Andrew at the Eben Ice Cave

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day.  And it was somewhat warm, with temperatures in the mid-20′s.  This felt like a heat wave after several days earlier in the week when the temperature barely struggled to five degrees!

Of course, any time it warms up during the winter, any red-blooded Yooper will find something to do outdoors.  Since the last adventure Andrew and me had was in October (when we climbed Hogback Mountain and visited the Lily Pond), we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go to visit the Eben Ice Cave.

This is a little waterfall in the summer, but it freezes into spectacular walls of ice in the winter months.  We’d been hearing about it since we moved here two years ago, so off we went!

Footbridge over creek - Eben Ice Cave

It’s a bit of a trek to get there; you have to drive down to Eben, a little town about 30 miles southwest of Marquette.  Then you hike in.  The walk itself is gorgeous, through the winter woods.  This little footbridge is part of the trail.

View of small waterfall from footbridge

The last part of the trail was up and down.  We both had our ice grippers on our boots, and it was a good thing we did.  It was SLICK!  I slid down a couple of spots on my bottom.

Just before you get to the ice cave, the trail is VERY steep and slippery.  Add at least 75 people into the mix, and a half dozen dogs, and it was pretty exciting, with dogs and kids running and sliding everywhere.

Click on the pictures to make them bigger.  If you click twice, they get much larger, so you can see the details.

A frozen waterfall is a spectacular sight.  If you ever make it up the UP during the winter, don’t miss it!

Andrew in front of the ice cave.

Me standing by the entrance to the ice cave

Andrew inside the ice cave. You can walk completely behind the ice and come out on the other side. I chickened out, as there was a sheet of ice on the floor. (Ha, he looks like an alien with those glowing eyes!)

Giant icicles by the entrance to the ice cave. You can see where the water froze as it ran down.

Waterlily leaves floating in the water

This is the time of winter when you think it’s NEVER going to get warm again.  Summer’s warmth seems like a distant memory as the wind howls, the temperature sinks to single digits, and the snow flies past the window… This picture I took last fall is a reminder that warmer days will return, and sooner than I think.

Just got off the phone with my mom.  Yesterday was her 90th birthday.  She lives in Florida with my sister, Sue, and my brother-in-law, Chip.  Chip is getting rid of their land line, so my mom now has her own cell phone, and her very own phone number.  She was so cute, describing how Chip had put my phone number into her phone, and all she had to do was push a  button, and it would scroll to my number, and she could call me just like that!

Poor Mom, she wanted to give me her new phone number, but I told her I had caller ID, and I’d get her new number off my phone.  She wasn’t too sure about that, but I finally convinced her it would work just fine (and it did).

It’s funny, I spend so much time online goofing around with my blogs, and writing articles, that sometimes I forget  how much I’ve managed to learn in the past few years.  But I guess I’m still a bit technologically challenged, too.  My cell phone is a TracPhone, which I’m perfectly happy with.  I don’t text, or do instant messages, or have a data plan on my cell phone, so I guess I’m still living in the stone age as far as that goes!

I’m taking a freelance writing course online, so I spent the morning working on setting up my website for my writing business.  (You can check it out at DarleneNorris.com, if you want, although there’s not much on it yet, other than my resume.)  I was checking my links to make sure they all worked, and discovered that one of my blogs was down.  Sigh.  I deleted a bunch of old stuff the other day, and apparently deleted a little too much!

Oh well, I wanted to update it anyway.  So I had to get busy and get it back up, since that particular site is a pretty good money-maker for me.  It’s up and running again now, although it still needs a little tweaking.  But since my brain is pretty much mush right now, I think that’s a chore for either tonight or tomorrow.

Haven’t done a lot of weaving lately.  I finally finished up the burgundy shawl, and it’s off the loom.  The fringe is twisted on one end, but I still have to do the other end.  It’ll get done in the next few days, hopefully.  It’s flung over the back of the rocking chair in the living room, so it can remind me that it’s still not done.  Soon, soon.

Waves crashing into the rocks at Picnic Rocks

It’s been snowing on and off all day, but I decided to go for a quick walk this afternoon.  I tend to hibernate indoors during the winter months, so I have to force myself outside sometimes.

I’m checking my neighbor’s house every day while she’s out of town just to make sure her furnace is still working.  (It went out on her a couple years back, and her pipes nearly froze before she got home.)  While I was out there, I did some strategic shoveling so Andrew would have a path to the garage if he needed something out there.  It was quite pleasant outdoors, so I grabbed my camera, and off I went.

The wind always blows harder by the lake, and it was blowing pretty hard out there today.  It certainly was NOT pleasant over there!

Wind blowing snow across the bike path

I wandered down the bike path, with the wind howling at my back.  This almost looks like a black and white picture, except for the red poles they put up so they’d know where to plow when the snow gets deep.  The round things are tires, part of some playground equipment.  If you click on the picture, you can enlarge it so you can see the waves on Lake Superior in the background.

My hands were freezing, but I wanted to get the last picture of the Marquette Lighthouse off in the distance.  It was snowing pretty hard by then.  I snapped it quick and got my gloves back on.  Just in that short amount of time, my hands were numb.  It took quite a bit of moving them around inside my gloves to get them warmed up again.

Marquette lighthouse with waves in foreground

The wind dropped off as I moved away from the shore, so I wandered down the bike path a little ways.  It was tempting to take my usual walk, but I was worried about walking into the wind on the way home, so I cut it short.  Good choice, as I was ready to go into my nice warm house when I got home.  But I enjoyed my adventure out in the snowstorm.

This didn’t quite happen in Marquette, but it’s reasonably close…

Kid Rock came up to the Upper Peninsula last fall to shoot a video. I finally got around to watching it tonight. Great song, and even better, it features the Pictured Rocks, over by Munising, which is about 40 miles from here. Lake Superior really is that beautiful turquoise color. After seeing this, you’ll understand why I fell in love with the Lake and the UP the first time I ever came up here.

Ice on rocks with Upper Harbor ore dock in background. You can see a house at the left. I've always loved it and wished I lived there, but I'll bet it's scary when the waves get big!

As much as I love living in the UP, sometimes it can be a bit challenging in the winter months.  Storms blow through on a regular basis, dumping loads of snow.  The latest, a couple of weeks ago, was a doozy even by UP standards, with high winds and big waves for days on end, along with lake effect snow that just wouldn’t stop for nearly a week.

But then the sun comes out, and you get a few mild days so you can get out and go for a walk.  And then you find out again why you live here.

The Big Lake magically changes from a sullen gray to a sparkling blue.  The sun glints off thousands of ice crystals in the snow.  Bare tree branches are silhouetted against an incredibly blue sky.

Here are some pictures I took the other day when I was out walking on the beach.  If you want to make them bigger, just click on them.  Click a second time to make them bigger yet.

Trees covered with ice at Picnic Rocks. The last storm brought huge waves with it. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the lighthouse at the end of the Upper Harbor breakwater in the background, and the White Rocks to the right of it.

Tree branch encased in ice at Picnic Rocks

Ice on rocks at McCarty Cove. I think the waves may have been breaking over these rocks during the last storm.

Sandbar leading to rocks at McCarty Cove. It looks like a pathway to an ice castle! This wll probably wash away in the next storm. The beach is always changing.

Mean Pumpkin

Well, this month is nearly gone already, which is hard to believe.  I snapped this picture of the Mean Pumpkin on one of my walks around town.  Actually the first time I saw it, the little pumpkin had a beer bottle stuck in its mouth, which seemed appropriate, considering what’s happening to it.  But by the time I came back the next day with my camera, somebody had removed the beer bottle!  Too bad…

I played a lot of hooky this month.  Fall was glorious here this year, with unbelievable leaf colors, and mild temperatures.  Andrew and I went on many, many walks, and even a few bike rides.

We climbed to the top of Hogback Mountain on Columbus Day weekend, which surprised both of us, since Andrew is a disabled vet who sometimes has trouble getting around.  It was a long hike back there, and the last bit to get to the top was quite challenging.  But it was worth the trip.

View of Harlow Lake and Lake Superior from the top of Hogback Mountain

Here’s one of the views from the top.  Harlow Lake is the gorgeous blue jewel in the center of the picture.  You can see Lake Superior in the background.  It was warm and a little hazy that day, so it’s hard to see where the Big Lake ends and the sky begins!

It was amazing how many people made the climb up to the top.  There was quite a crowd up there that day.  If you ever visit Marquette, you really have to go.

The very next day, we took a hike back to the Lily Pond, which is in back of Wetmore Bog, and southwest of Hogback Mountain.  All the trails are interconnected.

The Lily Pond was a total surprise.  We were expecting a little pond with a marshy area around it.  This place has to be one of the best-kept secrets in the Upper Peninsula!

Me by the Lily Pond. It was absolutely gorgeous back there.

Andrew snapped this picture of me.  It was a perfect, glorious fall afternoon in this incredible place.  We stopped and rested on the rocks overlooking the Lily Pond, and ate our snack there.  It was hard to tear ourselves away from it!  If we get another nice day, we may get back there again this fall, even though the leaves are down now.

Somehow the season changed, when we weren’t looking!  It’s been a lot colder since that big storm went through last week.  And I even had snowflakes hitting me in the face on one of my walks along the beach on the Big Lake last week.  Winter is closing in.

But I’ve been weaving up a storm on my new rigid heddle loom.  Molly Cat was afraid of it at first, but now she skulks around underneath while I’m weaving, looking for loose yarns she can grab at.

First project on my rigid heddle loom! You can see Molly lurking underneath.

Here’s my first project.  This loom is so EASY to use, and it’s even easy to warp.  I totally love it!  I’m working on my fourth scarf now, with plans for another as soon as it’s off the loom.

I also want to order some carpet warp so I can do some rag weaving.  I have several ideas for rag tote bags.  I used to do a lot of rag rug weaving when I lived in Tennessee.  I have LOTS of material already cut in strips, so I’m ready to go!

The business cards I ordered from VistaPrint should be here in another week.  When they come in, I’m going to try selling some of my scarves at Zero Degrees, the local art co-op.  I just applied to join, so we’ll see what happens!

Winter may be coming, but I have lots to keep me busy.  Plus I’m looking forward to getting out my snowshoes again!

Strip quilt made in quilt-as-you-go style

Here are the quilt pictures I promised yesterday. The first picture is the front of the quilt-as-you-go strip quilt I finished on Saturday. It came out pretty well, I think. It seemed like it took forever to make it though. I think I’ll save the quilt-as-you-go technique to join wider and longer strips together, instead of to join individual blocks.

Back of strip quilt

The back does look cute, though.  It could almost stand alone on its own as a quilt.  So this probably makes this quilt reversible, which is a handy thing for a baby quilt. This one will be donated to the local women’s shelter.

Diagonal strip quilt

The next quilt is a long over-due picture of the diagonal strip quilt I made for the ALS Hopes and Dreams Challenge. I really like the back of it. I saw some quilts for sale online that remind me of this quilt backing design.  They were going for an amazing price.  Maybe I should be focusing on quilt backing designs instead! 

Back of diagonal strip quilt

Now that this quilt is finally washed and dried, I’ll be packing it up tomorrow with my other two ALS quilts, and getting them mailed off.  About time, huh?

I finally got my two AAQI Priority Challenge Quilts in the mail today.  Now I can think about doing some more.

It got above freezing today, but it was still pretty cold outside.  My poor little hands got cold taking pictures of my quilts.  Just think, someday the snow will melt, and I won’t have to wear snowshoes for my quilt photography!

Spent most of the day sewing today.  I finished the long strips for my next quilt.  Tomorrow I’ll join them with sashing.  This time I’m going to dispense with binding by sewing the top, batting, and backing together as a sandwich.  Then I’ll turn it right side out, sew the opening closed, and machine quilt it after it’s turned.  I’ve done this in the past, and it works well.  Don’t know why I didn’t remember it til now.

So if all goes well, I may finish up another baby quilt for the women’s shelter tomorrow.

By the way, my city of Marquette, MI, WON the 2010 Dozen Distinctive Destination Contest!  This is really great news, and everyone here is pretty jazzed up about it.  Hopefully it will mean an increase in tourism for the area in the coming year.  There’s always something going on around here, even in the middle of winter!

Me in front of the ice castle in Eagle River, WI.

OK, which of these three things doesn’t belong? If you said outhouse races, you’re right!

How does any of this fit together? Read on to find out. This post is mostly non-quilting, so fair warning.

We now have a 24-foot boat sitting in our driveway. Cool, huh? Andrew has been diligently searching for a boat online, and he found one in St. Germain, WI, which is about three hours from here. Considering that he was looking at boats in downstate Michigan, Ohio, New York, and other far-flung locations, I was relieved that the trip to pick it up would be comparatively short.

We went to get the boat on Thursday. Of course, it took all day to drive down there and come back. But it was a pretty drive, one that we’ve made before on the way to Minneapolis.

On the way home, we stopped at Eagle River, WI, for some dinner.  While driving through town looking for a place to eat, we noticed what appeared to be an ice castle!  Of course, we had to check it out.  It’s not every day that you see something like this.

It was late in the afternoon, so the sun was at the perfect angle to light up the ice castle and make it glow.  It was COLD, but we had to walk all around it and take lots of pictures.

We rested up Friday in preparation for…

The first corporate sponsor! Here's Charmin's entry.

…the Trenary (MI) Outhouse Classic on Saturday.  Trenary is a little town of about 400 people about 30 miles south of Marquette.  To raise money for the town, they have outhouse races the last Saturday in February.  Believe it or not, people come from all over to see the outhouse races.  We saw license plates from Nebraska, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, as well as from Michigan.

Of course, the biggest news was that Charmin sponsored an outhouse in the race.  A major corporate sponsor, for the first time!

The other big news is that the outhouse races are now international, as well, with two racers from Japan who participated.

It was cold and windy, but the crowd was well-supplied with beer, along with hot coffee and hot chocolate.  Potty humor abounded, and poor taste was the order of the day.  A good time was had by all!

Have I actually managed to do any sewing lately?  Surprisingly enough, the answer is yes.  I finished  the quilt-as-you-go baby quilt yesterday, and today I started a new strip quilt.  So far I have two strips done, one that’s 9″ x 45″, and one that’s 5″ x 45″.  I’m going to make the strips different width, and then join them with sashing to finish up with a baby quilt about 36 inches wide. Quilt pictures will follow, hopefully tomorrow!

In the meantime, here’s a video from yesterday’s outhouse races.

This is totally non-quilt related, but since the UP 200 Dog Sled Race is the biggest thing around here this weekend, I thought I’d let you see a little bit of what’s going on.

This race is 241 miles long, from Marquette to Grand Marais and back again.  The mushers leave on Friday night, and return to Marquette on Sunday morning.

Me in the background, with the dog sled mascot in front

Andrew took this shot this morning.  It was really pleasant out today, warm and sunny.  Last year was COLD and windy, with blowing snow, so this was a definite improvement!

Here’s a picture of the winner, Ryan Anderson, from Ray, MN.   This is the seventh time he’s run this race.  He came in second last year, and third the year before that.

Ryan Anderson, winner of the 2010 UP 200 Dog Sled Race

The first thing he did when he crossed the finish line was to pet every one of his dogs.  He certainly couldn’t have done it without them!

Ryan Anderson, winner of the UP 200, petting all his sled dogs after their 241-mile trip

We pretty much made a day of it, eating lunch at L’Attitude downtown, and then going down to the Welcome Center south of town to watch some more teams come in.

The video at the bottom is from You Tube.  It shows the second place winner, and has some shots of some of the dogs.  You’d think they’d be big huskies, but, surprisingly, they’re pretty small and skinny.  Hard to believe that these dogs just ran 241 miles.  They look as if they’re still raring to go!

All in all, this was a fun way to spend a pleasant winter’s day.  Tomorrow, I hope to get some fabric dyed and do some sewing!

Oh yeah, Marquette is leading the pack in the Dozen Distinctive Destinations voting!  Be sure to vote for Marquette, early and often! 

Cat House Block!

Just visited Bumble Bean‘s blog.  She has the cutest house block someone sent her with a sock monkey peeking out the window.  I love it!

Of course, not to be outdone, here’s my Cat House block.  It really is square.  I can’t seem to take a picture straight on for some reason.

There’s a story behind this.  Years ago when I lived in KY, I worked at the animal shelter, and also at the vet’s office.  Because I couldn’t resist a kitty in need, I wound up with seven cats!  The vet I worked for said I had the best little cat house in west KY.  So here’s to my kitty friends from many years ago!

The next two pictures are of my newest AAQI quilt!  Actually, I finished this one the day before yesterday.  This started out as a free piecing experiment.  I just sat down and started playing with scraps, sewing and cutting, and re-sewing.

AAQI Priority Quilt

Back of AAQI Priority Quilt

The finished quilt measures 9″ by 10.5″, and it’s machine quilted.

When I uploaded the pictures, it occurred to me that I need to come up with a name for it!  Any suggestions?

The Heartstrings Quilt Project is a group that makes and donates string quilts to local charitable organizations.  I joined because I’m definitely into string quilts right now!  For my first  Heartstrings project, I decided to try a quilt-as-you-go crib quilt to donate to the local women’s shelter.

First six quilt-as-you-go blocks

Ten-inch blocks seemed a little big for a crib quilt, so mine are seven inches instead.  I’ll need 30 blocks, which will hopefully result in a quilt that will be 35″ by 42″.

I thought it would be a total pain to cut out batting and backing squares, but it didn’t take very long to cut them out at all.

Here are the six blocks I finished this afternoon.  It’s pretty easy to sew the strips down to the batting and backing.  The blocks came out really well, and knowing that they’re already quilted is a nice plus.

Of course, they still have to be joined together, but that process doesn’t look too difficult.

Probably won’t get any sewing done tomorrow.  We need to go to the VA in Iron Mountain again, for a dental appointment, so that pretty much takes up the day.  Then in the evening, we’ll be going to see the start of the UP 200 Sled Dog Race.  Hey, we’ve gotta take advantage of all that snow!