Home Improvements - Front "Yard" Edition

Ok, so "yard" is a bit of a stretch, more like front SIDEWALK, but that's what you get when you live in a city. As I walk through my neighborhood, I am constantly looking at all of the plants and window boxes folks have out on the sidewalk and the front of the house. I have had window box envy ever since I moved into my house.

I finally called this guy in Jenkintown, Ed Wreen, who makes a lot of the window boxes you see in Fairmount. He came over and we discussed what would work best, and 2 weeks later I had these 2 beautiful wrought iron, made to order, window boxes.

Ed had a lot of designs on his webpage, but really, the ones that I liked the most were these simple ones in the neighborhood with "collars" on the posts. Ed had no problem making the boxes with these collars and I really like them. Unfortunately, Ed does not also provide the inserts for the boxes. I looked at some online and at the big box stores and decided I eventually want to build my own inserts later this summer. For now, I bought 6 already potted flower pots at Home Depot and placed them in the boxes. I think they look great!

What do you think?



Here's the whole look of my front "yard" from the street.

Home Improvements - backyard edition

Now that it is springtime, I have been (ok, my handyman has been) very busy making a few additions to my house. One of the first things on the list was to level out my backyard space. When the sellers replaced the water/sewer line to the street, they did not extend the pipe (and, the drain) to its original location in the center of the patio. Instead, they placed the drain in the corner where the walkway meets the large part of the patio. By doing this, the sellers sloped the patio so that the water would run down into the drain. That's fine, but the slope was such that I could only put my table and chairs in a certain location and the grill, which was placed at the most level part, was not level either. Hot dogs had to be placed a certain way so they didn't roll off the grill.

I spoke with my handyman about leveling and putting in pavers. He thought that would be more hassle than it was worth and suggested leveling the patio by adding a wooden platform/floor. This would allow any water to continue to flow toward the drain w/o all the hassles of digging up the back and messing w/ my a/c unit. The idea was to have the wooden planks flush against the highest part of the patio and then on pillars, or whatever they are, where it is above the current grade.

Below are 2 progress pictures where you can see how the 2x4s were placed and how high the platform is at the deepest part of the patio by the drain. Sorry for the poor picture quality. The camera on my blackberry is shot from being tossed around in my purse.



In the picture above, you can see how the beams are flush against the far side of the patio. However, in the picture below, you can see just how sloped the patio was.



The platform/deck was finished a couple weeks ago and I am sooooooo happy! How great it is to sit at my table in the middle of the patio! I could not do that before w/o wobbling. My plants are also no longer sloped. It is so nice!





The next step will be to add some planters and/or a bench w/ storage. We'll talk more about this in the next couple weeks. Once those are added, we plan to stain the whole thing to match the wood coloring on the fence. I was also thinking it would be cool to add a partial percola, but I'm not sure if that would work. It might block some of the sun coming in my windows, and I don't want that.

It is so nice to site out there now. My neighbor, who actually grew up in my house, has already told me that she is jealous and wants one for herself.

For now, I'll stick w/ the little bistro table and chair set I found on craigslist last year. Next year, I'll buy something different, maybe a little table w/ an umbrella? I was eyeing a cute little set at Target, but not sure if it's in the cards to purchase this year.

Updates

Mmmm, seems I've been neglecting things again. Before I left for Costa Rica, I finished the Dipped Infinity Scarf, which seems to be all the rage lately. I bought my yarn from Black Bunny Fibers, which Carol dyed in a beautiful Oceana colorway.



As much as I loved it, I thought it would make a great birthday present for my sister. As I expected, she LOVED it and wouldn't take it off all weekend, even though it was pushing 90 degrees outside. Here I am modeling it just after I finished it:



Just before I left for Costa Rica, I started my first ever Pi Shawl, by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I decided to be very basic (since it was my traveling project) and do the concentric circles version of the pattern. I had a bitch of a time getting it started b/c I don't crochet and the cast on required the use of my left hand, which is basically useless. Here's a picture of it as I was just getting started.





I am making it out of Madeline Tosh Prairie, in this gorgeous Moss colorway.

I know I owe some pictures from Costa Rica. I ran out space on the account and have figured out how to add pictures (from flikr) w/o exceeding my space limit. I'll add pics to the original posts soon.

It . . . Is . . . Done!

Two years and 36 squares later . . . .

I would post more pictures but it appears I've reached my capacity. Not sure if that's capacity for the month or capacity in general. Oops.

Home

I'm not back 24 hours and already I'm missing Costa Rica. It was such a great trip!

Is this heaven?

Kevin Costner's dad in Field of Dreams thought that heaven was was a baseball diamond in the cornfields of Iowa, but I know he's wrong. Heaven is Tabacon in Costa Rica. 

The various hot spring pools are so relaxing. The waterfalls act as massages. You just go from pool to pool to pool and then maybe into a cool pool before heading back to a hot pool.

They also have a gorgeous spa where your services are performed in outdoor open air huts in a jungle setting. So nice.  

It is so hard to leave here and the relaxing pools, but now we are waiting to board our bus for the long ride back to San Jose. :(

Another one bites the dust

What do I mean you ask? Well, you can cross off another fear of heights issue that has been conquered. First it was hot air ballooning, then it was the zipline, and now it is horseback riding!  Last time I was on a horse I was 6 and freaked out when it started moving. Since then I've been afraid to get back on one. Its the whole loss of control issue. I was really nervous and wanted smack one of the guys on my trip for making all these jokes while I tried to prepare myself. It was scary getting on, but once on and a few feet under my belt I caught on and had fun. My horse's name was patas blancas or white feet b/c she had 4 white feet.  We rode for about an hour and then were to hike down a waterfall but I wimped out half way down due to a cold I had that had moved into my lungs. The steps back up would have been too strenuous on my sick lungs. Afterwards we rode back and has lunch in town. 

The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent at the hot springs at Tabacon. Heaven!

Monteverde to Arenal

Yesterday, we boarded our bus again for Arenal and the Tabacon Resort. However, before we left we managed to get in a quick hike. I was sad to leave but was excited about our next location.  The bus ride was another 4.5 hour ride thru narrow, windy and dusty roads thru the dry tropical forest back into the wet tropical Forest. 

There are many treats here, but the first is the Arenal Volcano. It is an active volcano that is one of the few in the world, if not the only one, that is perfectly conical in shape. Our first glimpse of the volcano was from the side of the road at the other end of Arenal Lake, which is a man-made lake. We were so excited that it was a clear day and that the entire cone was visible. Apparently there have been times where months can go by and the volcano cone cannot be seen. So of course we stopped for photos before proceeding along the road around Lake Arenal. At the end of the lake was a damn that provided perfect picture opportunities at the end of the day as the clouds began to gather round. 

The next stop was Tabacon. For those that have never of this place, Tabacon is a resort nestled on top of numerous hot springs.  The hot springs have been carved into beautiful rivers, pools and waterfalls of varying size, depth and temperature. It is a tropical paradise. We had  very expensive dinner at the hotel and then made it to the hot springs with a half hour to spare before they closed for the night. It may have been a short time but it was heaven. My favorite so far is sitting under the waterfall while the water pounds on your back and shoulders. 

Weeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Today was frigging awesome! Definitely the best day of the trip so far!  

First of all, we are in Monteverde which is a cloud forest in Costa Rica. We are about 4500 feet above sea level. Our hotel, El Establo, is on 119 acres of land, including primary forest with lots of trails the views go all the way down to the gulf of nicoya. 

This morning we got up early and headed into the Monteverde Biological Cloud Forest Reserve for a hike and then zip line adventure. I thought we would do the hike first and then the zip line but things changed quickly and the next thing I knew I was strapped into a harness. We did a trial run first at the bottom of the mountain and then took the sky tram up. 

At the bottom it was overcast and a little misty from the clouds but as we climbed the mountain on the tram, we went into the clouds. It was so cool!  Waiting on the platform for the first real run up there was cold, windy and damp in the clouds.  I felt pretty good after the practice run, but I was pretty scared on the first run. There was nothing around you bur the trees and the birds.  About midway thru I began to panic a bit, but managed to get thru it. I'd say that by the 3rd or 4th cable I was getting into the groove and started really looking around at the scenery around me. I am so proud of myself for doing this and not chickenpox out. Everyone in our group did it, which I did not think would happen. There were 9 cables all together averaging 1300 feet, with the longest being 2460 feet long. 

After the zip line we took a 1+ hour hike thru the cloud forest and over a series of 5 cable suspension bridges. We had a guide with is who pointed out different wildlife and fauna. We saw howler monkeys, different birds, a tarantula (couldn't look at it) and the most elusive bird in the world, the quetzal. Apparently it is the most famous resident ofthe cloud forest.  The quetzal is the size of a robin with green iridescent wings and a ruby red breast. The bird is a rare siting b/c of habitat destruction.   Daniel, our guide for the week, was so excited that he saw the quetzal. He said that he's only seen the quetzal 5-6 times in the past 10 years and he is up in Monteverde a good 6-7 times a year with different groups. To see how excited he was emphasizes how rare the siting is and how amazing it is that we saw the bird. I got some amazing pictures of it with my new lens. The quetzal we saw had three long feathers extending down from the body. Daniel says that you can tell the bird was a male b/c only male get those long feathers during mating season. I'm not a birder, but it's pretty exciting to see a bird that most people don't get a chance to see. 

It was pretty hard to top the morning we had, so after lunch I just went into town and walked around for a bit. For dinner, a group of us went to the Tree House restaurant for dinner. It's a restaurant in town that was built around a large fig tree. It's as if you are eating in a treehouse. Kind of cool. 

It really is hard to top today. However, I've been told that Tabacon, the resort we are staying at, and canyoning could possibly top it.  I love Monteverde.  The weather here is great. Not too hot and not too cold. It's dry so you are not percolating sweat just standing outside as I did in Manuel Antonio. The weather, and of course the scenery, remind me of Aspen or Vail in the summertime. How could you not love it!  I wish we had another day or two here, but it's time to go to our last major stop on our trip. 

On our way to Monteverde

Today we left the hotel parador and Manuel Antonio national park for a 4+ hour trek to Monteverde and the cloud forest. 

Before leaving this morning, I got up early (well, early for me) hoping to see some more monkeys before we left. I walked around the grounds of the hotel, and then on the monkey trail down the cliff a bit. Sadly, I didn't see anymore monkeys but I did see some other birds and took lots of great pics of plants and flowers with raindrops on them. 

We left manuel antonio and took the road up the coast.  We stopped in Jaco for some ice cream. There was also a Jewish kosher store in town. Very random. Jaco is know as a  transition area from the wet tropical forest in quepos to a dry tropical forest with deciduous trees.  It really is amazing how dry it is here compared to where we were. We then went thru Tarcoles and over the crocodile bridge. We looked, but there were no crocodiles out. We really lucked out the other day.

After tarcoles we got nack on the new highway and went thru the port town of punta arenas on the gulf of nicoya. We then turned onto the pan American highway which stretches from Alaska down to Patagonia. At this point we were about 5 hours south of the Nicaraguan border.  

We stopped for lunch at caballo blanco around Miramar and had some great arroz con pollo. 

After lunch, we turned off the pan american highway and proceeded up the windy and bumpy road to Monteverde.    From where we had lunch near miramar to Monteverde it is only 15-20 km, but it took us a couple hours due to the road conditions.  Apparently the road had been "scraped" a week ago (?) so we made better time than our guide anticipated.  At times I was afraid we would go over the side of the road because the road was so narrow.  As scary as it was it was a beautiful ride. We climbed from sea level to 4500 feet in 15-20 km.  All along we had views of mountains down to the gulf of nicoya. 

Our hotel is amazing. It is on the side of a mountain with buildings climbing up the side. We were the fifth building up and the views are fabulous. The rooms are also great. My roomate and I are in a corner room with 2 king beds and view to die for. 

I took a quick walk after checking in and dropping off my bags and went a little ways into town. I stopped at a craft store and found a really cool piece of mango wood that was shows in a unique way and painted. The artist is from Monteverde and only sells her work out of this shop. I'll have to post a picture when I get home. 

Early day tomorrow. We'll be going over a bunch of suspension bridges and then going on a zip line tour thru the canopy! So cool, yet so scary. 

Sunny days!

That's right. I hope I'm not jinxing myself by saying that today is the first afternoon it hasn't rained, I mean poured. As I type this I am sitting by the pool under an umbrella enjoying the afternoon. Some folks went on an ATV excursion and some went sea kayaking. I would have done that but after my hydration issues yesterday i thought it was good idea to chill out today by the pool. 

This morning we were out by 7am for a boat ride thru the Damas Island Estuary. However, b/c we were up so early we were treated to some squirrel monkeys out early in the trees around our hotel.  

Once on the boat we saw A lot of wildlife on the ride:

Great blue herons
White ibis
Rosette spoonbills
Snowy egrets
Grey egrets
Tiger face crabs
Silky anteater
Lesser white-lined bat
Green-backed heron
Yellow and orange breasted tiger herons

The Damas Island is made up of different variations of mangrove trees (red, black, pineapple, etc). The roots of the trees and how they grow were fascinating.  It was so relaxing just cruising thru the canals. 

-----------

So, I said earlier that it was a beautiful afternoon but that changed a few hours after I lasted started writing. The plan had been to go to the Anaconda Bar for monkey happy hour around 4pm. At that time there's a ton of monkeys swinging by on their way home for the day. Well, I did jinx us. It started to rain about an hour before we left. We figured it would stop after an hour or so.

It didn't. 

In fact, it was the most insane downpour I've seen in a long time. At first it looked like it was going to let up but then the skies just opened up for the next four hours like it hadn't rained in a year. It was almost like a hurricane rain w/o the wind. As much as I wanted to see all the monkeys, seeing a true rainforest deluge was pretty damn cool! 

I got some great shots and movies from the rain. When I get home I'll upload a video of the storm. 

Treking Thru the Rainforest

Today we went into Manuel Antonio National Park, which is a tropicL rainforest. We lucked out this morning w/ blue skies and sun. By 1pm the rain rolled in just as some of us got back. Before we got to the park and had barely left the hotel, we were off the bus looking at a 3-toed sloth in the trees.

At the park we went on a short, but long, walk w/ our guide and naturalist pointing out wildlife in the trees we would have easily missed. The was a bat that could only be seen through a scope. The naturalist kept looking for tree frogs but we never did find one. There were just so many different trees and plants, it was beautiful. We were a large group which was tough when everyone was trying to see thru the scope. At the end of the walk we were at Playa Manuel Antonio which had beautiful ocean views. A few stayed on the beach but most of split into 2 smaller groups to hike into Punta Catedral. I figured this should be a nice walk around the peninsula like the first walk but I was wrong. It ended up being a very strenuous hike up and down and up and down steep slopes. Some of the steps were so high that my legs almost couldn't reach that far.

As strenuous as the hike was, I'm so glad I did it. We saw a two-toed sloth, a helmet head iguana, and lots of monkeys. The monkeys were so interested in whether we had food or not that they were coming right up to us. One monkey held onto my shoe for a bit while it surveyed the scene. The only problem with the hike was that the humidity was so high that iwas was sweating buckets of water w/o even moving, so that I was poison tons of water and obviously not drinkng enough. I started to feel queasy and chilled which meant that I was getting dehydrated. Luckily there were guys selling coconuts at the end b/c Vickie water is great for electrolyte replenishment.

I had the option to stay at the beach after lunch but figured it made more sense to head back to the room and replenish. We had some afternoon storms before I wentto the pool to hamg out w/ folks and throw a football around.

For dinner we all went to El Avion, a restaurant on the cliffs that has a former Nicaraguan airplane bomber in the restUrant. We are talking a full size real bomber that now has a bar inside it while folks eat upstairs. It was a neat place and the food was good.





White-throated capuchin aka Whiteface monkey
Helmet head iguana

Monkeys, macaws and crocs, Oh My!

My latest trip takes me to Costa Rica where I'll get to see the rainforest and the cloud forest as well as an active volcano. Today was our first full day and it was a long one. We took a short tour around San Jose and then hopped on the bus for a looooong bus ride down to Manuel Antonio National Park.

We drove down the "new highway" to the coast and stopped at a few spots along the way. The first stop was in Oratino which is the heart of where much of the fruit is produced. The sign in town says "ciudad de las frutas" which means city of fruit. We stopped and learned about some of the native fruits to CR an tried some of them: guavana, chayote and a cashew fruit. Some were very tasty while others left your mouth feeling like all the moisture had been sucked out.

Along the road to Jaco our guide pointed out wildlife and told us more about CR. In Tarcoles we stopped on the outskirts of the Carara National Park to see the crocodiles bathing in the sun in the Tarcoles River. We saw at least 20 of them just chilling out on the sand beds. We then drove through Jaco and Playa Hermosa on the lookout for scarlet macaws which are commonly found in the area. We tried one spot where you normally see them, but no such luck. It wasn't until we were near Parrita that the bus suddenly pulled over and we hit the jackpot. There had to be close to 10 scarlet macaws in the tree. Absolutely beautiful. I broke out my new 70-300mm lens and got some great pictures!

We then stopped for a quick lunch (at 3pm) in Quepos and then made our way up the switchback road to the Parador Hotel in Manuel Antonio National Park. On our way into the park we saw several squirrel monkeys jumping thru the trees.

The hotel is beautiful. It's on a bluff overlooking the pacific with overwhelming vegetation. We were not fortunate enough to have a sunset tonight b/c it is raining off and on. Guess that is what happens when you go to the rainforest.

I'm off to dinner. Will try to update again tomorrow.

Monkeys, macaws and crocs, Oh My!

My latest trip takes me to Costa Rica where I'll get to see the rainforest and the cloud forest as well as an active volcano. Today was our first full day and it was a long one. We took a short tour around San Jose and then hopped on the bus for a looooong bus ride down to Manuel Antonio National Park.

We drove down the "new highway" to the coast and stopped at a few spots along the way. The first stop was in Oratino which is the heart of where much if the fruit is produced. The sign in town says "ciudad de las frutas" which means city of fruit. We stopped and learned about some of the native fruits to CR an tried some of them: guavana, chayote and a cashew fruit. Some were very tasty while others left your mouth feeling like all the moisture had been sucked out.

Along the road to Jaco our guide pointed out wildlife and fold us more about CR. In Tarcoles we stopped on the outskirts of the Carara National Park to see the crocodiles bathing in the sun In the Tarcoles River. We saw at least 20 o them just chilling out on the sand beds. We drove through Jaco and Playa Hermosa on the lookout for scarlet macaws which are commonly found in the area. We tried one spot where you normally see them, but no such luck. It wasn't until we were near Parrita that the bus suddenly pulled over and we hit the jackpot. There had to be close to 10 scarlet macaws in the tree. Absolutely beautiful. I broke out my new 70-300mm lens and got some great pictures!

We then stopped for a quick lunch (at 3pm) in Quepos and then made our way up the switchback road to the Parador Hotel in Manuel Antonio Park. On our way into the park we saw several squirrel monkeys jumping thru the trees.

The hotel is beautiful. It's on a bluff overlooking the pacific with overwhelming vegetation. We were not fortunate enough to have a sunset tonight b/c it is raining off and on. Guess that is what happens when you go to the rainforest.

I'm off to dinner. Will try to update again tomorrow.

Hello Again

I've been busy the past couple months with a number of projects. In January I went to the Vogue Knitting event in NYC and picked up this neat fishnet yarn. It's Flamenco from Trendsetter Yarns. I just "cast on" 10 stitches and knit it up in garter stitch. Fluff it out and you've got this neat ruffled, lacey scarf.



As much as I've been enjoying knitting tops, I've decided to take a hiatus and knit some other things. These socks below were my first attempt at knitting 2 socks at a time. It seemed to take longer to see a finished sock, but when I was done, I was DONE. No second sock syndrome here! These socks are a basic 3x1 rib in Jojoland's Melody.



I also finished a Dipped Infinity Scarf in Black Bunny Fibers' Merino/Bamboo blend. I haven't taken pictures yet, but will post them in my next post.

Finally, the HUGE project I've been working on this winter (and last winter) is my Noro Log Cabin Blanket. This has been a labor of addiction and love. I knit THIRTY-SIX log cabin squares in 36 different colorways of Noro's Kureyon. I then started knitting the squares together with Cascade 220. In the picture below, I think I had 4 of the 6 strips put together.



This is almost done now. I'm working on the border as we speak. The next pictures I'll post will be the finished product. I can't wait. The sad thing is the log cabin squares are so addictive (and portable) that I'm going through some sort of withdrawal and want to knit another one! I need an intervention!!!!!

Blogging Hiatus

Wow, I can't believe the last time I posted was back in June. Seems so long ago, especially w/ the weather we've been having. The problem with Facebook and Ravelry are that I can post what's going on there, so I forget to also post here. Well, although I haven't been posting on the blog, I have been productive.

In the early summer, I finished these socks, made out of Sundara's sock yarn. LOVE the yarn. The pattern is Nutkin.




Early in the fall, I took a trip to Santa Fe for bankruptcy conference. While there, I needed a mindless knitting project to get me through the sessions. I had a bunch of DIC Smooshy in Good Luck Jade and decided I had to make a Clapotis out of it. Below is the finished project. It really came out great and I get lots of compliments on it.




This year, I was determined to make a matching hat and scarf set for myself. Every year I plan to do it, but end up with a random scarf and a random hat. I bought this Pear Tree 12ply in Grass on clearance at Rosie's. I just loved the color. Wanted to make a bulky scarf and settled on Norah Gaughan's Here and There Scarf pattern. Too bad there wasn't a matching hat pattern for it. I finally found it in Interweave's Weekend Knits collection. The hat is called Bryony and kind of has that same here and there feel to the cables. Let me tell you, with the crazy cold winter we've been having, this scarf has been heaven!




I was also determined to make some sweaters this year. The first I made was the Mondo Cable Pulli out of Manos del Uruguay's Rittenhouse Merino. Gorgeous color and it is so soft to wear next to your skin. Unfortunately, my office is an office so I can't really wear it to work. :(




The next sweater I made was the Effortless Cardigan, by Hannah Fettig. I made her Whisper Cardigan this summer, but don't have a good picture to post yet. This cardigan is made out of Manos' Silk Blend.




Finally, I made a couple hats out of some leftover Pear Tree 12ply for my sister and my oldest niece, who was in need of a new hat from me. For my sister, I made her the Bryony hat to go w/ a Pebble Neck Scarf I made her last year. For my niece, I made the Bridget hat in the same yarn. She looks so cute in the pompoms.




I worked on some other projects this year that I don't have pictures for. Currently, I'm trying to finish up my Noro Log Cabin Blanket. I had planned to make only 20 squares (4x5), but then expanded it to 25 (5x5). I still had colorways I wanted to use, so I upped it to 30 squares (5x6). I thought I was going to finish this weekend and begin the long, arduous process of putting it all together, but I still had a couple more balls and decided to up it to 36 squares (6x6)!!!! I am insane. It looks like I will be putting it on my guest room bed, which means I really do need to get a new comforter - a neutral one that won't take away from the blanket. I may also need to paint the room too. Sigh. More projects, right?