You have to start somewhere

I've finally plunged into the world of blogging. It seems a bit daunting but I'm going to give it a try.

It rained most of the weekend. What could be better on a rainy day than knitting in a rocking chair and listening to rain on the skylights of the sunroom? From my chair I look into the treetops and also watch the birds flit about the feeders. I whipped up a little baby bib out of Sugar and Cream Cotton. The pattern is called Petal Bib from the book Oneskein: 30 quick projects to knit and crochet by Leigh Radford. It turned out very cute and I will probably make more so I have a set of them for a gift. One seems a little paltry. If the middle petal were a bit more narrow it would look like a butterfly. I'm thinking about trying that variation.

On Saturday I happened to see a hummingbird flop down on a chair on our deck, just below the feeder. I don't know what precipitated the fall although I am guessing she was hit by another hummingbird. They can be quite aggressive and territorial. At first she was on her side, but still breathing. I ran to get my camera and when I came back she was sitting up, looking much better. I know I could have put my hand over her and held her, which was tempting, but I knew it was not the best thing for the bird. My camera was just a few inches away from her and she didn't seem to having a panic attack. I left her alone and came back about 10 minutes later and she was gone.

The pipeband has a competition coming up on Saturday, probably the last one of the season. That reminds me that I have to plan a project that I can easily work on while we are not tuning up or playing. On Saturday I practiced my pipes for an hour, 30 min on pipes and 30 on chanter. The chanter looks like a recorder and has a double reed, just like the chanter on the pipes. Pipers learn the music on chanter and it all has to be memorized. Have you ever seen a piper with a music lyre? No, because there isn't anything to attach it to.

We also had rain all last night and throughout today. It is hard to believe that neighboring states and even other areas of our own state are experiencing drought conditions when we have had so much rain all summer. Everything looks very fresh and green, and yes, muddy too. I like rain because I hate drought. This summer has been unusual because we have had no drought the entire summer.