A Busy Fall

I've been so negligent about adding to this blog. I think work gets in the way. I am a teacher, and I'm always surprised at how much of my time is taken up with planning, meeting parents, evening school events, etc. This fall, my D.H. and I have been spending weekends exploring MN state parks. What a great way to get to know your state! The park system has two great programs that we enjoy completing - geocaching and the hiking club. Each state park has a multi-stage geocache with a critter card hidden in the final cache (we're up to 20 critter cards). It's just like a treasure hunt. The hiking club trails sure give us a good workout; we usually log between 4 to 5 miles on a hike. About half way through each hike the parks have a password that we record in our hiking club book (proof that we did the walk). We've hiked 50 miles so far, but we still have many miles to go... I'll be having the Thanksgiving dinner at my house tomorrow, so I was busy cleaning today. I know I'll enjoy the day, and I hope all of you do too.

My husband and I are back from our vacation in the Boundary Waters area and Lake Superior. I had such a good time. The Boundary Waters area has some remote places in it; we didn't have cell service or internet service unless we went into Ely (which we didn't). It was strange to spend a week with very little contact with the outside world. We did some kayaking in some awesome lakes. To get to one lake we had to portage our kayaks 81 rods (a quarter of a mile). The lakes in this area are so crystal clear and quiet. We were able to paddle for several miles without seeing another person or man-made structures! I can't think of a better way to relieve the stress of every day living. It was thrilling to me to also view ancient pictographs while paddling on one lake. If you want to be a bit more adventurous, you can choose to paddle in with camping gear and camp for a night or two. We didn't do that, but I can imagine the spectacular celestial view you would get at night; you might even see the northern lights! I feel fortunate that I live within a 4 hour drive of an area that still retains its natural wildness and beauty. From the Boundary Waters we traveled 2 hours to Lake Superior. This is another gem that is thankfully, close to my home. Lake Superior is like a small ocean except with fresh water. We spent time walking the shores in search of Lake Superior agates, sitting and watching the waves come in, and even kayaking the lake. The water is so clear we could see the boulders that were at the bottom. This is also the area with the Superior Hiking Trail. My husband and I did several hikes on this trail, following large rushing rivers up into the high "mountains" that are in this area. We got plenty of fresh air and exercise during our week's vacation! I can always tell if a vacation has been great by how tired I am when I come home, and I was exhausted after this trip!

Sympathy Card

I guess I have to improve my photography skills! I made this card a month ago, not knowing what I would use it for, but needed one for a funeral and thought this would work well. I wanted to try a card using Flower Soft. I stamped the branch (Stampendous) using a brown ink onto white cardstock, then colored the leaves with a pearalescent green ink. The Flower Soft was very easy to put on the branch and added depth to the card; I just put dollops of glue in various places and pressed the Flower Soft onto the glue. I don't know what company made the wind chimes, but I think they added a very peaceful feeling to the card. I used a gray marker to color them in. I stamped the words and swirls (Stampendous) with Stampin Up Artichoke, but thought the card needed more. I stamped the butterflies onto the white card using the Artichoke, then stamped them again on decorative paper, cut them out, and glued them over the stamped images. Hope you like it! I'll be spending the week in the far north (no internet connection!) camping, kayaking, and hiking. I'll post some photos when I get back.

At the beginning...

I'm new at this blogging thing. I decided it was time for me to give it a try! It's a cloudy, humid day; I was going to go kayaking with dear husband, but had to scratch those plans. We'll be leaving for our vacation in a couple of days and I am excited. We'll be heading way up north to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for a week. I just hope the mosquitoes aren't too bad!