Y is for...

...Yellowstone.

First time I went to Yellowstone I was about 2. Maybe 3. Doesn't count.

Wonderful Guy and I went again in 2004. I fell in love.

We stopped again coming and going to Glacier in 2005.

I pestered him until we went again July this year. It was another glorious experience.

These falls? And this canyon? I saw the original painting by Moran at the Renwick Gallery in DC. Exactly the same to this day. No photoshopping here, except to reduce the image size. It's just a perfect place.

See this geyser? While it was doing it's thing....

This one started behind it! We actually saw this one go off in 2005. (Got a photo of it then, sent it in, and it was posted on 9News! Yeah, we're famous. Almost.)

This is the Grand Prismatic Spring. It's the one photographed from way up alot, because it is so grand and...well...prismatic. Imagine what the first people must have thought coming over that ridge and seeing these colors. I made a point to see it this trip. We hadn't made this stop the other times. Wonderful Guy was a little tired. I said I really wanted to see this. So we parked and walked up and up and up. And then there it was. Wonderful Guy wasn't tired anymore!

Also, on the ridge behind the Spring, there is the remains of the big 1988 fires. This year was the 20th anniversary and the parks recovery is remarkable.

It's a big place, and there are lots of things to see, from the canyon area, to the Lamar and Hayden Valleys (where we saw wolves this year!), to the Mammoth Springs, to the Lake area.

My favorite place to stay is the Lake area. With the Absoroka mountains behind Lake Yellowstone, the effect is pristine nature, all serenity and peace.

Mornings are perfect.

Evenings are great.

This is something we do...because we can!

And Then There's This...

It started with a person who needed some help just getting started again with a project, a crochet project, actually. Maybe if she could just come over...that would give her the impetus to get 'restarted' with her hand work.

There were the knitters from work, who were no longer at work. We needed to get together. Really we did.

Then there was a neighbor who needed some hints, too. She knitted when she was younger and wanted to again. And Spinning Neighbor, who also knits. She wanted to come, and maybe knit, or maybe spin...

And then there were some other knitting friends who weren't interested in the lys knitting nights. Those can be very intimidating, you know.

Now, a couple times a month, there's an eclectic group of women I have met through my neighborhood, through work, and through other avenues that meet in my kitchen for handwork, help hints, hot tea, and homemade cookies.

I send out an email, and those that can show up. Roughly we meet every other week, but the holidays and my own schedule adjusts this sometime. The time is broadly outlined as well. One shows up when one can, and generally the groups leaves about 'the right time'.

I think it might be the homemade cookies, really, that keeps them coming back.

What else...

...is going on?

Well, it's the holiday season, and as we were just getting back into town last weekend, there was no time for decorating. And next weekend there is this other little thing.

So the decorating HAD to happen this weekend. The tree was found and set up readily. Then the holiday decorations came out.

I have a tradition of which decoration is the first one out and the last one put away. It is a hand made, miniature, beaded tree made by Dearest Sister, who was helped by Deeply Missed Sister in the finishing up of said tree the last Christmas she was with us.

It lives here 11 months of the year.

When it comes out, it is a bit bedraggled.

I wipe the branches with baby wipes in an attempt at dusting, and reshape the tree with some gentle wire-bending.

It comes with ittle bittle presents and packages.

One of the ornaments is labeled. 1988 was the year I received it. Deeply Missed Sister was the lone lefty amongst a family of right handers, and had a distinctive script. This is in her hand.

Look closely at these ornaments. Some of the 'balls' are made from crystal necklaces Dearest Sister found at sales. Others are bells, angels, snowmen, and Santas from beads.

The branches are beads on wire, all loaded by hand, then looped into the fronds.

This is my hand for some scale. It is not over 10" tall.

Like I said, first out, last away.

It's my favorite, for many reasons.

It will be interesting to see what Grandbebe Girl thinks of Grandmama's tree...

Not That I'm Competitive...

...not that I would want to 'race' Dearest Sister in her kitchen farming efforts....

but when filling in for the neighborhood Bunko group Wednesday (and winning BIG!), and also participating in the Holiday gift exchange, this is what I managed through great strategy and much conniving, to bring home. (I might never be invited back, I must say!)

I love me some growing things.

I opened it.

And followed the directions.

Filled 2/3's full with growing medium, don't you know...

All planted and already growing!

Actually, the tuber had already sprouted.

I have never grown calla lilies before, but the preferred amaryllis slipped from my grasp. I am determined to give this little one a fair chance and enjoy watching the process.

I'm Floored!

Last post I said that's wasn't all, meaning going on in our lives this week...

This is our kitchen floor before.

This is our kitchen floor after.

I love it to pieces!

This is the house Wonderful Guy and his ex bought when they moved to this state. While she was not really 'vested' in it, it is still the house they bought. While I have lived here with him longer than she lived here, it is still the house they bought. While I love this house, and consider it my home, it is still the house they bought. And while we have determined we will probably remain here until we can no longer negotiate the stairs, because we love our home, still....

So every little project we do together, every paint color I pick out, every corner of the yard I plant, every curtain I sew and hang...makes another piece just a little more....really ALL MINE!

Also, I am not one that has much self confidence in my choices of style and decor. I am always worrying until I see how it is going to turn out, wondering if what I have chosen is going to be atrocious. Often, when I was younger, I would pick out very edgy things, in my insecurity, not so because I was edgy, but it was a good reason for things to not be...normal. Then I swung the other way, going to very safe choices, pastels and bland shades, in later years.

For our redecorating here, I have stretched myself a bit and chosen some bolder colors, ones I like, and held to my own when Wonderful Guy might have gone to another choice. And it has worked! I have liked the results very much so far.

fyi...the flooring is Perma Stone. Not ceramic tile, not laminate, not linoleum. Supposedly the best of all worlds, for price, care and endurance.

I have to go look at it some more now.