Another one bites the dust, and more "girl time"

Last night, I was gently teasing my mother about her insistence that my knitting be photographed. Just as I was thinking about going to bed, she threw her hands up and declared, "OK, so teach me to knit!"

"Ummm....OK," I said, distracted with my pre-sleep ritual.

"Well, don't you have extra needles or anything with you?" she demanded.

"Oh, you mean right now! Ummm....OK." Fortunately, the kilometres of extra yarn I'd stuffed into my pack included some dishcloth cotton and appropriate needles. We sat down at the kitchen table, and spent the next 90 minutes playing with sticks and string. She did pretty well for her first attempt:



My reward was this morning, waking up to find her tackling it again. Even better - she headed off on a road trip with some friends today, and she took it with her to work on in the car.

Heheheheheheheheh.

Set a lovely tone for a lovely day. Part Two of Quality Auntie Time With The Niblings: Girls' Day. I had all three of my nieces (almost-three, almost-five, and seven...gulp!) for part of the afternoon. Grandad had generously offered to be available if I needed help; but I was feeling adventurous. I picked up the girls, and we discussed the essentials of a girls' date: girls, and chocolate.

Fortunately, the barista at the coffee shop recognized the kids (and my slightly frantic expression, no doubt!) and made the hot chocolates easy on the sugar. And made sure she sprinkled the same amount of chocolate shavings on top of all three, so it would be fair. They "drank" their hot chocolates with spoons, and I had my coffee in a bowl. We had a lot of fun:

After the cafe, we had a little while before they had to be home, so we went back to look at the baby geese. We saw lots of goslings; about a million ducks; 7 or 8 yellow-headed blackbirds feeding on the path; a bald eagle circling overhead; and when we walked out onto the wee dock, a muskrat swam right up to us. Very cool! And of course, there was posing for the camera:

And somebody got goose poop on their shoes, we could smell it in the van...I'm not sure who, coz I had to run as soon as I dropped them off. Ooops! (Whew!)

Back to the Big City in the morning...I've had such a good week, full of great visits...All the same, I'm really looking forward to seeing (& snogging!) Mr.Q tomorrow!