Selfie

I wanted a nice photo of Clancy and myself by the lake....

Yep, we are still wearing our parkas in Northern Minnesota, folks.

2014 Prom

Leif is on his way to Prom.

Love my handsome boy!

A quick snapshot of Leif and his friend, Kenzie.

Waterfowl

Such a variety of waterfowl on Boston Lake!  

The trumpeter swans are trying to drive away the Canada geese.  They've been successful in past years, so we shall see.  

Lots of ducks

Great blue heron

King fisher

Sandhill cranes

Osprey

Bald eagle

Common loons

Love them all!

Ice Out

The small bit of ice on Boston this morning was completely gone by late afternoon.

Clancy heard loons before dawn.

Leif went kayaking in the evening.

 

Spring

Thanks to the ice being almost out on Boston Lake, there are many wonderful dead things washed up on shore for Lleulu to roll in.

She is very pleased with her smears of stink.

It also appears as though a pair of Sandhill Cranes have taken a liking to our small sheep pasture that is currently void of sheep.  I thought the trumpeters were loud...these cranes produce a true cacophony of croaking!  They make quite a fuss when Lleulu makes her rounds in their area.

Clancy is busy cutting down more trees today....trees we've been meaning to cut for several years now.  It seems as though the spring cleaning is happening out in the yard this year.

Spring Work

Clancy cut down several dead, dying, ugly, and inconveniently placed trees this past Saturday.  There are still so many more to deal with, but we wanted to make sure the mess got cleaned up before the grass started growing so we only cut a few at a time.  

Thanks to a chainsaw and use of my dad's Bobcat, we got all the firewood carried to the stove area and all the branches carried to a clear area near the pasture where a bonfire this fall will do no harm.  It is quite a mountain of brush, and I'm sure more will be added to it in the weekends to come.

A few of the trees that we took out were over-mature birch along the lake shore.  They have been there for as long as I can remember.  We will miss their shade and creamy white trunks...but not the enormous dead limbs they would randomly drop.  Thankfully, several young birch trees are already established in the vicinity.  The tradition continues...

Latest Projects-Photo Heavy!

It has been nearly 10 months since the last time I posted here!  Sorry about the lapse, folks.  Life has been busy.  Rather than play catch-up, I'm simply going to start from the now.

Here are a few projects I've been working on lately...

I recently started making all of my own lip balm and lotions.  My skin loves it and my complexion is finally improving.  Plus I LOVE the process of concocting new formulas!

I also made 21 little gift/candy boxes for my church's craft sale last week.  

Paper crafting is one of my first loves!

Then I decided to needle felt a small rabbit.

But it started to look like a dog's head.

So then I made a dog...

Because I wasn't using a wire armature with this sculpture, I decided to wet felt it before I added finishing touches to make sure it was strong and solid.

The soft toy I pulled out of the dryer looked more like a kitten than a dog.

So I began crafting a kitten.  This was truly an exercise in letting the wool become what it wanted to be.

After much work, I finally had the child's soft toy I was hoping for:

a cute, playful kitten.

In family news I have to relate a special event from November: my siblings and I joined forces with some childhood friends to throw our  fathers (who have been best friends since birth) a joint 70th birthday party.

It was truly a joyful day of visiting and celebration!

My dad, Don Wille (right), and his good friend, Ervin B.

My parents.

My sister, brother, and me.

And my own little family is managing to survive this bitter winter...

The boys are all doing well at their respective schools.  

I miss my college boys and I love it when they come home and we can all be together.  

 

To curb my empty nest symptoms, I've been spending extra time with my precious Lleulu.  What a gem she is!  Thank goodness for her unconditional love.  :)

Thinking SPRING!