Morels!!!

Look what we found today...and only about 8 feet from our house...morel mushrooms :) I told you we've had a lot of rain lately! We dont find these very often, about every 4 or 5 years, so it was a real treat to discover them today. Justin came running in the house, totally thrilled, and i was lucky to get this shot of it still in the ground before he snatched them up and brought them in. Meanwhile, while i was reading about them on line, and checking out recipes...Justin had them cut up and cooking in garlic butter. The man never cooks, so you know he must have been excited if he was in there chopping and cooking in no time. We found 3 total...and im happy to report they were DELICIOUS! :)

1% Well Read Challenge ~ Treasure Island

This is book 2 for me of the 1% Well Read Challenge, and i must admit, i enjoyed it a lot more than Lord of the Flies. Im a little behind, and should really be on book 3 by now, but i read a few books in between that werent on the list...so i havent been completely slacking! :)
I chose Treasure Island for several reasons...the main one being that a previous book i read had some exciting pirate adventures, and i was having so much fun with that, i decided to stay with that theme! Besides, how did i get thru my childhood without reading this book? The story was fun and exciting, but i did find the writing a bit hard to get into sometimes. I tried to read some of it out loud to my daughter and that was a disaster! Once i got into the book, however, the writing didnt seem to bother me as much.
I imagine this would have been rather exciting to read as a child...Jim was definitely a likable character, and his crazy reaction to situations were entertaining as well. But i really enjoyed Long John Silver...what a shady, interesting and fun character he was, by thunder! Always playing the game...always the pirate :) For such a short story, it was filled with lots of excitement, and its obvious that Robert Louis Stevenson was a fan of the tropics, the seas and adventure. His travels helped to tell a thrilling story for folks that, at that time, probably couldnt even dream of those kind of places. A story well worth the read, even if just once!
pieces of eight...pieces of eight...pieces of eight!!! ;)

Wildflower Wednesday of the Rocky Mountains...

I thought it might be fun to collect and share photos of the wildflowers in my area...and with all this rain we are getting, i should have quite a selection to show you. This Wednesdays Wildflower is the Golden Banner (or Golden Pea). It grows all along our driveway and randomly out on the island behind our house. It is always a welcome to see this flower, as it is one of the first to bloom in our area. (that is if you dont count the dandelions :)
Happy Wednesday!

Jordyn shows off some of her new moves...

Unfortunately it rained all day, so her garb and belt were damp...causing them to slide down often...but she was a trooper and boogied anyways :)

Recap of Crossroads and a lantern quilt

Well, Memorial Weekend was spent with SCA friends at Crossroads, an event held every year out in Byers, Colorado. We experienced more rain than we would have liked, but the evenings were dry and the company was definitely worth the soaking! We had friends travel from Utah and New Mexico to join us, and a great time was had by all. Im posting a few photos and links to videos, but if you would like to see more of my pics, then click here to check them out.
There were a lot of fun activities for the kids, but this was probably their favorite...wielding foam swords. The adults have fun with these too!

Justin had a chance to do some fencing on Saturday, something he hasnt done in quite a while, so he had a blast (though he was very sore the next day).

While on a kids hunt to find baby hawks (little stuffed baby birds), we found something even more exciting...this toad!

After she found this little guy, all else was forgotten...and she talked about this silly toad for days!
Heres a shot of Ali teaching Jordyn a few dance moves...she really loved twirling her dress and watching the tassels spin on her belt. (note to self: add more jingles to her next belt...she loved the jingles!) In fact, thats what she called one of our friends all weekend..."jingle bells".

Here we are all decked out for the big Hafla on Saturday night. We had quite a crowd, and wonderful music to dance to all night long! I hope to post my videos soon, but in the meantime, you can check out some of my friends videos here or here.

On the quilting front, i thought i would start something new (well, sort of new)...possibly for myself (imagine that )...of course, it could end up as a gift...you never know :)

These lanterns were collected thru a swap on about.com and it was the first swap i ever participated in. I love Asian prints, but its expensive to collect such a large assortment of prints...so this swap was great! I didnt have enough squares to make a decent sized quilt though, so i purchased this panel on clearance, and thought it might make a nice center piece to the lanterns. Works together pretty good, dont you think? Anyways, i need to add some black around the panel, but other than that, i think this should go together quite quickly (and nicely :) And the best part is...i have just enough squares do it and dont have to make any others! cheers~

Crossroads 2009

We had a fabulous weekend...wonderful music, beautiful company, delicious food, and lots of fun! Details coming soon!
P.S. Here is a link to more photos if you are interested....

More Black Bear Wildlife...