The beginning of summer

Last Friday I was backing out of the garage and saw something in my side mirror that caused me to look again. After looking again, I stopped the car, went back inside to get the camera. I needed proof that this lady was in our yard, near the garden no matter that there are two motion sensors out that way that make a high pitched noise that is supposed to keep the animals away. Maybe she was deaf.









I don't think she feasted on the garden or on the smaller trees out there, just the apple tree.

From the garden. There's one onion that is flowering. The rest are just about ready to be harvested. Last night we had beets from the garden, the first produce of the year. They weren't as sweet as we expected and wondered why. Could it be they needed more water or could it be the type of beet?



And look at my blueberries! That tiny little bush has quite a few berries. :)

Baseball

We had an opportunity to go to a baseball game last week. DH had tickets through work. About 10 minutes after we arrived it started pouring down rain. Fortunately, before it started raining we left our seats for cover. We got to watch the ground crew cover the infield. They obviously have had lots of practice since they did this all very quickly. I think it rained hard for 5-10 minutes then stopped. The sun came out blazing. We stayed for four innings before we'd had enough heat.



Besides the heat, I really like baseball, and quite frankly I think I could sit at a game on a daily basis maybe. We used to go to Milwaukee Brewers games in the early 90s before Amy came along. We did take her to one when she was two months old and one when she was four when we went to Arizona for spring training. I think last week was the next time we went to a game although I may have missed a few. There's just something about being at the ballpark, the sounds, smells, the excitement as well as the relaxation. I even like the food (can't eat it anymore, however). As you can see in the pictures, this is not big league, but it's still baseball. Now I know there are way more important things to do than sit at a baseball game everyday, so that won't be happening, but I do hope we can get to a few more games before the season is over. Amy said she was starting to like it also, but the sun was getting too hot. We all came away with sunburn and a few memories.

Friends

Last weekend we went to a Maidens IV concert. Now how to tell the story without it being way too lengthy...
Once upon a time Amy discovered a doll website about some girls who loved American Girls dolls and also were in a band or do they call it something else? I don't know. These girls are the Gothard Sisters. Eventually, Amy got to know them as well as one can online. The sisters travel the country doing festivals and fairs and last weekend they were in Pennsylvania. Somewhere along the line(I suppose Amy could tell it better) the Gothard Sisters found out about Maidens IV, I think through Amy. Last weekend Amy got a text from one of the Gothard sisters saying they were going to try to make it to the Maidens concert, then a few minutes later another text saying nevermind. There was no way to get from there to here in time for the concert.

Meanwhile we went to the concert and during the concert Amy got some texts from one of the sisters, so she had her phone out and it accidentally got left behind. To shorten this considerably, she did get it back on Sunday morning at church. So she had missed more texts, one saying could we get together for lunch Sunday. There was no way that was going to happen on Sunday, so we decided to try Monday. Amy & I met them and their mom at Bob Evans in Youngstown and spent over two hours visiting. They are such a nice family. They'll be back in PA in September, so we'd like to get there to see them perform live.  You might have to click on each picture to see the whole thing.  My computer is cutting them off.





Then on Wednesday, we had four of the Seekers girls over to make wrap skirts, thus all the sewing machines. Amy taught (along with my help) them what to do for each step, measuring, cutting, sewing. For the most part, everyone had a good time. Mom's too. :)





We were both thoroughly exhausted after each event, but had a great time making and keeping friends.

Deck flowers

Beauty of spring.

Some sewing

The first three pictures are of clothing for a friend.






This pear jacket modeled by Jess was a collaboration between Amy and I.  She picked out the pear fabric and cut it all out.  I picked out the polka dots on a separate occasion without thinking about the pears.  She originally had a plain green for the lining and facing, but we both decided the dots were perfect.  I think Jess looks adorable!




And finally, something for me.  Amy likes to shop at Justice.  Sometimes they have cute, modest items, usually not so much.  While there a few weeks ago I found the white top on clearance and everything in the store was 40% off.  I almost didn't buy it because I wasn't sure what to wear with it, but I did anyway.  After several days of thinking, I had an idea of the look I wanted, something light and flowing, sort of.  I've mentioned before that we have this great book Sew What Skirts.  I was looking through it and discovered this layered skirt that I thought might work.  So, off to Joann with my coupon to see what I could find. What I found was a printed dotted Swiss. It's very light weight and perfect for a double skirt. On another visit to Joann with another coupon I found the lace. When I went to see if the lace looked ok with the fabric, the fabric wasn't there, so I took a chance and bought what was left of it. I'm thankful I did that because after getting it on the skirt there's only about a foot left. Anyway, several days after getting home with the lace I held it up to the fabric and discovered that the roses on the lace match the roses on the skirt almost perfectly. I sent up a "thank you" prayer right then.

Puzzles #61-64

In order to have something to post about here are the last four puzzles I've done. The first two were done a couple months ago. The last two were done in the last couple weeks.


61


62


63


64-duplicate Instead of buying more puzzles I'm going to do the ones I have again. :) Although if I see one I really like I probably will buy it. ;-)

I'm still sewing doll clothes. The latest three are for a friend's daughter. I'll post pictures later.

Oh and today I bought a Japanese pattern book on ebay. Once it comes I'll need to figure out how to use it. It's all in Japanese, but there are pictures and I've seen on-line forums that give how-to tips. The clothes in the book are adorable and more modest than what we see here in the U.S. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Indigo bunting

Amy said I need to post on my blog so here goes...

Every year it seems like we see an indigo bunting once for such a short period of time that getting its picture is impossible. This year has been different. I know I've seen it at least twice, but I'm pretty sure I saw it another time, but it flew away so quickly I'm not positive.

How I spent the last minutes of May...

...and the first minutes of June.



Look at that face. Sadie looks happy there, but that's actually her nervous look. I know this dog. Way back in '97 we went to a pet store to buy a fish tank. Instead we came home with Sadie. She was cowering at the back of a cage and I felt sorry for her. She needed a home. The next day I actually called the pet store to see if they'd take her back. We had buyers' remorse after only 24 hours. Well here we are almost 13 years later. She's still afraid of everything but storms, even if they're on TV, are the worst. And she can't hear anymore. So last night we had a storm. Our usual procedure is to get the dog in her kennel so she won't drool all over the floor. (I cannot stand to step in that!) Sometimes we have to force the issue. After a while it stopped storming and was only raining and she seemed to have calmed down, so I let her outside to do her business. I went back inside to do a few things as I usually do. I went to check on her several times, but she still wasn't back at the door like normal. I got my shoes and coat and went out in the dark, rainy night to look for her. I walked around the house, no dog.

By this time I thought it best to get dh out of bed. It's about midnight. He got a flashlight and looked around in the yard, no dog. We got in the car and drove the neighborhood and the highway near our house, no dog. We came back home to check, no dog. Drove the neighborhood again, no dog. We decided we couldn't do anything else, so we went to bed. But our deaf dog was still out there.

The next morning dh said he'd drive around again to look for her before he went to work. However, the neighbor came by with her around 6:30. He said he found her wondering around while he was walking his dog. He didn't know who she belonged to, so he sent an email out to the neighborhood along with a picture. Meanwhile, he put her on a leash and she sort of lead him back here. I don't know the details of that for sure only that she wouldn't go in his driveway, but when she got to ours she went right up. She was wet and tired, but no worse for the wear, I guess. She spent the day sleeping. When I let her out the next night, I went with her. When it's rainy, I'll put her on a leash. I'm thankful that God kept her safe. It could have been much worse.