The Bee Skep

Design - "Banded Bee Skep"

Designer - Arachne's Silken Web

Fabric - 32 count Vintage Nutmeg Lakeside linen

Fibers - DMC, Pearsell's Silks, and Gloriana Silks - 1 thread over 2 strands 

Started - 1 August 2012

Completed - 9 August 2012

Oh, am I ever in love with this beauty!  It will I vow, be on the top of my list for framing next year.  I was a bit worried as there was literally no cross stitching - just the bees and the date.  Everything else was a speciality stitch - each row different. I stitched Ray Stitch, Double Leviathan, Smyrna Cross, Algerian Eyelet, Rice Stitch, Bosnia Stitch, Herringbone, Montenegrin, and Mosaic, as well as several others.  It certainly wasn't boring!  

I know it's too hot to walk today.  We'll just stay inside and enjoy this Virtual Walk.  

The Quarry Pond water table is low and the pond is full of algae.  I saw a couple of bullfrogs before they hopped into the water and one pond turtle who slid off his log into the water.  No one wanted to pose for pictures!  

While most of the Spirea has finished blooming, I did find this one pretty stem. 

The Bracken Ferns are beginning to get fall color. 

Yes, I'm enamored of new Douglas Fir cones.  Look closely and you can see droplets of sap on some of them, as well as last year's brittle brown cone at the bottom of the photo.  

The Canada Thistle are Cumulus Clouds of seeds.  The Gold Finches are working and working eating seeds.

Here's another surprise for this time of year - a spray of blossoms on the Pacific Ninebark.

I'm no sure that I've ever seen as many Oak Galls as this year. 

This Oak is covered with them.

I think they are kind of cool looking.

I'm still keeping an eye on my Columbia Lily seed pods!

Mid-August - Blackberry time in western Oregon!

I'll end the walk with a mystery.  I found this insect trap on our property along the road.  I wonder what the state of Oregon is monitoring? I went to the Oregon Department of Agriculture's website and I think it is a Gypsy Moth trap.  In the 1980's Lane County trapped 19,000 moths.  Helicopters sprayed to eradicate them.  It was a little bit like living in a war zone with noise of the 'copters.  Since then there's been just one small outbreak in Lane County.  I hope the trap is empty!