This past week I have been working on some new basket weaving techniques. I have finished two new baskets! I enjoy relaxing here at Quiet Walker Lodge and weaving new designs. I am looking forward to 2012. I will be learning how to weave and use gourds to create some unusual designs. My willow patch produced some great willow. I hope to make a basket using the beautiful orange willow that I have harvested this year.
Visit Our Website at Quiet Walker Lodge B & B
Linda Rodrigues
Although there is no snow yet on the ground, I am still wishing for a white Christmas. The surrounding area is all aglow with lights and moving reindeer. It is beautiful to drive around and see the various displays on neighbors front lawns. One of my favorite displays is on Asbury Road in Dubuque. A farmer has a huge star glowing on his silo. It is breathtaking!
There are many plays, musicals and choirs entertaining tourists at this time of year. The festival of trees event was awesome and the Senior High Choir gave us all a glimpse of the festive spirit. Vendors lined Main Street with delicious food, warm drinks and one-of-a-kind holiday goodies. Buddy the Elf, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf, and the Grinch also were there! The Dubuque Senior High School Choir performed and the tree lighting ceremony signaled the official start of the 2011 Festival of Trees. It was a great event to participate in.
We have already had a few parties at the lodge. It is always nice to share a meal with friends and family for the holidays. We here at Quiet Walker Lodge hope you have a blessed holiday and a great New Year.
Visit Our Website at Quiet Walker Lodge B & B
Linda Rodrigues
This Saturday, members of the Quad Cities Guild were treated to an all day weaving workshop by the Midwest Basket Guild. Members enjoyed wine tasting at Quiet Walker Lodge and the beautiful weather! After weaving, the ladies were treated to a tour of the lodge and grounds. I enjoy basket weaving and meeting other weavers. Right now I am working on two willow baskets and planning a trip to the Make it- Take it workshop in Davenport.
Visit our website: Quiet Walker Lodge Bed and Breakfast
Linda Rodrigues
My latest baskets
This summer I have been busy making baskets. These are three of my new additions and I am learning more techinques to make the baskets personal. The cherokee circles on my bean pot basket were fun to do and I enjoyed the progressive basket where we had one person weave the base, another the sides and the thrird person finished the basket. I was amazed at the ways different weavers applied personal techinques to make unique and fun baskets. Now we are getting ready for the Quad Cities Basket Weaving Guild coming to the lodge to weave the latest basket by teacher Jeanne Dudley. We will be weaving Mom’s Santa Fe Tote and the weavers will be visitng the lodge to weave part of the basket here before moving on to Park Farm Winery. It will be fun to be weaving with all these great weavers from Iowa.
Besides weaving, working in the greenhouses and finishing my flower beds and two songbird garden beds, I have been helping Carol with the innkeeping at the lodge. More and more people are finding us on the net and reserving dates to stay at the lodge. One of the highlights of June was a garden wedding held on a cool summer evening here at the lodge. It was awesome and beautiful to see the bride and groom walk down the rolling hill towards the willow tree to say their vows. After the service, the wedding party and their 50 guests enjoyed dinner, catered by Hy-Vee. It was a great day.
Visit our Website: Quiet Walker Lodge Bed and Breakfast
Linda Rodrigues
In the warm summer nights here at Quiet Walker Lodge, I enjoy how nature displays her own July 4th fireworks show. The lightening bugs hover above the forest floor and flash thousands of little lights to help them find each other for mating.
Whether you call them lightening bugs or fireflies, these little guys are part of the beetle family called Lampyridae. They have four stages of a life cycle: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The adults live for one to two weeks and feed on nectar, pollen or other insects. Their main focus though is on mating. After mating, the females lay their eggs in tall grass or under mulch. The eggs hatch this summer and the larva live until next summer when they transform into adults.
The light produced by the lightening bug is a cold light meaning that the chemical reaction to produce the light is nearly all light and very little heat. Each species of lightening bug has a distinctive pattern of flashes so that the males and females can recognize their own species by the flashing.
The light show will not last for long so come on out to the lodge and see this spectacular show!
Website: Quiet Walker Lodge Bed and Breakfast
Linda Rodrigues
Website: Quiet Walker Lodge Bed and Breakfast
Linda Rodrigues
Next month a group of my friends will be coming to Quiet Walker Lodge to help plant a songbird garden. They are bringing slips of plants from their own gardens to put in the new area. I have been busy preparing the ground for planting. I did alot of research and decided to try a new method called Lasagna Gardening. It requires no tilling of the land which can sometimes cause more damage than good. In Lasagna Gardening the first step is to place newspaper down to control the weeds. The next step is to alternate between green and brown materials. I had three large mulch piles from last year that I put down for my brown material. I added some green vegetable and fruit scraps and topped it will another layer of compost and cow manure.
I was able to get birdhouses, rocks and landscape extras in place and now I am ready to wrap around the garden with deer fencing. We have alot of deer here who would love to munch on the new plants that will be placed in the garden next month. So I need to fence off the area and install a gate for guests to enter the garden. I have never installed a gate before so I am hoping the man at the hardware store can give me some tips.
When I am finished preparing the songbird garden, I will move to the vegetable garden I am setting up next to the large greenhouse. During the months of February and March I have been starting my vegetable seeds in egg cartons. I transferred them to larger paper pots and they are ready to be planted outside in May. I bought these new beds that are easy to assemble and will not rot, crack or deteriorate in Iowa weather. As soon as I get the beds in and the deer fencing and gate done for this area, I will be able to plant the vegetables. I can’t wait to get to that point and watch the garden grow!
My blubs I planted last year have made their way through the ground and are beginning to bloom. The daffodils are beautiful and surprisingly the deer do not like them. In the greenhouse, this is the first year I have had a bumper crop of blood oranges and cherries. The roses have also adapted to their new surroundings and we are getting lovely roses for the bed and breakfast guests. Spring is a wonderful season and it is so much fun to watch the garden grow.
Website: Quiet Walker Lodge Bed and Breakfast
My daughter-in-law and son came to Iowa to visit me. Both of them are avid runners. Gina even has a blog on her running experiences. She calls herself the cheerful runner! I am not a cheerful runner….cheerful walker yes….cheerful runner no. Both of the kids had a workout running up and down our mile long steep driveway in the country. I think they enjoyed the scenery as they exercised for their next run.
Besides running, my son enjoyed driving the tractor and moving wood to the wood pile. He was a big help with the wood cutting. It is nice to have them come and visit. I think they should come in the winter and run through the forest with 3 feet of snow. That would give them a real workout!
Website: Quiet Walker Lodge Bed and Breakfast
When I lived in California I remember watching the news and seeing the snow storms in the middle of the country. I thought at the time how could anyone survive that cold. Well now I live in Durango, Iowa and I have survived the big blizzard of 2011. I have learned many new things. First and formost is that I appreciate my friend Jeff who plows my driveway at Quiet Walker Lodge B & B (www.QuietWalkerLodge.com) so I can get my car down the hill. It is amazing to watch him spin the tires on his pick up truck and slide the vehicle only to catch some traction and move the snow over the bank. The men and women who clear the roads so that people can get to work and the store are heroes in my book.
I also learned the best thing to do when the wind is causing eight foot snow drifts is to stay home in front of the fire and enjoy the falling snow from inside the house. I have learnjed to respect mother nature and not try to drive in weather that is deangerous.
Yes it is a pain to shovel pathways to get into and out of the house. And I must be more aware of things like making sure the exhaust pipes are not plugged with snow so that carbon monoxide does not come into the house. However there is still nothing as beautiful as a forest blanketed with virgin snow and a herd of deer meandering through the drifts. Spring is around the corner!
Website: Quiet Walker Lodge Bed and Breakfast
