A Quiet 4th of July

I think it's funny that we refer to today as "the 4th of July" rather than "Independence Day" which is its official name. When I was in third grade our teacher asked us "what is the date of the 4th of July?" and none of us knew it. We just thought of that as a name, and not a date. Too funny!

I went for my daily walk. Today I walked .95 mile. I enjoyed all the gorgeous flowers along my walkway. Some of my neighbors have incredibly green thumbs!

There are a few Independence Day flags out flying.

below: my "flag"

I'm going to spend the rest of the day sewing. Happy 4th! Later tonight we'll be able to watch fireworks from the end of our driveway.

Friday Books: To Kill a Mockingbird

This week I am re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Our book club at church will be discussing it on Sunday. I'm not done yet, but I have read it at least two times before and have seen the movie multiple times. So, I can tell you now that I will give it a five-star rating. It's fun to read a great book again after several years away from it. But at the same time, I am eager to get back to reading something of my own choosing. I was hoping our church book group would take a summer hiatus, but it decided not to.

After this I will have to read the book for my on-line book group. THEN I can get to a book of my own choice.

We are finally getting somewhat caught up on our yard work... not completely, but at least I got the flowers put in as I want them, and we have done some weeding. That seems impossible to keep up with, but we're trying. So far we have only had one very hot day, so it hasn't been too bad to be outside weeding. Here are some pictures of our flowers. Try not to pay attention to any weeds you notice or the lawn that needs mowing! (As I said, it's hard to keep up completely.) Ha! I think everyone with a yard is always a little bit behind; isn't that true?

A lot of my flowers are just in pots, but I also planted some of the marigolds in the actual garden space between the pots. Once they fluff up and fill in, I think it'll be quite pretty. The white flowers, in a previous photo, were mostly buds on my relatively new bushes. They really popped and are now already nearly done. I am happy with those pretty bushes, whatever they are.

I have been wanting to sew, but my main machine isn't working properly; I need to take it in for service and don't want to! So I'm just stymied while I decide what to do and what I could work on with my slightly less nice machines.



I hope you are all enjoying a lovely summer, and a lovely fall/winter in the southern hemisphere! It has been beautiful in Minnesota.. plenty of rain and beautiful sunshine. Lucky us!

Friday: No Books Today

I have been in a reading slump lately. One reason is that the book I'm currently reading, while extremely well written, is kind of boring. Nothing happens! I'm slogging through. I can't wait to get to a page-turner.

I've gone back to work now, after my month off for traveling and meetings. I was a little nervous to go back, hoping I hadn't forgotten how to do everything. I hadn't. Whew! Also, I was told that I received a compliment from a customer (it's anonymous). They can submit a compliment or complaint any time they want. This is the first time I have received an official compliment. I'll get a little certificate. Whoopee! My first one in four years. I know the customers have to kind of go out of their way to submit these, so I really appreciate it. The official kudos are rare birds.

We've been working on weeding our garden. It is full of tall weeds! When we left for Oz and Kiwi, it was too early in the season to have any weeds or to plant. When we came back, the time had almost passed, so our weeds were tall, and we hadn't put in any flowers yet. It's hard to catch up.

I have a couple little bushes that I planted a couple years ago. I don't even know what they are, but they are flowering nicely this year. I'm happy about that. The smaller bush, that I did not photograph, has way more buds on it. Yay!

That's about the only excitement going on around here. Life has resumed to its normal, quiet yet chaotic pace.

Flowers, Sewing, and Knitting

Hooray! I finally got my summer flowers purchased and planted. And my irises are blooming! We've had some beautiful days. How lovely to sit outside and read and to have my flowers arranged. Now I need someone to come do the weeding.

I made this quilt top from scrap blocks and pieces that other people made (for the most part). The sashing is a Nigerian fabric I was given. I now have several tops that I need to quilt. I ran out of batting but plan to buy some this weekend while it's on sale. (Great timing!)

I made six blocks for Sunshine. I thought they were for June, but I realized I made them according to the July directions (novelty fabrics). Harumph. I still have June's blocks to make (pink and green).

I finished knitting this hat. The yarn was a little bit hard to work with, and my hands got really tired. I'm glad this one is done. It's summer time: a good time to work on small knitting projects such as hats and mittens, because they don't drape into a person's lap to make her hot. So I hope to get more small projects finished in the next couple of months.

Warming Up to 6 Below Zero

Last week I was in the Caribbean. Skies were blue and sunny, temperatures were in the mid 80s F, and I was warm and comfortable.

This week I am back home, and it is so cold that most schools in the whole state are closed, to protect the children from dangerous cold and wind-chills. Looking on the bright side, skies here in Minnesota are blue and sunny, just like in the Caribbean! No clouds = no insulation, so night temps really plunge. But I do like the sunshine.

Today, mid-afternoon, it has warmed all the way up to 6 below zero (F).

In an effort to be warm, I will post pictures of my fabulous vacation. What a blast! I went on a cruise with some quilters. I'm very lucky to have had this opportunity to escape the cold and be warm for a week, not to mention hanging out with quilters! FUN!

We sailed out of Miami. It was beautiful there.. palm trees are a good sign that I am no longer in Minnesota.

Flowers in January! Will never happen in Minnesota; I was enthralled.

our room, and my first-ever cruise meal.

This is me, being waited on by a hunky guy.... HAHAHA! Did you believe me for a minute? If I had a bod like that, I would have been showing off pictures of myself for a long time now... nope, that ain't me, but a gal can dream, right?

first shore excursion.. to St. Maarten...the real me is in the red hat, and the other two are quilter friends of mine.

une fleur a Marigot, St. Martin

beach at Philipsburg, St. Maarten
more flowers; we saw three iguanas sunning themselves in treetops; walking back to our ship which is the one on the right

the tell-tale red hat: that's me again. This is my favorite shore excursion: St. John Virgin Islands. I would love to go back there for more time to play and explore. It's a U.S. National Park - did you know that??

one of about three pools on board the ship, random head shot of me, quilts that other people made while out at sea (I didn't sew a stitch), third shore excursion was to Nassau, Bahamas where we also enjoyed a gorgeous sunset.

my final excursion was a bus tour after the cruise, back in Miami. I toured the South Beach area and got off to spend time on the beach. Enjoyed seeing the long line of art deco hotels on Ocean Drive and LOVED the waves at the beach.

waves, waves, waves - I cannot get enough of them!

Some randomness: the ship's wake, a band that entertained us on the ship, an art deco post office in Miami - it was beautiful!, a ship from Panama, and I'm pretty sure that guy in the last photo is just wearing his underpants. Well, why not? It was too hot for long pants anyway!


I've had my lucky bouts of travel - Europe in the fall, Caribbean in the winter. Now it's time to buckle down and put in more work hours. At least there's nothing else to do when it's 6 below zero.