A couple of things

This.....

is a Peony.  Peonies don't usually grow in Texas.  I think it's not cold enough in the winter or too hot in the summer or something like that.  However, this one came from my back yard!  I have had this peony plant (bush?) for at least three years.  This is the first and only bloom it's ever had.  I was hoping for more, but I'll settle for this one.  I love it.  Maybe after producing this one this year, it will learn how it's done and have a lot more next year.

And this....

is Baby Bird.  She is almost 3 months old now and a real cutie.  Today was my day to keep her while her mom went to work.  We worked on learning multiple bubble blowing methods and had a great time.

It's In The Mail

Two knitting projects are done!  They are in the mail to the recipient.  They should arrive at her office tomorrow.  I hope she likes them.  

February Lady Sweater, and

Short fingered gloves and mitts.

Now, on to the next project.

Football...already?

Last Friday we were going to fly to Lubbock for the Texas Tech spring scrimmage football game on Saturday.  As most of you know, since I am retired from American Airlines, we fly stand-by almost every time we fly.  You have to be pretty flexible - time wise - to fly that way.  When I got up at 5:15 am on Friday morning to check us in for the flight, I found that the flights that had been only half full on Thursday night were now full.  Since there had been bad weather in Lubbock the night before, flights had been canceled and the passengers moved to Friday AM.  Great.  The third flight on Friday still looked pretty good though, so we decided to go ahead and give it a shot.  After waiting in the airport for a hour or so, the weather from Lubbock the night before arrived at DFW and canceled the fight we were waiting for.  So, we just got in the car and drove.  

My reward was going to be getting to visit the one yarn store in Lubbock, maybe in all of west Texas, when we got there.  I discovered that they went out of business last January.  Great.  

We went to a Tech baseball game that night (I went and sat in the car around the 4th inning because I was cold).  Saturday we went to the football game -- the weather was really nice.  And then to dinner at Orlandos.  Today we drove home and stopped on Thurber for lunch.  It was pretty good.  

I did get some car and football game knitting done though.  I'll post some pictures later this week after I fix the part that I did wrong.

I will end with some on my favorite flower photos from this past week.  Enjoy!  

One Million (almost)

Done. 

One million planted in one day!  

Mother Nature stay away!

Send your hail another day (like January or February would work).

Bedding Plants

So, I have a million--well maybe not a million--Impatiens waiting on my front porch to be planted in the front flower beds.  By planting these, it also moves us to the top of Mother Nature's list to be next for a hail storm.  I'll cross my fingers and hope that someone else out-plants us and passes us on that list.

Mid-Week Red Head

Well, other than Wednesday being Mid-Week Mexican (yummm), it's also the day I get to keep Baby B while her mom goes to work.  There's nothing like a sleeping red head!

Also, in knitting news, I've been working on a sweater for Care Bear using the February Lady Sweater pattern.  I showed it to her when we were there last weekend and had her try on what I had finished so far.  She liked it and picked out some buttons.  There is only one sleeve and a little bit of the other one to go.  I think it's turning out nice.  I may have to put one on my list for me, too!

This isn't a very good photo though.  I'll try to get a better one when it's done.  It's kind of a nice pattern to do since it's done all in one piece -- no seaming when it's done!

Weekend Visit

We had a great time visiting with CareBear this last weekend in the Portland, OR area and we had two whole days of sunshine!  We met several of her friends, did some shopping and went to church with her on Sunday.  

When I was in California for the knitting workshop recently, I discovered Trader Joe's.  It's a grocery store mostly located on the west and east coasts -- we don't have them here in Texas.  I had to stop and stock up on a few goodies.

The cherry trees were also blooming and they were really pretty.

Here is a picture of Mt. Hood, taken from the car with my phone.

I also tried to take some photos of Mt. St. Helen from the car.  I got some great shots of barricade barrels, a building and a pole...

and finally one without too much other stuff.

We also went to a couple of yarn stores and to the Tulip Festival.  The tulip fields actually weren't blooming yet, it's been too cold, but they did have some blooms in the demonstration gardens.

 

We had some wonderful food and had a great time.

Baby Sitting

Yesterday was a fun day.  My niece went back to work for the first time since having Baby Bird and I got to baby sit.  She is just going to work one day a week, for now, and that works perfect for me as well.  We had a good day.

Doc 20, a huge Texas Tech fan, already has her working on "Getting her guns up!".  He's has a little way to go....   We still need some more practice.  But, its a start!

More stuff from the back yard.  This is a columbine, 

and Maidenhair Fern,

and Bog Lilies.

This afternoon we are flying to Portland to visit with Care Bear.  She has several fun things planned for us to do while we're there.  It should be a fun time.