I've been busy!

I've been a busy girl this week! First, I've been trying to finish some of my many UFO knitting projects. I have blocked this Coral Lace Shawl yet, but here's a couple of pictures in it's unblocked state.

Up next are the Flamingo Pink Stripe Jaywalker socks! I finished knitting the 1st sock last night and have cast-on for the second. I figure I needed to get the next sock up a running as it will be the perfect thing to get me through my step-nephew TJ's high school graduation exercises tonight. TJ is a great kid and he attended a magnet school, so the graduation is a bit better than your usual event (my nephew Christopher graduated from the same HS 2 years ago), but the crowds and commotion and my ebullient brother can be a bit much for this old maid to deal with.

We've had my step-niece Tammy staying with us all week, so Mother and Daddy and I took her to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Wednesday night for a picnic supper and wildlife watching. Tammy has never seen anything like this before (my brother & his wife recently adopted Tammy and her sibs from the state foster care system). First we saw the horses from the riding stable where my mother worked her "Pied Piper" charms on a couple of the beautiful critters. In the next field there were a flock of wild turkeys.


We visit the Cove in the evening because that's when the deer come down out of the mountains to feed on the meadow grasses in the cool of the day. We stopped at our favorite pull-out to eat our usual picnic of Subway sandwiches. As we sat there we watched 8 or 9 deer come down into the meadow right in front of us. Then as we continued along the 11-mile one-way loop road we came across dozens of white-tail deer, including a number of yearling bucks and a pretty spotted fawn. We thought we were doing well in teh wildlife viewing department, but then we were delighted to come upon a mother bear and her 2 cubs in a wooded area. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a decent photo of the bears, but Tammy was delighted to see "Smoky Bears". The bear population has grown in the park, so you are more likely to see bears now than when I was a kid. But I still feel the same excitement today as I did when I was younger when I see a bear in the Park. To see a mother and cubs is the best treat of all!