Bring on April!

Just one more day and it's officially April. It's the month where I feel like we can finally leave winter behind. We can still get a snowfall or two, but it's when the first blooms start, and the garden really starts to take off.

They are calling for a colder than normal April, but I'm hoping it's not going to be too bad. The last week of March has been mostly mild...

So Relic and I took some time to do a thorough inspection of our gardens.

Out back the Chives are thickening up. I bought these to be purely decorative, though I may snitch some now and again for cooking.

It's nice to see the Lupins coming back. I've got more in the Winter Sow jugs, but there's no sign of life there yet.

I'm glad to see some Anemone's survived too. I think these are the beautiful blue ones I had last year.

There are lilies coming up all over the place! And it looks like several of them have multiplied.

The pink Bleeding Heart is just starting to sprout. I'm not seeing signs of life in the white one out front yet, but it gets less sun, so it may take a little longer.

The Butterfly Mix winter sow just has some teeny-tiny sprouts. It will still be weeks before we can determine what we've got

I'm getting very excited for my daffodils.

And it looks like we won't have to wait too long for our first bloom of the year. I'm thinking this is a Crocus, though I don't remember planting any in the side garden (that doesn't mean I didn't though!)

While we wait, the grocery store yielded up this lovely little bunch of tulips They had just the barest touch of blush on the buds, and have opened into a gorgeous soft pink.

Hopefully the weather holds this weekend, I'd like to get out and clean out a lot of the dead stuff so the new stuff can flourish.

Friday Felines

Here we are at the end of March and I almost forgot to share this!

Remember way back last year when Rupert was raising money for the shelter he came from? Well his efforts earned him the place of Mr. March in their 2018 calendar!

Spinach sock

I'm calling Dave's sock-in-progress the spinach sock becuase they different shades remind me of the changing colour of spinach as it cooks down.

I really thought I was going to accomplish more on these on our vacation, but I guess I was just enjoying the sun too much! I'm only partway through the heel on the first one.

I really want to get the off the needles, because a) they are boring vanilla man socks, and b) I want to  get back to my On the GO designs - I've got five left!

FO: Babe in the Woods

My cousin is pregnant with her fourth child  who is due in just a few weeks, so it was time to get moving on the Babe in the Woods quilt.

The top was done, so it just needed to be sandwiched, quilted and bound. Being a baby blanket, I was able to accomplish that all on Sunday afternoon.

Again, nothing fancy with the quilting, just some likes around each piece. Mom will be giving me some free-motion lessons soon, but for now I'm happy with straight lines. I can't do too much damage that way!

The quilt was made with some leftover blocks from one of Mom's quilts, some leftover fabric (trees) from Woodland Ballet, and a few pieces picked up from the clearance bin at Lens - including this cool backing fabric. It's not traditional baby colours, and I love it.

Now I've got to get it backed up and in the mail (they live in Quebec) before the little guy arrives!

Little swan

Now that it's back to the real world, it was time to get back to the knitting.

Little Miss Rowan has a birthday coming up in a couple of months, and the other day when Mom and I were out shopping, she came across the perfect little sundress for the little princess.

Looking at it, I decided it needed a shrug!

I'm modifying my Cygnus pattern to a) fit Miss Rowan, and b) be more shrug-length. I'm kinda winging it, so depending on the results, it may or may not end up as a released pattern.

I'm using Island Yarn Pagoda (Superwash Merino and Bamboo) that I won from Vera in the I ❤ Fall KAL last year. The colour is called Carnation and it's nice mix of bubblegum pink, mauve and grey. It's hard to see at the moment, with with the feather and fan, it's mixing up into uneven, wavy stripes.

I'm only about halfway through the first chart, but once I get past the armholes, this thing should fly.

Mexico: The landscape

One last post about our trip...

One of the things I loved most about Mexico was that everything was in bloom. While I didn't get to see much plant life in its native setting, (the shuttle bus ride flew past  some beautiful blooming forests), I enjoyed every inch of the blooming, manicured property.

And while this particular ocean didn't quite live up to the picture I had built in my head, it definitely had its own beauty. Having grown up on the shores of several Great Lakes, it felt a little like home - just saltier!

Even the slightly smelly sea-weed couldn't detract from the beauty of crashing waves under bright blue skies.

I even got up early on our last full day there to capture the sunrise over the Caribbean Sea

It was obscured by clouds, but beautiful none-the-less.

Mexico: The locals

As I mentioned yesterday, we only had four days in Mexico, and when you subtract the travel time, it was more like two-and-a-half days.

In addition, the trip was completely paid for by work, with about 35 other employees and their spouses along for the ride. As such, the company hosted special events each night. Our days were ours, but the nights were taken up with socializing with coworkers.

I told you the resort had a spa and a gym (neither of those things interest us),  and other than eating at the restaurant, the only other things to at the resort are go to the pool or the beach. Dave's not much of a pool guy, though he did hang out with me while I swam a little. And there's fabulous pool-side service (one of the pools even had a swim-up bar), so we had lunch there one day.

The resort is 1.5 hours south of Cancun and surrounded by forest.

There's really nothing around for miles except other resorts. While the isolation has its upsides, it limits what you can do during a short visit.

There are excursions, though the only one covered by our company (thus not an additional expense) was a trip to the ruins at Tulum. I would have loved to have gone, but it was an all-day excursion. Had it been on the first day, we might have done it - but it was on the last day. By then, I was pretty crispy, and Dave, who's not a huge fan of the heat in the first place, would not relish a full day walking around in the sun, so we turned it down.

Had it been a half day, we still probably would have done, it, but a full day with no respite from the heat was just beyond both of us. After talking to people who did go, we made the right decision. While they enjoyed it, they said it was brutally hot, and definitely could have been shorter.

So for us, that really only left exploring the beach and the resort itself, which I did with gusto. I scoured every inch of the place, getting to know the locals

These long-tailed Grackles are all over the place and they have the most amazing voices. I've heard at other resorts they can be a bit of a nuisance, stealing food and pestering tourists, but these ones we're quite well-mannered. They seemed more interested in grabbing nesting materials from the manicured gardens, or guarding their palm trees from other birds.

I think this guy is a Yucatan flycatcher. He and his friend hung out on the forest side of the resort. It was hard to get a picture without a long lens.

Every day, a flock of brown pelicans would fly by the resort, though I never managed to catch them all together in flight with the camera.

But my beach walk let me get pretty close to this lone one swimming just off shore.

 

The Yucatan seagulls seem to be much more well-mannered than our North American ones. We NEVER saw them mooching for food inside the resort. They mostly stuck to the beach and even then were quite nervous of the humans milling about. I guess they prefer fresh-caught fish to french fries.

There were quite a few of these Ruddy Turnstones at one end of the beach. They were nibbling on a seaweed pile, but were quite shy. The whole flock took off running as I got close.

We didn't come across any sea turtles

 But it's nice to know they are around.

One thing I was really hoping to see was a big fat, spiky iguana - like the kind you see on nature shows ... and we saw a few... but never when I had a camera handy!

I did meet this guy though

From what I can tell, he's a very young spiny-tailed Iguana... so he's yet to get all spikey and dragon-

esque.

He was also very shy.

One of the waitresses told us about a particular young iguana who hangs around the restaurant so often, the staff named him Roberto. This might be him!

There were also lots of butterflies, mostly yellow sulphurs and a few black hair streaks, but they were too fast for my camera.

And last but not least, I was able to capture this little grasshopper

 All in all, a very satisfying experience for this intrepid explorer!

Mexico: The overview

Our Mexican adventure began early Sunday morning. We had to be ready for our driver a 3 am, as the airport is about an hour away, and we had a 6 am flight.

Everything there went as smoothly as could be expected. Since it was early, we breezed through security, and had no flight delays. I'm not a fan of the airline they booked us on (Air Canada Rouge), but it was a free trip, so beggars can't be choosers, but it was cramped and uncomfortable. I'm far from an experienced flyer, but I much prefer Porter so far. Still, other than comfort, there were no issues, and within four hours, we were in Cancun where it was beautiful and balmy, if a touch on the humid side.

From there is was another hour-and-a-half shuttle bus ride to our resort. We were staying at Unico 20°87°, and again, my experience is limited, but this resort is BEAUTIFUL.

It's a large U-shape resort, with a large multi-pool/lagoon area in the middle, and the beach just beyond.

I usually don't care much about hotel rooms, being more interested in what's outside them, but again - it was beautiful. It had the most comfortable huge king-sized bed I've ever slept in (Dave wants us to get one now, though there's no way we'd get a King mattress up our stairs), a ginormous shower with rain-shower head... and a beautiful terrace overlooking the lagoon (from where the above picture was taken).

The resort has four restaurants, a cafe, a bar, a spa, a gym, as well as a mini-shopping mall. We had no interest in the spa or gym, and while we did try a couple of the restaurants, we spoiled ourselves and opted for room service most of the time.

With the exception of the lunch buffet at the one restaurant, the food was phenomenal. Dave was disappointed in the coffee (far too strong for his taste, and for some reason it was hard to get cream for it sometimes), but otherwise, we were very well fed.

The very first thing on my agenda was checking out the ocean. I'd never seen the ocean, so I think I was a little over-excited about it. I had visions of swimming with sea creatures, watching crabs, and hunting for shells.... and apparently... it's just not that kind of ocean...

Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful in its own way... but it was a little bit of a let down. For those that don't know, we were on the Caribbean Sea. It was very windy,  with a red flag that meant no swimming... especially for poor swimmers like me. And all that wind meant big waves and cloudy waters - no clear blue seas for me.

The whole coast is also apparently having an issue with sargassum sea weed - it's just blowing into the beach like crazy. They clean it up as much as they can, but with every wave bringing it in, there's only so much you can do. It was a little smelly (but not terrible) but it definitely would have made for an unpleasant swim.

The beach, while at first glance, is beautiful white sand, it hides some  hidden dangers...

There are tonnes of these large coral rocks lurking about. And with the cloudy water, even wading was a little hazardous - I lost my footing a couple of times. The beach at the resort beside us had a much nicer bottom, though it was still too windy and sea-weedy to enjoy - though I did have a good walk up and down the length of it.

The other disappointment was the treasures... I was hoping to find scads of sea shells and sharks teeth and all manner of ocean jewels. But these beaches were raked to within an inch of their life, and most of what I found coming up in the waves were just broken bits.

I did manage to find a a few things... some small shells and a few bits of interesting coral.

Of course, after my beach walks I ended up a little on the burnt side (despite the liberal application of SPF 60 sunscreen... thank you fair British heritage), so I spent a good chunk of the remaining sun-filled day on that beautiful terrace in the shade.

I made good progress on f Dave's sock on the flight down, and a bit more enjoying the breeze on the terrace.  I didn't knit on the flight back because these seats were too cramped.  Going down, Dave and I were in the middle aisle of three seats, with an empty seat beside us, so I was able to move to the outside seat, leaving an empty one between us for more room. On the flight back, we didn't have that luxury. Dave was already uncomfortable, so I didn't want to add the frustration of moving elbows into the mix.

I did get a window seat at least,

Though it was over the wing. But, I did get to watch some amazing cloud formations go by.

We returned home on Wednesday to a still-frozen world, though thankfully no snow (unlike our poor east coast friends). It was a fun trip, but I was happy to be home.

And lastly, a word about Mexico and safety:

Before I went, whenever I mentioned I was heading to Mexico, there was a 50/50 chance someone would bring up the reports of recent violence and mention how it wasn't safe.

Now I won't disagree - our shuttle drove past some pretty impoverished, desperate-looking places; and when the police are carrying around large, scary looking rifles, it might make you feel a bit edgy. The traffic is definitely in a class of its own, so  I don't know if I'd be comfortable renting a car and driving myself, but we were in good hands with our experienced shuttle driver.

We didn't end up leaving the resort (more on that tomorrow), but the entire area caters to tourists, so if you use reasonable, sensible precautions when traveling, I don't think there's much of an issue. Of all the clips I've seen on the news, the majority have done things tourists are warned against doing (and are a bit over-blown by the media). Tourists are vulnerable, and no matter where you go in the world, there are people looking to to take advantage of those vulnerabilities - a little common sense and you can mitigate that risk.

As for the Mexican people... they are the most hospitable, welcoming people I have ever met. From our shuttle driver, to our hotel guides, to our waitresses, to even the people just maintaining the grounds were wonderful and friendly. The tourists are their business, and they go out our their way to make them happy and keep them safe.

I'm sure there are some areas of Mexico you may want to avoid... but Riviera Maya shouldn't be one of them!

Friday Felines

I've mentioned before that I love to travel. But I'm also a homebody, and of course, it's hard for me to be away from my furbabies for long.

In fact, as soon as we got to the hotel I was missing them.

I knew they were in good hands with Mom, but though I've left them for several days before, this is the first time that both Dave and I would be gone for more than one night. I was a little worried how they'd fare - especially Rupert and Peno, who wouldn't be thrilled with an interloper (Mom) coming into the house for an hour or two each day. I was also worried about Burton, who when I leave the house for an hour or more, scolds me like crazy when I get back in. And poor Relic wouldn't be able to go outside for four whole days.

Burton seemed to handle it best of  four. He loved all over Mom and made her play fetch when she stopped in. She threatened several times to take him home with her as payment for cat-sitting.

When we got home, naturally he was the first out to greet us. I got yelled at, sniffed all over, and the he dogged my steps for the rest of the night. He even sat outside the bathroom door and yelled at Dave until he finished his shower. Now he's settled down a little, but he's still keeping pretty close to me.

Relic...

Relic just wanted OUT!!!! I let him out as soon as we got in and he disappeared for an hour or so, no doubt making sure all hist territory marks were still in place. He came in, ate and went out for another hour. Yesterday, he wanted out as soon as we got up, and pretty much stayed out there all day, coming in only to nibble and leave again.

Rupert was very weirded out when we came in. While he did come out for Mom, and even let her give him a pet once, he was definitely freaked by the rolling suitcases, and weird smells we brought home.

He disappeared as we unpacked, but once we were settled for the night, he came back out and was up to his usual night time antics.

Mom said she never saw Peno and I'm not surprised. That's just how Peno rolls. She was hiding in the end table when we got home, but it was probably the sound of our suitcases that sent her there.

Like Rupert, once we were settled, she claimed her rightful spot, snuggled beside Dave on the couch. She's spent most of her time since then napping in her usual places so she's pretty much back to normal.

None of them seem worse for wear, though it's still hard for me to leave them for too long! It's probably harder on me than them!

And to thank Mom for stopping in everyday to take care of them, I picked her up a little something from Mexico.

 I'm kinda kicking myself for not getting one for me too... it's darn cute!

Home again

Yes it's true... we're home already (it was just a four-day jaunt). It was a wonderful getaway...

...but I'm happy to be back home. I missed my fur babies far too much. Mom sent me pictures every day, but it's just not the same.

Both Dave and I agree, Burton got bigger while we were gone.

I'll share more about our adventures on the weekend, but you'll have to excuse me for now... I've got to go play a game of fetch!