I took a needle felting class last Wednesday at Castle in the Air on 4th Street in Berkeley. I didn't know quite what to expect as I was sort of familiar with wet felting to pull fibers together, but not with the dry felting technique. We made a diorama with a mushroom, hedgehog and a little perch of grass. It was so much fun and a big thanks to Pamela for suggesting the class!

I'm having a hard time finding a local supply of roving wool to make more felted friends, so it seems I will need to do mail order.

Decadent Homemade Sunday Breakfast:
pancakes with chunks of peaches cooked in and syrup
soft boiled egg on top
slice of bacon
half a grapefruit
black tea with milk

We went away last weekend to celebrate saying our i do's 3 years ago. We stayed in Placerville which is in the sierra foothills south of Lake Tahoe. It was their annual art and wine festival on Saturday so there was a lot of drinking and cheese eating. We found a great goat cheese by Cypress Grove called purple haze: Lavender buds mixed with fennel pollen. We stayed at an historic hotel called the Cary House, where we've stayed before, but they've increased prices and discontinued their evening wine hour. Not sure if we'll stay there again.

On Sunday, we had a great old school german lunch at the St. Pauli Inn on Hwy 50. We both had pork wiener schnitzel with spaetzle and red cabbage. So delicious.

Went on a great hike and I took some great macro photos that will up soon on behindglass.org.

Also found a fantastic yarn store called Lofty Lou's. Highly recommended - good prices and friendly staff.

knitting update
My first scarf is finally complete after beginning it too wide, ripping it out, and adding in another yarn.
Orange Sherbert scarf is complete.
Seaweed: First time with cotton

I've been giving the crafty section of behindglass.org a bit of a face lift. I finished two scarves this past week and started two new ones:

Finished:
jam and tea
mermaid
thanks to erik for modeling! (he's got a bit of an iron and wine thing going on)


Started:
bubble yum
cup of cocoa

Dinner:
Tonight was gumbo with shrimp and chicken over rice

The other day we made a really nice smoked salmon tortellini pasta dish with corn, chard and parmesan in broth

I've sold scarf #2 ! ! thanks, g.

This past weekend I was inspired to break out my brushes and paints. I've always been intimidated by the permanence of painting and I don't know why; after all, I painted every DAY in kindergarten. I don't have the patience for detail so I decided to try just shapes with simple colors. So here's the puzzle cap painting. It's going right up in my office.

BehindGlass.org was updated this past weekend as well with a series of calla lily photographs taken over the past six months. Enjoy...

Dinner tonight:
Chicken fajitas with home made black beans and rice
side salad of cucumber, basil, oil and vinegar

I found some great yarns at a place on sutter street in san francisco called art fibers and just in time to move on to knitting project #3.

Rose scarf with alpaca and microfiber
I also purchased yarn for scarf # 4 which I think would be perfect for a mermaid in the British Isles.

Tonight we listed to a Prairie Home Companion while I made potstickers and peanut sauce for dinner and Erik made a chocolate sour cream cake.
We then watched the fireworks from our kitchen and over the top of our neighbor's house. It was the annual Celebration of the Straits in our little town on the water.

Tomorrow we're planning on harvesting all the seeds from the sunflowers we've been growing this summer.
There will also be a delivery of a freezer for the basement and I'm quite excited about filling it with overflow from the garden.