White Sashing

 

We knotted two comforters a couple of mornings ago, this one pieced by me.  I'd ordered the fabric as a kit years ago, only to find that it didn't include instructions.  So here we are.

What I forgot - Mennonite Central Committee recommends that the comforters be made of dark fabrics.  I should have used gray or black for the sashings.

We won't do knotting in December, so there's time, hypothetically, to piece another one.

For once, today, there wasn't a fresh pile of leaves in my driveway.  Maybe it's slowed down now to every other day raking.  And maybe the leaves left on the tree will be staying there.

Which means I'll have to go back to my regular upper body exercises.

Blue Bird

 Back in June, this stained glass bird came as a birthday gift.  I was reluctant to use it outdoors, so I've been waiting until a few plants moved inside.

You can tell from the Christmas cactus on the right that it had a  lovely outdoor summer.  It even got repotted.  The leaves are very glossy.

It's been another lovely November day, sunny and temperatures in the 70's.  Unusual for me, I had a full day outside the house.  An early morning meeting, trip to TJ for moisturizer, a visitation at a funeral home, to Aldi for bread, and a quilt shop trip.  

And the obligatory leaf raking - that's out of control.  I looked to see when the city leaf truck will be coming - November 19.  I'm lucky this city has a leaf truck, some cities require that the leaves be bagged.

I don't know to whom to attribute the following, but I hope you'll enjoy it -

A Black woman, an Indigenous woman, and a Latina walked into a bar.

And the bartender said, "Hello, governors."

Come Wednesday

 

Yesterday I was a little disappointed, but not really, to not get one of the cool new stickers.  

But I could take heart at the number of people at my polling place, more than I'd seen before.  Marvel at the number of cars jockeying for a parking place.

This morning it feels good to revisit a poem Come Wednesday by the amazing Hasan Davis.  I'll share the last few lines.

Come Wednesday,  I will be here.

With an open hand and an unwavering commitment to justice.  With room in my heart for those who see the world differently.

And no silent approval for those who would deny another's humanity.  I will be right here, And hopefully you will too.

Because Tuesdays have never signaled the end of our collective story.

And Wednesdays have always been the place where the real work could begin.

Together.

Stradling the Seasons

Still straddling the seasons - summer begonias and fall ornamental kale.  The back porch flowers are still looking good, and it's Novembrr.

Day two after Daylight Savings Time.  Not quite as hard as yesterday, but still hard.

In my church small group, we're reading the book "How We Learn to be Brave" by Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington.  

I'd like to be brave.    

In the back of the book is the bishop's sermon from January 21, 2025, at the Inauguration Prayer Service, when she discussed unity and asked the president for mercy for the stranger in our land. How many of you remember her words that day?

She was brave.

Pumpkin Saga

The pumpkin saga continues.  The hole is big enough now so that you, my friends, can look inside and see that it's empty.  Apparently the squirrel has decided that the outside is delicious too.

Do squirrels munch at night?  I've never actually seen one in action.

It was another Bengals win today.  And once again I'm wondering if I'm too old to watch these come from behind wins.  I liked the game a couple of weeks ago when they just cruised.

Next week the Bengals play the Falcons in Spain at 9:30 am Eastern time.  I wonder if church attendance will look a littl sparse. 

Today is the first day after Daylight Savings Time.  It's 8:00 and it feels like midnight.

Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

OK, Trick or Treat was a bust.  There was only one group of kids.  Who exclaimed happily over the Reese's.

I'll leave the light on a little longer.  You never know.

During the two treating hours, I finished baking oatmeal rolls for the small group potluck after church tomorrow.  And two loaves of bread, because if you're making a bread recipe you may as well double it.  And I've had baking bread on my mind for weeks now.

Thanks for Angie and the anonymous person who gave tips for keeping critters away from pumpkins.  Next year I'll know to put a dryer sheet under them and spread them with soap.

I know now to blame squirrels, not deer.  One pumpkin has a smallish hole and the pumpkin is completely hollowed out.  

Kndness

 

Because she no longer sews, an incredibly kind friend gifted me her amazing sewing machine.  

Her kindness is incredible, and I am so grateful.

You might think that because I sew many hours each week that I could just sit down and start sewing on this new machine.  You would be wrong.

It's a different kind of machine that I usually use, and things are in different places.  Both kinds may do the same things, but there are different ways of gtting there.

Luckily, she included her workbook, and that will aid in my learning.  I'll get there, and I'll love the challenge.

Why Not Just One?

 And pumpkin number 3, behind thse two, has a scrape.  Why can't the squirrel, or deer, just nibble on ONE pumpkin?

In My Planner

 

The birds were from a lunch invitation from the Taft Museum of Art.  The lunch is called Modernism on the Menu.

I'm not going to the lunch, but I loved the birds and cut out the picture for my planner.

The exhibittion will be called Edie McKee Haarper:  Modernism at Play.  And that I will go to.  

The museum is in Cincinnati, and is practically in my back yard. 

I Like This

 
Yesterday several people mentioned that it was just three months until Christmas.  While that's true, we have Halloween coming first.

I love the fall and Halloween decorating that's happening, both inside and outside.  I'm definitely getting $5 worth of enjoyment from this small indoor decoration that lights up in late afternoon and turns off again before bedtime.  Really it's just a single white ghose inside a glass globe, no yellow reflecion, and there's only one.

Soon, I'll have pumpkins and mums outside.  Already there are tiny quilts here and there inside the house.

Some people go all out, and I like their efforts.   Lights and skeletons and any number of other things.

My feeling is that it's a long time between Easter and Halloween and people just want to celebrate something light-hearted.

Waiting

 Things are quiet here this morning.  Concrete pour was scheduled for 9:00 but was postponed until tomorrow because it may rain today.  It certainly does look like it will.

I won't be surprised if s the pour is postponed again tomorrow, there's a 50% chance of rain then.  It's ok, we're close to the end.

The drain part of the project worked out better than anyone expected.  The trap part at the beginning was packed tight with mud, no surprise there.  But the clay tiles under the driveway were clear and unbroken.  No sump pump or repair needed there.  And now there is a long trench drain

Sometimes I need to stop and think that the biggest reason for starting all this was the drain repair.  The rest needed to be done too but I could have put it off a little longer and probably might have. 

 That procrastination thing.

Christmas Wall Hanging

 When I was putting together last year's Moda Blockheads, I left out this large block.  I liked how the quilt looked without it.  Last week some red sashings turned it into a 25" wall hanging or table topper.  

I don't remember where I got the red sashings and backing.  It was a large piece of batik with Christmas designs.  There was also a large piece of green batik that I used for the binding.

It isn't the kind of fabric I might usually buy these days, so I'm guessing that I got it at my neighborhood Hancock Fabrics, back when there was such a thing.  Their Christmas farics would be half off after Christmas.

I was spoiled by that store.  Five minutes from home.  Any sewing notion that you could want, even buttons, even quilting notions, and they were half off on holidays.  The good thread, including serger thread.  And a huge selection of fabrics and trim.

It was a sad day when it closed.  

Not Much Left

 Sidewalk gone, steps by the street gone.  Next week, weather permitting, it will start going back together.

This weekend, I'm enjoying the quiet, no jack hammer, no excavator.  Just quiet.

No chunks of concrete or dirt hitting that huge sturdy trailer.  Just quiet.

Just for fun, there were two giant sanitation trucks woking just up the street too.  Different project.  Not noisy, at least I don't think so.

Football Church Banner

 

The church pastor started a four-part series today with football analogies.  And last night I got started on the banner to coordinate with the series.  "Getting started" was pressing the green fabric and adding the stripes.

This morning I got up early and added the football.

The white stripes are just basted on since I'm sure I'll at some point  take them off and use the green fabric for someting else.  The football is stitched too but also fused with Wonder Under.  I'm hoping it will pull off.

I kind of like that football.

I usually email a friend in a nursing home by 9:00 am.  This morning I just didn't have the time, so I sent her a picture of the banner on the ironing board and a brief explanation.  

She emailed back saying, "That's nice, but it's a mess."  It just needed 30 more minutes.

From the Bag

 An older friend who is no longer sewing gave me a small bag of fabrics she hadn't used.  Included in that bag was a charm pack of fall fabrics, along with a little card with a table runner pattern.

This week I made her project and later today I'll take it to her.  As you might expect from a pattern printed on a little card, it went together quickly.  

I like it because it used all the fabrics in the charm pack.  The pieces left over are duplicates.  Part of the fun of a charm pack is getting to enjoy all those 5" fabrics.

I did buy the background fabric with the tiny acorns and pumpkins, but I found the gold binding fabric in my ridiculously large stash.  I considered, but only for a moment, of seeing how long I can go without buying any fabric.

It would be a good goal, but sometimes, like with this background fabric, the right piece just isn't in my house.

It Starts Today

It starts today.  The big excavator is in the driveway, taking down the old stone retaining walls and removing the concrete on the driveway.  Dirt and concrete all go in the big dumpster trailer.

It's less noisy than I thought it would be.  And bigger, whatever than means.  I knew the project would be big, but maybe I didn't realize just how big.

I'm trying to not consider all the pieces of the project and just look at what's happening now.  These changes are the big ones.  Some of the smaller ones, the repairs, won't even look different when they're finished.

I'm thinking about color of the new block retaining wall.  A pretty tan, I think, would look best with the strange tan-ish brick on the house.  I have a couple of days to decide.  I think the thing to do will be to walk around the neighborhoods and see what other people have done, color-wise.

Caterpillars

 

Earlier in the summer, there was one monarch caterpillar on the milkweed plants, just one.  I looked hopefully every day.

Just when I was about to give up, there were suddenly three.  And it's just so thrilling to see those little striped creatures.

I have plans for more milkweed next summer.

Animal Baby Quilt

 

A couple of weeks ago my friend and I went to Apron Quilt Strings Quilt Shop in Maysville, KY.  The day was pretty, the quilt shop had many lovely fabrics, and we rode the Augusta ferry across the Ohio River after the shopping.

One of the fun things about Apron Strings is that the have a sale room, called The Vault, open just on Fridays and Saturdays.  And in The Vault were some panels perfect, if you bought two, for a baby quilt.  So I bought two.

As these things go, I quickly had a request for a baby quilt.  A little sewing, a little free motion and the quilt came together.  The backing has little paw prints, actually little kitten prints, but all the animals have paws.

The stripe on the binding was part of the panels, and you know how I like a pieced binding.

Pink Flowers

 

I've loved the bright pink flowers on my back porch this summer.  The pink colors are almost shocking.  Petunias and impaients.

I'm been lazy with gardening this summer.  Including with these flowers.  

I brought them home from the big box store and arranged them on top of the soil in the big planter - and never planted them.  And yet, somehow, they thrived, root bound in their little pots except for a few roots that escaped and found the soil.

Maybe I'll do the same next year.

Last year's morning glories came back this spring, but never took off.  A few vines trellised up the upright railings, a few purple flowers ame out, and then nothing. 

School Kit Bags

 

We've talked about comforters distributed by Mennonite Central Committee, but there are also school kits.  Last year almost 90,000 were sent to disaster areas overseas.

My church usually picks up already-sewn bags from a distribution center and fills them from a list of supplies.  This year people were especially generous and we had more supplies than bags.

It was my first time sewing a few bags.  I followed the directions for some, then used the serger to speed things up.  It was sort of like serging pillowcases.

It brought back memories of making Girl Scout kit bags and threading the drawstrings.  Back then, I just couldn't figure out how to make my drawstrings draw - I think my mother ended up doing it for me.  All those years later, I can do it.

Dill Bread

 A claasic cookbook for many Mennonite families is More With Less, first printed fifty years ago.

One of the events marking the 50 year celebration is Cook Through More-With-Less.  Participants signed up to receive a recipe assignment, make the recipe, and send back a photo.

My assignment was Dill Bread, which I'd never made, despite making the oatmeal bread recipe over and over again.

The deadline for sending photos is today, so of course I was making mine last night.  It's a savory bread, really good.  It took a long time to rise, probably because I added the cottage cheese cold out of the refrigerator.  Next time I'll warm it up.

Table Topper This Week

Last week's sewing project was an alteration, a pair of my grandson's wool suit pnts becuse he's taller than when he bought the suit, and he also needed a couple of inches at the waist.

We thought he could just buy a new pair of suit pants, but the color had been discontinued.  it's a very, very dark navy.  I'm grateful that th jacket still fit and now the pants do too.

I wanted to start out this week with a mindless project before going back to comforter binding - four mor to go, my goal for this week is two.

I had four blocks left over from the Moda Blockheads project, so it was easy enough to sew them together for a table topper, then quilt and bind.

I'd never tried out the laser feature of my sewing machine - it projects a thin red line to guide the sewing.  This quilting probablly wasn't the best project for using it, but it was fun to try it out.  I'll come back to it  again.

Enough?

It's almost August - and maybe this is enough flower shopping..

Maybe.

When I lived in Michigan, a frost could come any time after Labor Day.

But this is Kentucky, and I'm looking forward to a nice long fall.

Once, many years ago, my husband was mowing the yard in Kentucky when his sister called from Michigan.  They were shoveling snow there.  And my husband, in typical youngest child fashion, took great delight in this.

Future Monarch

 

This year there are three milkweed plants in my garden, but so far just one monarch caterpillar.  I keep looking hopefully for more, but so far there is only one.

Lots of seed pods, one faithful bee, but just one caterpillar.  Maybe there's still time. Maybe I'll have to be happy with just one.

Every morning, I look.

Marigolds

 

It's been a long time since I've had pretty marigolds, but this seems to be their year.

Of course they came marked down at the big box store, looking just a little unhappy, but they've thrived in a tub of Miracle Grow potting soil.

I added a couple of day lilies which languished on my back porch all winter.  They don't seem to be doing as well as when they sat in their containers on the porch.  Maybe they like just plain dirt rather than the good stuff.

There is a new butterfly bush growing happily in the "just plain dirt."  I know it might b a little invasive, we'll see.  But it's all by itself in a spot where nothing else seems to grow.  It's in the back yard, away from the pollinator plants.

If you have concerns about it, Master Gardener Joanne, let me know.

Rain

 

It's raining on and off, and when it rains, it rains hard.  It seems like we've had a flood watch for days.

I met my cardio goal for the week sweeping water in the basement toward the drain, so there's that.  Not a flood, don't worry.

My only trip out today was to the quilt shop, I'd been thinking about that all week.  I picked up the fifth block of the month (and still haven't started the first one.)

Then there was a pattern for a zipper bag, a very simple one that I'll use again and again.  And a kit for a table runner that I've been admiring in the shop.

I rarely buy kits, but the sample looks so pretty and I can use the basic design for other projects.

But first, an embroidery job needs to be started.

Comforter Binding

 

I'm way behind on sewing binding on comforters for Mennonite Central Committe.  Our group got a nice stash of comforter tops some time ago from Indiana and we've been knotting those, one or two a month.  

Only thing is, there are only two of us who can sew on binding, and we've both ended up behind because of various health/travel issues.

This week I've binded five, which put a nice dent in catching up.  I need to pivot now because of an embroidery job, then I'll be back.

My favorite binding method is machine sewn, starting with sewing the binding on the back, then flipping it around to the front and turning it under.  A hot iron is so, so helpful for getting the binding flat.  Binding clips speed things up, just a quick pinch instead of putting in a pin.

A three-part zig zag stitch ensures that the binding won't pull loose if it gets snagged.  That stitch slows down the process but it's totally worth it.

As I stitch, I enjoy thinking about where the comforter will end up, it could be anywhere.

Raccoon Saga

 

For my birthday, around the summer solstice, my neighbor gifted me with a beautiful bouquest.  And now, on this seventh day of July, some of those flowers are still looking pretty and summer-y.

Like many others, I'm glad that last week's heat has lowered about ten degrees.  We've had a few nice showers.  I'm no longer itching from misquito bites that come with summer watering.

The raccoon saga - a neighbor saw a raccoon going in and out of my chimney.  After a while I had a chimney cap installed, the chimney guy didn't see raccoons, and the projected time for raccoon babies to be born and grown had passed.

Only thing was, mama and babies must have been hiding in an L at the bottom of the chimney flue.  After a few days, mama got desperate and worked at the flue covering in the basement and was able to work it loose.

She ate a couple of bags of Cheetos I had on a table, also sampled most of a bag of flour, drank toilet water, and went back to the babies.  Her tracks were in the flour and she left a mess behind.

I don't do critters well, two neighbor men nicely helped make sure she was back in the chimney, and they wedged the flue cover so she couldn't make her way back.  My daughter helped me clean up the mess she left behind.  Thankfully, the basement is unfinished.

The chimney guy came back and removed the chimney cap so mama could come and go and the babies could get bigger.  And now we wait.  A couple of nights ago there were still little squeaks, so the family is still there.

Apparently several neighbors have had similar stories, chimney caps have appeared, and mama moves on to the next house.

July 4

 Happy July 4, everyone.

I made this table topper at least twenty years ago and I enjoyed making it so much.  The fireworks are rayon embroidery thread.

There are no special plans at my house, and that's ok.  I have some beer for celebrating, one bottle missing.  I drank one last night to hopefully mark the end of the raccoon saga at my house - we'll talk about that later.  (Diana, it's Yuengling, from your area.)

High today here in Northern Kentucky is 91, which sounds hot enough, but is actually welcome after week's heat.  Then we slide into the 80's for next week, with maybe some showers here and there.

Fallen Tree

 

Not my fallen buckeye tree - it's at my daughter's house.

It's a big tree, it could have caused a lot of damage, but it didn't.

It fell on the shed and took out a single section of the neighbor's fence.

It didn't fall on any other structures, didn't fall on the pool, there is no broken glass.  Most important, it didn't fall on any people or pets.

Deep breath.

Arboretum Art

 
This summer's Arboretum exhibit is my favorite indoor exhibit so far.  And of course I love this photo taken by Sarah.

Employees and friends could check out digital cameras and take pictures around the Arboretum.  Some were framed, like Sarah's, and those were displayed together.

Others were printed and displayed around three walls, hundreds of pictures, no blank spaces, tops in a wave pattern that followed throughout.  Each picture was the same size.

The word that comes to mind is dazzling.  I could have spent so long just looking.  So much color, each photo diffeerent.  The other word is stunning.

Good job, everyone.

On the Sidewalk

 

On a sidewalk in Asheville:

IMAGINE

THE LOVE

WE COULD

HAVE

IF WE

LEFT OUR

EGOS AT

THE DOOR

    @POETRY

    BYBOOTS

New Washer

 The washer I'd been using came with this house, and I've lived here for nineteen years. I didn't really use it all those years, I'd brought a washer with me that I used for about eight years.

The washer that came with the house - was made in Ohio, around 1990.  It was made to last, as these things were back then.

A couple of month ago, it stopped spinning out quite all the water.  There was a work-around, I love work-arounds, and I could just turn the dial for a few extra minutes of spinning.

But earlier this week it started leaking water, and that was the end.  If parts were still available I'd have fixed it, but not even ebay could help me out with what I needed. 

So today the truck pulled up with a new washer,with nice warranties and a projected life of twenty-five years.  My projected life isn't twenty-five years, so I'm hopeful that I won't be buying another washer.

It isn't especially beautiful and it doesn't do many tricks, but I'm in love.  It's so, so quiet.

For My Daughter

 My daughter wanted a gray wall hanging for her hallway. 

And I was luckky enough to score a scrap bag at the local quilt shop.  Inside were gray and gray-green fabrics, with several half square tringles already made.  Those triangles wwere pretty precise, more than mine would have been, and mine are pretty precise.

From there it was easy to piece together the wall hanging.  I realize sit-down quilter was happy to get a bit of a work out, so that was a bonus.  I realize that many quilters take their quilt tops to be quilted by someone else on a long arm with digital stitch patterns, but I like my own stitches.

My sit-down quilter has a stitch regulator that evens out the stitches, but it's still in its package.  Maybe some day I'll try it, for now, once again, I like my own stitches"..

Size is 28" x 28".

Love This Place

 

There is a restaurant in the Northside community of Cincinnati that I love.  Ruth's Parkside Cafe.  If I lived closer I'd be there every week or two.

The building looks like nicely renovated industrial, definitely a casual vite.  There are sweet little lamps, art work, and awesome food otions for me.. Lots of the menu is plant based with protein that can be added for folks who want that, but there are plenty of meat options too.

Yesterday I had a "sandwich" with sauted vegetables served over whole wheat bread and topped with Swiss cheese.  The portion was gigantic and I had the leftovers for lunch today, with my own artisan bread.

The staff is so friendly.  When I was there on a recent Saturday afternoon there were two couples playing cribbage.  No one asked them repeated if they wanted anything else, n an effort to move them along, just left them to their game during an uncrowded time.

On raccoon news, no littl squeaks yesterday or today.  Of course I don't hang around long listening.

Fireflies

 This year for the first time in ages there are so many fireflies in the front yard garden and even some in the back yard.  Apparently they like pollenator plants.

So much nicer than raccoons.  It really is a treat watching their tiny flashes.

They remind me of the years we saw the synchronized fireflies at Elkmont in the Smokies.  Their show would happen for just a couple of weeks in June.

Eventually they got to be sso popular that we stopped going, but they are probably still flashing.

Not Happy

Apparently I have a raccoon living in my chimney, and I'm not happy.

My new neighbor told me that he's seen it crawling in and out.  I don't  have a fireplace but the chimney was used for the original heating system ventelation.

This has turned into a neighborhood project.  The original plan was to trap the raccoon and relocate her, but it turns out that if I go behind the furnace I can hear babies squeaking.  Mama gets a reprieve until the babies leave.

Surprise Iris

 

This pretty iris appeared today.  Sarah said she planted it last year, beside the front porch so I could easily water it.  She said it needs a lot of water.

In fact it has received next to none.  It's surrounded by day lilies, which get minimal water from me.  I'll be more diligent going forward.  It's such a lovely flower on a long stalk.

The small local nursery has no milkweed.  The nice man sitting in a chair just outside the door said he had tried three or four suppliers without any luck.  He said that seems to happen every three or four years.

There has been gentle thunder rumbling for the past hour.  Somewhere, it is raining, just not here.

False Indigo

 

Joanne mentioned the plant false indigo in a reent post.  She inspsired me to admire mine, very big this year.  You can see both leaves and seed pods.

Sometimes called baptisia, these plants are drought tolerant, good pollenators, and (drum roll) deer resistant.  And, they're pretty.

Because I'd read that they are self seeding I tried to start my own from seeds in the refrigerator rolled up in a damp paper towel.  It didn't work.

Misfits

 When I finished piecing the Moda blocks earlier this spring,  three misfit blocks were left over - and one block was keft to do.  The one on the lower left.

In the interest of really finishing, and in getting the three misfit  blocks off the table, I pieced that fourth block and stitched the bocks together.

The blocks still look like misfits, but with some quilting they will make a pretty enough Christmas table topper.

When I was telling you about that lower left block, I was reminded about how long it took me as a child to learn right from left.  (That, and tying my shoes.  My mother dispaired.)  I'm pretty sure I was the last in my class to learn both

I remember sitting in the second grade classroom trying to puzzle out right vs. left, a concept that made no sense.  It was a combination second and third grade classroom and I'm sure I was supposed to be doing something else, but I was easily distracted.

I finally learned by looking to see on which hand women wore their wedding rings and translating that to other situations.  

To this day, I'm always happy for a work-around.  I think it's related to math appreciation.  There are different paths to the right answer.

Morning Glory and Unrelated Stupidity

 The back posch morning glories reseeded themselves, and - bonus - they are flowering much earlier than last year.  Their brightness cheers up each morning.

Now for the stupidity - A few weeeks ago I had my sewing machine serviced, and I'd used it a few times since then.  All was good, until I got really stupid.  I realized I hadn't engaged the dual feed foot and promptly did that.

The backstory is that that feature hooks up to only one of the many feet that come with the machine.  And I chose the wrong one.

I should have looked at the manual, just to be sure I had everything right.  But I didn't because I'd done it many times before.  And then I felt so, so stupid when I went to the dealer because things weren't working.

All the more so because I was an educator for that dealer for many years.

Catch Up - Plant Shopping

As a delayed Mother's Day gift, Sarah and Winnie and the dogs took me plant shopping at the huge nursery north of Cincinnati.

II'm easily impressed - they had complementary icy bottles of cold water.

It's the kind of place where customers stroll around just looking at plants of all kinds, knowledgable employees stroll around asking if they can help, and dog biscuits appear out of employee smock pockets.

I picked out this red cone flower and a bluebeard cryopteris.  I really wanted a milkweek plant but those were very picked over.  I guess that other people want a zoo certified pollenator garden.

Luckily, Winnie located a smaller nursery on the way to the brewery.  That nursery had lots of pollinator plants, inclluding a selection of milkweed - I may have to go back.

Catch Up - Birthday

The day after Aaron's high school graduation came Sarah's birthday.  We celebrated twice, but the celebration on her actual birthday was at MadTree Brewing.

We love the huge outdoor patio there.  Usually on a Saturday afternoon you'll find grown ups, small children, and dogs.  The rain held off on that rainy weekend and we had a good time.

Note that sitting beside me is Nora.  She turned 21 in December and  she joined the fun.

Who knew - for many years Nora had the long straight hair favored by the high school crowd.  Starting about a year ago she started getting it cut, a little shorter each time.  With the weight gone, her hair turned curly and then added layers meant added curls.

- Catch Up =Graduation

 It's June.  Graduation has come and gone.  I have no grands in high school.

Since the class was large, graduation was held in a college arena.  Even with all those graduates, each had a few moments on the jumbo tron   Parents were given a seating chart so they could spot their grad.

Once everyone had diplomas and tassels had been turned, the audotorium darkened and camera flashlights flickered on the floor and in the upper arena, like a field of fireflies.

Then the lights turned back on and confetti was showered over the graduates.  It was a moment.

Most touching for me was when band graduates joined the symphonic band for one more time.  One last song.

First Catch Up

 

First catch-up - the garden.

It's growing well and looks like the blooming garden of my dreams.  There are three new plants, including a new milkweed.  The spring rains have been kind.

If you look toward the right, you'll see the Pollenator Garden sign from the zoo.

The back yard - not so well.  But maybe there will soon be fewer weeds, starting today.  The morning glories on the back porch have reseeded, and better than last year.

It's June 1 - can you believe it?

Bumper Crop

 

What a lovely display of peonies this spring! 

I have to give credit to my neighbor, whose kitchen window looks oout over the peony bed.  He has been weeding them for the past couple of years and they have responded to his care.  Because these flowers are at a side of my house that I rarely pay attention to, next to my neighbor's driveway, I've sometimes forgotten to care for them.

I'm wondering how old the bed is.  I'm guessing maybe 50 years, but that's only a guess.  Peonies are happy on their own, and mine don't pay attention to the rules.  They don't get much sun, the soil isn't rich, and yet with weeding they are happy.

And the deer don't like them.  How great is that?

finally Done

 

My sweet niece sent me two linen dish towels for Christmas, but they wee too pretty to use for drying dishes.

One is serving as a pretty kitchen wall hanging, and the other will turn into six potholders.  It's taken a while, but two of the six are finished.

A friend and I were talking about this type of machine quilting and I decided to give it a try.  It won't be repeated, but it worked out ok for this application.

Here's hoping it doesn't take five more months to do the next two potholders, especially since I like practical art.

Bacl Agaom

 

Ten days is really, really a short time for machine service, but it seemed like a very long time.  

There wasn't anything wrong with it, but it just needed a regular service to keep it happy.  And to keep me happy.

I tried using my machine-before-this-one, and it's a lovely machine, it's just not this machine.  This one threads the needle with the push of a button - magic.  And this one has an integratd dual feed foot - if you know, you know.

So this morning I hemmed a pair of pants, put binding on a potholder, and stitched a portion of a quilt block.  All long, long overdue.

And there was a needed mental reset in my mind, that maybe, just maybe I can do things, I can be pracical and I can be creative, and I can complete things.

This Is Lucky

 

How lucky am I?  My granddaughter's college job is working in a flower shop and she brought me Mother's Day flowers.

One of my own favorite part time jobs was working in a small town flower shop.  It was next a grocery store - not like now, when a floral department is part of the grocery, but a stand alone shop owned by the same person who owned the grocery store.

When Mothr's Day came, part of the grocery cold storage turned into flower and bouquet storage.  It was a sight to see.

Sometimes I drove the delivery van, in the days before GPS.  That would have made it so much easier.

But the best part - stepping into the shop's cold storage area on a winter day.  The smell was heavenly.

But just as good, was working with the floral designers.  They were happy, they were friends, there was lots of chatting.  It was the best. 

Or Maybe Yellow

Or maybe yellow roses are my favorites.

I had a call from the sewing store this morning, and my machine service was finished and ready to be picked up.  Just like that, my other plans for the day seemed less important.  

I need to ask someone to carry my machine into the house and put the steps and my life will feel more normal once again.

I got updates from Aaron's track meet and that was fun.  He was first in discus, pretty good for a kid who's thrown for like two weeks.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I'm making a simple dinner to take to Steph's.  She's the mom in the trenches and I'm just enjoying.