end of the daliahs

The other night we got our first real frost and it killed off the showy daliahs in a neighbor's yard.  It always seems so sad each year to see them go out like that....with a bang!  A grand finale of sorts.  When I drove by them this morning I could still see a few colors, but they will be black by week's end, heads bowed for the season.

**************************************************************************

My showy little daliah, Astrid, is finally feeling better.  Coming out of the fever medicated haze she was in.  Yesterday she was a grouchy little gal, though.  Hmm.  I suppose if you've been babied since last Saturday and now you have to be a big girl again, it would be quite a shock.

Progress shots of "Astrid the Friendly Dragon Costume" for Halloween:

I don't want to show the whole thing....but I'll give you a glimpse...

 

Some vicious (yeah, right!) claws!


I'm over halfway done.  I will add multi colored spines/horns all the way down the dragon's back, knit one more arm with claws, and two legwarmers with claws, as well.  Maybe I'll be done by the end of the weekend.  We'll see.  Costume to be revealed the week of Halloween! mmmoooooooowwwwwaaa aaa haa (that was supposed to be scary Halloweeny sounding...)

**************************************************************************

I wanted to post some new favorite photos of Astrid from last week.  We've been trying to go to different trails each hike, instead of our favorite haunts...of course, this is one of our favorite places....Blue Mountain.

We went off-trail for a little while to feel mosses, sticks, and look at other fascinating miniature & grand things.

This makes me very happy.  My heart feels full.

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. ~  John Muir.  (One of my all time favorite quotes - and rings true for me/us every single day.)

This was also very fun last week (the calm before the storm) when we got the materials needed to make little chicks and put them together at home.  You can't quite see the detail in this photo, but two of the chicks have three eyes a piece.  Perfect!.. all the better to see you with, my dear.

And, you simply can't get out of Michael's without extra supplies, like paint!:

Hope you are having a wonderful week!