Bear Hollow Visit

We love visiting Bear Hollow Park here in Athens. They have many animals in their zoo, trails, pond, and did I say animals?


We went earlier in January, when it was warm enough to not need a winter coat, so it was really nice.


Our first stop on the trail was the beavers! Beavers! They are the newest mammals added to the park. They are so cute! The whole time they were carrying leaves and twigs into their little pond.






Uh, is this leftover from Halloween or Christmas?




The bobcats are one of my favorites to see at Bear Hollow. Sometimes they are hard to find in their home, but this day they were out and about, grooming one another.




The bears were really active, too! This guy was chewing a branch.










I still think the opossum is cute!


And I think I am cute as an owl!








Hope you enjoyed this trip to Bear Hollow!

My Weekend in Pictures: Pen Pals, Snowmen, and Knitting Edition

Last week was a doozy - Raoul and I both caught the same cold, only I still have mine. I managed to get some rest, drink lots of cough syrup, play with the pets, and go to a show. These are some pics from my weekend.


I got two pen pal letters in the same week, so that was awesome! I love getting mail and I love having pen pals.


Oreo and Jumbles are so close. They snuggle so close to each other all the time. SO close that their whiskers get in each other's eyes.


We got to see the Music Tapes under their custom made circus tent! It was so fun, but I had to eat cherry cough drops the entire time. The Music Tapes put on a fantastic performance! More pictures later...






I played with Nilla and she jumped into her box. She loves to roll in this box.


Here is the view of all my pets! Love them!


I also had time to work on my knitting - I guess the one good thing about having a cold all week is that I actually had time to make some knitting progress!

Sharing is Caring

What's Your Project? Tea Towel Embroidery

This year I have been trying to work on at least one project a month for myself. This month I have been doing some embroidery. My friend mailed me a Stitch Kit, which is great because it comes with everything you need to begin stitching. I did not use the provided patterns, so I just drew on my tea towel with a pencil.




I used back stitch and got the hang of it really fast. I embroidered before, but not in a long time.


I used the split stitch on the paws. It was a little tricky going around the curves of my illustration.




Then I added the features to my Nilla embroidery! I love the way the face looks.


Last I added some stars around Nilla for a little pop of color and the stars are fun to stitch!

Mochi Making

Raoul and I made a batch of daifuku mochi! It was very simple to make, and was really yummy to boot.


We used the recipe from my candy making book. We also read some recipes online before beginning.




We added some pink food coloring to our mochi dough. Here are the pictures of how it looked when we removed the dough from the microwave. It looked like Play-doh!




We rolled and kneaded the dough after it cooled off some. Careful when it comes out of the microwave, this dough is like lava!


We added some strawberry jam to the center of the mochi, not the usual red bean paste. I was trying hard not to over fill the mochi, or else the jam would ooze out of the ball when I rolled it.


Here is the rolled mochi!

Flying Trapeze

My friend Allison and I are taking on trapeze lessons for this year! We are really excited to be doing this together. I took trapeze and silk aerials for 8 years, then I took a break. Allison wanted to get back into it, so we decided to start a class together.




Even though I have not been on the trapeze bar, I feel pretty good about remembering things. I do not feel as strong as I was before, but I am getting back onto the "swing" of things - haha.


Here are some pictures I took of Allison as she was on the trapeze! Looking good!