Floss Minder

Here she is again today, up to her old tricks. Alix, being my "floss minder" in a not-so-constructive way. She seems to be thoroughly enjoying the Spring weather and it has brought back some of her old spunk and playfulness.

Not much to write about today. Mostly spent outside walking with Bud or watching the latest batch of floss dry. From left to right: Sky, Pumpkin, Spruce, Sammy, and Scarlet Tanager. The one second from last being named for my black cat Sammy who has just a tiny bit of white on him. The black dye didn't come out nearly as dark as I wanted it to. I find that after the floss dries and I am not satisfied with the color I just dunk it a few more times until I get what I want. I think the "Sammy" thread is going to take the plunge in the black dye again tomorrow.

Playing With String

Had a go at dying some more floss today. As I was unfurling the length of Ecru DMC I felt a tug at the end of the long strand on the floor. To my surprise it was Alix playing with the string! Alix hasn't been interested in her toys or playing at all in several months. I was so shocked and surprised to see her run and jump on the thread over and over again as I pulled it across the floor. What a nice start to an overall nice day. The weather was a bit cooler so I put on the old sweatshirt and sweat pants to do the dying today....and also some rubber gloves. It was a much cleaner affair and I am quite pleased with the results. I even got "professional" and put the floss on to little cards and gave each a name. From left to right: Faded Glory, Wisteria, Bonfire, Japan, Havana Brown, Poison Oak, Marinated Olives. My apologizes to any overdyed floss manufacturers if I have stolen some names. I just picked whatever came to mind when I looked at that floss.

Here are two patriotic stitches. Barbara has got me hooked on the patriotic theme. I think they will be finished in the star shape (that will take some skill and luck!!) to be used a scissor fobs.

Maybe I can get another hour outside this evening before the sun goes down...........

Spring Cleaning

I guess it is a bit late for Spring Cleaning, but I was never one to really enjoy that type of stuff. I put it off and put it off until the place is quite unbearable. A spontaneous holiday barbecue is what motivated me on Sunday. Suddenly we had the new grill assembled and Joe decided to invite 8 of the neighbors over for a cook-out. Luckily it was early enough in the day to get to the grocery store and back without too much traffic or madness of the "cart race" in the store. Steaks marinating, cake baking, potatoes for the potato salad boiling.....there was nothing left to do but clean up the place. Of course the bathroom is always first. Inevitably every guest will make a trip in there, even if the main party is outside. It was finally warm enough also for all the tropical plants to move out of the living room on to the patio. I had strung up my favorite patio lanterns the night before. They are a bit less bright blue and a bit more faded lavender this year then they were last, but they all still work. So the couch got a reposition after the plants moved out and guess who I found? There they are in all their glory, the cat toys! Poor White Fluffy Mouse had been on his own for quite some time, but suddenly, one by one as each large potted plant was moved outside, his counterparts began to reappear. Even the very elusive Red Glitter Mouse, who has been missing since shortly after Christmas. Alix's favorite, the well-used red plaid corduroy catnip bell, was found lurking under the couch. I will open it up for the 16th time, re-stuff it and add some fresh catnip and he will be the favorite toy once again.

A few little stitchy finishes. A biscornu that is for, of all places, the neighbors bathroom! She redecorated in blue and brown and requested something small to hang in there. She can spray it with scent and hang it from one of the vanity lights. The pattern is free from Tante Zolder website. This is brown 16 count Aida and the floss is one of my all-time favorites, Needle Necessities "Bali Hai". The second little item is a key chain/floss ring. It is for my friend at the gym Becky. Since she doesn't stitch I assume it will be used as a key ring. It is the word "SHALOM" in Hebrew stitched on 18 count black Aida with Carrie's Creations Thread "Mardi Gras". Still have not mastered getting those grommets through the fabric. It looks OK on the front, but the back shows a few frayed edges.

Tried a bit of dying again, this time on floss! It's a messy job, but I did come up with these patriotic bits. These are RIT Dyes on DMC Ecru thread. Now I have a patriotic sink, dishtowels, cuttingboard and counter top to match!

The weather has been fabulous, but I think there is a bit of rain heading our way today. That's alright. I planted the baby spaghetti squash and lemon cucumber plants in the garden yesterday and they need a bit of refreshment.

What A Great Day!

This applies to yesterday as today has not really started for me yet. I had the best of intentions of spending my usual 2 +hours on line required by the slow dial-up to browse all my favorite blogs, leave comments, update the photo on my profile and then make a blog entry. But the computer was not cooperating last night. I kept getting that awful "Page unavailable" screen. This required hitting the "Refresh" button over and over again. We have another name for this button in our house.....named for the foul expletive that is shouted when hitting that button! I'll leave it to your imaginations. I even hesitated to use the expression "great day" or "wonderful day". I feel it is like a curse of sorts....to be too happy and suddenly things will come crashing down around me. I suppose it is just superstition on my part. No one has all good times and no bad. I feel this especially when it applies to Alix. She has had a run of 7 very good days, and I hope many more will follow.

Some more hand-dying yesterday. A patriotic piece on 28 count Monaco. This is before it was rinsed out and I like the bold colors and the bit of white background left open. Unfortunately when I rinsed it the red took over and it sort of has a muted pink background now, but I still like it. I have no idea what I am going to stitch on this. It would have to be some sort of silhouette design of a single dark color. Anything else would get lost in the explosion of color.

Another beautiful day is forecast for today. Yesterday was in the low 70'sF and today is predicted to be the high 70's with lots of sun. Worked a little in the garden and finally got that new barbecue grill we've been wanting. In viewing this wide shot you will notice the grill in the background and the 6-pack of beer (on the picnic table) that it took Joe to assemble the darn thing!

I've been just crazy over a new website introduced to me by my friend Nicole in Belgium. I think the translation from Dutch is "My Aunt's Attic". It has hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of free patterns, most in the Quaker-style. Apparently these are all patterns found in the attic of this woman's elderly aunt. She is moving to a smaller place and did a clean-out of all her needlework items. The kind niece has been scanning and digitizing them and posting them on her blog since February of 2007. Each post has three or four patterns and also photos of some finished works using her patterns. It is simply amazing. I am working on a biscornu from one of the charts. Hope to have a photo up soon. By the way, how is that pronounced correctly? Is the "s" silent? Yes, a rather ignorant question on my part, but I would hate to run into anyone in-person and starting discussing "biscornu" and pronounce it wrong and look like a complete idiot. Although the opportunities here to bring up biscornu in a conversation are very limited to say the least, I would still like to pronounce it correctly. I am also troubled by the fact that my biscornu come out huge. I tend to use Aida cloth rather then linen and this my be the problem. Once again that need to get the guts to stitch over-one is haunting me. My biscornu look more like paperweights rather then ornaments!

Well, about an hour left of "me time" to browse the blogs and make some comments. Then it is outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Pet snap: Sammy on the picnic table. He was very interested in the construction of the new grill. I think he is hoping for some barbecued left-overs today.

Tiny Stitches to 'Dye' For

I have always been insanely jealous of those of you who can stitch "over-one". I love the delicate look of those tiny stitches, especially on ornaments where "size matters"! I think I have found a solution to my problem. I had dyed some fabric a while back with the boiling RIT Dye method. It seems that the boiling will reduce a piece of 16 count down to a lovely and quite usable 20 count. I am thrilled with the results, as seen here in my WIP on a Barbara Ana Designs Christmas ornament "Make A Wish". I was in such a dying mood that I broke out some other fabrics and had a go of it this morning. Here are the results. Some nice blues, a pale green with some blue splotches and....well, that last piece...it looks sort of like a bruise! Something spooky or creepy will have to be stitched on that one.

Tonight is the last night of the "Fun" Meet. Another 5 hours of non-stop hollering from the boss, set to the repeated strains of toddler dance music played at an excruciatingly high volume. I managed a little self portrait Tuesday night...me dressed in my "fun uniform" on my way to the gym. I had the best of intentions of displaying this photo on my profile. It was certainly time for a change since the other photo is nearly two years old. Of course my computer is not cooperating so I am a big blank for a while until I can solve the problem.

Here are some stitchy finishes. Both projects were completed a while ago but I wanted to show a clear photo of the Heart in Hand piece (and a close-up of the lovely 'Sequoia' Needle Necessities thread). "One Stag Leaping" has finally found a frame, in of all places, my attic room. I love it when I can find the perfect item hidden away in my stash and not have to spend a penny. This frame I had custom built (10 x 10 inches) for a New Jersey sampler I was going to make to match the Ohio sampler I made for Joe. I planned this out when we were first married as a cute display of our home states for our first apartment. Well, nearly 20 years have gone by and the Ohio sampler is framed, but the New Jersey one never even made it out of the kit.

Finally a full day of sunshine and all the animals are enjoying the outside. Hopefully it will dry up a bit in the garden and I can get some work done out there over the long holiday weekend. I will go right outside again as soon as the long wait for the photos to upload is over.

Pet snap.............Bud, enjoying the warm weather.

Have a great day!

Ups and Downs

That can describe the weather or my mood lately. I sit down at the computer everyday and try to write something, but in the last two or three days nothing seems to want to come out. Up and down would also describe Alix's health. She had a not-so good day on Saturday after a few little spells on Friday night. Then yesterday she was fine again. This wreaks havoc with my emotions and I can only imagine what it does to her. She is certainly not at the "decision-making" stage....that moment I dread, but this is always in the back of my mind. I watch her all the time and she seems to take well to this. Instead of running away like many ill or old animals do, she seeks me out and we comfort each other. Yesterday we all enjoyed a bit of long overdue sunshine, although the wind was quite brutal. I don't remember a year when Spring took so long to arrive. So much rain and temperatures in the 50s and 60sF. All my little seedlings remain safely on the porch for a while longer. Their older counterparts that made it out into the garden are now at a near drowning stage.We need a few days of warm and dry weather to sort things out.

I am in my constant debate of whether to make the trek to Fabric Shack or to stay home and save money. Fabric Shack is a gigantic quilting/fabric shop about 20 miles northwest of here. This is the only shop that would qualify as LNS, even though it has not one single scrap of cross-stitch in it. I haven't been there in over two years. Not that the drive is really that much of an issue, it is more of my inherit "miserly-ness" that gets the best of me. Also, I don't feel comfortable being away from the house for long periods of time. They don't open for another hour, so I will see how Alix is doing and then decide.

No stitchy finishes to show. I've been too unsettled and restless to even sit down and stitch for more then a few minutes. I go through the motions though...dragging out all the patterns and magazines, reviewing the fabric stash, setting out the threads....then my mind wanders and it all gets pushed aside and nothing gets stitched. My deadline for a gift for my friend and assistant Becky is Tuesday. That is when our little gymnastics group is finished for a two week break. Of course her gift is not done. I wanted to finish "Jerusalem Sampler" for her, but it's not even half-way done. Instead I took the rather wimpy way out and collected $5 from each girl in our group to get her a giftcard from a local mall. Yuck, so unlike me, and I am rather ashamed. Becky is such a sweet lady and I really wanted to give her something from my own hands rather then the mall. I console myself by saying in this way at least all of the girls get to participate in the gift, and Becky will certainly get use out of it. Her baby is due in August.

A break from the gym today and then the "Fun Meet" three nights in a row from 4-10pm. I have this simply marked as "F-Meet" on my calendar with the "F" standing for whatever your imagination cares to insert there! This is the big end of the season show where everyone ( and I mean everyone) from the tiniest screaming, crying three year old to the poor unfortunate teachers and coaches has to "show their stuff" to a restless, squirming audience of parents, grandparents and equally screaming and crying siblings. Each age group has set routines so invariably one will get to see the same song and dance over and over again. Is anyone else concerned of the positioning of the words "3 year-old" and "set routines" in the same paragraph? Then I think you are getting my point about this.

Here are some flea market finds from Saturday. A lovely frame for $1 that I can use for needlework, two amazing little variegated threads f0r 25 cents. These are rather old and one is a brand I have never seen before, "Star". The most amazing scissors that Joe bought for me while I was browsing at another booth. Aren't these lovely? The box says "Hancock Fabrics 50th Anniversary 1957-2007" in gold letter and the same is engraved on the blade of the scissors. It is kind of hard to see, but the handles are gold plated!

This is a photo of our gymnast Shelby. She is one of the most talented girls in the gym, but has decided to leave in favor of soccer. Her father thinks she has a better chance at a college scholarship in soccer then she does in gymnastics. I'm afraid that's true since most college gymnastics scholarships go to the girls at an elite/National Team level. Shelby is only 11, but I don't think she could make it that far at our little gym. I am so sad to see her go, since she was my student since the age of 4. From left to right: Becca, Shelby, Brenda and me.

Loving the new camera, although most of the photos are the same old dull household stuff. Here are the more exciting Alix and Elliot in the kitchenAre rare shot indeed, since these two have never gotten along well. Off to debate the rest of my day. At least I know I am free from the gym tonight and there may be a decent and timely dinner on the horizon.

Seeing More Clearly

Well, I finally broke down and "stimulated the economy" a bit. I bought a new digital camera. Nothing fancy, just another Kodak "Easy-Share". The C300 that my mom and dad surrendered to me last Summer was finally starting to wear down. All photos further then a few inches from the subject were turning out blurry and dark. So I upgraded today to the Kodak C613 in a pretty shade of pink. Only $89.00 at Wal-Mart. I had been eyeing those Nikons and Canons for $200+ with all those fancy lenses and exotic features, but in reality they are way beyond my technical abilities. This new little one suits me just fine. It has tons of features and surely many more that I will discover once I sit still and actually read the booklet that came with it. Here are my latest snaps.

Joe with Alix sitting on our dirty old porch, hiding from the rain. Alix had another seizure last night about 5am, but once again she spent about an hour hiding under the bed and then bounced right back to her usual self. I am amazed(and also very grateful) at how resilient she is. She seemed a bit sluggish today, but then she is usually back to normal in a day or two. This was the first major seizure she has had since the first one in late October. It seems her "attacks" of various types are coming more frequently. Then just as quickly she recovers and is running around, jumping into paper bags, eating treats and behaving like a young and healthy cat again. I think I am more at peace with the situation now, being able to accept that she has had a long and happy life and that these problems are caused by her old age. I must accept it. Death, after all, is part of Life. To accept this has made me enjoy my time with Alix more and to allow her to enjoy herself also.

This is the finish of three of the Prairie Schooler "Winter Wind" ornaments. I have displayed them on the background fabric. It has touches of silver in it and so does the cording. I am very pleased with how these came out and even more pleased with the clarity of the photo.

Here's a shot of my computer area where all these profound words are put to the blog-page. And the final shot is of my sewing machine, second only in creative energy to my cross-stitching chair on the opposite side of the room.

NOTE: This post was created on Thursday 15 May, but due to "technical difficulties" will be published on Friday 16 May.

In The Light Of Day

Everything seems a bit brighter and more hopeful in the light of day. So what if it is pouring rain and there really isn't much 'light' out there today. I am feeling lighter of mind (I wish it was of body also!) today now that I look at the work situation. It is the sport that I love and somehow I will get past the pettiness and survive. I always do. It seems the more I step up and try to confront issues the more it backfires on me. Maybe the "human doormat" thing just works for me and I should stick with that. At least then I am well-liked and reduce the outside stress...even though the inside stress is always there.

I nice early morning trip to Meijers solved our on-going telephone problem. It would ring, but as soon as I picked up the handset it would beep and disconnect. The answering machine works and so does the Internet connection, but no in-coming or out-going calls that actually involved speaking to anyone. My apologies to Jean who left me a very kind and sweet phone message. I was standing right there listening to you, but I knew if I picked up the phone we would be disconnected immediately. The wierd looking little battery pack has been replaced in the headset so we are back in the 21st Century. Some of you know that I would prefer to live without the phone though. Internet yes, phone no. I was never one of those 'chatty phone girls' even in my high-school days and I am still not much of a phone gal. I just do not express myself well in speaking ( i.e. the meetings with my boss!). I much prefer to write so the Internet/e-mail suit me well. I am an avid letter writer, although some of my pen-pals would disagree profoundly with that lately. If I can just stop thinking about the gym then all things will fall into place, the planets will align and I will finish 4 Christmas ornaments, my Quaker Animal Exchange and write some long-overdue letters and e-mails. Does making four ornaments in three days make up for not finishing an ornament per month like I had vowed to do, or is that cheating? I have nearly completed the four from Prairie Schoolers "Winter Wind" I even picked out backing fabric and some nice trim from my stash of supplies. I felt good about that since the New Year's Resolution of not buying any new craft/sewing/hobby items has completely crumbled. Hobby Lobby is conveniently located across the street from Meijers so I just couldn't resist this morning. I replaced some DMCs that I was out of (I love having all the colors on hand just in case of an emergency) and bought a new "pin tomato". My original tomato is nearly 30 years old and starting to shred. The saw dust is falling out and I've lost a lot of pins into the disintegrating fabric. I will save it though, as Joe loving printed out his name in pins over ten years ago and I just don't have the heart to pull them all out. I bought a few supplies for the finishing of the Quaker Animal Exchange. After several weeks of debate I think I have finally settled on the finishing method, but of course it must remain a secret for a while longer. I also cracked under the immense pressure of on-line browsing and bought some Dinky Dyes and a much-needed Weeks Dye Works 'Mulberry" thread from Laurel's Stitchery. I ran out of a Carrie's Creations thread called "Glory", an amazing red, white and blue blend that I just love. Laurel was out of that one so I went to Stitching Bits and Bobs and found that along with a couple other little threads to make it worth the shipping cost. The red, white and blue are for a rather odd-looking animal. Since he will not be used for the Quaker Animal Exchange I can post a photo of the WIP. Not a very traditional Quaker is it!? In case you don't recognize him, he is the Workbasket "Quaker Cow"

I have used up my entire stash of double-sided quilted fabrics by making some more project bags. It is amazing how much space I can free up by using these fabrics.

A few pet snaps. Alix and Coal. It seems the digital camera is on it's way out. It will only take extreme close-ups. If anyone knows more about digitals then I do maybe they can help me with this problem. I have replaced the batteries and the memory card with no improvement. You can see it in the photo of the project bags. The bag closest to the camera is clear but the others are blurry. I have become so addicted to the digital I don't think I could go back to waiting for photos to come back from the camera shop before sharing them on-line. By the way, it took almost 2 hours to write this and upload all the photos. Dial-up is driving me crazy!

Is It Really Only Tuesday???

A bad week, and it's only Tuesday. It actually started to get bad on Friday night when we had the end-of-the-season coach's meeting at the gym. This is when we decide which gymnasts are ready to move up to the next competition level. Of course Jill did not agree at all with any of those I felt should not move up from our Level 4 group. Then I was totally shut out of any of the decisions regarding Level 5 because, obviously, I had been totally shut out of coaching that group since December. It ended up that there will be 15 to 17 girls at Level 5 next year...a group large enough to merit two coaches again. So did I get the big invite back to the 'inner circle'.....NOOOOOOOOO! Instead my boss brings up some volunteer lady whose daughter has just made it into the Level 4 Group. She's a nice lady and a good teacher, but what the heck is going on here? Of course, in my usual milk-toast manner, I said nothing about my shock and hurt feelings over this apparent snub and the meeting moved right along. It bugged me all weekend and I vowed I would go right into the boss's office Monday afternoon before practice and say something. After all, I had said something in October when the Level 5 group was suddenly split between me and Jill cutting my hours, and the again in January when she gave the group over entirely to Jill and I lost even more hours. Well, Peggy didn't come in at all on Monday so I had to fester another day. I finally got around to talking to her this morning. Once again she belittled the entire situation saying that she really hadn't thought about the group being big enough for two coaches (can anyone do the math of the difference between 8 gymnasts and 17 gymnasts!?!?!) and that she was considering the volunteer lady for Level 4 not Level 5. OK, I was not the only one who thought she meant Level 5. Alisha thought so too and we discussed it in the parking lot after the meeting. As for me going back to coach Level 5 it seems that Jill thinks we don't work well together. Of course not...............she is perfectly happy alone and hasn't worked with me in over 5 months. She has also given the boss the impression that we don't work well together and that's why I haven't been given the golden invitation back to Level 5. It is so frustrating. Jill has made an art form out of getting her own way regardless of who gets stomped on in the process. I coached Level 5 for 6 years and suddenly I don't work well with other people? Peggy mentioned that she had to have a meeting with Jill and Dennis because she complained about his coaching too. Hey wait....see a trend forming here? Jill is always complaining about other people so maybe she is the problem?

I need to escape into the beautful world of the past. I share some photos with you now that always take me away from the not-so-good present into a world of style, charm and dignity.

Danish Royal Family in the mid 1870's: Alexandra Princess of Wales, King George of Greece, Princess Thyra, Crown Princess Louise( wife of Prince Frederick), Crown Prince Frederick, Dagmar(Empress Marie of Russia)

Princesses Victoria and Maud of Great Britian 1893

Grand Duchess Serge, nee Princess Ella of Hesse 1880sFormer Princesses of Denmark, Marie Empress of Russia and Alexandra Princess of Wales 1878. Another set of sisters dressed alike!Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, nee Alix of Hesse 1896.

Happy Mother's Day

The Mother of all Mothers, Queen Victoria!

To all of you out there who are moms (or pet moms!) Happy Mother's Day! Here is of shot of me and my mom in 1971. Those were the days; so carefree. This week has been anything but. My Uncle Andy passed away on Tuesday after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 81. My dad's eldest brother and also my godfather. We all knew it was coming, but the sadness is none the less. He is the first one of that generation to pass on. I have always considered my grandparents and their generation the "Old Ones", but they are nearly all gone now....only two siblings of my grandmother left on my father's side. Now my mom and dad's generation are becoming the old ones and that's pretty hard to take. I look at this photo of me and my mom and it's as if time has stood still at that exact moment...and sometimes I wish it had.

Project Bags

Things have been a little "off" here lately, but I'll go into all that in another post. I just want to clear up an error on my part regarding the project bag I made. I found the idea through Stephanie's blog. The original bag was a gift to her from a woman she calls Mama Joan. Here is the original photo from Stephanie's post. As you can see I altered the design a little, since I didn't have that cool-looking mesh fabric used to make the original bag. I also made mine longer to accomadate a magazine or chart. I've been just wild about making these lately and even went out to JoAnn Fabrics and got three more double-sided quilted fabrics to make some more. The price at JoAnn's is $17.99/yard.....YIKES.........but each bag uses only 3/8 yard and one 12" zipper. I found this tan fabric in Wal-Mart for $11.99/yard and I'm sure Hobby Lobby offers some different styles/colors too, but I haven't gotten there yet. The so-called "Economic Stimulus" check arrived....... for half the amount that I thought it would be. Was I mistaken or wasn't it supposed to be married filing jointly got $1,200? Oh well, half is better then nothing at all and what did I really expect from the government anyway but another rip-off/fake-out!? So the all-out wild shopping spree I had planned will not take place. The check will just about cover another loan payment and that's about it.

Stuck

I'm glad I didn't dedicate this blog to my cross-stitch efforts, since there has not been much work to show lately. Spend a lot of time on little Quaker motifs and the Workbasket Quaker Animals, but since they may be part of an exchange I can't post any photos. So there has been some stitching going on...really there has. I saw a very interesting item on another blog. I think I got there through Anna, but I can't seem to retrace my steps now. Anyway, it is a 'project bag'. A large zipper bag that can fit a magazine or chart, fabrics and threads. Even scissors I suppose, since they always seem to poke through the nasty zippy plastic bags I use. Yes, the plastic bags are cheap and convenient, but I found out while stitching outside that if you set them down in the sun they gather a lovely amount of moisture that turns photocopied charts into a watery blur. Then all the ink gets on your fabric!! So here is my effort at a project bag. It is 12 inches by 15 inches. I chose the size to coordinate with the only large zipper I had hanging around, but I think 12 inches is a good size. I want to make some matching accessories to go with it, like a scissor case and a floss tag. I got a wonderful selection of Quaker charts from the lovely Nicole from Belgium yesterday. A huge "THANK YOU" to her. She always makes my stitching wishes come true. There is a huge red Quaker Sampler from Long Dog that has a perfect rose motif that I can stitch with blue on yellow fabric to match this bag. Then there is a stash of lovely coordinated kitty material that I had set aside for a baby quilt (the child is 10 years old now!) that I will try to make up into another bag tonight. I see the Christmas list being filled up already!!

The rest of my time is spent in the garden. The weather has been lovely....a true Spring with moderate temperatures in the day (65-75F) and cool nights. Ohio weather is so odd. Sometimes we go right from snow and wind to boiling hot without much of a Spring. That is terrible for my garden. I think this year I will have a bumper-crop of veggies. The "Jubilee" yellow tomatoes went in yesterday along with the basil. The little striped Roma tomatoes that I started from seed are still too small. I am still waiting on the lemon cucumbers, eggplant and spaghetti squash seeds to sprout. The sweet banana peppers go in this evening after work. I have to limit myself on what I plant. We have plenty of space, but I want to make sure everything gets eaten. Since Joe is not a big veg eater I pick out my favorites and plant those. The 'left-overs' get traded with the neighbors for items that I didn't plant, like potatoes, watermelons and pumpkins.

A few pet snaps today. Alix in the wheelbarrow, her favorite hang-out. She can roll in the warm dust and leaves without the indignity of getting herself wet in the yard. Here is another shot of the new guy...I really do hope he has another home; it is getting pretty crowded around here. For that reason I have not assigned a name to him.............yet.

Here's my little $2 yard sale find. It is hard to see the lovely engraved pattern in these scissors. I am sure they are nothing too valuable, but I couldn't pass them up.