Birthday Loot and Bandits

This entry is actually part II of my Butterfly Birthday. If you read my last posting, you know where we went and what we saw on our journey up the coast. Monarch trivia - if you look carefully at the pictures from two birthday cards I received, you will see a male and female butterfly. The male is the second photo and can be identified by vestigial scent glands and a finer vein pattern.

Now, for the exciting part - presents. M, my daughter, gave me some fantastic yarn for future socks, hand/wrist warmers and shawls....as you can see. Greg, gave me a Butterfly feeder that will be placed just outside the craft room, on a sheltered patio. He also found a framed collection of butterflies and one gigantic moth (what every knitter wants - a dead moth, right!) that will be displayed as soon as the wall is up and painted. My theory is that if a moth happens into the room it will see impending doom and fly away. Works for me.

I spent some time with knitdad on Friday and learned some finishing techniques...even had the opportunity for extra practice when we discovered what we had thought was a sleeve, was actually a piece of the sweater front. Surely, that only happens to me?

Earlier in the week, I attended a practice of the Unsyncables at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center. They are a lovely group of ladies who swim beautifully. Given lots of practice and coaching, I may eventually learn a routine and compete. We are talking 1+yrs. of drills. It is good to have a challenge and this would qualify as that.

I almost forgot about the "Bandits" in the title. Friday morning at 3 am, we were awakened by loud, guttural growls outside our bedroom window. That was immediately followed by several thuds on the roof and the sound of large, running animals. They scrambled around for a few minutes, so Greg grabbed a flashlight and camera for a better look. He was able to snap this blurry shot before they scampered off into the trees for a more secluded rendezvous.