Birding and Loving and Knitting, Oh My!

Yesterday we actually had a day that was warm enough to go out in shorts and sandals. We tried to go to one of our favourite birding spots - Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary - but it was closed. On closer investigation, we learned that due to a decrease in charitable contributions due to the economy and the fact that the 'wall' is to the north of it, thus cutting it off from the rest of the United States, people are less inclined to go there. It is very sad because it is home to many native species of plants and animals that reach the northernmost limit of their Mexican range here and do not occur elsewhere in the U.S.

Instead, we headed over the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) to look at the birds in the resaca (oxbow lake). I love the architecture of the university.

 

  

  

We saw a very determined golden-fronted woodpecker.

 

 

This black-crowned night heron was well hidden in this tree bent over the water. 

A great kiskadee. 

The anhinga (pictured) is related to the cormorant and is sometimes called the 'snake bird'.

 

On the other side of the resaca, we saw another black-crowned night heron.

  

And up in a tree was this great blue heron. I had never seen one so high up in a tree before. 

 

Some flowers are in bloom. This some kind of white Siberian iris.

 

And there are clumps of bird of paradise here and there. 

After we got back home, we went for a walk on the beach. It is our first beach walk since we got here. The purple flag was up indicating "venemous sea life" on the beach. We encountered several jelly fish (man-o-war?) with a diameter of about 30cm washed up on the beach.

This sand castle had just been completed by the artist.

 

  

We witnessed a wedding taking place at one of the beach resort hotels. It was right at the part of the ceremony where the groomsmen were assembling with the groom.

Continuing on our walk, I noticed a young man writing "Te quieres casarme?" (Will you marry me) in the sand. His sweetie was facing the other way out to the Gulf. We walked away from them, continuing to look back to see the goings on. He then pulled a ring box out of his tote bag and told her to turn around. He didn't get down on one knee but we did see her throw her arms around his neck when he gave her the ring. We continued walking and looked back one last time before leaving the beach and they were still hugging. It was really nice to see. I'm sure she'll remember this Valentine's Day for the rest of her life.

Back at home, I resumed my Olympic knitting.

I was thrilled that Alexandre Bilodeau won a gold for Canada - our first in any of the Olympic games we've hosted. I was bummed out not to see the flag ceremony as, not surprisingly, NBC doesn't care about our gold medal ceremonies. I hope to find it on the CTV website or YouTube sometime when I have a half-decent wireless Internet signal.

I should have the first mitten finished during this evening's Olympic highlight viewing.

Let the Games Begin!

During the opening ceremonies last night, I cast on my project for the 2010 Knitting Olympics. It is a pair of Annemor #16 mittens using  Jamieson & Smith 2 ply jumper weight yarn. One could say it is 'sticky' yarn.

(You will note from the photo that although we are in south Texas, I am wearing a woolen sweater as well as wool socks. We even had to put the heat on in the condo last night.)

The cast on and beginning of the Latvian braid is always a bit 'fiddly' but once the first braid was done, it moved along nicely.

 

This is the 6th pair of mittens I've knit from this book. I like how one can mix and match the different elements - cuffs, palms, backs, thumbs, etc. I haven't knit any gloves yet but simply modify the glove patterns for mittens.

I'm using the cuff design from Annemor #8 as I didn't particularly like the one on #16. I really like the palm pattern of #16, though. It kind of looks like cross-cross plaid. The Selbu star pattern on the back is more like a star and rose hybrid. 

Skip got a couple of pictures of the Beaumont tam now that is is blocked and wearable.

 

There is more than enough yarn to knit another one unless I can find a nifty scarf or neck warmer pattern that I like. The Mini Alpakka is so lovely and soft.

With respect to the opening ceremonies, I was impressed with all the performances except the version of "O! Canada" that was sung. I have a 'thing' about how it is performed. It is not a hymn nor a funeral dirge - it is an anthem - and should move along at a good clip. The French parts did pick up somewhat but when the singer (whoever she was) sang in English again - it dragged. I did like the performance of the Vice Regal Salute and LOVED Measha Breuggergosman's rendition of the Olympic Anthem. It is a very long and difficult musical number with a very wide range and she handled it brilliantly.

I'm thrilled Betty Fox was one of the flag bearers. And how nice for Barbara Ann Scott to have been involved as well.

I thought the presentation went very well, particularly all the electronic lighting  effects. The lighting of the cauldron, however, was an embarrassment. $30 million and it doesn't work ?! Sheesh. I did like the idea of Wayne Gretsky going through the streets to light the 'public' cauldron but it was rather anti-climactic somehow.

Generally, it was a very understated opening ceremony.

I sure hope we win a Gold Medal in something.

Today was sunny and much warmer - athough I'm still wearing jeans and a hoodie when we go out. It got up to 17C. We went birding at the Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. Photos will follow...

Tomorrow we hope to go to the Sabal Palm Audubon Refuge along the Rio Grande outside of Brownsville - weather permitting.

Pre-Olympic Activity

It isn't raining today, however, it is coolish and (as usual) windy. We're heading out for seafood and margaritas for lunch in a little while.

Who would have ever thought that I'd be wearing my purple cardigan almost daily here once I finished it?

I got the buttons on it yesterday (7/8") and the buttonholes were too big so  took a couple of plies of the purple yarn and made the buttonholes smaller. It still needs a proper blocking but that will have to wait until I return home.

I also finished the Brooklyn Tweed Beaumont tam last night.

Here, it's blocking on a dinner plate.

I have more than enough yarn to knit another one.












I am all set to start casting on my 2010 Knitting Olympics project - another pair of Selbu mittens. I'll have Skip take photos of me casting them on during the opening ceremonies this evening.

We haven't done a lot of outdoor things because it has been so darned cold and windy. We are pleased that we don't have to shovel anything and are amazed that although central and northeast US have had so much snow, there has hardly been any on the west coast of Canada and back at home.

On Monday, the one warm and sunny day we golfed at Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course. It is surrounded on three sides by the Rio Grande River and Mexico. On the holes at the periphery, we see the Border Patrol driving by at frequent intervals. This is a sign posted in the pro shop:

After our golf game, we decided to drive to Boca Chica Beach, the southernmost beach in south Texas, We drove and drove through sandy flatlands some of which are quite flooded because of the rain that has fallen here in the Rio Grande Valley. It makes for some good birdwatching. We saw a northern shrike, several great egrets, and osprey, and this crested caracara sitting on a yucca palm that is in bloom.

Tuesday was free breakfast Grand Slam day at Denny's so when we finally got  moving, we headed over there. Of course it was packed with Winter Texans, like us. We agreed to share a table so we'd get seated sooner and ended up sitting with a couple from Winnipeg. They have a mobile home in Weslaco and spend about 5 months there each winter. Grand Slams were all Denny's was serving so your only choice was how you wanted your eggs done and what you wanted to drink. Here was our bill:

 

Indeed the only things we were charged for were our drinks.  Of course, we tipped as if we'd paid for the Grand Slams. The servers did an excellent job of keeping things moving.

The Winnipeggers told us they were going to the Craft Show at the Convention Center so we decided to go, too - there wasn't anything else on our agenda.  The first thing I saw after paying my dollar for admission was a display of knock-off Pandora beads. They claimed they had actual Pandora bracelets but they, too, were clearly fakes. However some of the beads were cute and I bought several - both for me and for gifts.

That night, I started sewing the stars on my purple Icelandic Star sweater. It took several attempts before perfecting the technique, getting all aspects of the stars even as there were no specific instructions. Who would have ever thought embroidering a star would be so tricky? (Hint, go from one point to the adjacent point, each time coming up in the centre beside the previous strand of yarn).

Ta da!

I have decided NOT to stitch stars on the black band above nor on the sleeves or on the bottom band. Enough is enough.

Yesterday was another overcast day so after a seafood lunch we went to the Port Isabel Library. They have only two knitting books in their collection and one that I covet very much, Barbara G. Walker's "Treasury of Knitting Patterns" (c. 1968). The other book is Lily Chin's "The Urban Knitter". They also had one book in the Wallender series that Skip is currently reading - and the only book by that author. Over in the corner is a stuffed bobcat:

Grrrrrauuu!

I am progressing on the Brooklyn Tweed Beaumont tam. I'm using the colours of the beanie. The Mini Alpakka yarn is lovely and soft. 

Here are some closeups of the cuff and star on the  Wicked Witch Mittens (Annemor #10) that I've been knitting. I ran out of white yarn so won't be able to finish them until I get home.

That pretty much brings things up to date. Today it's pouring rain so we'll probably hit the library again - wheeee!

Wicked Witch Mitts

For Superbowl Sunday (23C this afternoon), I finished the first Wicked Witch Mitten. I call it that because I'm using KnitPicks Imagination alpaca sock yarn in the Wicked Witch colourway.

The pattern is Annemor #10 from the Selbuvotter book. It was a glove pattern that I modified to make mittens. The yarn is a wee bit thinner than regular sock yarn so it is snug, however I can stretch it out a bit when I block it.  I'll cast on the second mitten tomorrow.

During the Superbowl (YAY SAINTS, BTW) I also finished the little French Country cross-stitch project I started a day or two ago.

It was very easy and quick. I have two others at home (the Pumpkin and the Apple) that I'm now inspired to stitch up. I'm not sure how I'll finish them yet.

Yesterday after our outing, we stopped into the local grocery store, HEB, to pick up a few things. I remembered from some of my blog reading that there are some different flavours of Mexican KoolAid, hence different colours. They only had the regular Anglo KoolAid flavours but there was an actual Mexican product called 'Klass' and there was tamarindo flavour which would make a brown dye. So I grabbed a few packs. They were on sale for 4 for $1.

 The plan tomorrow is to go golfing at the Fort Brown Golf Course near the university. The golf  course is so far south, Mexico is to the west and my cell phone welcomes me to Mexico when I pull into the parking lot. It's actually right on the Rio Grande and at that point, the river makes a big bend to the south. If the big wall is ever built on the levee, it will be cut off from the US as the levee is also north of the golf course.  We also hope to go birding at Sabal Palm Audubon Centre and possibly over at Boca Chica beach where the elusive Tamaulipas crow is known to frequent.

C is for ...

I finished the purple 'Icelandic' cardigan last night and just need to find some appropriate buttons and embroider the stars.

I had a better photo but due to wretched Internet connectedness, I've settled on using this one.

Today was a beautiful sunny day. It started out cloudy but cleared by mid-morning so Skip and I beetled over to the birding centre on the Island to explore more of the boardwalks. We saw several white ibis, a northern harrier, yellow-rumped warblers, white and brown pelicans, blue-winged teal, pintail ducks, great egrets, white egrets, great blue herons, the black-crowned night heron, yellowlegs, killdeer, mallards, and an immature moorhen that we initially thought was a sora.  We also saw a little alligator. Of course, I forgot to bring my camera - one of these days I'll remember to get some pictures.

We had a delicious lunch at one of our favourite places on the island, Zeste. Then back to the condo to rest up.

For happy hour we went to the Quarterdeck bar at the Isla Grand Beach Resort. There was an unbelievably cheesy duo consisting of a husband and wife in their 70s. They had a karaoke machine. The wife pushed the buttons to bring up the tune and the husband sang Pat Boone style. I requested "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off" but we had to leave before they got to it. I looked around and realized, "Oh my God, I've become my parents!". It was exactly like a place they would have gone on a holiday to get cheap booze and hear music of their era. Except where we found it to be cheesy, they would have found it to be delightful. Sheesh!

'Happy Hour' consists of $2.50 frozen margaritas (I had 2) and $2 draft beers plus free snacks - crudites and meatballs. My former colleagues would have loved it. The 'snacks' ended up being our evening meal. Aside from the cheesiness, smoking (ugh) was allowed in the bar so it was a bit stinky.

After we got back to the condo, I started a cross-stitch project that I'd been wanting to do for a while. I forget when and where I bought the pattern. I got quite a bit done.

C is for ...Le Chat

I will start another knitting project tomorrow when I decide what it will be. Tomorrow will be another lovely, sunny day and we hope to get to the rodeo in Los Fresnos. It's expensive but hey - how often does one get to go to a real Texan rodeo?

A Rainy Day

We went birding here on the island yesterday morning at the new birding centre and saw a few cool species: the resident roseate spoonbills, some yellowlegs and lesser yellowlegs, a huge male mallard courting a female mottled duck, a black-crowned night heron, several great blue herons, a little blue heron, a tri-colour heron, a belted kingfisher, brown pelicans, a yellow-rumped warbler, a pintail duck, blue-winged teal, several white ibis, etc. There are 4,800 linear feet of boardwalks over the marshy area and along the Laguna Madre. Also, there are several blinds where benches, water fountains and laminated bird identification cards are there for birders' use.

I had left the camera in the car so didn't get any photos but I'm sure there will be lots of opportunity. The birding centre is only a couple of km up the island (we're staying in the southernmost building on the island) and we plan to visit there every day or so, so we purchased a monthly pass.

Tuesday seems to be a slow day on the island in February. We tried having lunch at several restaurants. One was closed on Tuesdays, two were closed for lunch, one - McDonalds - hadn't had their salads delivered yet and one had a huge lineup due to a Winter Texan festival that was going on the convention centre. We finally settled on Subway.

I finished the Kaffe Fassett hat and have continued working on the purple cardigan. I finished the second sleeve last night and have strted the yoke joining the sleeves to the body. I am two rows into the fair isle pattern on the yoke. It won't take too long to finish the body.

It is pouring rain here today so we're staying inside, resting, reading, knitting (me) and goofing around on the computer. The internet signal isn't strong enough for the Toshiba laptop so I'm using the little EeePC which seems to pick up the weaker signal more easily.