Weekly update: hikes, something new (again), and 239 yards (!)

We added two forest preserves to our Hike Lake County list this week.  Ethel's Woods is named for Ethel Untermyer. In the 1950's she led the initiative to create the Lake County Forest Preserve District.  (In 2019 AAUW honored her (in memoriam) as a "visionary woman" for the Lake County Women's Coalition.) McDonald's Woods is named for the former landowner who created a private 295-acre preserve back in the 1940's. 

Left: pond at McDonald's Woods, a stubborn chicory blossom, ground cherries. (We tasted ground cherries on our Quebec Road Scholar trip. They are toxic (nightshade family) when unripe. These are ripe but I didn't take any chances.)

It is hard to take a selfie when the sun is in your eyes. 

In the studio:  all the units for a new project. Assembly in progress.  You'll need to tune in later in the week!

The19th century reproduction prints have lived quietly on shelves under the cutting table. I haven't used them recently (actually, for a few years).  Mind you, I have plenty of books and patterns featuring these repros.  Time to take stock of what I have. The contents of the shelves filled two bins to overflowing.  I weighed it all:  59-1/2 pounds -- 239 yards!  

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This week's reading:  

Lottie Dod was 15 in 1887 when she won Wimbledon for the first time. (Wearing mid-calf skirts, a corset and "leather shoes such as washerwomen wore.") She went on to win the title four more times.  She went on to be an Alpine mountain climber, a champion golfer, and an Olympic archer.  Her family was prosperous so the four children (two girls, two boys) could concentrate on sports. She never married and did not capitalize on her prowess.  She died in near-obscurity in 1980.

Fiona Davis writes novels set in landmark buildings in Manhattan -- this time, the New York Public Library.  In the early 20th century the building superintendent and his family lived in a seven-room apartment inside the library. Sounds like heaven, doesn't it? But in 1914 Laura Lyons feels trapped, dependent on her husband Jack's underpaid position (though housing comes with it) and his years-long novel-in-progress and their two young children. When she enrolls at Columbia's journalism school she discovers and uncovers more than she anticipated.   In 1993 Sadie Donovan, Laura's granddaughter, is a rare books librarian at NYPL.  A series of thefts threatens her credibility -- finding the culprit also solves the mystery from Laura's day. 

Linking up with  Monday Making     Oh Scrap!  Design Wall Monday

 P.S. Friday afternoon rainbow.