The Coy Pond

So this weekend Christy, Jarrod and I decided it would be fun to have a snow day. We just had a bunch of local rain and snow in the mountains. And with the mountains only an hour and a half away I could hear them beckoning to me. Having decided on our destination being the town of Crestline and a 1 mile hike to a small waterfall with a heart shaped rock, we were set. The only problem was the local temperature was hovering about 30 degrees. This is of course was too cold for both Jarrod and Christy. Having dropped them off in town, I headed off for my trailhead. When I reached the trail I discovered was covered in about a foot of snow. In fact the only way that I found the trailhead is that some trailblazing people had already made the hike and I could see their footprints (6 inches deep) in the snow.

But it was a joy trudging through the snow on a crisp morning. And surprisingly I was still singing after I slipped into the creek, trying feverishly to protect my camera. Maybe it was the scent of the Incense Cedars or the vanilla scent of the Jeffery Pine. The tree cover though made the canyon pretty dark, so the light wasn’t great for photos, but it was still fun. And the icicles were way cool.

The rest of the trip which was to go to the local ski resort at Wrightwood and check out the shops, build a snowman and get lunch, was pretty much unsuccessful. It seems that snow is such a yearly novelty that everyone in LA wants to bring the kids up to the mountains and try it out. So the traffic was a mess, and after an hour and a half of wading through this, and it was still 5 miles away we turned back and went home. But it was still fun. A nice day trip. Hope you enjoy the photos.

We had no idea how Jarrod would do with his presents, but he did great! He really enjoyed the paper, and I helped him a lot less than I thought I would. He didn’t really understand the concept of putting down an unwrapped gift in order to open another one, but thankfully he was easily distracted. :)

“YES!! I have always wanted one of these!!
Thanks Mommy and Daddy!”

“I think it will be easiest to open this one
if I climb on top of it first!”

“Yay! Different paper! Thanks Grammy!”

“Please don’t take my Christmas paper away from me.
It’s my favorite present of the whole bunch!”

“I was totally right, climbing on this one
was the best idea ever! I love this present!

…You mean there’s something inside it too? SWEET!”

“Why are you staring? Is there something on my face?”

“Mmmm… donuts!”

“Awesome! Books are always my favorite presents!”

****

Some recent Jarrod stats, from/since his 9-month appointment:
30 inches (that was actually our measurement)
23.6 pounds (that was more than two weeks ago, so I’m thinking we’re closer to 24 by now)
19 inches around his gigantic noggin

He’s a healthy, happy, sweet baby who just got his first tooth today! He’s pulling himself up to stand all the time, and has been cruising for awhile but really got the hang of it tonight. All of a sudden he took off and was zooming around at top speed, giggling all the while.

He is such a joy, we just love him so much!! What a special gift we have received!

We hope you all had a great Christmas!

As usual, I’ve been very busy lately! The weather has finally turned chilly, so I’m glad to have a new warm scarf to wear…

Pattern: Palindrome Scarf
Yarn: Southwest Trading Company Karaoke in the Black Rose Colorway
50% soysilk – 50% wool

I like the pattern a lot, it is a very nice-looking scarf. I absolutely love that the cable is reversible — it looks exactly the same on both sides. I got a little bored while knitting it, but I powered through. It’s been a long time since I’ve finished a knitting project, I was absolutely determined to do it! The yarn is interesting. In the ball, the black sections are not visible — just various (very pretty) shades of red. Imagine my surprise when I was knitting along and WHOAH! That’s really, really black! I think I would have preferred it to be all different shades of red, maybe a dark red instead of black, but I like it well enough as it is.

I probably wouldn’t use the yarn again, however, because it’s really pretty itchy. I can wear this scarf easily over clothes, but I don’t really like it directly against my neck. So obviously I would never wear it as I was in the picture above. :)

That scarf is for me.

The other two are Christmas presents. They are much, much different than my warm wooly knit scarf! They are light cotton with beaded trim at each end. Notsomuch for taking the chill off these extra-cold Southern California winter nights. These are fashion accessories!

Pattern: Sash with Beaded Trim from Amy Butler’s book In Stitches
(also available as a free pattern here)
fabric and trim purchased at Jo-Ann for one, M&L Discount Fabric for the other

I’ve heard that a lot of people are giving handmade gifts this Christmas. It is apparently due to the poor economy, it’s just more frugal to make gifts than it is to buy them. I would like to say that I am 100% completely in favor of this trend, and hope it continues even if the economy improves! Handmade gifts are so great… And I’m not just saying that because I like to make things, honest! :)

I’m really feeling the Christmas spirit now, though the season is going way too fast. Oh well, there are still several days left to savor. I hope you are all having wonderful Christmas seasons!

So this Thanksgiving we spent with my family in my parents new house in Bishop. It is an amazingly beautiful place. We had a nice time there despite both Jarrod and I fighting off colds and Christy having a gimpy back. It was a definite time of feasting, relaxing, and watching the kids play. We were both a little sorry to leave.

I also found some time to go and have a little fun taking photos. The first picture is my first experience trying a star trail photo. Since I wasn’t really set up to do a really long exposure, I did about as long as I felt like my battery would last (30 minutes). It actually could have gone longer, but I didn’t want to lose the photo. When I took the photo it was really pitch dark outside if you can imagine, so the photo isn’t exactly how the scene looked to the naked eye. That is one of the reasons that I like it so much since it is a scene that you couldn’t really see. I actually painted the car into the photo by using a flashlight for about 10 seconds during the exposure, lighting it up. If I could retake it, I think that I would try another 10 minutes on the exposure and move the car over slightly to the right so it doesn’t obscure the mountain. Anyway I thought it was pretty fun to do.

The other photos are from the road (395) taking time to set up a field (which we nicknamed Christy Field) with fresh snow on the peaks in the background. The other photo of the field in front of the large peak is from an area just outside of Bishop called the Buttermilks, which is climber’s paradise, with tons of granite boulders to scale to your heart’s content. Since I was taking care of Jarrod while Christy was busy painting I was in no position to go climbing. Ah but next time that would be fun. Instead I was drinking in the late afternoon light and the amazing peaks. I found a shallow field of tall grass that was just adjacent to one of the rock formations and it worked pretty well for my shot. I loved taking pictures, but next time I want to try rock scaling as well.

The lake is Convict Lake, which was named after some escaped convicts who fled from the law and hung out around the lake before they got caught. Christy and I went here about 2-3 years ago during the fall and took some great fall foliage photos here. The place is a bit of a resort, but I counted no more than 2-3 people there in late November. Maybe I should publish some PR photos for them for the winter travel season?

And of course Jarrod’s first experience in the snow was a little rocky, but he warmed up to it after we took a shopping excursion up in Mammoth. He didn’t really like having a cold butt. (Who could blame him?)

Anyway hope you all enjoy!

Earlier this year, Bruce’s parents retired to Bishop, CA. For those of you who don’t know where that is, it’s in the Owens Valley on the east side of the Sierras, about 40 or so miles south of Mammoth. It’s breathtaking scenery in every direction, with the Sierras on one side and the White Mountains on the other.

We were there for Thanksgiving. Bruce’s brother and his family made the trip from Northern California, so Jarrod got to hang out with his twin cousins for a few days.

It was interesting seeing how big the milestones are between our almost-9-month-old and their almost-1-year-olds. Jarrod is a funny baby; when he’s alone, he is very bouncy and loud, and likes being the center of attention. However, if there are other children around, he is often quite calm. He grabs a toy and plays quietly while he constantly observes the action around him. He watches other babies and soaks it all in.

When we first got to Bishop, Jarrod was just getting pretty good at commando crawling. Now he has absolutely mastered it and is starting to do some actual real crawling, too! Not only that, but today (for the first time ever), Jarrod pulled himself up to a stand. Now he’s done it a few times, although he has fallen a few times as well. :)

In a short period of time with his cousins, he learned so much! It is just so very cool watching these changes and developments taking place right before my eyes!

We went to Mammoth on Friday, mostly to let Jarrod see snow for the first time.

“Seriously, mom! I’m warm enough!”

He was not totally loving the snow.

Jarrod also got some quality time with a dog. He absolutely loves animals, so this was quite special.

“I have a cool blue block!”

“Here, doggy! You can have my blue block!”

“I don’t get it, daddy. She doesn’t want the block. Oh well!”

It was a fun trip, despite the fact that Jarrod slept very poorly (and of course that means we also slept poorly), and despite the fact that I completely tweaked my back. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with family. We hope you all did as well!