Yesterday I did plant snapdragons and impatiens. There are still more things to plant and some of them are looking a little sad. I did do a little of the housework. I did begin to finish the three little ornaments but ran into a problem. The process just did not work well for me this time. This morning I did make some progress on one of the three so hopefully the remainder of the work will go much easier today. I also stitched the linen for the next set of ornaments to my scroll bars. There still is not enough progress for me to feel like showing it.

More Progess

Yesterday I made more progress on the three ornaments and a new ornaments project. It is just that what I did is so mundane and hardly looks like I did anything. Therefore, there are no pictures to show.

For the set of three, I cut out the forms to go inside the ornaments to give them shape and glued flannel onto the forms. Because I am not rushing up against the last minute, I decided to let the glue dry all day and over night. Actually, if it was not for the last minute, a lot of my projects would not get done.

Next in line was the start of my new ornaments project. This time I am stitching four of the same. It is the first of a set of three that appeared in an older edition of Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly. It was so long ago that the issue almost seems like an antique itself. I basted in all of the guidelines for the four fronts and backs.

Today I need to do a little housework and a little work in the garden.

Yes, I do stitch!

I have said so little and shown so little about my stitching that you might even wonder if I stitch. Today I finished the fronts and backs of three little ornaments. I have a pending deadline for one of them and thought it a good time to finish all three. The design is an older freebie from The Sampler Girl. I printed this one out in 2007.

Our weather is absolutely perfect. The sun is shining and the temperature and humidity are down. We turned off the air conditioner this morning and opened the windows. It cannot get any better than this. I think we are having roasted chicken for dinner today. For the Fourth of July we are tentatively planning fried chicken, potato salad, and slaw. We are not yet certain about dessert. There is at least one vote for rhubarb pie and one vote against. I guess that the cook or baker of the day will be able to cast a thousand votes. :-D

Rain Rain Rain

Please believe me I am not complaining. We so desperately need the rain that it would not be nice to complain. Yesterday Ben's fences around his oak seedlings proved their worth. We now are fairly certain rabbits have been eating his little trees. We watched a rabbit hop right up to the fence and sniff around it. The rabbit tried to take things out of the fenced area. It tried to get under the fence. It seemed to know just what it wanted and what it was doing. I would have taken a picture of the trees in their fences this morning but it is raining too much for me to feel like doing that.

The cherries are ripening. Birds were taking so many that we put a vinyl net over the tree. That has not completely deterred the birds but it is definitely putting a dent in their harvest. I ate three cherries yesterday. They are wonderfully delicious, a little tart but very good without sugar. I wonder if we will have enough to make a cobbler. Again no pictures because of the rain.

It is a sunny morning. It is still warm and humid but somehow, looking at my breakfast peach I do not notice it. Yes, it is my first fresh peach this year. The little label said U.S.A. but I wonder if it really grew in the US. As cynical as I am, that could just mean that the distributer is in the US. While I am not ready to become a dedicated locovor, I am becoming increasingly more conscious about the expenditure of energy to produce my foods.

I need to find some way to make the mundane tasks of the day seem more exciting. I need to add some incentives to encourage me to get through it.

This morning I walked to the healthclub. The sky looked dark behind me and became progressively more so as I walked. Thunder started rolling in the background and gradually become more insistent. I just hoped I could get to the healthclub before the rain started. Rain?? Today?? I thought that the weather forecast yesterday said no rain, just blue sky.

As I rounded the corner at the healthclub, my friend was just arriving. It took me a little while to realize who was honking at me. It was so very good to see her. It has been a couple weeks since we last saw each other. I took my gym bag out of the car. Roger drives to the healthclub and brings my bag so I only have to pick it up. Jan and I walked into the healthclub just as it started to rain. My timing could hardly have been better.

Life seems to be very unexciting and uninspired. After washing floors, we took the remains of the snowberry bush to the municipal composter. It looked like someone had trimmed out some of the spirea too. It is raining a little and that is very welcome. The daylilies are starting to send up buds. I do not have as many daylilies as iris and that is very fortunate.

Yesterday I finished all the machine stitching on the three banners. I really need to settle down and do the hand finishing today. Yesterday afternoon I finished this little box topper. The heart flowers are made of queen stitches. The light pink buds are satin stitch.

I picked up the empty box at the hospital when I was in for my volunteer time. I made the topper and lined the inside. I brought it in with me this morning to give it to the nurse who left it. She was not there but everyone will see that she gets it.

One of the other nurses wants some of my orange Oriental poppies. This is very good for me because I was going to dig out some of mine and throw them out.

Our weather continues to be miserable. But the weather seems to be good for Ben's oak trees. He had two seedlings in the front yard but something, probably a squirrel ate both of them. It looked like both had buds that would grow again so Ben made hardware cloth protective fences for each. By Sunday both had sent out new growth; one look healthier than the other. Mid-afternoon yesterday, both had visibly grown since the day before. I imagine that both should grow well today too.

It looks like a very unexciting day today. The temper- ature will be high and so will the humidity. I need to clean the bedroom, do some laundry, and finish three banners for church. You know it is an unexciting day when the best thing I can do is post a picture of the rhubarb pie I made yesterday. ;-)

Later on I will run out for a couple things that I need but it will be way too hot and humid to feel comfortable.

Father's Day

For Father's Day, Dan is preparing walleye for dinner. While he is working this afternoon, I will make a rhubarb pie. Roger very much likes rhubarb pie. Dan and Ben have gotten him a book that I know he would eventually buy for himself. For the past two weeks I have tried to keep an eye out to be certain he did not order it.

Rhubarb, that reminds me that in earlier times, just about every farm had rhubarb and it was frequently called pie plant.

More Irises

From the top down, Pearl Chiffon followed by Deep Pacific and Distant Chimes.
I assume this is Deep Pacific. I have three dark blue irises; I can eliminate only one of the three. I am fairly certain it is Deep Pacific. This is a second picture of Distant Chimes that was taken a few days ago. I want to show you how the petals glisten. Click on the picture to see a larger version that better shows the glisten on the falls and the standards.

Yesterday, the air conditioning man came out to check over the air conditioning unit. It seems to be as good as can be expected for its age which is getting advanced. He suggested that we might want to think about getting a newer, more energy efficient one while we can still get a tax credit for it. It was a good thing that the air conditioner was checked out because yesterday was the first time we really wanted to use it. A weather system came through during the early evening lowering both the temperature and the humidity; we were able to turn it off. It is supposed to get hot again next week so I think we will appreciate it for a couple days.

Here is the little bunny we rescued from a cat, not ours, last night. Actually it was Fake Quincy. When we took it into the park, we saw an adult rabbit and wondered if that might be its mother. Next is evidence that our cherries are beginning to ripen. I am not certain how many we will be able to eat as I doubt that we will cover the tree. A second try with the peony Raspberry Sunday and last but not least, our hot cats, Quincy and Mooch.

It seems that the summer of 2009 has arrived. Northern Minnesota had severe weather over night. We did not have a drop of rain yesterday or over night. It is hot and humid. I think, probably ideal tomato and corn growing weather; that is maize. The farmer's rule of thumb is that corn is supposed to be knee high on the Fourth of July. Under normal growing conditions, it is supposed to grow so fast that you can hear it growing in the fields.

Mooch and Quincy say that it is too hot and humid to do too much. We know when the temper- ature and humidity are really oppres- sive. The cats stretch out belly down on the tile floor.

Request

Please keep my friend, Tara, in mind. On Saturday, she will run in Grandma's Marathon.

I Can Hardly Move

We did not go to the healthclub this morning. We got up fairly early to work in the garden. It is/was supposed to rain today. Roger and Ben set up one of the rain barrels last night. I cleaned a lot of the remainder of the winter mulch from the iris while Roger weeded. Eventually we looked at the snowberry bush and decided it was time to take it out. It is quite aggressive and has habits that do not suit it to a small space. We hacked out the main part of the bush and then planted little shoots in the park. Weeding and garden work is not a fun task but it makes it a lot easier to work side by side with a special person.

The iris today is Latin Lover. The flower is a bit past its prime so I may upload another picture later when new ones open. I like the inside of Latin Lover and you can just manage to see it. The lavender color inside makes it look like it is
flour-
escing. Some times the inside of the iris is even more exciting than the outside.

The peonies are Raspberry Sundae and Lotus Queen. The picture of Raspberry Sundae is not very good so I may upload a better one later. The inner part of the flower is cream and light pink. The colors have a translucent quality that seems to glow from within the center. I really want to show this to you but I am not certain how well it shows in pictures. Lotus Queen is a Japanese peony. Characteristics of Japanese peonies are the single layer of outer petals and the yellow pompom in the middle.

The final picture is my coral geranium. I have it in a pot with a coral double impatien and some aspargus fern.

The reason we went out early was to accomplish some things in the garden before the predicted rain came. From the moment we got out, it looked like rain was imminent. Just about the time we decided we were too hungry and tired to continue, there were a couple raindrops. Now the sun is out, we can see shadows, and the sky is beginning to turn blue. That does not look like rain to me.

Wow, it has been quite a day. The picture of the day is another view of Swazi Princess; this one shows a little of the flower inside where there is a touch of gold. Black iris are not truly black. They are either a very dark blue-purple or a very dark maroon or mahogany. That means they either have a blue look or a red look. I have four dark iris. Interpol and Black Swan did not bloom this year. Old Black Magic and Swazi Princess did.

One of the things that I especially like about iris is the way they glisten. The light catches little sparkles on the petals. The petals that droop are the falls and the ones that form the cup are the standards. Both the falls and the standards will glisten. It is extremely difficult to capture it in a picture but I may have one to show you tomorrow.

I have a correction to make. The iris with Swazi Princess yesterday is really CanCan Red not Colortart.

This has been an extremely busy day. This is the first that I have been able to sit down.

Yes, a couple more iris today. The first one is Swazi Princess and the other one is Colortart. I did not think I would see it bloom this year and to tell the truth, it is not where I was expecting it. I wonder if I ought to post a picture of it and Gigolo together. And, one of the peonies - this one is Pillow Talk. It is quite a nice medium pink.

This morning I heard something that I thought was a bird but also sounded like a chipmunk making noise because the cat had cornered it. I followed the sound and verified that it was outside, not in the house. I tried to go outside to see it but scared it away. I am not at all certain what bird it was. Mooch is acting like he sees something. I can only hope it is outside because I cannot see anything in the house.

What do you know? Two entries today. I forgot to tell you about the box lid that I finished this past weekend. I actually did the stitching a couple years ago but had no purpose for finishing it. We were invited to an open house for the daughter of friends. The girl is a lovely person. She personally greeted each guest upon arrival. She and her parents were very gracious hosts. I wanted to show you the box that we gave her. There is quite a bit of metallic fiber in it in addition to other fibers with high sheen. It is so difficult to capture that in a picture that I am hoping the detail gives you some idea.

You can click on each picture to see a larger version of it. That will give you a better idea of how glitzy this design is.

First of all, yes, chipmunks can make a disastrous mess if they get into the house. The primary reason we have been so tolerant of them outside is that they are so very cute. Now, the nicest surprise is that late yesterday afternoon a hummingbird visited the garden. It did not seem to be interested in the feeder but if it liked the garden, it should come back.

The iris of the day today are Ming Dynasty, gold, and Vanity, obviously pink. Yes, Ming Dynasty is in the Gopher Garden. Can you see the color breaks in the falls of Ming Dynasty? They are actually a deep red/maroon.

Yesterday, someone asked me if I might have any iris I could give her. You might say that she is an answer to prayer. Now I only have to dig out and keep separate and identified, two of each variety that I dig up. One is for my friend, Janet, and the other is for me. I can just put everything else into a bag for my other friend. I do not even have to keep them separate. My task just got a whole lot easier.

But I have a more difficult task ahead of me. I have no idea what got into me to be so absent minded. The rule of thumb is to spray the iris for iris borer after three consecutive days of 70F + temperatures. I did not do that and now I have some borer infestation. I must get out this week to clean the remainder of the mulch off the iris and spray them. :-P

While we were gone last week, chipmunks invaded the house. The cats tried to help catch them. Our sons were able to catch them and take them outside. Ben discovered that we had a couple more open places in the drain tile system; he covered them. There have been no more chipmunks in the house. Ben is holding the chipmunk in his heavy leather work gloves.

We think the iris is Minnesota Skies. There are a couple other iris that look similar and are not blooming this year. I am identifying it by scent. I still have more pictures of currently blooming iris and there are a couple more that have yet to open. Unfortunately, it looks like one will not open.

While we have seen way too much of the chipmunks, we are yet to see hummingbirds and orioles. The newer hummingbird feeder works better than the one we got earlier this spring.

Yesterday we discovered that the cats got into their bag of food that they especially like and we give to them as treats. They had not been eating the regular food that we put out for them and we were concerned that they did not seem to be eating. Well, they were eating at the helpy-selfy buffet. When we discovered this, Mooch had his head in the bag. We started calling out to everyone in the house to see what the guys had been doing. We made a general and loud commotion. Mooch does have a highly developed sense of right and wrong. In that respect, he acts more like a dog than a cat. He really knew he had been a naughty little cat. Later in the afternoon he was still acting like he knew he had been bad. We held him, patted him, and talked gently to him. Eventually he returned to his normal self.

Wedding Anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary. We have been married 41 years. That is almost 2/3 of my lifetime and a little more than 1/2 of Roger's.

This morning one of our sons and I marked iris that we want to dig out. I want to thin the iris to hopefully encourage them to bloom more. I have located someone who wants what I cull from the garden so that is good. I think that I will see if she wants some Oriental poppies too. There are still more iris pictures to show you.

Roger and I went slumming. We went to an estate sale. There were some pieces of glassware, china, and sterling that I could easily fall in love with but decided that I really do not need more. Roger found some books for himself and two for me. I think this is not a paper or printed word anniversary but that is what my gift is. We went out for lunch.

I picked up two lavender print fabrics to make a little decorative pouch. This morning I forgot to bag the ground beef and aerosol whipping cream at the grocery store. We picked them up after I got the fabrics. Because we had such a nice lunch, I am only preparing hamburgers for dinner.

After we got home, I decided to go out to find a couple more caches. We tried to find one this morning but were not successful. I really wanted to find one today so I went out. I could not find the first one I had selected and besides there were a lot of people and one really huge dog around me. I thought I would go to find the second one when I discovered that I locked my keys in the car. The only thing I could do was walk home. One of our sons drove me back to the car. I gave up on the second cache. I cannot remember if I have explained about caches or not. If I have not, here is a link. If I have, you can ignore the link. Even if I have not, you can still ignore the link. :-D

One of Those Days

Things have gotten away from me. I did start the day washing sheets; I hung all of them and the pillow cases outside to dry. They are now neatly folded and away. This is about the only thing that worked as planned.

Our son Dan and I had intended to mark the iris. I want to dig them out and thin them preparatory to rearranging the iris garden. I even found a friend who will take my castoffs. That did not happen so I hope we do it tomorrow. I need to do it while I can still remember which iris are where. Unfortunately I do not have a map of the garden. Maybe I should do that as I replant the iris.

The Last Morning

We are currently packing our things and loading the car as we prepare for our departure in about six hours. It has been an extremely productive and re- warding exper- ience. We are likely to come again next year.

The sunrise was only slightly less subtle this morning but it held a little surprise. As I walked to the lake, I heard a loon calling. As I watched the sunrise, a pelican glided past me. Then one flew in. If you look closely in the upper picture, you can see the second one in the background. Click on the picture to see a larger version and both pelicans.

Local Color

This morning the sunrise was subtle. The sky was overcast and there was a little rain. Here is a picture of the goose and goslings. The picture could use a little editing but I will wait until we are home.

Yesterday evening we took a short walk just a little before sunset. We saw seven wild turkeys and two deer. I think that the deer were yearlings. Unfortunately we did not have the camera with us. We were actually walking to the dining hall to get something more interesting than water to drink.

Watching the Local Residents

During the afternoon yesterday, the sun peeked through the clouds for a few minutes. This morning I walked down to the lake to watch the sunrise. I surprised a great blue heron fishing in the shallows. Three pelicans flew in and two lazy martins slept on the poles holding the dock in place.

This afternoon, we went for a walk on the trails but decided to give up on that idea as the mosquitoes and bugs were crawling all over me and biting me mercilessly. We walked down to the lake and watched martins catch bugs. After what the bugs did to me, that only seemed fair.

There are two families of geese with a total of about 20 goslings. One of the adults was managing a parents' afternoon out. It was watching all the goslings alone. To tell the truth, the goslings were all well behaved and the adult was extremely vigilant. We also saw turtles poking their heads above the water. It looked as if they wanted to snap at the martins that were skimming the water surface as they cought bugs.

We do have internet access and time to ourselves so I do not feel as separated from the outside world as I thought. We are at a church retreat center for a summer theology workshop. The group is quite small but evenly divided between laity and clergy. We have been here before and were in a dormitory situation with a shared bathroom facility down the hall, bring your own bed and bath linens. We are in a much newer facility with ensuite bathrooms and provided bed and bath linens. It is very nice.

We can only wish that the weather were nicer. We drove out yesterday in an intermittent mist and constant overcast. The day is dark and cool. It probably will not get much nicer.

Just a couple notes. I still need to do a couple things to have the house ready for me to leave it and a couple last minute things to pack. There are two new irises open. I can only hope that Dan will take pictures of them.

It lightly rained all day yesterday. It was extremely welcome as we are so dry. Today looks like a repeat and that is also welcome. The weather forecast indicates we could have severe thunderstorms on Monday.

Yesterday a chipmunk got into the house. Mooch killed it. We think it got in through our drainage system. Our soil is heavy clay; when it becomes saturated, there is no place for the water to go but into the basement. We have a system of dry wells into which we channel the water and pump it out. This keeps the basement dry. Right now we do not have to worry about that as we have had below normal snow during the winter and virtually no rain this spring. We think that the chipmunk walked in through the drain tiles. Yesterday we blocked the openings fo the drain tiles with hardware cloth covers. The hardware cloth is an extremely course and heavy screen. The water will easily pass through it while it prevents little creatures from getting into the dry wells.

Outside the house we have a couple conduits made of PVC piping. The conduits are to enable us to pass the garden hose underneath the driveway and to bring electric cords out into the yard. The chipmunks have discovered them. I am not certain if they just use them as underground passages and hiding places or if they actually nest in them. These conduits have no access to the interior of the house but if chipmunks know about them and how to use them, I would imagine that they could figure out the drain tiles.

The picture today is not especially good as I took it in a hurry. The iris is Supreme Sultan. It was intended for the Gopher Garden but has not made it in yet. It is quite similar to P.T. Barnum; its standards are more of a gold. It is a very large and impressive flower.

Tomorrow I doubt that I will be able to post as we will be leaving as soon as we can get back home from church. I may be able to post again on Friday.

Yesterday, the estate sale did not have much that appealed to us. Out of curiosity about breadmakers, I was looking over one that was for sale there. As I was checking it over, a woman standing behind me reached for it and said, "Now you see it; now you don't!!" as she took it away. I wonder what she would have done if I had put my hand out and held it back. Yesterday I did not make oatmeal bread and probably ought to do so today.

As I walked to the health club this morning, I met one of my friends who was out running. Then at the health club, I got to see another friend. Seeing my friends made the idea of getting up early worth it. The sunrise would have been worth it even if I had not seen my friends. I like to walk in the pink light of dawn.

The clouds are now covering the sky. The weather forecast indicates rain today, tomorrow, and Monday. In fact, it is beginning to rain right now. It is hard to complain about the rain when we are so extremely dry. I need to get out and mark my iris because I am planning to thin them out. If I do, they should bloom better next year.

Only One Today

There is only one new one today but there are still several waiting to open. I am beginning to realize that I may not see some of the ones that are still buds. Today's iris is Distant Chimes.

Yesterday we did not make rhubarb pie. There was a recipe for rhubarb cake in the newspaper food section that begged us to try it. We did and we love it. The recipe called for buttermilk so I think I will make some oatmeal bread with the buttermilk that is left.

In a couple hours, Roger and I are going to check out an estate sale. I wonder if we will bring home any treasures. It is a short drive from our home and we will be able to apply to renew our passports while we are out. We might even make a stop at the library.

Yes, More Irises

Today there are pictures of two newly opened ones and repeats of two from yesterday. These are improvements over the pictures yesterday.
The first iris is Cream Taffeta. I have another one that is similar and is going to bloom but is not yet ready. I think the second one is Cranberry Ice. I have a couple more that look similar. I think they are not going to bloom this year; so, I can only make a guess based upon where it is in the garden. The repeats from yesterday are Flair and Peach Spot.

We are going to be gone for a few days beginning Sunday and I think that I am going to miss some of the iris. There are some that are blooming late this year because I was late taking the winter cover off them. The peonies are getting ready to bloom and I think I am going to miss them too. I think one of our sons will take pictures of them but it is not quite the same.

The rhubarb has been ready to pick and use for more than a week now. Today is the day to make a rhubarb pie. I make the crust and one of our sons makes the filling.

This morning as I walked, I heard a pheasant squawking. As we drove home from the health club, I saw a male pheasant hiding in the weeds. It was a little difficult for him to hide himself when he has such a bright red eye patch and the sun is shining on it.

Still More Irises

Today there are way more pictures than writing. The first iris is P.T. Barnum. It may be a little bit of a stretch but it is in the Gopher Garden. Next is Flair, followed by Peach Spot. This morning I had a bad choice; it was either the utility pole or the laundry line pole in the background. Next comes one of the Oriental poppies. They are all named hybrids but I have no idea what they are.

Last but not least is my summer biscornu. I finished it last night. It is pictured with the iris, Top Gun, that inspired my color choices.

Currently we are having a battle of wills. The dishwasher quit working. I think that we can get along without one and be better for it. Our sons think that we ought to get a new one. Roger is dragging his feet on making a decision and I am not prompting him to make one. I want to take the old dishwasher out of the kitchen. Needless to say, our sons are not co-operative about that. If we take it out of the kitchen, we could install a new under the counter cabinet. Heaven knows that we are extremely short on storage space.

Yes, Still More Irises

Here are the latest new blooms. They are all residents of the Gopher Garden. From top to bottom: Rainbow Gold, two views of Royal Trumpeter, and Dutch Chocolate. Tomorrow will bring some more new irises.

Yesterday we decided we had to water the lawn. I cannot remember watering this early in the summer before. As I have said, we are extremely dry.

Next Sunday, we will leave and return sometime on Thursday. We will probably take the laptop with us to download pictures. I do not expect to have internet access.

I have seen some very nicely arranged blogs but cannot for the life of me figure out how to do the same with my blog.

Another New Iris

Yes there is a new one out in the garden. Plus I have a little sampling of the produce.

The iris of the day is Gigolo. I like it but not its name. I have another iris that has the same colors but they are opposite. When they bloom together, they look like a negative and positive image. It is striking. The other iris is Colortart. I do not especially like its name either. I think it is not going to bloom this year.

And - - - just a sampling of the produce. The grapes are developing. Please do not make the mistake of thinking that they are large, juicy grapes because that type does not do well in our garden in Minnesota. They would make delicious jelly if we could pick them before the raccoons do. The volunteer lettuce is doing well and so are the cherries.

Yesterday I planted annuals in the garden near the front door.

I can tell that it is June. Already I heard on the radio June Is Busting Out All Over.