrow that we had to walk sideways to squeeze through...

It was very skinny, got pretty dark in some places, and the walls were bumpy.

It lived up to it's name...it was a bit "spooky".  And, I did get a bit nervous when it got really skinny and darker.  But, it was so much fun that we followed it all the way to the end...or as far as we could easily go.  Then, there was a section that required a tricky climb.  We passed on that.  Not sure what's beyond that or how much further it went.  Here are a few more shots going through Spooky...

After coming out of Spooky, we sat in a shady spot and enjoyed our lunch.  Then, we were off to explore another canyon.  This one is called "Dry Fork" and it's usually dry but after that storm a few days earlier it was definitely not dry.  The clay had washed through and left a thick, mucky, slippery layer.  Luckily, other hikers had already gone through and left a nice trail that made it much easier to explore.  What a spectacular canyon!

Like Spooky, it was shady and cool...a welcome relief from the heat.

It was a long canyon and we came across lots of interesting changes.  Including some pits of clay that were like thick pudding and impossible to avoid.  It added to the adventure and fun though.

It was interesting to see how high the water had risen in the canyon during the storm.  The clay/water line was sometimes waist high...

 ...and sometimes shoulder high...

Some sections were so narrow at the bottom that only one foot would fit...

The clay was amazing.  It was so pure and creamy...almost like the clay you buy for ceramics.

It sure made for dirty shoes and pants!

We saw quite a few lizards in the canyon.  We think so many were out because the rain seemed to have brought out more insects for them to eat.

I felt bad for this little guy.  It had clods of clay dried on it's feet and couldn't climb.  I wanted to help it but it was so afraid of us and I'm not brave enough to pick them up...yet.  Hubby thought it would be fine and that the clay would probably chip off.  I hope so!

We searched through books of lizards for the area and even asked rangers but had no luck finding out what kind of lizards they are.  No one had heard of pink lizards.  We can't even find them on Google!  We were wondering if they change color and were pink/red to blend in with the sandstone.

We only saw one of these guys.  I think it's a Collared Lizard.  Cute!

This one had rangers stumped and we couldn't find it in local books either.  It was eating a Whiptail lizard.  It was scurrying away from us carrying a lizard almost as big as it was.  We've never seen a lizard eat another lizard but I guess it's not uncommon for some types.  We later found one in a book that looked similar and think it's a "Long Nose Leopard Lizard".  

Here's an enlarged photo to see the interesting pattern of spots and stripes.

Kinda creepy!

The third canyon we explored that day is called, "Peek-a-boo".

It's in that slit in the rock...

It was the first canyon we'd come across that day but it seemed a little busy at the time.  So, we decided to go on to Spooky and come back to this later.  

We tried getting up into it after lunch but it proved to be quite challenging.  I only made it to the first level up and wasn't comfortable going any further.  Hubby made it to the next level but said it looked too tricky to get beyond a section of water to get into the canyon.  But, he got this picture while he was up there.  Amazing!

It's best to be safe and not push the boundaries of our comfort zones on stuff that could be dangerous.  Especially because we were so far out in the middle of nowhere and had absolutely no phone signal if something were to happen.  So, we moved on to Dry Canyon.  After coming out of that, someone told us they'd figured out a way to get into Peek-a-boo from the top and gave us directions.  It was a short little hike and voila...there it was...the opening...

Yes...it is very skinny!

This canyon was worth the wait.  It's short but spectacular!

It was so much fun maneuvering through various sections.

Going down...

Around...

And, through...

The view at the end was spectacular!  I gasped when I slid into that final section and saw this...

I sat for a moment and took in the beauty.  Including a reflection in one of the water pools...

Of course, I took photos of some of the flowers we saw throughout the day...

I've never seen these before.  Interesting!...

Whispy!...

We saw a lot of these tiny, purple daisies on our trip.  In some light situations they're almost neon...

Little...

Like fireworks...

We even came upon a Geocache that day...

It was hot and I was pretty tired from a day of exploring but we still had to hike up and out and back to the truck.  But....WOW!...what an awesome day!  We had SO much fun!

It's amazing to think that what we explored that day was only a tiny sample of all there is to see and explore in the Escalante area.  I think we'll definitely be going back to Escalante again!