We leave Leduc and take a secondary road south through farms on our way to Crimson Lake Provicial Park. We want to get away from "parking lot" camping lifestyle, though it has its merits. It's raining all day as we head south and west.
We are favored with a nice campsite which takes a bit of maneuvering on Dale's part to get the trailer in. A respite from the rain and we set up and go check out the lake. We manage to enjoy some sunshine at the lake, wading until Dale found a leech...eeeeekk! A beautiful loon came close to us twice for lots of good looks and I like them even more since discovering that they eat leeches.
The wind started blowing and and it looked like our nice weather was about to end. We headed back to the camper, ate supper, and played cards until a storm interrupted our game. It brought wind, rain, and then marble sized hail which quickly covered the ground at our campsite. The hail and rain subsided and we heard some crackling and pops which we attributed to fireworks. After a while, activity on the campground road, made us venture out to look. Trees had snapped off and uprooted, crashing into campers, tents, vehicles!!
Directly in front of our campsite many trees had come down, one hitting this big RV. Campground workers quickly moved the tree off the camper with their equipment. We found out later from another camper that there was quite a bit of destruction, but fortunately no injuries.
The people in this campsite took off--too close for comfort. We figured the worst was over, and we had nowhere else to go.
Unfortunately, the place we wanted to stay, Pembina Provincial Park, was all booked up as we headed up to Edmonton. We were fortunate to find a great, full services park in Leduc, just twenty minutes from the big city with lots of amenities.
Dale spent Friday and Sunday at the race venue. There were other races besides the Indy car race on Sunday. Saturday we went to town and took in Muttart Conservatory. A perfect place for intermittent rainy weather.
The RV park operated by the Lions in Leduc was wonderful. There was a multi-use path that went from the park around a lake, and beyond. Lots of good birding, and raspberries and Saskatoon berries growing along the path.
I had intentions of picking enough berries to freeze and take home for making jam, but the mosquitoes had other ideas! I got enough to just cook down and make some berry marbled pancakes. Had never tried Saskatoon berries--I thought they were choke cherries, but they were more similar to blueberries with a slightly more tart flavor.
We were treated to a beautiful sunset our last evening in Leduc, which belied the saying about red sky at night, sailor's delight, unless sailors like rainy weather which is what was coming our way.
We crossed into Canada, and our Tracfone promptly shut off and quit working. We hadn't expected that, and I let friends and family know that we would be out of touch, by phone anyway.
The drive into Canada is amazing. I had never been through fields of canola blooming. Dale had experienced it with the girls when they drove to Alaska. Even with editing, my picture doesn't do it justice. A Google search turns up lots of amazing photos.
We stay a couple of nights in Lethbridge and take in a nature center, some shopping at Value Village, and the library for internet access. A helpful man at the nature center gives us some tips of where to stay near Edmonton--our destination.
After a week's delay, we finally headed out. Dale had a lot of repairs to do in the camper. The water heater tank blew out--a big crack/hole that he was able to get welded. Then various connections failed but he was able to get them all fixed.
We headed to Colorado for a stop to visit the grandboys. It was a short visit, but nice to see them. They change so quickly.
Our first real camping was in Buffalo, Wyoming, Deer Park, which lived up to its name. We saw several young fawns with spots, on our early morning walk.
Next stop was Three Forks, MT. We camped at Missouri Headwaters State Park. A beautiful park without amenities, but the weather was great, so no need for electricity to run the A.C. We had a little visitor at our campsite.
There were lots of signs for moose, but we didn't see any! Lots of cedar waxwings feeding on berries near the river.
Pat put this BQ3 pattern top together while she was here. (She took another three tops home with her to finish, nine patch pizzazz blocks with ballerina fabric.)
I seriously wanted to keep this one. The pantograph came out nice, and I had to remind myself that I have a lot of Asian prints that I can make into quilts and use this panto on.
Found a perfect fabric for binding, and I have enough of the fabrics that Pat got to make the opposite of this quilt--exchanging the big and small squares--for another quilt.
I finally remembered to take my camera and binoculars with this time, and though we were busy talking and forgot on the way to town...we remembered on the way home. The Swainson's hawk baby has grown a lot the past couple of weeks. There is only one chick in the nest.
The funny thing is the Kingbird which appears to have a nest just below the hawk nest. I couldn't tell whether there was viable chicks in that nest...or perhaps the Swainson parent thought it was just too convenient a snack?
Pat is a production quilter...man she can turn them out! I labor a lot longer making tops, and really prefer the quilting and binding process. We make a good team.
This cowboy boot quilt is for her niece who is expecting a baby boy. We found the perfect backing for it in the stash, which just fit with the addition of borders. There was not much room to spare on the sides, but I'm used to working with backings not much bigger than the top.
This BQ3 is for Pat's sister's grandson. She also put another, larger, BQ3 together which I'm working on now. I'm doing this dragon pantograph, and I may have second thoughts about letting it go, though Pat did make it for donation. I do have a collection of oriental fabrics that I could put together and use this panto on.
She's leaving tomorrow. I can't wait until she retires and moves to Willard! Then we won't have to be in such rush!
I quilted Pat's niece's quilt. I really liked the finished top, and I wasn't sure my freehand quilting would do it justice in the pieced birds portion. But it's done, and on its way to the recipient.
This next quilt, I only did the quilting, and I do think it turned out nicely. It's a panto, Forest Floor. It's pretty dense, but really looks nice on the black background of the quilt with variegated King Tut thread.
Pat has been here since Saturday. She got in before lunch, but we had lots of grocery shopping to do. Needed to lay in supplies for our week of quilting!
Before Pat arrived I got a baby quilt done for my friend Cybelle's grandniece. Baby Carolina was welcomed home by two big brothers. I used the BQ2 pattern to try it before going ahead with the king size quilt.
Production is the name of the game, since Pat arrived. I finished an I Spy quilt for Dr. Kaufman, from a top I pieced while at Bear Cabin Inn. I was able to get both of these on the same backing.
I quilted the I Spy while Pat finished the wedding quilt she had started at Bear Cabin. Got those trimmed and bound, and started quilting on the top put together from the excess anniversary blocks at the AZ retreat. They will be going to a fundraiser for Yetta's grandson.
I had this post nearly finished when a thunderstorm hit our area. We turned everything off during the storm. We got a dumping of two inches of rain! Woo-hoo! We really need it, and it's nice to be in this monsoon pattern. Hope Colorado is getting some of the moisture.
Spent the weekend at Bear Cabin Inn in Show Low, for a quilting retreat. Got the bulk of my nephew's quilt done. I'm contemplating adding borders, but the quilt is already 108" square! I also managed to put together an I spy top for donation.
We happened to catch a glimpse of the fox that's in the area on the last morning there. I was surprised at how warm it was over the weekend. It wasn't any cooler at home, and it was 102 at the Rio Grande at 5:30 p.m. on the way home Sunday.
This time I stopped to snap some pictures of the VLA off Highway 60, which I've been meaning to do for some time. It's an impressive site.
Tomorrow Pat arrives for a week, and the "sweatshop" will be open and operating. We're hoping to get a lot accomplished together!
I can't believe June is almost over. It's been busy! Took a quick trip to Colorado for Father's Day. It was great to see the boys again, despite the fact that they were a bit under the weather with colds. They do share--if only germs!
Made a trip up to IKEA with the kids and got our table base exchanged. The table is nothing fancy, but solid and serviceable. I'd like to paint the green chair blue--but painting is my least favorite thing to do, right up there with dusting. Can't wait to enjoy breakfast out there in the sunshine in winter. Also made some good scores thrifting. We got this lamp at 50% off for a whopping $6.50.
Made it home in time to take off again for a weekend quilting retreat.
