For those of you who have been wondering what I have been up to lately, well...alot! As I write this I am in Austin, Texas, where it is about 101 degrees outside. That is why I am inside in the a/c! I spent some time yesterday after I arrived looking around town. It was only about 87 (a cool day in July in Austin, I am told) so I walked the seven blocks to the state capitol. Here is a pic of the dome, which is 14 feet higher than the the White House in Washington, D.C.

I took this shot at the top of the stairs before I climbed back down; just to show I really did climb all those steps! Okay, call me weird (you wouldn't be the first), but I adore unusual hardware; not the computer kind, but things like hinges, doorknobs, you know...hardware. These hinges are on the double doors leading into the Texas House of Representatives gallery. I thought they were pretty cool!

Here is the view walking up to the Capitol. It is a very beautiful walk and is lined with several memorial statues and fountains.

I also spent some time in the SoCo District, which is an artsy part of town. There is a very cool yarn store (you knew I would mention yarn somewhere, didn't you?) called Hill Country Weavers. If you are ever in Austin, they are located at 1701 S. Congress Avenue, and are very accessible via the Metro system.

This is something else I have been involved in lately with David. We have been trout fishing more and this is an 18" rainbow I caught a couple of weeks ago...the biggest rainbow I've caught to date, and probably one of the tastiest. And speaking of fishing, David was in a catfishing tournament last week on Lake Norfork. He caught the only two catfish that were caught, so obviously also had the largest...

Yep, this is the big one! That's right; it's in a coffee cup, in case you were wondering. I asked him how much he won for catching the largest catfish. He replied that he was disqualified, as he did not catch this monster with a rod and reel, but rather scooped him up...that, folks, is considered noodling, hence the disqualification! We turned this one and his/her little brother loose in our catfish pond to grow into real monsters.

And last, but certainly NEVER least, the grandbaby has been keeping me busy as well. I keep him once a week while Mom is in school. The other day we built him a tower and it kept him occupied for nearly an hour! Here he's playing peek-a-boo with me. Ain't he sweet?

I am working on some new patterns. Watch for some new designs coming out in the next "One Skein Wonders" book, Crochet World and Crochet! Magazine soon! Until next time, have a great summer!