skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A visit to Hendersonville, NC, and the grands spent an entire day floating on the lake in one form or another. Here Aaron is in one of the kayaks and Nora is being towed behind. Aaron even had his lunch in a kayak, not wanting to spend any time away from the water. You can see why Sarah and Winnie visits are such a treat.
This small lake is perfect for kayaking and paddle boating. There was also the new fire pit with s'mores and badmitton in the side yard. Walks with the dogs. Movies at home. Staying up late instead of early bedtime for 7 a.m. school for Nora. Quite a weekend.
And the weather, oh, my goodness. A lovely break from the heat and humidity of these past weeks.
It wasn't easy to get up and go to work yesterday, and I'm sure that everyone in the family felt the same about going to work/school after that glorious weekend. Thanks, Winnie, Sarah, and Walt for all that fun.
I kept waking up last night thinking I heard the wind blowing through the trees. In fact, I'm sure it was the air conditioner turning on, but I think it's a signal that my body is happy for September. Cooler temperatures (maybe after next week, which is supposed to be a high 80's/90 week once again,) windows open, pleasant to work in the yard.
My co-workers gave me two lap quilt kits for my birthday, one in pink and one in green. I split them with one of my baby quilt friends, with a pink/green combo for each of us. Of course, she finished hers weeks ago, but I'll be taking mine, above, to our next meeting.
Ohio Valley Quilters is starting a Northern Kentucky presence and I went to a sew day on Monday. I saw numerous friends, and it was nice to just sit and sew for a few hours. As is usual for me, I was grabbing projects at the last minute, including this quilt. I forgot to bring my walking foot for the quilting, just used the regular foot, but it is fine, no pleats. Forgot to bring a ruler for another project and didn't bring the bag of fabric for a third. I'd be concerned about my memory if this wasn't my normal. My sister says we are dreamy, and I prefer that word to some others.
I realize I've been pretty quiet, but all is well. I'm happy for September because it signals longer days in the studio again. I've been sewing downstairs because the studio space is so hot, which means lots of running up and down stairs and not having things close at hand. Yes, I know I'm spoiled, lots of people do this all the time. And I have space for a table in my bedroom, lots of people sew on a kitchen table and have to put things away every time they sew.
I'm looking forward to some Asheville time coming up and a chance to visit and reset.
Thinking about my dad today. He loved football, rarely missed a high school or college game when he was retired. He would be so proud of these two, shown here with their dad. My dad had three granddaughters and was super proud of them. No grandsons. Aaron is the first boy in the mix.
And no,by the way, Aaron hasn't caught up with Nora yet. They were standing on a slope. For now, he just keeps up with her. One of these days she will have a growth spurt and leave him behind, but only for a little while.
I am used to softball/baseball games, which have rain delays and make-up games. Not so football. When it rains, as long as there is no thunder or lightning, they play on. My feet were squishing in my shoes by the end of the day, and Nora's were many times worse. I was under an umbrella, she just had her helmet for protection.
Early in the morning, Nora set off for her first day of middle school, which is sixth grade here. She needs to be out the door by 6:30, earlier if she rides the bus. The three girls on her football team decided to wear their jerseys on the first day.
Aaron's school starts at 9:15, and he was very reluctant to give up his summer.
Looks like he managed a bit of a smile as he dodged the raindrops. Probably no recess for him on this rainy first day. And that boy loves his recess.
And just like that, summer is over. We did go to see Pete the Dragon yesterday, my favorite of our summer movies.
After the recent string of long hot days, looking out at the rain feels glorious. I am hemming a white dress, which has a lining, so basically two hems. It's very circular, lots of hem to do, but it can all be done on the machine with a very slender needle.
As always, I loved our baby quilt group today. And, finally, I had a baby quilt to take since I put on the binding this morning. I had a charm pack, cut the squares in half, and inserted cream solids.
I'm not sure why I feel like I need a close up, because you know by now that much of my quilting is done with the walking foot.
Maggie left for home last night around 1 a.m. Her family gave her so much love, and she absorbed it all like a sponge. She was one happy dog.
I just vacuumed up so much of her dog hair. I work at a store that sells vacuums and never really appreciated the value of a vacuum that does a great job with pet hair.
Yesterday I used my Joann coupon for a ruler that has pink markings. Someone brought one to one of my classes and it seemed like the perfect ruler for dark fabrics. I always have to look twice at the black markings when I'm cutting navy, dark green, or black fabrics. I'll let you know if I love this.
This week I have a house guest, Maggie. She is an awesome dog, the kind that has a smile. She is not the best walker, ten steps and stop and sniff. She is used to a fenced-in back yard and long walks off leash in open areas, but she is adapting. Probably remembering from last year.
I have been feeling anxious all summer. Part is probably that it has been so hot so long and I haven't been going outside like I enjoy. The garden beds look pretty sad. I haven't gone to any baseball games, once again because it's so hot. Not enough walks. I don't know how the grands have been able to go to football practice, evening after evening.
So, I'm looking forward to seeing whether having a pet helps calm me, like some reading shows. Not that I am going to get one. I like being able to just come and go, and I'm not set up to accommodate one. I'm not sure whether it would even be possible to fence in the back yard with its side slope into the neighbor's driveway.
I didn't do a good job of taking care of the tie-down cord from last year, left it on the back porch and now the clips are too rusty to be functional. I'll be going to Pet Smart today. Foreign territory for me.
I'm struggling this morning with the different ways of looking at summer. In one way, we're only in the middle, another hot month to go plus another warm growing month. At least. Summer stretches on, luxuriously.
On the other side, days with the grands have come to an end. They will be on vacation next week and school starts the next Tuesday. It seems as if we haven't done half the summer things we love to do. Lazy time at the library. A downtown trip on the shuttle with the long elevator ride to the top of Carew Tower. Only one zoo trip. No Behringer Crawford Museum. No hampster balls since it's been too hot to be inside a greenhouse bubble. No Duck rides - not sure the Duck is even still running.
Part of it is their growing older, of course. We have done more swimming, more art projects. More quiet time because they had baseball/softball practice and games or football practice in the evenings. A couple of really nice bookstore trips, although it's still hard to coax Aaron to read. Lots of good lunches, like Twisted Sister yesterday, with no more ordering off the kid menu. Those kids are hungry, although they are also slimmer.
Times are different. They dress themselves to go swimming. They can usually agree on what to do. They have athletic interests and usually wear sneakers instead of flip flops. There are more smiles. I love all the phases, every one. This has been a very good but short summer.
