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Spring has! We must experience the ephemeral beauty of the spring wildflowers before they disappear until next year! I am emerging from winter hibernation and trying to get out as much as possible. This is my favorite time of year. The wildflowers bring such excitement! I love being in the woods before the trees leaf out in the crisp, but warm weather. Oh wildflowers, how I’ve missed you! Last weekend we visited Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin, IL and Lyman Woods in Downer’s Grove, IL.

Hepatica

Bloodroot

Skunk Cabbage

Mayapples

Trout Lily

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After the single digit weather we’ve had, 34 degrees and sunny felt like summer! Like California! We had to get out, so we went to the North Park Village Nature Center just a few miles from home. Who knew 34 degrees could make a person so happy?

Whole album Click Here.

I also put some silliness up on youtube:

More Here.

And a trip up north wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Superdawg!

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So, it’s going to warm up again, right? I guess not. I forgot how much you have to check weather.com and the thermometer in Chicago. I’ll just be going about my day and then “Oh crap, it’s snowing. Hard. I don’t have any boots. Or a snow scraper. Please don’t let the windshield washer fluid run out” OR “Shoot, it’s raining AND freezing, I don’t have my raincoat AND down vest or parka.” Or then I wear a sweater to work at a school and it’s so f-ing hot inside I’m sweating all day long, but it’s freezing and windy outside. Geez Louise preparing for the weather in Chicago takes effort. I guess I had gleefully forgotten. But the schools in California were very cold and damp in the winter. So there.

Can I just get a little bit of sun, here? That would be nice, thanks.

I know this picture is a month or so old, but I thought it was pretty. And happy.

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Before we moved, we took another trip to Redwood National Park. This picture is from Del Norte Redwoods State Park. We took so many pictures that I haven’t even tried to put them into an album yet. Here’s a taste.

This one is from the Rockefeller Forest, Bull Creek Flats, Humboldt Redwoods State Park:

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One day there may come a time when you have to make a decision.

And you’re not really sure what to do. You are warned about the dangers of doing something different. You worry about which is the right path.

But you make your choice and you choose the more uncertain route. You find that things aren’t easy. Sometimes the path is “overgrown and strewn with thorns” (in the words of Sarah McLachlan). You think to yourself, dang, is this worth getting poison oak?

But soon you start to see the good things.

The further you travel, you experience more beauty and wonder than you ever imagined.

And you realize that if you never took the risk, accepted the challenges, you would never have been rewarded with such fulfilling experiences.

You decide it was worth all the risks, uncertainty, and scrapes along the way. Because in the end, it changed your life forever.

Life is what you make it.

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This weekend we volunteered with the Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings. ICO’s mission statement reads: “Sierra Club Inner City Outings is a community outreach program that provides opportunities for urban youth and adults to explore, enjoy and protect the natural world.” On Saturday, we helped take a group of Oakland 5th graders to Angel Island. We had such a great time! The weather was sunny and warm (being in the middle of the bay had the potential to be foggy and cold), the kids were great, and we all had fun taking the ferry from Tiburon, hiking, and playing on the beach. I’d never been to Angel Island before, so it was an adventure for me, too. If you’d like to see the whole album on Flickr, click here.

You can click here to read more about ICO on the website. Click here for a list of local contacts to see if there is an ICO in your city. I know Chicago has an ICO, but I don’t think they have a website.

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A birthday present for my brother:

He could use a pick-me-up because he was one of the Cook County public defenders that was laid off in the recent budget cuts. His last day is the day before his birthday. Crappy!

I used larger needles than the pattern recommended because I wanted the hat to be bigger. I also knit an extra inch of stockinette. It might be a little bigger than I wanted it to be, but it should still be wearable. I’ll wait and see what the verdict is (he’s a lawyer, get it??!!) before I take out the top and re-knit it.

Yarn: Cascade 220, 100% wool
Color: Black
Needles: Size 8, 16″ circular metal, magic loop for the top (down with the double pointed needles!)
Pattern: Raglan Hat, click here for free pattern.

This past weekend we went to the local farmer’s market and picked up a lot of tasty fresh fruits and vegetables, including our first basket of strawberries of the season. There’s nothing like a basket of organic strawberries fresh from the farmer’s market. Seriously. They are the most delectible delight! We were hoping for cherries, but it must not be time yet. Also purchased: a variety of radishes, baby carrots, lettuce, asparagus, mushrooms, pork shoulder chop from a small farm. I would have pictures to share, but both camera batteries were dead from our last trip! Death Valley strikes again. You’ll just have to go to your own local farmer’s market to see beautiful food.

Sunday we went for a hike in Redwood Regional Park. This banana slug wanted to wish us, and you, a Happy(?) Earth Day:

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I had about 17 hours (give or take a few) in the car during our trip to Death Valley National Park last week, so I started a hat.

The pattern is the Raglan Hat from the JenLa blog. Go to the linked website to download the .pdf or just click here. I think it’s a cool lookin’ hat, I hope it turns out well.

Since I didn’t have much knitting to blog about lately, I tried to fill in the spaces with other things, I hope it kept you amused and interested. I’m not dead-set on keeping this strictly a knitting blog, are you? I know some of my friends read along to keep up with what’s going on in my life, so I’m happy to oblige. Next item:

I caught a hummingbird on camera!

Not a great picture, but I thought I’d share. I wonder if it’s the same bird that keeps coming back (and it seems to come back VERY often in the last few days) or if they are different birds. Since the feeder is in the shade, it’s difficult to see the birds’ colors.

And now I’ll have to share some pictures from Death Valley. Despite forgetting both the BBQ pork tenderloin and brats in the freezer, despite losing the trail map, buying a new map, and finding the old one, despite the hours upon hours driving to different places in the park, despite listening to a noisy generator at the campground (apparently the quiet one was getting fixed) we had a wonderful time. Death valley is desolate and beautiful at the same time. It’s so gigantic it’s awe-inspiring. I highly recommend a visit. But don’t take my word for it, check out some pictures.

Oh I just can’t decide which ones to show you, click here to see the Flickr album. Oh, and just so you know, there are very long stretches of I-5 that have no gas whatsoever. We made it to the gas station with half a gallon left. *phew*

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My sister and brother-in-law visited this weekend. It was sunny, warm, and breezy weather for some bay-area springtime exploration.