Turtles, Gators and a Tipped Canoe

Deciding the encounter with the sting ray wasn't quite close enough to nature we went canoeing down Juniper Spring. It is part of the spring system in the national forest near us. The river has constant current, crystal clear water, lazy meandering, tight curves and wildlife abound.

{Building thunderstorm}

Rushing, the river can be run in about 3 hours. We took our time putting in about 10:30 am and finishing just in time for the final pick up at 4:30 pm, stopping now and then for photo opts, eating lunch and to ponder whether that rumbling was jets (Dirty's dad's hopeful guess) or a building thunderstorm (reality).

{Beautiful view from the canoe}

Near the origin of the spring the water is pretty shallow, maybe shin deep. The little fish dart around the canoe tempting us to race them down the river.

{Before this camera went for a swim}

Dirty and I took the lead down the river and his dad and A followed us. You can't see it yet, but trouble is around the bend. Dirty's dad didn't quite bend back in time to get under a tree. He mistakenly grabbed the trunk to push past it but turned ever so slightly. The canoe overturned sending he and A splashing into the water. They must not have believed Dirty when he said 90% of what you put in the canoe will get wet. Cell phone, camera and two tourist soaked to the bone! Thankfully the phone was off. It and the camera dried out in a few days without any glitches.

{Turtle with a nice reflection in the water under the log}

All the photos are courtesy of A. I didn't dare take a camera, but she chanced it for us. Some of the photos are from her camera, pre-soaking. The others are from Dirty's dad's camera that also got dumped in the water, but was in a resealable bag.

{Palms dancing the tango}

{Percy! What are you doing here?}

{Smallish black butterfly with yellow spots}

{This butterfly is clearly a Steelers fan, too}

Now for the scary photos. These jokers (Dirty's dad and A, that is) obviously do not appreciate or respect how quickly gators can move when they are pissed. I wanted to smooth on past the gators pretending not to notice them or disturb them in any way, but the wacky tourists needed photos. I got more and more frightened each time A said, "Get closer. No, closer. I need to get a good picture." Honey, that's what the zoom is for.

{Baby gator back in the weeds}

The first gator we saw was just a baby, maybe 3-4' long. He was chillin' back in the cut. He wasn't too impressive so we smoothed on by him.

{Thankfully this gator decided that sunning himself was better than eating us}

The second gator we saw looked familiar and I was not interested in revisiting the experience from our last trip here. What? You don't know what happened last time? Dirty and I usually take our kayaks to the springs, which is what we did last time. It was Memorial Day a couple years ago. Our friends Dave and Christy came with us and rented a canoe. It was a great trip! Not too hot, no chance of rain and the river wasn't too difficult to navigate. We saw deer, birds, butterflies, turtles, fish, snakes in trees and a couple little baby gators.

{Another big gator cooling off in the river}

Towards the end of the river we turned this big bend which opened onto a big, bright grassy clearing along the river. Dirty was in the front in his kayak. Dave and Christy were in the middle in the canoe. I was at the end in my kayak. Keep in mind it is a sit on top kayak that-at best- is about 6" out of the water.

As soon as Dave sees the clearing he says, "This looks like gator heaven!" Hearing this a GIGANTIC gator that had been pleasantly sitting on the bank sunning herself turns her head and looks at us. She is pissed that we disturbed her nap and decides to slide into the water to tell us off. With the current pushing him, Dirty was already past the gator. Dave and Christy start freaking out and can't decided if they want to go fast forward or try and back up. They chose back up and nearly hit and tip my kayak. Then they get in gear and race past the gator.

At this point the gator is swimming towards me all alone at the back of the line. Dirty yells back, "If he starts to lunge at you hit him in the head with your oar!" I am thinking, if this thing comes close enough to touch with my oar I'm going to have a heart attack.

{Keeping to herself}

The GIGANTIC gator swims past me eye-balling me the whole way. All I could do was hold my breath and ready my oar. Astonishingly the gator swam on past, apparently deciding I would be to grisly to taste any good. We figured that once in the water right next to me that I looked more threatening then I felt. My kayak is about 14' long and with me sitting on top I was much taller out of the water than the gator even though she was a good 2' longer than my kayak. Suffice it to say I have a very healthy fear and respect for gators now.

Thankfully all the gators we saw on this latest trip were too bored to pay us any mind. Oh, and the rain held off until we loaded the canoes on the trailer and were on the way back to the start. =]

What a Sewing Teacher Would NOT Say About Me...

• She measures acurately.
• She cuts accurately.
• She sews beautiful 1/4" seams.
• She completes projects in a timely manner.
• She prefers to press seams open.

However, that same sewing teacher may say...

• She shows great persistance.
• She learns from her mistakes (after she makes them 3 times).
• She is definitely not afraid of a seam ripper!
• She gives it the "old college try".
• She sure can drink beer!

For the Quilter Bees in May, Dorrie asked for this great scrappy block. She sent all the scraps and gray border strips. All we had to do was trim down the scraps to be 1.5" square (two sides were already done) and sew them up. She shared Little Miss Shabby's tutorial. The first part makes it perfectly clear that acurate seams are vitally imporant. Crap.

I joined quilting bees for the challenge of learning new techniques and skills. I would not let this block beat me. Oh, it tried, but I put up a fairly good fight.

{All the 1.5" square scraps. Don't they look happy in there?}

{Randomly chosen squares for the center}

{Chain pieces for speed and ease. Ha!}

{I even pressed the seams open like Dorrie asked}

{These helped A LOT}

Isn't it scraptastic? This should be an awesome quilt, Dorrie! =]

The Penderwicks

{A summer tale of four sisters, two rabbits and a very interesting boy}

{by Jeanne Birdsall}

Always being in search of a good book that doesn't make me sad through the entire thing*, I borrowed this book on the recommendation of my mom. I was picking through her library and pulled this out. She told me that I should read it. I would love it. Mama knows best. (Who do you think bought all my The Baby-sitters Club books back in the day?)

The Penderwicks is wonderful! Maybe the Newberry award medal should have given it away. I am only about half way through and I find myself laughing out loud, gasping and covering my mouth, and talking to the characters. I would have adored this book when I was in third or fourth grade needing to stay up late to read and begging to go to the library or book store to get the other books in the series. If you are looking for a book to read to your kids or just want an easy, fun, summer read I highly recommend The Penderwicks, even if you are out of its target audience.

Do you have any recommendations for me after I finish this? =]

-----

*I once asked a librarian to help me find a book that wasn't sad all the way through. She kind of looked at me quizzically. I explained that I read for enjoyment and I don't enjoy feeling sorrow for the tragically melancholy characters all the way through the book, especially if there was not a super happy ending. I think I stumped her for a moment. After pulling several different books from the shelf (somewhat like Mr. Ollivander does with the wands in Harry Potter) she offered me the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, which at the time only had 4 or 5 books but now is up to 16. I think I stopped at 3. ;]

Snip.Sew.Send. ~ Rebecca

Very late, but very fun. Rebecca asked for a monochromatic log cabin around a pinwheel square. All the blocks look cute and I am interested to see her final quilt. I was able to get 2 1/2 blocks out of the fabric Rebecca sent.

Orange is one of my favorite colors. Working on these was a lot of fun and I like how they look. I love how happy and cheery the colors are.

Rebecca is also first up for SSS2. I have the fabrics, too. I should get to the orange and aqua wonky maverick stars later this week. Talk about excited! I can't wait to get stitching on those! =]

We had company!

I love company. I love having people stay with us and showing them about our town. Now, I am not overly in love with the city where we live. Don't get me wrong, I like it but that's about as far as it goes. Every now and then all the pieces come together to make for a great day. Luckily we had a few of those when Dirty's dad and his girlfriend came to visit. (By the way, thanks for the game suggestions. We didn't end up needing them, but I bought Blokus for my dad and it is great. I am getting one for us to. Boy, do we get the smack talk flying on that game...)

{A great day for the beach}

Lately it has been hot here. Not only hot, but humid, too. The weather people like to tell us the "feels like" temperature. The "feels like" temperature in the summer is similar to a wind chill factor in the winter. For example, growing up I would hear, "... 28 degrees but with the wind chill it is 15 degrees." Here, we get to hear, "...and a high of 98 degrees with a 'feels like' temperature of 105 degrees. 100% humidity and a UV rating of 11." That means it takes about 5 minutes for fair skin to sunburn if no protection is worn.

{Sea Gull, you may not eat our bait}

We were a little worried that our guests would be too hot to be outside longer than it takes to walk to the car. They were troopers and I think they were still unthawing from the winter and didn't notice quite how hot it was.

{Random lady wading under the pier}

Dirty, his dad and I have traditions when we visit each other. We go to flea markets (the more the better), hole-in-the-wall breakfast joints, Asian buffets with crab legs and sushi and delicious homemade dinners. It was a really great visit and we like the new girlfriend (I'm teaching her to knit!).

{Fishing and wading in the water}

We went to the beach a couple of times. First to the shell-y beach for sharks' teeth and shell hunting then to the fishing/swimming beach for fishing and swimming. Amazingly the water was very calm and clear. Usually our water is a little more murky. We could walk out to shoulder deep water and still see our feet. Which was good, because on one ill fated cast I lost my whole rig but was able to find it thanks to the clear water, diligent searching and bright orange beads.

{Surf fishing}

We didn't have so much as a bite on our lines, but we saw an osprey catch a fish so big he couldn't hold on to it in flight and nearly got attached by sting rays. I saw one swimming in the water by Dirty and warned him about it. He saw it and said there was a school of them swimming towards him. He is always cool, calm and collected so he just stood still and they all swam around him. One swam towards me and I freaked out! I screamed and tried to run away (not easy in waist deep water). Then I threw my fishing pole at it like an idiot. Dirty laughed hysterically at me and I heard his dad and his girlfriend laughing from the shore. I must have looked ridiculous! =]

do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}

do. Good Stitches {a Charity Bee}
Originally uploaded by StitchedInColor

I am beyond excited to be a member of this new quilting bee. More information is available on the flickr group, but the quilts made from this bee will be donated to Wrap Them in Love. I had been mulling over a similar idea and I stumbled upon Rachel of Stitched in Color who had also been mulling it over. Not so shockingly, she actually got something with great substance started. Thank you, Rachel, for including me in this wonderful, heart-warming bee. =]

Gaming Advice Needed

We are expecting company starting next weekend. Dirty's dad and his new girlfriend are staying with us for a week. I *love* having company and I love Dirty's dad so we are excited. We have some things planned--flea market hopping, a trip to the local art market, a day at the beach, etc. I am a little worried about the evenings. The four of us sitting around the TV all night is not too fun. Do you have any card games, board games or party games you suggest we play? I've heard Apples to Apples is fun, but I've never played it. Any reviews? Do you and your family and friends have a game night? What do you play?

I have always liked playing games. Growing up we played them all the time. Dirty...not so much. I think I could rope him into a couple if they are fun.