A Mountain Trip and More Pirate Ships

Hello, all! Adam and I have been on a wonderful anniversary trip in June. We started at a KOA in Fancy Gap, Virginia, just north of Pilot Mtn. It was a very nice campground with a comfy "cabin."

We spent some time on the Blue Ridge Parkway, such a lovely, calm drive. We visited Mabry Mill, and we ate some pretty yummy food.

Adam sewed and I painted.

I'm in West Virginia visiting my mother and brother/sister-in-law. It's very relaxing here, although rather hot for WVa in June. We spend time on the front porch in the early evenings.

 I have been painting these fun (rather silly) "pirate maps" of Oriental, a cute little village near us on the Neuse River, full of boats and tourists in summer.

Aren't they fun? I hope they will sell at the market. The place names on the maps are taken from locations in the village. But no -- Oriental is NOT an island.

Thanks for stopping by! Stay cool out there!

June, Glorious June!

I made a very simple berry tart with a store-bought crust, last summer's frozen blueberries from my brother and sister-in-law's farm, and fresh blackberries and strawberries from a local produce market. The blackberries were huge and so yummy! I was pleasantly surprised that the tart turned out so well -- not too sweet.

Here's another healthy dinner that Adam made recently, a stir fry.

I finally finished knitting this simple shawl -- just a shoulder shawl where you increase one stitch on both the beginning and the end of each row. I used yarn I'd spun from Malabrigo Nube fiber. Not an easy spin, at all! But the finished shawl is just fine.

And below are two bobbins of yarn (singles). The first is from some delicious red batts that I buy from a local fiber studio. They are just luscious to spin! The second bobbin is full. It's various wool dyed with soft natural dyes from plants in our yard. With both these bobbins, I'll spin a second bobbin much like it, and then ply the matching bobbins together to get finished yarn.

Then I should have enough yarn to knit a shoulder shawl with each one, or whatever else I want to use the yarn for. I should have quite a bit more of the red yarn, and may eventually knit a sweater with it.

For my birthday I had a lovely lunch in Beaufort, right on the waterfront. We saw a touristy pirate ship go by!

 Today is our first really HOT day with a high of 93 degrees F. Ugh. I'm inside in the A/C for the duration!

Happy summer, all you friends out there!