A rare day

We had some rain yesterday. A good soaker of the old fashioned kind. We have a long way to go to get to even a reasonable amount of rain for the year, but it finally feels like the dry has been broken. Mr. Needles and I were out a bit in the evening, him taking many beautiful photos of the yard, including these puddles, a rare sighting these days.
My photos are more mundane. I've been meaning to take a picture of the tiny spruce trees again, just to show you how they grow. Back in May I posted a picture of some tiny proto spruce trees growing in the mulched beds alongside the house. At the time they were mere budlets, but now they have achieved some height.

Another inch or so, and we can have some real fun with them. It is almost impossible to pull these wee treelets. On the cute scale, they rank high and this is the best, easiest time to move them if I were so inclined. The debate rages on. Do we weed, or move to a better spot to grow and flourish?


I also have a picture of one of natures wonders. Whenever it rains or stays moist for a day or so, in just a few places between the washed rocks along the edges of the driveway and parking pad, this slimacious goo appears.

It actually has a bit of a form. There are leaf shapes that can be seen, but usually, they can't be seen for long. It shows itself only on the rare days when it has rained some. I think it is a kind of liverwort, or other moss/lichen/liverwort like plant species but have never seen anything like it in photos.

I have wondered if it is a species which is trying to take over the world or defeat mankind by nefarious means, but no. It never spreads, has no odour and only appears when there is a certain amount of moisture. It's really quite mannerly. Just don't step on it. If you step on it, it rears its slimacious goo head, and will toss you to the ground like a leaf in autumn. Tread carefully where it lives and you will coexist quite cheerfully.

There has been knitting. I had the day off and managed to make it to my regular Tuesday group. It was lovely to see everybody again. I am down to the wire on the shawl. I am on the second last pattern row of the 4th repeat, and my yarn is leaving the ball at an appalling pace. After all the pattern repeats, there is an i-cord border for the top edges, and a picot cast off along the bottom (I may turn this to i-cord as well) that are going to need quite a bit of yarn. If I end with this 4th repeat, I will be fine for yarn, but no way will I make it if I keep knitting to end at row 50 of a fifth repeat. By this time tomorrow, I fully expect to be zipping along the outer edges.

I'm so close to the end, so close to done, I can hardly stand it. All this pent up energy is setting me up for a good start on the mystery shawl. This is one of the best times in knitting. it just is. Almost done, but dreaming of the next big thing. Dreaming of the next big thing.