America the Beautiful

Happy Fourth of July, my dear readers!

I hope you're having a lovely Independence Day. I thought for this special holiday in our country I show you some of my favorite places in the US that I have visited so far. More than words these pictures show why and how I love this country - for its beauty and wildness.

This is a very photo-heavy post, so I won't say anymore and leave you with these impressions. Enjoy.

Mount Denali, Alaska

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Arches National Park, Utah

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Boulder, Colorado

Bryce National Park, Utah

Our stunning California coast

Canyonlands National Park, the Needles District, Utah

Eastern Sierra, California

Grand Canyon North Rim, Arizona

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Maine

Mendocino, California

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Mono Lake, California

Monument Valley, Arizona

Oregon Coast

The prairie, South Dakota

Saguaro National Park, Arizona

San Francisco, California

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Sedona and the Red Rock Country, Arizona

Highway 12 from Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon, Utah

Valley of Fire, Nevada

Valley of the Gods, Utah

White Sand National Monument, New Mexico

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Yosemite National Park, California

Zion National Park, Utah

What are some of your favorite places?

Breezy Ocean Sweater

While browsing Pinterest for knitting patterns one day, I came across "Jessie's Girl" for a lovely, light weight sweater that would be perfect for summer. Kaefer liked it at once and after mentioning that I would love to knit it up for her, she told me I could choose the yarn and the colors. I went to my favorite yarn store and found a gorgeous 47% linen and 53% cotton blend called Good Earth Adorn in the color "Breeze" (304). The colors remind me of the ocean and I was certain that it would compliment Kaefer's complexion perfectly.

The pattern was easy and straight forward, and with my Knitter's Pride Dreamz wood needles (my favorite knitting needles) I happily knitted along. The sweater knitted up quickly and was no problem to create while watching movies and/or chatting with friends. It was done in no time at all. While knitting it I already thought that it was rather big. Just in case I didn't weave in the ends because I had that odd feeling that I might have to unravel it...

And indeed! When Kaefer tried it on, it was beautiful, but just too large for her small frame (I had followed the pattern for the smallest size to the T). My gauge was correct, I knew that from the swatch I made before starting out.

So I unraveled the entire sweater and started over again.

The sweater is intended to be oversize, so I had to keep that in mind when I counted out my new number of stitches and figured out the math how to do the neck opening. Since I had less stitches the second time around the sweater knitted up even faster, and I already knew where I had to pay special attention. Again, I didn't weave in any ends until I was sure that the sweater would fit Kaefer.

And it did. We were both really happy with the final result. I still have some yarn left over and am trying to come up with something else to knit - probably some doll clothes.

*****

At the beginning of June I was interviewed by the lovely Emma Kay from Katoomba in New South Wales, Australia, for the Rainbow Artists Team on Etsy. I enjoyed answering all her questions and to finally see the entire interview on the Rainbow Artists blog. If you want to read it, you can find it here.

Orange And Purple

Now that graduation is long over, summer has turned into a wonderful carefree time. This is the first summer in four or five years that Kaefer doesn't have any kind of homework. The only thing she has to worry about at the moment is to figure out how to decorate her dorm room at UC Davis.

Last week we met up with Kaefer's friend Becca and my friend Jeanne (Becca's mom). We just wanted to do breakfast together, but while we were eating the most delicious food we got this idea that we could check out Bed Bath and Beyond for some dorm items - like Twin XL bedding.

After having researched all the bedding (and other items) we ended up in the beauty isle and the girls looked at all the hair coloring boxes. Kaefer had talked for some time about dying her hair reddish or orange, and after Becca chose purple for her hair we went home and started the hair dying party!

The top picture was the last photo taken of the girls with their natural hair color.

Then Jeanne and I put on aprons and gloves and started the dying process.

It does look a bit scary when the new color pops out of the bottle!

It took quite some time to cover all the long hair of our girls, and we first thought the content of the bottle would run out before, but it was more than enough! We piled their hair up and left them in the bathroom while we had a wonderful refreshing drink of Bellini.

After 25 minutes the girls were able to wash and rinse their hair - that took a long time as well!

However, the result is quite beautiful.

From the side you can see the difference in their hair. Orange and purple. Or shall I say carrot and eggplant?

They have been very happy with their new look. It was a lovely mother/daughter thing to do together with good friends. We laughed so much that day - I will remember it for quite a long time.

Squirrel Fence

During our trip along the Oregon Coast last summer, we saw this cute squirrel close to the Oregon Dunes. It seemed completely confident around people (I'm afraid some visitors feed it), but still kept a safe distance to us.

It sat on this fence for quite a while - maybe it even enjoyed the attention by the photographers, who knows?

It groomed and stared into space, having all the time in the world. Until finally it got bored and hopped away, up into a tree from where it looked down on us.

Since there is a fence involved, I'm linking this post to Theresa's "Good Fences".

The Graduate

Last Friday, on the hottest day in the week, our daughter graduated from High School. The commencement ceremony was at 5:30 in the afternoon. Thankfully for everybody who attended, especially the graduates who had to sit in the sun in their hot gowns with absolutely no shade (at least they had bottles of water under their seats), the ceremony only lasted for 75 minutes with short but very good speeches from the graduates, the principal and the superintendent.

The school symphonic and concert bands played "Pomp and Circumstance" when the graduates marched in on the field.

The Jazz Choir sang several times that evening - this was the last time for the graduates who were members of this excellent, award winning school choir.

Every graduate - more than 400, the biggest class the school had so far - had his or her special moment when s/he was called on the stage. It definitely was very special for the attending families.

I did feel proud when Kaefer's name was called and she went up on the stage. She had worked so hard over the past four years. Not only has she earned her high school diploma, but she graduated Summa Cum Laude, has become a California Federation Life Member and received the California State Seal of Biliteracy (these are all the "decorations" around her neck).

After the crossing of the tassel which represents the transition from being a student to being a graduate, the students - sorry, the graduates! - tossed their caps in the air.

That was the end of the official ceremony. After that it was photo time!!

The proud graduate and her friends (and her calculus teacher).

They weren't allowed to decorate their cap before the ceremony, but afterwards nothing could hold them back! They loved to show the college they would go to.

And her parents? They were proud as well - even though this milestone is bittersweet at the same time. However, there were no tears - but a lot of happy smiles.

A couple days before graduation, when the 'kids' brought home their cap and gown, Kaefer and I took the opportunity to take some cap and gown photos. 

 

But graduate or not - the goofiness is still there, the soul of a child wants to play or at least swing and fly through the air - soar, my graduate!!

I do love this girl so much!