Home grown breakfast

 

I was just going to have the big one for breakfast, but then that last slice was so big, I thought it would be perfect for a bologna sandwich.   So I had it on a sandwich and ate the rest with salt.  

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The new blogger has finally hit me.  There are pluses and minuses as far as I am concerned, but think I will get used to it and be fine.

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I did talk to Lorelei a bit last night...I asked about her teacher.  The first words out of her mouth was that she loved her, but she has not met all of them.  She has a locker this year...so that is a new experience for her.  Her school is for only grades 5 & 6.  She thinks they have around 700 students.  

Some were concerned about masks...yes she has to wear them.  She didn't seem to mind.  Just so long as she can go to school.  She is riding the bus this year.  There is too much traffic to take her and pick her up.  She does not mind at all.  And she doesn't have to catch the bus till 8:30.

It is raining here...I picked the tomatoes in the rain.  I could not wait for it to stop.

I need to get busy...have an appt after while that I had almost forgot...just to get Roger's hearing aids cleaned and for her to check how he is doing with them.  Other than that, have a bit laundry and housework to do.

Have good rest of the week!

Can you believe it?

I got this in a text an hour or so ago...can you believe it is her first day of school.  And can you believe that smile  from a kid going to a brand new school where she knows no one?  I cannot imagine feeling like that as a kid going to a new school.  But she has so been looking forward to it.  She is a kid that loves school...has never had a teacher that she didn't love.  And they all love her...

When I would deliver her to school every now and then when she was younger, we pulled up and let her out, and teachers were there waiting for them.    She was always greeted with a hug, or maybe I should say she greeted them with a hug.  But I really think it was just as much the other way.  Just think what a good hug from a kid feels like.

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I was going to do a post last night, but was too weary.  And glad I didn't since I got the Lorelei photo.  But above you will see our awning.  the dark part is the gutter part   Well, it gets full of  STUFF....and it becomes a mess.  So much so that rather than flowing down the downspout, the water just overflows.

I have been knowing I had to get up there and clean it out, and I tried with my step stool  the other day but it just was not tall enough.  And truthfully, did not feel sturdy enough out there.  So yesterday, I bit the bullet and got out a bigger step ladder.  I approached it one way, but couldn't reach it.  So turned it the other...had Roger hold the step ladder.  I know that sounds overkill and it is, but I am just so awkward since I broke my  leg, but after the first time getting up, I was basically good to go.

What a pain.  There is just enough room to put my hand in and get a small handful of junk....cannot get a big hanful just cause there is not enough room.   And there where the awning is against the gutter part, I just could not reach and get the stuff under that.  I tried and tried to think of something to use...finally thought and had Roger get me just a regular old teaspoon...and not the kind with the long handle for iced tea as that would have been too long.    I was able to push it through and/or reach and dig it out and get it.

I just got tickled thinking about what we use for tools...necessity is the mother of invention.   But it worked and I still have not thought of anything else I could have used.  I still have the front awning to do but am waiting till next week.  It is at least twice as long.

Funny, we built the porch as a deck...was not going to put a roof back on it.  But I could not stand to sit out there without one.  I felt naked.  But with the awning, I spend a lot of time out there...and everyone that comes, well, before Roger had the stroke...we all enjoyed sitting out there.  And still, if our one good neighbor sees us, he or sometimes he and his wife come over and we sit out there and visit...we can keep our 'social distance' just fine.

That is it for now...got to go put on a load of laundry.  I think I am going to make a small meatloaf today. 

Hope you are having a good week...

Worth waiting for....

At last, at last....homegrown tomatoes!  First outside...I could not even see what was on the screen when I took the shots...this is cropped.  I took two or three shots and they all look basically the same.

I think they look redder against the white background.

I came right in, washed them off and cut them up.  Roger is letting his share get cold.  I have done eaten mine.  They were delicious.  I was so afraid with all the rain we had been having that they would not have much flavor.  One year, when I used to have about 20 plants, none had any flavor whatsoever.  They were pretty as a picture, but just tasted about like water.

And there is another big one getting ripe.  Maybe more than one.  I did not get down and check this one plant.  It is so very bushy that you cannot see what is growing on it.
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Eating a tomato fresh from the garden takes me back to childhood about as fast as anything.  I don't remember ever not liking tomatoes.  But my nephew, Glen, who was the same age as me spent two or three summers with us.

We would play in the creek every day, and I do mean every day.  I swear I don't think we averaged missing a day per week.  Up in the afternoon before supper we would come in hungry and tired.  We would grab a tomato or two and the salt shaker.  Sometimes we just went and sat on the edge of the porch and ate them like an apple...but I think I sometimes sat at the table and cut mine up.  I cannot remember if Glen did or not.

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I am getting ready to go in the sewing room...decide on something.  I think.

But I am reading High, Wide & Lonesome:  Growing up on the Colorado Frontier by Hal Borland.  I am almost done with it.  And I want to finish it but hate to see it end.  It is just their day to day life, written from his view when he was a kid.  And the hardships and joys.  It is well written...I got it when it was on sale for a couple dollars and consider it well spent.

I hope everyone stays save and has a good week ahead.

Changing...

First, thought I would show this tree from the edge of the swamp area.  Always in previous years, I thought they were changing early due to lack of rain.  Not so this year.  We have had rain all along.  Then yesterday, on the way to the super walmart, I noticed sumac just as red as could be!  So, fall is thinking about heading our way.  And to be outside at dark, sounds like fall is already here.

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I wish I had a decent place to photograph quilts but I just don't.  This quilt top is on a queen sized bed.  It has a block that hangs over each edge, except the head of the bed.  I suppose I need to add a border, but first I am going to see what batting I have and also thinking about what I have got to use as a backing.  I have fabric in mind for the backing and if I have to go no borders to use it, that is what I will do.

Not a lot going on other than this...I am still waiting on a tomato to ripen.  I have had one of the newer, smaller tomatoes rot on the vine.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Slowly but surely it is growing...

I promised myself I would not post a bunch of photos along the way...but here I go posting another pic of this before it is a finished top...much less a finished quilt.  I now have five rows sewing together.  Need to get 3, maybe four more added to it.

Most of the fabrics in the blocks are scraps from the scrap bin at the local quilt shop.  But still, I look at just this photo and see fabrics left from 3, no make that 4 pair of pjs I made for myself.  It is hard to buy pjs that I like, so I make my own.

I see fabrics from dresses for Lorelei, and I see fabrics from a quilt for her, and I also know there is fabric from two or three quilts of hers that I don't see in this particular view, and fabrics from other quilt projects.  The fabric between the blocks I got years ago and have been waiting for the right project.  I did not want to buy anything new for this so this was one of the few fabrics big enough to complete the project....
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I need to get off here and vacuum and do a bit of housework...oldest daughter is heading this way in a bit...I think we are going to sew.  I need to hurry and do a few things.  I have enough time...hope you guys have a good week.

From the yard....

First, this is what the Asiatic lilies I posted in my last post looks like now.  In real life they are more faded looking than this.  But look back at them and compare colors.  Almost like having two different plants.  But there is a fresh stem that is the darker color.

Another day lily...I have two bunches of these...they have only been blooming a couple days so should last a while.  The others are slowing down.  I really would like so get some with more vivid colors.

I am temped to call this pink hibiscus Old Faithful.  It started blooming a few days ago.  I think it had 7 blooms on it today.   Last year one day we counted 21 blooms at one time.  Not buds, but blooms.

This is the one I got at the greenhouse about a month ago.  This is its second bloom.  Yesterday it had its first.  If you think the color is odd, you are seeing it right.  It is just the oddest color red.  It was not the red I was going for, but I love it.
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I did a couple loads of laundry today...and did some regular jobs around that we all have.  Oh, and Lorelei texted....she wants to come next week for a couple nights.  So, will have that to look forward, too.

OH, the other thing.  Got a call from SSI...late this evening.  Social Security I assume.  Caller ID just said SSI.  Who actually believes it was SSI?  Calling on a Sunday.   I did not answer, but not for lack of trying.  Our phone actually speaks and says whoever is calling...I thought it was saying Steve...one of Roger's buddies.  I tried to get to it in time to answer but could not.  So was going to call him back, and when I went to caller ID, I saw it said SSI.  (You should hear it try to pronounce some names!)

I bet they would have had some big line of BS...sorry, I could not think of another word...they would have wanted my Social Security Number, and banking account, etc.
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I have started adding the sashing and cornerstones to the quilt blocks.  It may take me the rest of the summer to get it done, but I hope not.

I hope we all have a good week ahead....

Just had to share

Last night my daughter sent me this pic...over the weekend she and Sarah and Jeremy had got her shelving unit up and her bigger TV up and running.  She ordered a new sofa about the time she moved and it still has not arrived, so she has been using a small TV in her bedroom.  (I just now noticed the photo has my name on it...I did not take this photo, but am too lazy to redo it.)

Well, Delta was so interested/enthused with getting the big TV up and running.  From beginning to end.  When it was done, daughter put on the movie Secretariet for Delta....Delta watched the whole movie.  I think I have told you that she loves horses!  We would love to see what she would do if she met a real one. 

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A just for fun photo...climbing the mountain of hostas...by the way, those flip-flops are a size 7/8...womens.  Both the above and below photo were taken about a week ago, give or take a day or two.

These hostas are in full bloom now, while some of my others are just getting buds.  It is nice that they are spread out and have different times to bloom.

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These are blooming now...photo taken about an hour ago.

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Would you believe I spent all last week either on the phone or waiting for a phone call, or trying to complete a phone call and things are still not settled.  So started again Monday morn, and now this dr. is on vacation, so nothing to be done but wait.  He just wants Roger to try a nebulizer for his chronic cough.  I am willing to try anything.  He had me get an air purifier....I got two.  I actually think they may have helped a little bit.  Seems like within just minutes of getting outside the house, he has a coughing spell.  He still coughs inside, but I don't think as often as he did.

That is just a bit of what has been going on.

One of my sisters passed away last week..,the visitation was yesterday.  We did not go.  I am not sure how Roger would have handled the trip.  Google said it was basically a two hour drive...I think  an hour and 59 minutes....add to that a stop or two for a bathroom break,  and we are getting close to 2 and a half hours one way...plus there was a road closed, but I think it would not have added much to the length of drive.

I so want to go for a drive, an in the heat I hesitate to go.  We get on back roads where there is no phone reception, and I do not think Roger could handle the heat if the car broke down...so I have been staying home in the worst of this heat.  It is supposed to stay over 90 all week...every day when I look at the weather it will be 92, 93...but then say it feels like 105!

I hope you are having a good week.  I am trying to relax and just not worry.  And take care of things when I can.