Do you have a ritual...

I don't know that Roger and I have a real set ritual when it is just us...we usually get up and Roger turns the coffee on.  Coffee making is his department.  I don't know how or why it turned out that way, but he makes it 99% of the time.  Sometimes we are both hungry and want breakfast right away, other times we want to be up a while.

But the summer ritual that doesn't change is when Lorelei is here.  She gets up and gives us hugs, and maybe pets the cats a minute...maybe not.  Then, she gets her shoes on and we all go see the flowers.  It is like a whole new world every morning.  She sees each flower and checks for insects, and then maybe has to water some of them.  But the part that doesn't change is she wants to go see them.  I don't know what we will do when it is cold outside and no flowers to look at.  I guess we will concentrate on the birds.

Anyway, I figure all of us have something that is a ritual...and some more than others.  What is the one thing you do every morning/day?
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I have to tell one fresh story on her, though there are two or three that are highly entertaining.  Just hard to put them in words.  This one I did not witness, but can sure imagine.

The other day Sarah had been out...I don't know if she had actually been gone or was just outside and came in just in time to hear Jeremy tell Lorelei she better lose the attitude.  (Yes, at four years old she has an attitude sometimes.)  Quick as a wink, Lorelei came over and said, 'Here, Mommy.'  Sarah ask what it was...Lorelei said 'my bad attitude.'  Then she had her mean face on and asked her mommy to give her something...Sarah asked her what she wanted...she said a good attitude...so Sarah pretended to give her something and her face changed instantly to a big smile.

Another year has come and gone...

Another year has come and gone since Roger and I were married...yesterday was our anniversary.   Roger has a bad cold so the celebrating will have to happen later.

Our daughter on the west coast brightened our day by sending us flowers.

Sarah brightened our weekend by letting us have Lorelei....and then she came and spent Sunday afternoon with us.  And they gave us gift cards--for restaurants!  I must say our kids know us well.

You would never guess by looking at these that Lorelei was sick...as long as she had her cough syrup and tylenol in her, she could get to feeling pretty good.

She's happy!

She was thrilled to get her card!

And she's coming again tomorrow.  I told Roger we would be busy this time tomorrow night...well, hopefully, we will be winding down.  I keep watching the weather and now rain is in the forecast for tomorrow evening and for Saturday.

She told me before she left Tuesday that she might stay 4 days or 3 days...but she told her mom that she might stay two 5 days.

You have to understand that the 5 days represents the fingers on one hand.  When she came last weekend, she designated a finger for a day and each day had activities planned.  the first day was designated as the day she gets here, the next finger was for going to the park, and the next was CREEK day....and she said it just light that...you could tell it was a big deal...and the 4th finger was 'staying home and shooting bad guys with Papaw!'  (An Xbox game...she wants Papaw to play, and me to be in here doing something, and she just messes around and plays with her toys.)  Again, a lot of excitement in her voice for just staying home.  And the fifth day was for going home.

It rained so much we did not go to the park or the daylily gardens...I think we will go to the gardens even if it is wet and messy this time...
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 I captured this on the way home Tuesday...between here and Terre Haute.  And I saw two others but there was no place to pull off the road, plus they were too far off.

For now..

For now, the toot has gone home...she did stay till yesterday...she would not talk about going home Monday.  Till Monday night...and then it hit her that she really wanted to see her mama and daddy.  But she didn't cry and carry on, but would have went if we would have taken her that late.

So yesterday, she gets up and I remind her she is going home.  And she is happy and sad by turn...she tells me several times she is really going to miss me, and almost tears up and starts crying.  And she tells her Papaw the same thing.  Then she would turn around and say she missed her mama and daddy.

So home she went...after they got home, her and her mama walked out to get the mail...there was a card for her dad.  Lorelei asked why there wasn't one for her...Sarah told her it wasn't her birthday.  So, she sniffed and said she wanted her Mamaw to send her one.

I didn't have anything on hand to send, so made the little card above from fabric...she loves hearts and loves flowers...so this was what I came up with.  I wanted to get it in today's mail so I didn't have time to do all I would have liked to do.  Not even sure of the measurements..probably 5" x 7"...I found some old Christmas cards and stole one of the envelopes for it to fit in...

Oh, and the back looks like this:

I wasn't going to take time to run fabric through printer to print something, so made a little pocket to stick a note and a little cash...just had to send something.  But money doesn't really thrill her. 
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A simply beautiful day here...low humidity.  Blue skies.  Nothing lacking.  I have washed and hung clothes and have some of them in and ready to put away.  Wanted to do this quick post.  Will try to visit later and catch up with everyone.

Ready for this

Don't this look wonderful?  I am so ready for fall...but then I am always ready for it.  It is my favorite season.
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We were on the go all day yesterday...had appointments in Terre Haute early yesterday morn, stopped by Menards afterwards.  We came home and in just a little while, discovered we had picked up the wrong lightbulbs by mistake, but also decided I needed a new fluourescent light fixture.  So back to Menards we went.

During all of this running I did hang out a load of clothes...it was so hot it dried in no time.  Hopefully, I won't need to do any more for a while.

Then at the end of the day, we got to meet one of Sarah's friends in Terre Haute.  They had been over to Sarah's and Lorelei rode here back with them and we met them and picked her up.  She says right now that she is staying 5 days, but that may change.

Anyway, with her here, I won't be blogging much.

My addiction...

There is no doubt about it...fabric is my addiction...a week or two ago, we stopped by Lori's Pins & Needles...we were over to Paris for something else.  But since we were in the neighborhood, I took my Crumbs in the Corner quilt to show her, plus I wanted to look at her solid colored fabric.

I had no intention of shopping other than looking at the solid fabric.  But a girl I know was working there...someone I had not seen in ages and ages...and she asked me if I knew the sale table was on sale for 50% off the lowest price.  Well, thank-you very much, Mary, I did not know that.  How kind of you to give me an excuse to go look.  The above is the yardage I got...$4 per yard.

And the photo above and the one below are the fat quarters...I think they were $1 each...

This is one of the few times in life when I have gotten a good deal on something.  But for those of us with any age on us and that have ever sewn and bought fabric in our younger years, who would have thought we would come to the day when $4/yard for cotton fabric was a good deal?  I for sure wouldn't have. 
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I am slowly piecing a back for my small crumb quilt.  Instead of using little small pieces, I am using chunks...at least for the center of it.  Would like to have some bigger wider pieces for the rest of it, but am going to have to look and see what I can come up with.
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It is so hot and humid here today.  Roger mowed the yard and was soaked before he even came close to being done.  I  did house things--vacuuming, mopping, and a couple loads of laundry.  And soon as he was done, I hung laundry out...

And when he had his shower and got cooled down a little, he cut up tomatoes and I buttered Italian bread and sprinkled with garlic salt, and fried it till it was toasty...and that was our lunch.  I have been dreaming about that all winter long.  Something I have been craving since our tomatoes ended last summer. 

Now that I have some time, I think I will go play with my fabric for a while....

Ruffles...

Just can't resist posting these ruffled daylilies...

I know I have got to stop posting these...

but just had to do just one more.

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For some reason these ruffles, especially the last daylily above reminds me of the full, frilly slips little girls used to wear under their little dresses.

That led to me remembering girls in our high school had to wear dresses....we could not wear pants till our senior year in high school.  I can't imagine that happening at any school today.  Things have changed so much.   Our school cafeteria served lunch, it was either take it or bring your own.  There were no choices to be made...I think only regular milk was served...no choice of what to drink.  It was either milk or water.

I remember getting cornbread every now and then that had the sugar in it.  I wouldn't eat it, but one of my friends thought it was like getting an extra piece of cake and always enjoyed it. 

I don't remember many of the foods we had...probably my favorite was their pizza.  And my favorite dessert was the no bake chocolate cookies.  And I still love them today, though I seldom make them.  Not even sure I have made them since the girls moved out.  One of these days Lorelei and I will make some...

Her mom makes them now...in fact her mom has made them for almost as long as I can remember.  She had a friend that lived over on the next street...almost any time they spent much time together, they ended up cooking...and a lot of times they made the no bake cookies.  Sometimes they had to go between their homes to get all the ingredients...

And speaking of cookies, I think I need one more snack before I go to bed....

Daylilies continued....

This is another of my favorites...

Shhh-hhhhh--don't tell anyone but I love them all.

The dark colors seem to grab my eye's more often...at least at first glance.

Then I find myself loving the softer hues...and I LOVE the ruffles.
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Not much going on in our world.  I hung out laundry today, and messed with some of my sewing.  I think I am just going to make a scrappy back for the latest little crumb quilt top.  I spent an hour or two digging through the bins picking out bigger bits of fabric and ironing them.

We are starting to have tomatoes from the garden every day.  But just two or three per day....but two or three is sure better than none.  Yet I am anxiously waiting for the day I can sit down and eat two or three at a setting and there still be tomatoes left for Roger.

From daylily gardens near us

We were heading out for a drive, and passing this daylily place near us...I have always meant to go there but had never taken the time.  We passed the place but turned around and came back and turned in the entrance.  Boy, did I ever enjoy myself...

Even though it was the middle of the day and hot and humid, we still spent probably two hours there...

I am going to show a few of them over the next day or two, and also some over at my Time Stand Still blog.

I am going to stop at four....for right now.  I want to encourage you to click and expand the view. 
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Now my problem is to figure out which ones I want to start out with.  I want to get at least 3 or 4 of them....we have a spot at the end of our garage we could plant them for now.  But I would like to put them where we would get to enjoy them.

I had the best time at this place, and we were made to feel welcome to come look any time.  Whether we buy anything or not.  We plan to take Lorelei up there the next time we can.  She will be saying Look, Mamaw, look!

Slow post to nowhere....

"Mother and Child Reunion"

I went to bed before midnight last night...that does not happen once every 6 months...I had planned to past before I went to bed but just could not get my thinking together enough to do one.

And today we ended up getting up, fixing a bit of breakfast, and heading out to a trader's fair/flea market type thing that is not too far from here.  It is just a small one and open every other weekend.  I did not see anything I could not live without.  Roger came home with two or three clamps that he can use in welding.

Right now I am headed down to the basement to look at my sewing...see if I can see anything I want to get started on.  I had been wanting to sew all week, but by the time I had time to go down there and stay, I was too weary.  Then yesterday had time but wasn't in the mood to sew.   Which seems to be typical for me.

The photo above was taken while passing an Amish farm up in Parke County the first week of June.

Other than that, nothing new or interesting happening here.  Sometimes that is better than the alternative.

From the yard...

The cardinals are always here looking for food...I always spread some seed on the ground till everyone can get a chance to get some..

This guy was flitting around on the lilac bush...I do not like yellow jackets at all.  I have been stung more by them than all other bees combine.  I always got stung at least two or three times a season at the orchard.

The are not very big but carry a powerful little punch.  I don't know if it is true or not, but I have been told that they will bite and sting at the same time.

One time I was sitting on the back porch, I think talking to my brother.  There was one of these at the storm door...buzzing it wanting in.  About that time here came Bubbie cat and started messing with it.  About the time I got up, he got stung...I opened the door and he flew in the house...ran through every room, back out the door and down the road towards the railroad!

It is funny now, but it was not funny then...I called for him, and think I even took a flashlight and went looking for him.  No Bubbie.  He did come back home...I don't remember if got back before I went to bed or if he was just here when I got up.  

The day is done...

The day is done and I am sitting watching a DVD called The Art of Quilting...I watched it some time ago but decided I could use the inspiration again.

I did finish my new smaller version quilt top of Crumbs in the Corner.  I thought I would finish the top and put it aside and start something new.  But I am trying to decide what to use for a backing and wondering if I have any batting left that will fit it.  It is 58 inches square. Also thinking about the backing...I have fabric that I could use, but would almost like to use up more scraps on the back.  I guess I will have just have to let the idea float around in my brain for a while.
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All that being said, we really had the rain this afternoon.   And wind...

This big old maple tree blew down in the yard of the neighbor directly behind us.

It will be a mess to clean up. It was such a mess we could not tell if his garage received any damage or not.
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Then there was our yard, well mostly garden.

 The wind just beat our garden up...even though the tomatoes were tied up to stakes, they were still whipped around a lot.
 Below you see the few bell peppers in the front part of the photo.

 This was taken after we picked the peppers and Roger tried to stand them back up.  They were almost laying flat on the ground.

I have cut these up and put them in the freezer....we picked them to take the weight of the plants.

Besides this, there was a limb blew down in our yard from the neighbor's yard that tore down bot my clotheslines.  Roger cut the limb up and he got the clotheslines back up after the rain finally quit.

A little slow posting...

 I don't know why, but just forgot about posting last night...till late.  And by then couldn't choose what to post.  Then this morn was looking for something to post, and was a bit before I remembered these butterflies.  There were several of them out at the strip pits...when I would get out to take a photo, and disturb them, it was a strange but good feeling to be standing in the middle of a bunch of butterflies dancing on the air.

This is just a cropped portion of the first photo above...I just liked the close-up view.  You can click on it for a larger view.  Other than these, the only butterflies we saw on that trip was one little pearl crescent that would not sit still for me and one tiger swallowtail.

In my flowers, the other day I had a red admiral and a fritillary...both had wings that were worse for wear.  That was the reason I did not take any shots of them...the bumblebees have claimed the cone flowers as their own.  At any time we can see 5 or 6 of them on the flowers.  And yesterday saw a hummingbird moth...but it seemed to only pass through.  There and gone before I could much more than have the thought to get my camera.
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Our DirecTv is now installed...so far, so good.  Really liked the kid who installed it.  Felt like he really knew what he was doing.

I don't know why, but change really bothers me.  Makes me a nervous wreck.  I could not do anything yesterday till that was done and over with, so I didn't accomplish a thing.  It was around 5:00 when he got here....so by the time they left, the day was done.
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It is looking like rain...Roger is mowing....again.  I need to get off here and get busy with something.  It is just a matter of deciding what I want to do first.

Just a little post...

We ran around all day today, and during that ran through the strip pit and by the farm that has the cattle I photograph quite often.  I was so relieved to see them...the last time I was by there I did not see hide nor hair of them and thought maybe they had sold them.

It is also the place that had horses I photographed sometimes.  I do think they are gone....I have not seen them in ages.  And I miss seeing them.  Always feel like the animals at this place have been handled a lot because they always look at us as if they expect a treat or kind word or something.
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We have just had regular cable TV forever...this evening a kid came by with DirecTV.  Roger has been wanting to try something new forever...and truth be told I have too...but all the places I check do not have our favorite PBS station, and this is one of those that don't have it.  But the PBS station it does have has Masterpiece Theater/mystery and that is one show that I just would not give up.

Anyway, does anyone that reads this have DirecTv and do you like it?  What has been your experience with it?  It does have the Game Show Network which I would enjoy sometimes...but it does not have the Outdoor Channel, and Roger will miss that.  I just now noticed it is missing, so will have to remember to tell him in the morn to see if he still wants to change...not that he watches it a lot.  But it is something that he does sometimes.

Fabric

I was sitting here the other day, looking at all the solid colored fabrics at Thousands of Bolts,  and picking out some I would like to have.  I had to go down in the basement for something.  Knowing that I pick up a half yard of solid colored fabrics every now and then, I thought I would do a quick round up of what I have.  I was pleasantly surprised to see all the ones above.

Now, the trick will be to work up my nerve to work with them.   I am just not sure what I want to do with them.   Do I want to do something in traditional Amish style...I do have a couple yards of black fabric not pictured here.  Or do I want to do something in the modern/art quilt style...some along the lines of these.

My husband doesn't care for modern/art quilts like this, but I like studying them and figuring out how they were sewn together.  I would be happy if I could make myself make something small.

I really should go for some small things...if you walked into my house, you might not even notice that I am a quilter.  I have one small quilt hanging up for show, and I have out a couple or three that we use to snuggle under of an evening..but I have room to hang more if I would get busy.

From Friday ...

Lorelei has a hard time keeping a straight face if she sees a camera...

She is either trying to look mean...

Making crazy/squishy faces...

but every now and then...

we get a more normal capture...and I have one more posted over at Time Stand Still.

Garden beauties

Some of our bell peppers are big enough to pick if we need one for something.  Not sure we are going to have many more, but hoping to.  I always clean out the seeds from inside and cut them into strips, and freeze them for use in bell pepper casserole, or chili, or whatever else we need them for.  Certain things we still want a fresh one for, but a lot of things the frozen ones are just fine.

When this posts we will be at Sarah's house...so I may not get to visit everyone till we get home.  Lorelei tends to keep me busy.   According to her mom, she has been in firefly heaven some of the time.

Just a few flowers...

I was taking some close up shots of some of my flowers and thought I might as well take a couple others...

This little flower spot is going wild...

I don't know why I didn't take a pic of the other end with the coneflowers...probably cause they look such a mess since they had to be tied up.

Lorelei sure has fun going out every day to see what is what when she is here...the funny thing is I already was buying pink flowers before she was born.   So kind of funny to continue to buy them because of her.
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We have had no rain today...I actually hung a couple loads of clothes out.  Though by the time I did that it had become overcast again and they did not totally dry.  Still I had the joy of doing it.
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I hope everyone has had a wonderful 4th of July!  I am sitting listening to fireworks.  We are heading to Sarah's tomorrow or I might have been up for going somewhere to watch them.  

Did you know....

Did you know that you can actually burn something in a pressure cooker?  I suppose it makes sense, but I have been cooking with them since we were married in 1976, and had even helped can with the big one at home since in high school.  I had never had it happen, but I am here to tell you that it CAN happen.

Roger was in the mood for cabbage rolls...so I threw everything together and got it in the pressure cooker....and turned the stove on.  I do not know what happened but the control did not start jiggling as soon as I thought it should have...in fact I kept going to the stove and looking at it and wondering should I pull it off and let it cool down and release the pressure and see if I could figure out what was wrong.

In fact, I was just getting ready to do just that and the control started its dance...I debated whether to use the 8 minutes or to reduce the time, but thought I would just use the 8 minutes.  About the time I was pulling it off, I could smell a slightly scorched smell...

It is more that stuff burnt under the cooking rack, but burn it did.  I don't know if I will be able to get it cleaned off or not.  I have put hot soapy water in it and turned the heat on low, then let it set and soak and it isn't helping any.
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I took this a couple weeks ago...I don't have but two colors of the day lilies but would like to get more.  I enjoy them so much.

Notice the one above has company.  This one was taken last week...I got the bulbs for this one from Walmart late in the season last year...more like in early summer.  They were in such sad shape I didn't expect much from them.  I got a lovely surprise...most of them came up and they sure put out the blooms.

Oh, we had sunshine...first just a minute here and there in the afternoon, but by evening the sun was out to stay for an hour or two. 

Done!

I just put the final stitches in this and took it outside to take a quick photo before it rains.

This is the result of wanting to sew without having to think...for the most part anyway.

And this is the backing fabric I chose...I had wanted some kind of polka-dots but either not enough fabric of the ones I liked, or lots of fabric but not colors I would chose.  So had Roger step back and hold a length of this out and it called to me even more than polka-dots would.  Before washing, it measures approx 62 inches by 80 inches.
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I have enough of the blocks left to make a nice sized lap quilt...or couch quilt.  I have them sewn together just have to cut some borders.  I have the inner border picked out, just not sure what I will use for the outer border.  And not sure I will quilt it right away even when I get it made.
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It is staying rainy around here, but for the most part, it is just enough to keep things wet.  Had downpour for a little while yesterday evening a couple times.  Our grass is still so wet.  At least the garden is getting plenty to drink.