A Winner and a Walk

The time has come to announce the winner of the October NewFO Challenge. This month's winner will receive the flying geese lapel pin. I consulted Mr. Random who advised me that October's winner is:

#4--Cherry Quilts in IL

Congratulations, Cherry Quilts in IL! And thanks to all who linked up. 

I suppose this is as good a time as any to say that the NewFO Challenge will end after December's party. Here's a link to my original blog post when I announced the start of the NewFO Challenge back in December of 2011, and here was my stated rationale (if I can ever be said to be "rational" about anything):

If you're like me, you haven't been quilting long enough to accumulate a big pile of UFO's. Either that, or you're endowed with a healthy serving of self-discipline. (And, honestly, where's the fun in that?) In either case, you're left out of the annual Blog Land UFO challenges. Well (sniff), not one to be left out, I'm starting up a NewFO Challenge to give you an opportunity to build up your supply of UFO's! 

Well, I don't know about you, but at this end the problem of not having enough UFO's is definitely SOLVED!

So, I'll be calling a halt to the NewFO Challenge after December's linky party, but dry your tears because you'll still have two more chances to win before then. And heck...there might just be a super-duper giveaway in December to celebrate the end of an era. (That would be a little hint.) For now, we'll be playing again in November for this 8-pointed star lapel pin. You have lots of time to start something new between now and November 30th. Surely you have someone on your Christmas list.

This morning I walked with my friend Sue. We have a treasure in our own backyard in the form of the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. Recently I read in our Via magazine (the magazine published by AAA) that there is a family of bald eagles living there and that the nest was visible from the visitor's center. You can read the article right here. I regularly drive past the refuge, and on a recent excursion, I happened to glance over from the road and I could see the nest plain as day. Sue and I walked there this morning, and while we were happy not to be walking in the rain, it was sadly too foggy to see the nest or the eagles. Another day perhaps.

Nevertheless, we walked the trail, which is one mile in and one mile out, and it was enjoyable as always. We were too busy gabbing to see many birds. They were wise enough to fly away before we got anywhere near them. We did see a few things. For one thing, there is a large pond behind the visitor's center that was absolutely swarming with ducks and geese.

Had it not been so foggy, we would have been able to see the eagles' nest from here. Even without seeing the eagles, it was fun to stand here listening to the geese. The area is a wetlands, which explains why the birds flock here on their migration south. Here's a panorama. Remember that you can make the image larger by clicking on it.

We also happened upon two deer. They mainly wanted to show me their better sides, but I did manage to get one to look in my direction. I believe she was concerned about my lens cap clanking against the sign I was using to stabilize the camera.

You can see her buddy just beyond her rump there.

There are few things I love more than seeing geese fly over head. I'm not sure what it is, but I can't resist looking up when I see and hear them. Honkers!

Speaking of "flying geese," do you see quilt blocks here?

We stopped into the visitor's center briefly when we finished our walk, and then we both headed for home. Although the top of our ridge was shrouded in dense fog when I left home, I was above the clouds when I drove back. I pulled over and snapped this image from the top of our hill.

When I got home, I fed the poor starving birds. It's been raining literally for weeks, and nobody (that would be me) fills the bird feeders when it's wet and muddy outside. I took mercy on them today and filled all the feeders and walked around the yard just a bit. Our tree is in full autumn color right now.

One more big wind, and it'll be bare until next spring. It's dropped a lot of leaves on the patio already.

Smitty was ecstatic to have someone come outside with him. We sat on the steps for a while, and he purred and purred.

That's about all I have to tell you for now. I really AM going to do my housework today. Sheesh. Such a procrastinator. I'll be you never do that. Also, I'm going to make a lasagna for dinner tonight...my way is easy. When it's just Mike and me, I halve the recipe and make it in an 8 x 8 baking dish. And if I can get off the computer and get up off my keister to do those things, I might have some time for sewing this afternoon. I got a little bit of a start putting the borders on my Oh Christmas Tree wall hanging yesterday, and so it would be great to finish that up today.

Finishing up anything on Friday at your end?