Road trips and Roses

Progress on blackbird trellis, 4 out of 5 roses mostly filled in. I am waiting on two skeins of thread to come in to start on the smaller buds (GA Pomegranite) and the leaves (GA Baby Spinach). I have enough to work on this week though, finishing the roses and the blackbirds. 

I think I have come up with a stitching rotation for this year. I am going to start one new project a month, and not stress so much about getting through my WIP box. So my project for March I have decided is going to be Spring Hare by La-D-Da. I still have Autumn in the Village (January's start) and Blackbird Trellis (February start) and will just divide my time amongst them.

Here is last weekends roadtrip. We drove up through Wickenberg, to the west of Phoenix, and found a nature/hiking preserve along the Hasayampa River. It was so nice to get out of the desert, and hike along green meadows and a pretty creek. 

Here is some of our desert wildlife, a lizard camouflaged against the tree. 

And a desert tortoise, he was right along the side of the trail, and if he hadn't been hiking himself I think we would have mistook him for just another rock!

Not really "wildlife" per se, but some cows resting in one of the pretty green meadows.

A desert ocotillo on top of the hill. It is a form of cactus, in the spring all of the spines bloom and are quite a display. 

My husband hiking up the hill.

And me posing on a little bridge over the creek. 

When we were all done hiking we went a little farther up the highway and stopped at a tiny cafe attached to a gas station in Congress, AZ. It was such a small town it only had one stop light, so imagine our surprise when we walked in and they asked if we had reservations! Well of course we didn't so we had to sit out on the patio, the restaurant itself maybe had 15 tables in a tiny little two rooms. The patio was pretty enough, and our weather has been so nice it was not a big deal. We weren't expecting much, but the food was amazing! Above is a photo of our salads/appetizer (zucchini chips). I had shrimp & lobster tacos for dinner, and my husband had shrimp linguine. If you ever find yourself out West in Arizona, the name of the place was Nichols West. From the outside it doesn't look like much, but the food was better than most you would get in the city.

 So a fun roadtrip weekend, and now I am back to the usual school week/work week, day to day. Hope your week has started off well!