The Good God Almighty Trail

There are two ways to get to Ouarzazate, Morocco. You can go from Casablanca to Fez, and on from there. But that's two days of hard driving. Or you can take the road from Marrakesh. Or what I refer to as the Good God Almighty Trail. The road goes up through a pass in the High Atlas mountains. And I can't over emphasize how much I hate it.

But my husband's sister lives in Ouarzazate. And we can't go to Morocco and not visit her.

This past week was the third time I have ever been on it. It was a beautiful day for a drive. The sky was a perfect blue. The sun was warm. It was even warm when we reached the snow line. The Atlas Mountains are amazing. I'll try to post more photos after the video. You can drive in an areas of nothing but barren rock. Then there's prickley pear cactus. Then pine forests and birch trees. The snow on the mountains is just beautiful.

But I hate that road. It has had some work done on it. The road itself is in good shape. And there are, thankfully, more guard rails. You do not want to look down. If you do, you will say, "Good God Almighty!"

It is an 190 kilometer drive, or about 118 miles. It took us 4 hours. Of course, we had a quick lunch break. And we seemed to stop at every bend to take photos.

And there were a few "Oh Sl-l!T" moments. And this video shows one of them. It runs about a minute. And you'll see what I mean towards then end.

Oh, and it's just as scary on the drive back down.

Note...I was able to post the video on YouTube. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/SitsNKnits?feature=mhee

Sami makes a phone call

This past week-end, I was playing with my cockatiel, Sami. I had my phone with me. And she began to nibble around the edge. I held it up to her so she could see the screen.

Apparently the lights and colors appealed to her, and she began to peck at the screen.

And she did quite a bit. She did a word search, pulled up the movie, set my alarm for 8:30 the next morning. And a few other things. I'm glad I grabbed my camera and got the funniest part of it on video. .....She called my husband.

She pulled up my contact list, pecked his name...and hit dial.

I quickly hit "end call", he was at work. And I got to laughing so hard the camera starts to shake

Enjoy :-)

If you knew Melodie...

Most of you know that I had lost my mother on Jan. 8th. I had to fly up to Ohio for the funeral. And I was staying at my sister's house.

I was wearing a charm that Charlene had given me to remember Melodie by.

I was talking to my sister as she was doing the dishes. And she commented on my charm. I was explaining the significance of it. And I was telling her about Melodie.

And I looked down and gasped...When my sister asked me what was wrong, I pointed at her window sill. Mary keeps a glass ladybug on the window sill...but crawling next to it was a real ladybug! Mary said that it wasn't unusual for her to get ladybugs in the house in the wintertime.

But the timing couldn't be better. I almost cried when I explained how Melodie loved ladybugs.

After I got home, I told the story to Charlene. She smiled and asked me if this happened on Sunday. I'm very sure now that it did.

Charlene smiled again, and told me that Sunday was Melodie's birthday.

A private waterfall

This is why my papyrus is growing so well. And why I planted it in this corner. And this is with less than a 1/4 inch of rain too. It really gushes when I get an inch of rain

A Little Bit of Egypt

We had a palm tree by our back door. But it was only inches away from the wall. So we decided that it had to go. I dug it out myself. It took me three days, but don't underestimate the power of my stubborness.
That corner gets a lot of rain too. The roof funnels it right down in. And it can get a few inches of standing water. Thankfully, it drains quickly.
But what do I plant there?




I had seen Egyptian Papyrus about a week before I had dug out the palm.
It doesn't have to be wet all the time. But it does like boggy conditions.
It took a while for it to finally come back to the store. But I was able to get it today.
And I got a few bags of river rock to help keep the moisture in.
I'm really happy with how it looks.
This stuff is the real deal, what ancient Egyptians used to make paper.



My friendly neighborhood toad seems to like it.
















My morning glories are doing really well too

Gardening again

I really enjoy being out in my little yard. And I like to take photos of my progress.
I'd forgotten how much I love being outside until I got some dirt to dig in.

I needed to thin my swiss chard. And in the process, I had a bowl of the greens.
The first day, I put them in a salad. They were a little bitter, but nice.
This morning I sauted the rest with olive oil and garlic, and added two scrambled eggs.
Pretty tasty.
I'm thinking of making a quiche when I'm able to pick some more.




My morning glorys are growing. It's hard to believe I planted the seeds about a month ago. They're blooming already. And when I checked this morning, they were about a foot up the trellis














A cardinal has been visiting my bird feeder. The picture isn't the best, I had to take it through the window.
I haven't seen the red wing blackbird in weeks.
I had two young male cardinals visiting for awhile. I started calling them "The Brothers"
But I've been just seeing the one lately. I think cardinals are territorial. So the other, (and the black bird too) might have been run off.

Hair Cut

I'm posting these for my sister to see (Hi Mary!) She doesn't use FaceBook.
So I finally got all of my hair cut off again. I've been planning on getting my hair cut for months. But one thing clinched it:
I had it done on Monday. I got in the car to drive to the salon. It was a little breezy out, and I had my hair down.
And I closed the car door on my hair!
It's been 3 1/2 years since my last hair cut. And I was really glad to see that Karen still works at the salon. She understands my cow licks
I donated my hair to Locks of Love. It's a great organization that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair to cancer or other diseases
http://www.locksoflove.org