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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.
