Picture of the week ~ Macro Hydrangea

 

Goose Rock hike and some catching up

 The weather was forecast to be warm, nearly 70 for the day! Goose Rock sounded like a great destination, so off we went. We started at the West Beach parking lot. The Olympic mountains were snow covered in the distance.

The tide was low enough for us to walk the beach to the bridge.

Making our way up to the bridge via the trail.

A walk under the bridge.

The Gooose rock trail sign. We always hike to the top and then roam around the back side and explore a bit before heading back on the perimeter trail.

Respect the balds😂 

(I made my husband pose by the sign)

The views from the top.

We found a nice cozy spot to enjoy the warmth from the sun and to eat our lunch. My husband brought our backpacking stove and made us hot soup to eat with our sandwiches. MMMM.....

I was hoping to see some early blooming rhododendrons but we were too early.

When we got to the bottom of the hill we headed west for some adventuring.

Such large trees in this forest.

Low tide at Cornet Bay

Heading back to the beach.

The tide stayed low enough for us to finish on the beach.

There were so many flowers showing their faces, especially on the Cornet Bay (drier side). Of course a few a heart rocks.

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The rest of this post will be a catch up of our activities since I last posted mid February, so I'll pick up from there. 

Whenever it's sunny we try to get outside and make the most of it.

Feb. 12th we biked the Cascade trail

My Birthday is in February, my husband gifted me with a stay at the Fort Casey Inn. We had a slice of birthday cake everynight we were there and we did an outing everyday.

We biked through the Kettles trails.

We did some sight seeing on a couple of "iffy" weather days.

Then we biked some of the Larry Scott memorial trail.

and we hiked a loop we've been looking at for awhile. We began and ended at the Pratt loop/Ebey landing parking lot. We hiked the beach south to the Camp Casey/Coupeville Inn campus and returned to our car via trail and road. What a fun day!!

March began with a hike up to the North Butte.

We saw signs of spring, great views and of course my husband read a Patrick McManus little during our lunch break. 

In early March I had a PET/CT scan as a follow up to a CT scan I'd had in December. Since medical offices are still following Covid protocol, I got to wait in the car until I got my text notification that I could go in. While I waited in the car I enjoyed watching some city chickens do their free range thing.

We went for a walk along the North Lake Whatcom shore trail, where I found  heart rock larger than my shoe. I've been having some issues with Plantar Fasciitis, some days it works some days it doesn't. This was a good day.

A favorite of ours is the Tommy Thompson trail. We saw more signs of spring and birds.

We spent some time on the way home from that walk looking for birds and daffodils in the Skagit Valley area.

My PET/CT scan results were't the best so my Dr. ordered a CT/Biopsy. The PET/CT scan had lit up pretty good on one of my Retroperitoneal lymph nodes. Here's a diagram of where that is.

While we waited for the confirmation of what we already knew we went on lots of drives and walks.

We went to a favorite, the Centennial trail, enjoyed the views and watching the Robins.

On the 27th the results came through "mychart". Even though we had an idea it was still a lot to take in. Even writing this post today I'm kindof shellshocked.

Next it was more waiting for the appointment with my Oncologist to confirm the results and to give me his recommended treatment plan.

More birding and driving on my husbands birthday.

On the 31st we drove to Everett to meet with my Oncologist. His recomendation is Immunotherapy, The plan is to stay on it for however long it works or until I develop a toxicity to it or I just am wanting to stop. It's all my choice. 

In the meantime life goes on.

Mon Oeuvre - Rhododendron trail Mystery Quilt progress

  "Oeuvre" (the works of a painter, composer, or author regarded collectively: "the complete oeuvre of Mozart" a work of art, music, or literature: "an early oeuvre" ORIGIN late 19th cent.: French, literally ‘work.’ - Oxford Dictionary.)

I haven't blogged any of my Mystery Quilt work this year, how can that be?? I do post my progress on my Instagram account however. If you are an Instagram user or if you just want to see my account you can find me here: @kims_projects.

So this post will be a picture journey of my progress, as I've currently completed the flimsy (top) of the quilt. I still have to purchase the batting, back and binding fabrics.

In November we got the clue about the quilt title: Rhododendron quilt.

and the color pallete for the quilt.

I'm not a pink girl so I switched the pink to purple. I didn't know for sure if the garnet would work with the purple, but went that direction anyway. For the neutral I chose one that had a white background and both the aqua and the purple in it. I was hoping the dark feathers would match the garnet after the quilt reveal. Can you tell I was nervous about the garnet??

Here's my progress up to today:

Half square triangles

Flying Geese

Hourglass units, it snowed the week I finished these so I arranged them into a snowflake.

Starting to put some of the units together.

Putting units into our first block and a cutting assignment that was put aside for another clue.

Our hourglass units became a block and turned into butterflies.

The quilt was to be on-point, so working from one corner to another. Here's the first completed corner and row with the aqua sashing.

Corner triangle units.

Making progress with my rows.

My ironing board became my shelf for storing the rows that were methodically being added to each other, and some flying geese border units that had been put together.

The center of the quilt done✔ The garnet edge had to be trimmed off before the border could be added.

The borders each had one paper pieced diamond added to them.

Completed flimsy (top of the quilt), the photo was taken on a bright sunny day so the color is a bit washed out. The colors seem very Eastery to me. I changed the name of the quilt to "Don't fence me in" since all I can see is barbwire where the garnet lines are. The butterfly blocks are no longer butterflies in the quilt.

This quilt is so busy it will be a challenge to find just the right fabric for the backing and binding.