After a sprinkle....

I took these the other day after a light rain...I couldn't resist another of the above new iris...
The other two I have posted every spring before...I am always so glad to see them blooming each year. I will probably take pictures ever year for the rest of my life, or for the rest of the time I am able.
To me the above is the queen of the iris that I have...its petals make me think of a frilly dress.
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Lorelei was here today...she was sooo glad to see us. It is hard to explain how she changes...I see it so plainly yet it is so subtle. The one constant that does not change is her love of laughter. Today when I had her in her high chair, I discovered something new to make her laugh. I would been down till my eyes were about 8 or 10 inches from her eyes...I would close my eyes for a few seconds, then open them suddenly and make them big. She thought that was so funny.

She always goes and wants to watch videos of herself on You tube, then that leads to a few others. She will watch two or three, then be done. Then later, she will run in there to the chair and beat on it and look back at me...that is her signal that she wants to see more. We always watch a few sesame street videos...and then just this and that. Almost always just a very few minutes at a time.

I thought late this evening to look up Olivia's sight...she actually sat in my lap and watched a couple episodes...and she laughs at the appropriate times. It is amazing to me that she will set that long. I think Olivia is the only one that will hold her attention that long.

Earlier she had sat in my lap and looked at books for quite a while...and then right before Sarah picked her up, she had sat in the swing for probably 15 or 20 minutes. I guess that is one of the things that might now reveal much to others, but to us it is a big change for her to be still that long. When she is playing with her toys, she is also starting to pick play with toys longer, rather than always going from one thing to another. She still does go from one thing to another, but there are times she settles on one thing and plays quite a while.

Well, that is the Lorelei report for right now...if I think of more I will add it later or in the comments.

Two for one....

First this little video of Lorelei right after she woke up from her nap this afternoon....have your sound up.


And then this picture:
I would love to have been able to get a photo of this old tractor without all the background clutter...but no matter where I stood to take a picture something else crept into the frame.

Sort of makes me think of my house....everybody says they have clutter, but can it be this bad. I kid you not, there was this gym bag type of bag that was given to Roger at work...not just to him but to all the supervisors or to everyone in general. What I am trying to say is it was not a special gift to him. It was of such poor design that it has sat here for at least 3 or 4 years unused. I have moved it from one spot to another numerous times. I came across it again today and that was it...I took it out, told Roger it was either going in his section of the basement, the garage or the garbage, and I didn't care which.

I really have no idea what the bag was supposed to be used for...it was tall...with a round zippered section on the bottom...and a drawstring type of top closing. He looked at it and said put it in the garage...he plans to remove the nylon straps and any type of closures and then pitch it in the garbage.

I have a bag of purses setting to take to Good Will, some of them hardly used, but none of them less than two years old, and some much much older than that. I threw away a couple of small thermoses that I used to use for work. I quit work in the fall of 2005 and have not needed one since, so I got rid of them. (I do still have my half gallon one.) Other things found their way to the trash from that particular closet.

I also got into my 'baking section' of the cabinets....it has my cake pans, pie pans, flour, sugar, mixer...etc. And up until today it had two heavy wooden chopping blocks. I did use them at one time, but they are not really considered as sanitary as the plastic ones. I have been using plastic ones for years and years...so I pitched the chopping blocks. Roger helped me carry them out to the trash can in the garage, and he started to dig out something I had thrown away...I said 'don't dare pull out something I have finally found the nerve to throw away.'

Lorelei is coming tomorrow...so no more clearing of the clutter.

Tools....

Looking at the above photo, and knowing that I like to quilt and sew, one would probably think this was a post about my hobby. But as you look farther down, one sees an entirely different story. My husband likes to fly fish, but I think even more than all the fishing and hunting, he likes creating things.
He used to make spinner baits for bass fishing, and even back when he did that, he would take little bits of black foam and cut and shape it...and use bits of the living rubber to make legs and would make little spiders to fly fish with. Keep in mind when I am talking about fly fishing, I am not meaning for trout...I am talking about large-mouth and small-mouth bass, bluegill, crappie...fish commonly found around here.
Last summer he got into making flies big time...every where we went, even to fabric shops, he managed to find things he could use such as some of the thread. Department stores were goldmines. In the make-up department he found nail polish to paint heads and eyes, in the craft department he found beads to use for eyes..and other things I don't remember now.

Notice the spool holders above and below...the blue one on the end and the middle one with the spool of green thread...I think those were bought. But look at the others--he made them using things he already had.
And just look at the flies below...this is just a small sample of the flies he tied...some of these I think he came up with on his on...
Now we have just got to take the time and go fishing...seems like the older we get the less time we spend fishing.