Saturday Critters #634

Back in January, on the 24th, I posted about a ride we took to Lake of the Lilies in Point Pleasant.

I shared some of what we saw here.

The entire lake was frozen...I assume it still is.

Along the shoreline of the lake, there were very small patches of water that had not frozen.

The few ducks and coots we saw were hanging out there.

Today...I am sharing the rest of the pictures from that day.

These are not the best pictures, 

the sun has been missing for so long, but they are clear images of some of the winter ducks I see.

The first 4 pictures, the brown duck, is a... 

Female Blue Winged Teal

The Female Blue Winged Teal is a species of bird in the duck, goose, and swan Anatidae family.

One of the smaller members of dabbling duck group,

it winters along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

The dark gray waterbird is a Coot.

The rest of these pictures are of a...

Female Redhead Duck

This is an attractive medium sized diving duck, that also over winters here at the Jersey Shore.

Sharing today's images with Eileen at 

Viewing Nature With Eileen 

for Saturdays Critters

Can We Please Talk Knitting?

 I love to knit...

if I could pick any one thing to do...I would knit.

If you have two sticks and some yarn, you can create anything.

I am currently working on this 

Donnie's Hat

for the "Make for Another 2026 Makealong"

I am knitting this with 2 shades of gray alpaca yarn.

If I finish this hat by February 15th, I will have 3 hats and one cowl to donate to this makealong.

When I finish the hat...next up for the needles is a 

Sierra Yarn Dream Blanket

This will be the third blanket I have knitted, one for my mom and one for son Mike.

This is a kit that includes all the yarn you need, a circular needle and the 

"handmade by me tag".

This is Mike's blanket all finished up...you may remember that I gifted this to him this past Christmas.

I joined in on a "Beat The Winter Blues Swap" with my knitting group.

Everyone who joins in, fills out a form with their yarn preferences,

likes, dislikes and what genre book they like to read.

 Everyone's name goes into a "hat" then you receive the information on the fiber friend  

to send a surprise package to.

You have to send one skein of yarn and a book...but look at all the goodies I recieved.

The package I received was sent to me by Mary Ellen, someone I have only met through zoom,

but she is part of the fiber group.

My box included...

2 skeins of yarn, a beautiful cookbook, a needle punch kit, chocolates, 

cocoa mix and marshmallows.

Thank you Mary Ellen, I enjoyed receiving this special package.

I have not completed putting my package together, when I do, I will share a picture before I send it.

I made this

Boursin Cheese Pasta

again last night, this time I used rigatoni pasta.

I liked using the larger pasta as the sauce settled nicely into the tubes of pasta and held onto it well.

I like these New York Style Breadsticks.