Here Be Dragons...

Well, actually only one dragon, but he's pretty fantastic. Look for him on the roof as you enter Mystic River Yarns!

Zoomed in with the new camera ;) I just took it on 'auto'...there's some option for shooting contrast I probably should try out soon, but even without it, there's a lot of detail.

Debby and I met up in Mystic last Friday for a day out lunching and shopping. I bought 2 skeins of Weaver's Wool Mountain Colors in Wild Iris and Sweet Lavender. I always end up buying that yarn at Mystic. It knits up into beautiful scarves when I want fast, easy knitting.


These flowers were at the shops at 'Mistick Village', where I had even more shopping luck! I've been on a bit of a shopping kick lately, but before this hadn't bought much in ages, so it all balances out, I think =)

At the Scandinavian shop I love (I actually have Swedish ancesters in my family tree), I got 3 little trays for my living room for drinks or snacks. The image on them is one by Carl Larsson, a favorite artist of mine. You can see some knitting depicted on the table in the foreground!

At the same shop, I got 2 necklaces!


Debby and I both reverted to being about 12 when we saw the paper fashion book on the left. I'd seen it on Amazon and secretly admired it. I couldn't resist it, nor could Debby, LOL! And, on Debby's recommendation, I'm trying a popular young adult author (good so far!). The book has a bike on the cover, I have to love that, right?!

I think summer is a fun time to revert to simple pleasures of childhood, so I'll indulge a bit.

More New Camera Pics

Raindrops on roses..

Saffy making the morning rounds of the gardens.

"I'm not eating the garden, what gave you that impression?"

Silas, aka Smiley Sily..

Silas the Flying Wonder Dog.

Snap! He catches the twig. I wish I had a tennis ball to toss for him, but for some reason all the tennis balls are peeled. Hmmm...can't imagine how that happened!

Flying dog shots are another great test of the new camera. I am very happy! In fact, why did I wait so long to get a better camera?!

A New Camera!

I love photography and often ogle all the amazing cameras available these days, but with technology improving all the time, I'm never sure when/what to buy. Although the idea of a DSLR seems very exciting, the reality is that I've gotten very used to the lightness of a compact camera and don't think I want to haul around a big camera, for now anyway. It seemed like a good idea to get something between the compact and DSLR cameras. And since that price point isn't too bad, I just went out and bought a highly rated one yesterday!

I've had two other digital cameras, a Kodak from April, 2003, which was lovely for a long time, but is obsolete now! And the Sony compact camera from March, 2007, which I will continue to use on the bike as it takes pretty good pics and fits in my bike jersey pocket. Shown here:

And, this is my new camera, the Canon SX10 IS:

I got a great little Lowepro bag to store/carry it in. The bag is light and fairly small, but still has room to carry the compact camera and extra memory cards and batteries. It has a built in microfiber cloth and even it's own little raincoat that untucks from the bottom pocket and can be stretched over the bag!

We've only had dark, gray rainy weather since getting the camera, so it has been hard to try it out much, but I am impressed with what it can do considering the conditions. I'll try not to overwhelm this post with pics, but here goes. I got the camera set up quickly in the parking lot outside the store and on the way home we stopped along the water. I tried out the zoom.

A drizzly, gray shot of the empty beach.

There were two surfers despite the completely flat water.

A close up of a beach pea plant.

A portrait of Jeff.

A motion shot of the dogs! It was really late and dim and drizzling, so I'm really amazed it came out like this!

And another of Jeff and Saffy being silly together...a little game of 'follow the leader'.

There are a number of different settings for me to figure out about, but it's all pretty intuitive. I will get the instruction book out soon and go over it though so I don't miss anything! I think it's going to be a fun camera!

S'mores

I do love shopping at 'Tar-jay', but they make it dangerously easy to end up with enough s'mores fixin's in your cart for a family reunion!

Have you tried the strawberry ones?

Happy happy, joy joy!

Weekendy Things

The weekend got off to a great start Friday afternoon with the arrival of my Web's order of summer tweed for 2 upcoming projects. For a tank top, or Serenity...not exactly sure.

For Lull!

After admiring my new yarn, Jeff and I ran out to Bed, Bath and Beyond for a new mattress pad and pillows (oh, the thrill...) as things were getting threadbare. Much more fun was going out for drinks and sharing a nacho plate after!

Later on, I finished the front of Rove, so it is ready for the neckband, armbands and seaming. (Dark, late night, not so great pic.) It lines up perfectly with the back.

I wasn't ready to deal with the finishing fussiness of Rove, so I cast on for Lull instead! It is constructed with an 8 row pattern that I'm starting to get into my head.

Saturday, was a day full day of fun with Debby and Chris, with plans including shopping, bike race watching (photos on my bike blog) and dinner.

I found a pretty summer scarf, bracelet and a great shade of summer lippy gloss (nude almond)!

I bought 3 tops: a linen tunic, silky print and crochet cardi as well as a ruffle skirt, not shown.

Along with buying a couple of my lotion 'essentials' at the dept store there was a summer giveaway and the counter lady there is always so nice to me and loads me up with 2 of everything and full sized product samples. It's always so funny/good to buy like 3 tiny boxes, but then get so much bonus free stuff that I need the biggest available shopping bag to carry it out of the store, LOL! I'm so set on lotions and make up for the whole summer (all stuff I like and would otherwise pay for!) and have cute shoulder bags and mini bags to carry it all in!

I almost forgot to mention that I got a couple of kitchen things I've been wanting too. A hot pepper corer that should save my fingers from buring pepper juices from now on! And a cherry pitter as cherries are so good this time of year and I'm wanting a fresh fruit salad with them in it.


Sunday, we went to Target to pick up household things, you know, boring stuff like trash bags. But I always find some fun things too. This time I got a few summer tanks to wear under my knits, blue plastic glassware for patio use (will be lighter to carry in and out than the usual glassware and not breakable) and a new doggie bed for Silas (Saffy's older bed is still ok.). In the past, Silas hasn't liked changing beds and it takes a week before he adjusts to the newness of it as he is pretty high strung. This time, however, he took to this bed right away and seemed so pleased! The only problem was that Saffy wanted something new too and kept pushing him off to try out the new bed. After awhile everyone was on their own beds and happy though. I window shopped for cameras too. I want something with more capability. The compact is great to carry on the bike, but for all the other times I'm taking pics, I'd like something with more options. I might just get a better point and shoot. Not sure I need interchangeable lenses and all...but I'm still pretty unsure what I'm going to do! There are so many great choices! We also ate at Vinny T's and stopped at Starbucks, of course!

Now, it is a rainy Monday, so I will try to get a bit of knitting done and ride the bike trainer and organize all my new things and tidy up.

Sweet, Summer Memories

Who isn't nostalgic about summer? And isn't everyone taken back somewhere by certain tastes?

Goldenrod Taffy, from York Beach, Maine, takes me back to childhood days when I stayed at my grandparent's summer house in York Harbor. With one taste, even one crinkle of the wrapper, I am back in the salty/sugary air, gazing through the windows watching the taffy being pulled, before heading inside for a club sandwich and a lime ricky.

I would play on the swing set across the street from the Goldenrod by Short Sands. Yes, I am wearing a sweater with a swimsuit! That's what you get dressed like when your grandmother is a knitter and you summer in Maine which can be somewhat chilly! The other picture, of me with the frog, was taken across the street from my grandparent's summer house.

A little collage showing the stone, stucco and red tiled roofed house, my grandmother enjoying a book on the step of the side door, which actually wasn't used for going in and out, my papa with his freshly canned relish and more peppers and tomatoes for another batch and my grandmother reading the paper on the chaise.

Thanks to the internet, I ordered taffy for Jeff and I as well as sending some to family members who shared those good times.

Rainy Day Entertainments

With pouring rain outside, I'll be in today except to run the dogs around outside occasionally. There will be knitting and some biking on the trainer. And, since I stocked up on magazines at the bookstore last night, there will be magazine looking.

I am fast becoming a fan of Knit Today magazine (in addition to Simply Knitting) and I love the top on the cover this month! It has such lovely shaping on the sleeves and front, I must order some yarn for it soon*. I snapped this pic showing the sunny cover of the mag in front of my window with a view of my rain soaked lilacs.

This month's issue came with a little book of good projects for using up odds and ends of yarns.

This Country Living has been out for awhile and I don't always get it, but finally broke down and bought this issue as I want to gaze at the building conversion article (it's very romantic seeming to live in a building that was previously a boat house or a train station!) and the garden articles.

I've never looked at this mag before...

but wonder if Jeff and I can find the time and energy to make some arbor arches like this one? I like to dream about having some garden structures like this!

Hope everyone else in the rain finds a way to make the most of the day too =)

*edited to add: trying to decide between indigo and kiwi colors...so hard...maybe I need one of each?!

Finally, Some June-like Weather!

Since it's going to start raining again, I spent almost all of the day outside making the most of the beautiful weather and working hard on yard projects. By the time Jeff got home, I was more than ready to sit at the patio table to rest and eat! But first, I set the table up for dinner...

while Jeff grilled a steak to go with potato salad. (I was too tired to make anything green to go with it, so it wasn't especially healthy, but it was yummy!)

After dinner, we goofed around in the yard with the dogs and looked at all the flowers and Jeff dutifully noted of all the things I'd gotten done.

Today the burn pile grew from the addition of brambles. I can't wait to get rid of it!

Bricks were revealed by removing the brambles and were stacked somewhat neatly. I use them to hold down garden plastic mulch. But I'm not using as much mulch this year as I'm doing a smaller garden.

I weeded all the rows of seedlings like these zukes, but the garden still has a lot of weeds in between the rows that will be tilled rather than pulled up by hand. The peppers are planted in the 2 sheets of plastic mulch this year.

The arbor bed is pretty in evening sidelight. Here's a side view of it, showing the jumble of plants. I posted a front view the other day.

A rose on a plant my grandmother gave me.

The peonies are about to unfurl.

Some dainty phlox.

I hope all the flowers don't get beaten down by the upcoming rain. This is the best time of year for blooms in my garden as I'm not really good at picking out plants that flower later in the season!