No More Beach Pictures

Ten days at the beach have left me with loads of pictures of beach life which are surely of more interest to me than anyone else. The rest are over at Flickr if you have not seen enough. This year we saw a metric ton of black skimmers. I did not notice them at all when I first started visiting Marco. The first time I saw them they were (to me, at least) a rare treat. I saw them off the beach at sunset and just off the seawall on Capri. This year they are everywhere. They prefer to fish at dawn and dusk when the fish are near the surface. The rest of the day they may fish a bit, but they also spend a lot of time standing around in a big mob on the beach, all birds facing into the wind. Marco has roped off some beach areas to protect the breeding areas used by the birds, and those who presumably are not incubating eggs are hanging out together near the tide line.

Last night I had the pleasure of Miss Vivian's company for a few hours while Mom and Dad took in a movie. She's walking now and while she's not a very fast walker yet she seldom resorts to crawling. I imagine this is because walking leaves both hands free for grabbing stuff. Grabbing stuff is her favorite hobby. In addition to the various opportunities presented by my ordinary household furnishings, I had purchased a couple of toys for her. There was also the dog, who presents almost endless opportunities for grabbing. They about evenly matched. Vivian wants to grab the dog's tail, which is not pleasing to Roxy. Roxy wants to lick Vivian on the face or steal her cookie. Vivian objects to both. The most exciting "toy" proved to be the pebbles in a saucer under one of my patio pots. picking them up, putting them down, passing them from hand to hand, giving them to me, and attempting to get them to her mouth was endlessly fascinating. More pictures, as always, in my Flickr gallery linked on the sidebar.


I'm nearly finished with the body of the blue baby blanket. It does have a deadline - the baby shower and the actual baby are nearly here. I'm hoping to knock it out in time to add a little amigurumi octopus to the gift. It will depend on how fast the border goes. It's not as simple as the body, and includes a picot edging which will be the test of my character. There is something about the last detail of a crochet project that tempts me to leave it off. But the mother-to-be is a very appreciative recipient who asked for a blanket. Katie Lynn is including blankets made by her mother and grandmother in the baby's "trousseau", so I know she will take good care of my contribution. She does beautiful counted cross stitch herself, and I want the gift to match her high standards. Next project up will be a filet crochet doily for a wedding ring pillow, another "heirloom" project to challenge me. The list just gets longer and longer...