My Week with Mom at Lasting Memories Cottage

Back in January way before covid lockdowns, my Mom booked Lasting Memories Cottage for a week in June. She planned to spend the week by the lake with her friend Zibby relaxing and reading books. They expected to enjoy lovely lake views and drive into into Bayfield for all the fun touristy things. 

Due to current covid concerns making normal human interactions seem risky and downright scary, Zibby backed out. My Mom understood her concerns but still planned to go. 

As luck would have it, my trip to Boulder in May was cancelled due to covid Canada-US border closures. With no way to visit our grandchildren in the foreseeable future, Mom asked if I'd like to go with her to the cottage instead. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. I was excited and looking forward to our get away.

My Week with Mom at Lasting Memories Cottage was all I had hoped for and more. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. A perfect mother-daughter vacation with many lasting memories made. I did my best to capture the highlights in photos.

The weather was perfect the whole week ...warm and sunny. The sunsets were spectacular every.single.night! I took lots and lots of photos of sunsets and lake views. Sunsets ... just glorious!

Early morning lake views ... pretty pinks and purples.

Continuously changing ...never boring 😊

We enjoyed breakfast on the deck overlooking the lake every single morning. It was heavenly. We never got tired of continuously changing lake views.

I prepared plant-based meals for us both all week except Friday night when my husband joined us and barbecued steaks. I appreciated Mom enjoying my plant-based meals. Mom appreciated not having to cook ... win-win 😊 

We made a few trips into Bayfield to enjoy touristy stuff ... shopping and lattes at the Shop Bike Cafe. Covid rules required hand sanitizer for entry to each and every store and physical distancing was enforced. Despite all of that, the shop owners and workers were inviting and friendly. It was fun to wander around the shops after so many months of covid closures.

Mom read books, but not as many as usual. I crocheted, but not that much.

We walked Sadie to the beach, up and down the stairs and around the neighbourhood. We looked for beach glass and stones ...lots and lots of stones. I swam. Mom waded. We relaxed and watched the lake. We chatted. We drank tea. We connected. We sipped wine. We did not NOT watch TV. We watched sunsets. 

And I took photos ...lots and lots of photos. If you'd like to see more photos from our week, check out this album shared on google photos. Lasting Memories Cottage is a fabulous place to stay. We even checked off almost all the rules on their list ...12 out of 15! I'm so grateful Mom invited me to join her.

I absolutely loved My Week with Mom at Lasting Memories Cottage and hope we do it all again next year.

 

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Our Backyard Screech Owls

On Friday, our neighbour Judy sent me a photo she had taken from her deck of a little owl sitting on the fence between our backyards. Unbeknownst to us, an owl family was hanging out in our maple tree by the pool.

These owls are difficult to spot as their feathers match perfectly with the branches. They seem to rest during the day hunting mostly at night. 

We tried taking photos at night, but they didn't work out. We thought we had spooked the owls with the flash as we didn't see them for a couple days. Turns out we probably didn't look closely enough. These owls can hide in plain sight among the branches. 

Our son sent a photo of our owls to a friend who works at a bird sanctuary. He tells us these are Screech Owls. 

I managed to capture a few half decent photos of Our Backyard Screech Owls today after work. Take a look at this adorable family of little owls. There are two adults with two young ones.

I looked up the following Cool Facts about the Eastern Screech Owl:

• Like most raptors, male Eastern Screech-Owls are smaller than females, and are more agile fliers and hunters. The female doesn’t hunt while on the nest; she and the chicks depend on food brought them by the male. Though the male is smaller, his voice is deeper than the female’s.
• Smaller birds can help you find screech-owls during the day. Listen for a commotion of Blue Jays, chickadees, and titmice—they may be mobbing a screech-owl (or other raptor), swooping around it with noisy calls. This can be enough of a nuisance to make the owl move on, and it alerts other birds to the predator’s presence and teaches younger members of the flock about the danger.
• Screech-owls regurgitate the bones, fur, and feathers of their prey in an oval pellet, usually once or twice a day. The ground beneath habitual owl roosts can be littered with pellets, and you can learn a lot from them about the owl’s diet. However, data from pellets may underestimate the number of soft-bodied animals, like worms and insects, the owl has eaten.
• Eastern Screech-Owls of the suburbs may fledge more young than their rural counterparts, probably because their predators are scarcer in the suburbs.
• Eastern Screech-Owl pairs usually are monogamous and remain together for life. Some males, however, will mate with two different females. The second female may evict the first female, lay her own eggs in the nest, and incubate both clutches.
• The Eastern Screech-Owl is known to eat a variety of songbirds, including the European Starling. Despite this fact, the starling regularly displaces the owl from nesting sites and takes over the hole to raise its own brood.

Thank you Judy for noticing and telling us about Our Backyard Screech Owls. I am captivated by this little owl family. They're a total hoot 😀

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Dr. Bobbo Bunny

A few weeks ago a friend was looking at My Free Patterns page and found Bobo Bunny. She messaged me to ask if I could make one for her husband Bob. Their grandchildren affectionately call him Bobbo instead of Opa or Grandpa.

I was excited to revisit this pattern. Bobo Bunny was the first hooded animal pattern I wrote way back in 2015 ...more than five years ago now. Of course I would make a Bobbo Bunny for her. 

With nowhere to go and not much to do these days due to ongoing covid restrictions, I finished this bunny in less than a week. I started with my Bobo Bunny pattern, but decided to change the face, ears and tail to create quite a different looking bunny in the end. 

My friend's husband is a doctor and, given the current covid mask requirements, I thought it would be fun to add a mask. My friend loved it. The mask was a perfect addition for her husband. She suggested I change the name to Dr. Bobbo Bunny, so I did.

Dr. Bobbo Bunny was happy to pose for photos both indoors and out before hopping on over to his new forever home.

For the crocheters out there who might like to make their very own Dr. Bobbo Bunny, I followed my Bobo Bunny pattern exactly for the legs, body, arms, head and hood. 

For the ears and tail, I loosely followed the rabbit ears and tail in Vanessa Mooncie's Crocheted Wild Animals book decreasing the size to fit this bunny. 

Tail - decreased by half. 

Ears - starting chain of 20 and 7 rows instead of 8 

Eyes - stitched using brown yarn

Yarn: 

Mary Maxim Ultra Mellowspun DK 50 gm, 1 3/4 oz

1 ball - Cotton (head, hands, tail, mask)

1 ball - Taupe (body, outer ears, arms)

Unlabeled DK Yarn from stash

light pink (inner ears)

dark brown (eyes)

Hook sizes: 

3.0 mm 

2.5 mm (inner ear)

Mask Instructions:

Stitches:

ch - chain

ss - slip stitch

sc - single crochet

hdc - half double crochet

blo - back loop only

Chain 20 (enough to cover width of face)

R1 - 2 ss, 2 sc, 12 hdc, 2 sc, 2 ss, turn

R2 - ch 1, blo (2 ss, 2 sc, 12 hdc, 2 sc, 2 ss) turn

Repeat R2 until mask is big enough to cover face

Chain 30 (to fit around ear), ss down side of mask and across bottom, chain 30 (to fit around other ear), ss across top of mask and finish off, weaving in ends

I plan to make more bunnies or perhaps bears. It might be fun to rework my patterns for 2020 with masks. If you decide to make one too, please do send me a photo. I'd love to see it.

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Crocheted Giraffe

I started this Crocheted Giraffe as soon as I finished a Crocheted Willendorf Venus May 18. This giraffe is the last on my list from Vanessa Mooncie's Crocheted Wild Animals Book. Did I save the best for last? I'm not sure. You be the judge. Tah-Dah! 

I snapped one photo before adding its spots, ossicones (horn-like protrusions on head) and eyes then took proper photos outside once I finished. This Crocheted Giraffe loved posing for photos ending our session with a showy bow.

It feels amazing to have finally finished all fourteen Crocheted Wild Animals ... a goal set over a year ago now. 

For this Crocheted Giraffe I followed Vanessa Mooncie's pattern changing only the suggested yarn and facial features. I used worsted weight yarn from my stash switching to light yellow once I ran out of golden yellow. For the face, I added contouring and stitched round eyes with lashes.

Here's the complete list of animals featured in the Crocheted Wild Animals book with all fourteen DONE as listed below. 

Done:

1. Owl
2. Rabbit
3. Frog
4. Polar Bear
5. Lion
6. Fox
7. Elephant
8. Camel
9. Flamingo
10. Snake
11. Monkey
12. Fawn (aka Deer)
13. Chameleon
14. Giraffe

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Mom's Garden Gems

Tonight we stopped by to capture Mom's Garden Gems in photos. 

Mom's poppies and irises have blossomed and look gorgeous. She set up her pond and got it working today all by herself. Dad would be proud of her. Mom has been diligently working on her garden bit-by-bit over the past few weeks. I think her efforts have been totally worth it. Mom's garden looks amazing. 

I enjoyed taking photos of Mom's Garden Gems tonight. I hope they brighten your day too. 😊 

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