Tuesday, September 6, 2011

A Labor Day respite

DH and I are usually quite the stick-in-the-muds when it comes to 4-day  weekends. We don't go anywhere or have fun plans--just hang around home and water the garden, mow lawn, do dishes--you get the idea. 

This year we deviated from the norm and drove up the neighboring canyon for an hour to a beautiful little lake nestled up in the mountains (locals will recognize this as Tony Grove).
In the cool morning air we walked the loop around the lake (about 40 minutes IF you don't take pictures--DH said next time he won't remind me to bring the camera!).
The lake was glassy--sometimes it was hard to tell what was real and what was reflection. Can you pick out the far shoreline in the photo above? From the other side of the lake the morning sun made these yellow flowers glow.
 The photo below is kind of fuzzy, but it has a story. As we walked in the stillness all we could usually hear was the buzz of the bees in the profuse wildflowers. Suddenly we heard a whooshing sound overhead and looked up to see this hawk swooping down on its prey. It missed its mark, circled a couple of times and flew up to this dead tree limb to scope out a new victim.


Here are some of the bees about their labors on Labor Day. Believe me when I say that this is only a fraction of the wildflower pictures I snapped. DH will confirm that.
On the road to and from the lake I worked on stitching hexagons to papers--I will conquer that project yet! At home we watched some of the U.S. Open and I pulled out the t-shirt quilt which came back from the quilter a couple of weeks ago and got the edges trimmed and ready for binding. I've only bound one other king size quilt and that was over 10 years ago. I have no idea how long this will take, but knowing my speed, don't expect a post of a finished quilt anytime soon.
Our morning jaunt was just a three hour excursion, but it was very refreshing and set the tone for a good day! How did you spend your Labor Day?

Until next time, from the little mountain valley where the sagebrush grows,
Janet O.

17 comments:

  1. How lovely... so peaceful and so very beautiful! Sometimes, you just need to spend some time out in nature....

    ReplyDelete
  2. My late husband and I used to love to spend time at the family beach cabin - even if the weather was awful. He used to say that a rainy day at the beach was better than a sunny day at work!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great!! Glad you had a good time!!
    Love all the pictures and the green!! We're "black" now (not us personally, thank the Lord, but Texas is burning again.

    Blessings

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a beautiful place for a long walk. I love wildflowers. My labor day was spent with a home improvement project and a potluck and dog swim at the pool. A fun day.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your photos are stunning! I'm glad you took your camera. :)
    We stayed home with no plans until DD2 called with a potato salad craving. Since she is creating another grandchild for us, I made the salad and had a wonderful BBQ with the family.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great photos! Thanks for sharing them with us.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I want to know how you got your dh to do something like take a hike? BRAVO to you. Those pictures are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Looks like you had a lovely hike! I spent the day "laboring" in my quilt studio while trying to ignore the rainy gloom outside.

    ReplyDelete
  9. OHHH OOHHHH....how beautiful and relaxing....just makes my eyes swoon!

    You sound like us...just staying home, but our main reason is here in Texas you have to drive 6 HOURS before you get anywhere else that's not just flat dirt! HA!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't think I've actually walked all the way around Tony Grove before! I'll have to do that next time we stop there. It sure is pretty!

    I spent the weekend working on a top secret project that will be revealed on Sunday - lots of work, but SO MUCH FUN!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm glad you two got out and did something! I did a little baking, a little cleaning, and had dinner with the neighbors.

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a beautiful little lake! I'm embarrassed to say that I live only 1 1/2 hrs away and have never been there. Your beautiful photos have convinced me that it's well worth the trip.

    Labor Day for me consisted of sewing but not the fun kind. The project of the day was bear rugs for my DH the local taxidermist.

    ReplyDelete
  13. you live in such a beautiful part of our country...thanks for sharing with us...the binding will go fast you will be surprised once you sit and just start stitching!!!!

    Kathie

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos!

    ReplyDelete
  15. LOVE your photos.. the reflection of the water was just perfectly beautiful! Just found your blog via another that I follow. I'll be following along with you now. :)
    xo
    Kelli

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a beautiful place. I'm glad you did remember the camera so we could enjoy the scenery along with you. Your Floribunda is just gorgeous. My fabrics are still in a stack. Yours is definitely a temptation.

    ReplyDelete
  17. These look like prize-winning photos to me! Absolutely gorgeous. Now that I've finished my yo-yo project I was thinking my next mini would be hexagons over paper....am I crazy?

    ReplyDelete

I love to have your comments and feedback.