Cranes and geese and ducks, oh my!

Sandhill Crane
Originally uploaded by Bill Walker.



Spouse-o and I were in New Mexico for 5 days, on a birding photography class led by by world-famous bird photographer Arthur Morris, assisted by Ellen Anon. As bogie noticed, I didn't blog during the trip, even though Bill was blogging. My big excuse is: he was learning. I was on vacation. I guess I was too tired, too focused on where I was, and didn't have a fighting chance of getting my hands on the computer. Bill was under massive pressure to edit down each day's 600-800 shots to a more reasonable number.

Anyway, it was a gruelling week of vacation - leaving the hotel every morning at 5:15 to arrive at the refuge before dawn, "foatering" all morning, lunch & a nap til 3, then more foatering til dark. Dinner at 6, instructional sessions every evening and bed by 9 pm. It was freezing cold every morning (like 18 - 25 degrees) and the wind didn't let up until the last day we were there.

And it totally and in all other ways *rocked*.

There were something like 80,000 ducks, 20,000 geese and 10,000 cranes on the Bosque del Apache NWR over the weekend, so there was always something to look at. See Bill's Bosque photos on flickr for a look at what we were seeing.

Obligatory Knitting Content: On Wednesday before we left, I dug through my entire stash looking for projects which were ready to travel.. and came up blank. Lots of bags of half-finished things, but nothing really in a "flow" state, good for planes & cold car rides in the dark.

See? Nothing to work on. So I started something new! I took along a scarf project which use Schaeffer's Anne held double with a strand of Kid Silk Haze. I had never seen Schaeffer yarns before, must not have been paying attention. Anne is a lovely blend of merino, mohair & nylon. It claims to be machine washable. The pattern is called Allison's Scarf and it came from Rosie's Yarn Cellar in Philadelphia as part of last year's Xmas knitting haul. Until I get a photo online, you can look at Joan's version of the Allison scarf on gallery page for Rosie's knitting circle.

I get to visit Rosie's when I go to Philadelphia to see my bro-in-law and his family. I like the shop very much - a good mix of support for traditional/tiny needle/complicated projects plus more fun "let the yarn do the work" yarns & patterns. Lots of nice local patterns. On the gallery page, I discovered that Grace is the name of the shop assistant who helped me choose the colors for my first Charlotte's Web shawl. Took about an hour and she was very enthusiastic through the whole experience. Thanks, Grace!