Water Dogs

It's official -- I am raising pups who love the water.  Up to now it's been water hoses and bath tubs until my annual family reunion where they played and explored the Sand Creek falls.  Then each took a turn going out for rides in my kayak.

 

2014 Walnut Valley Festival

It seems like I wait patiently all year for this bluegrass festival.  I get to enjoy the outdoors camping, great live entertainment and hang with a good friend.  The temps were a little on the warm side and we had just one early morning light rain shower.  That great friend made up wonderful meals and my favorite adult beverages, Margarona's.  We swam in the river, rode our bicycles and spent each cool morning and night around a campfire...just plain good fun.

 

Around the Campsite

 Easy Friendships

 Lots of Knitting

 A Great Fiber Vendor

Until next year, Winfield!

Oklahoma Reunion

 

 

The best part of Fall is my annual reunion in Oklahoma at Osage Hills State Park.  It's where I meet up with my family of Okies and we sit by the campfire at night and hike during the day.  This year I took my kayak and ventured up Shady Creek with Molly.  I'm so lucky to have a dog that likes water!  As we paddled up river, I could hear laughter echo across the water as my family repelled from high above down the rocky bluffs.  As always, the weekend was an adventurous outdoor slice of heaven.

Walnut Valley Festival 2013

 

I've been looking forward to this campout and bluegrass festival all year.  A chance to hang with my good riding and knitting friend, Karen, and her family.  There was good music, good food fixed on the campfire and knitting.  Lots of knitting.  We made bibs for baby Iris, I completed an alpaca/llama cowl from yarn I purchased at Lost City Knits at the festival.  Lots of yarn from Lost City Knits.  Seriously, I am so stocked up for winter knitting.

Mountain Camping

I made another trip to Washington State to see my childhood BFF, Laura, again. I only had a couple days off from work so it was an action packed long weekend. There was a day in Seattle, happy hour(s) at her home, a Jeep road trip for mountain camping in Leavenworth with her husband and a tubing trip down the rapids of the Wenatchee River. LOVE THIS LIFE!

A Busy July

July has been passing by quickly.  It's a month with plans every weekend.  The work days have been busy.  I've caught a few rounds of golf on the week days, the top has been off of my Jeep and the warm temperatures have me spending time at the pool working on my tan.  Summer projects have turned to the crochet hook making swimsuit coverups.

And a patriotic crochet Star Spangled Banner bunting for the front porch.

Independence Day (and weekend) was spent shooting fireworks with the neighbors and a block party of sorts stay-cation campout in the front yard.  The kids loved it almost as much as the adults.

Time has passed slowly at the lake(s) with the dogs, friends and my inflatable kayak.

I absolutely LOVE summer!

Fall in Oklahoma

It was another great annual family reunion at Osage Hills State Park. Aside from a 3 hour, four mile hike in the woods, I bet we spent the entire weekend sitting by the campfire. Daytime temps were in the mid 60's with very little wind - just perfect for a relaxing weekend.

2012 Walnut Valley Festival

For this year's bluegrass festival, I set my tent up on Monday next to my friend, Karen's RV and left it there until I could get off work later in the week. My friend, Angelique, drove in from NM and we headed out to the festival on Thursday. As it always does this time of year, the rain moved in that afternoon, stayed throughout the night, drizzled all of Friday and it was cold. But in all, the rain didn't stop me from having a good time. I just layered more clothes, put on my rainboots, knitted in my tent at night by the lantern light and by Saturday the skies cleared and we really got to take full advantage of the many band acts, bicycle ride around the campground and roam around the campgrounds at night. I'm already looking forward to next year's festival.
The Festival

The Campsite

The Knitting

Good Friends, Good Times

Recharge

Husband went on a motorcycle trip so I loaded up the dogs and headed for the lake. I use my solo overnight camping trips to recharge by setting up my tent in the shade, listen to the radio, sunbathe, knit, cook and make a campfire. I'm lost in my own peaceful thoughts, time passes slowly and simple things like hot dogs and VanCamp beans taste so good.

Happy Lake Dogs

Sheba has cancer so the time we have with her is precious. She loves to swim and fetch and I wanted to get her out to the lake to enjoy herself. This was Molly's first experience with water and Sheba showed her how to have fun. They both had a blast and I enjoyed seeing them so happy. Mom even surprised us with a visit for several hours into dinner time.

Family Reunion 2012

Molly had a big adventurous weekend at my annual family reunion in Osage Hills Park outside of Bartlesville, OK. She got to learn how to be a dog by playing in the creek and going for long hikes in the woods. Poor little thing was flat out dog tired when it came to sitting by the campfire at night curling up in my lap in a deep sleep.

Campmates & Bluegrass

I now have campmates! Angelique drove in from New Mexico and picked up our LYS goddess, Shelly, and they set up camp beside me. To my delight, they brought a stove and "real" food to prepare along with cheese, crackers and wine. We have been living it up.

There are several stages set up on the fairgrounds. We laid out blankets on the hill by Stage 2 and knit the day away while huddled under umbrellas during periods of light rain. Later tonight we set under cover at the grandstand and saw The Wilders perform while down below a group of women danced around in can-can/tutu skirts, cowboy hats and boots while waving around bright glow sticks. It was somewhat magical and they looked liked dancing fairies. Tommy Emmanuel played a mean guitar and my favorite turned out to be Michael Martin Murphey and his cowboy songs. After he performed I got to go up and meet him and get some CD's signed. That was pretty awesome.

Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival

The Walnut Valley Bluegrass festival in Winfield starts tomorrow so I got my tent set up all by myself (GIRL POWER!) at the far west end of Pecan Grove, right beside the Walnut River and across from the 24 hour west entrance. This campground is where all the "action" takes place outside of the main grandstand where all the big name acts perform. In this area, smaller stages are built for the amateurs to perform as well as gather around and play in their own camp sites. Basically, music is going on all night throughout the area.

My friend Karen was set up in the same area and I got to hang out with her family and see her son, Dylan, perform on Stage 5 with his band, Sizzle Biscuit from McPherson, KS. It's such a good, hippie vibe here in Winfield, KS and I'm enjoying a night to myself in my own tent listening to the sounds of fiddles playing from the campsite next to me.

Knitta Campout

Jackie and I picked out a great spot on El Dorado Lake for the night. It was overcast, cold and windy but we still got our Knit ON sitting by the fire all day and night. Becca showed up later in the day and we had a classy dinner with wine and hummus. My big tent was cozy and warm for the most part. Knitting has brought me so many precious friendships and fun times.

Labor Day Camp

My riding friends (Dawn, Courtny & Theresa) and I met up with some of Dawn's friends (hey, Kacey!) at the lake and had some pretty awesome adventures in spite of all the wind that drove everyone on the north side of the reservoir home early this holiday weekend. They say it was "breezy" but at Kanapolis State Park it was downright gale force winds that ripped up my 2 room Coleman tent. I ended up sleeping under the stars in the back of my truck bed the last night and that just added to the fun of it all. We joked that sometimes the most challenging times are the most memorable and we had plenty of that.

There's hiking and riding trails all over the park and we took advantage of an early morning trail ride. It was a cool morning and the horses were fresh with all kinds of galloping energy. I just loved that.

Girls Just Wanna Camp

Grabbed a bucket of KFC after work and headed out to El Dorado to meet up with Laurie, Brenda and Pattie for a girl's night out at the lake. (Laurie is trying out RV's to one day live out my dream of hitting the road at retirement). The fish weren't biting but we got some knitting done, toasted to treasured friendships and sat around the campfire. We kept the windows open in the RV and woke up freezing in the early morning hours. It was a nice, little overnight getaway.