For the past couple weeks, I have felt that no matter how quickly and efficiently I work I am still behind.  One of the bright points was giving the three ornaments pictured in the entry below this one.  Everyone loved the ornament and said that it suited their taste.  It does not get any better than that. 

Following that, I tried to finish this pair of ornaments.  I had hoped to show you both finished ornaments side by side but that will not happen. 

The first one is finished and I continue to work on the second one. 












The squirrels continue to entertain us; I think much to the dismay of the birds.  I have tried to discourage them by tossing dried corn out for them.  They seem to like it but also like to get into the bird feeders. 

It seems to be more difficult to get pictures of the red squirrels.  But with time, we may be able to show them to you too. 

Yes, the three little ornaments are done.  Tomorrow I will begin to give them to their recipients.  In the past, these little gifts have given their recipients much pleasure.  It gives me even more pleasure to do this. 

I am now working on two more little ornaments.  With these two, I am cutting it very close.  I can only hope they are done before Christmas. 

This past week within a couple hours, both of our printers died.  It will cost us more to have them fixed than to buy serviceable printers.  This evening, I think that we will splurge by ordering a high end color printer.  For a long time, we have been wanting to do art quality printing.  We have been wishing we could print on large size paper and heavy paper.  It may soon be possible for us to do all of these things.  If we order this color printer, we will hold off on ordering a new laser printer.  In the end, it may not be necessary to have two printers. 

All three ornament fronts are done.  The backs remain untouched. 

Do you see the gorgeous Lenox plate in the Holiday pattern?  Our sons just gave me four dinner plates and four salad plates.  We will set the table tonight with them. 

More baking - The little disks are cardamom cookies and the others are Russian teacakes.  Powdered sugar was the order of the day. 

Snow Flakes and Cookie Comments

We are currently in the midst of a winter snowstorm.  Already we are close to an all-time record winter snowfall.  This storm was originally predicted to travel to the south of us but somehow headed directly for us.  It is moving slowly so we are being dumped upon.  As of bedtime yesterday, we were under a winter storm watch running through Saturday, ending Sunday.  The prediction indicated that we could get as much as a foot of snow during that time.  The snowfall began in earnest a couple hours later than predicted but it is as heavy as predicted.  This morning as we shoveled the back terrace, one little junko flew around us.  It seemed like it was asking for food.  We put a little food into both feeders because we were certain that the squirrels would be around to dump it all out.  No sooner did we hang the feeders than about a half dozen junkos and a pair of cardinals flocked to them.  I hunted out the dry corn we have and put some in a flower pot saucer for the squirrels.  My rationale was that if the squirrels had some corn on the ground they might leave the birdfeeders alone.  I think that the squirrels are staying snug in their nests because we have seen none. 

The sandbakkels and the molded cookies that resemble madeleines.  The dough is rich and rather stiff.  The molds that I use are a bit small and take about a teaspoon of dough.  You then press a thin layer of dough into the bottom and sides of the mold; it is a lot like playing with clay when you were a child.  Sandbakkels are crispy.  Tradition in Minnesota indicates that sandbakkels is a Norwegian treat and translates roughly as sand tarts.  I found a little discussion about sandbakkels in this blog.  The recipe is close to my recipe; The major difference is that I use ground or finely chopped almonds instead of almond extract.  We usually serve them outside (molded side) up.  Most people do not let the inside show on the serving plate unless they are filled.  It is not necessary to fill them.  Other popular Scandinavian treats are: 
Krumkake
Fattigmands Bakkels
Rosettes

What do these treats have in common besides Scandinavia? 
1.  The translation of the name is open to variation. 
2.  The spelling of the name is also open to variation. 
3.  They are all very popular in the Upper Midwest.  Guess where a lot of Scandinavians settled. 
4.  They are all labor intensive.  Even the fattigmands which are cut into diamonds are cut in the middle and turned inside out by hand. 

I was wondering why the Scandinavian treats are so labor intensive.  Roger suggested that it is because Scandinavia has such long, dark winters.  With the dim light during the winter, people did not need bright light to make the treats plus the fact that the nights were so long there was plenty of time to make the treats.  I am not sure that is a very good explanation.  After all, the Scots who are in the north are famous for their shortbread which is very similar to sandbakkels.  They just pat out the dough and cut it into squares. 

Tastes of Christmas

Let's see. 
1.  The three fabric pockets:  Done 
2.  The sweater back:  Done
3.  The Quaker motif:  Done 

I have been trying to keep myself busy.  I have not yet begun one of the sweater fronts but plan to sometime in the unforeseeable future. 

Baking:  Did you know that it is baking season?  Well it is and so we are baking cookies.  After working on these two batches, I suddenly remembered why I like to make bar or pan cookies.  Real cookies are extremely labor intensive.  It began with the sandbakkels.  Because that dough needed to chill over night, I decided to make dough for chocolate crinkles which also needs to chill over night.  Yesterday, I baked both batches; following that I needed to chill out.  They do look scrumptious, don't they?  They do taste as good as they look. 

Today there will be two more cookie batches.  In our Tastes of Christmas cookie plan, we now have chocolate and almond.  The next flavors will be pecan in Russian tea cakes and cardamom in cardamom cookies. 


Yes, I am stitching and here is a little peek at the current project, three ornaments which will be little gifts. 

The design is a little freebie from Thea Dueck, Victoria Sampler.  Two will be to mark the first Christmas of each of two little girls; the third is just a little gift for a friend.  I am making minor modifications in the design on each.  If you are checking on the freebie, why not explore the website a little?  Did you see the Winter Box shown on the home page?  I plan to stitch it. 

Saturday we put out one of the birdfeeders with bird seed.  Yesterday afternoon, an assortment of lots and lots of birds came to the feeder.  Four squirrels ate the seed that the birds spilled.  This morning one of the squirrels was hanging onto the birdfeeder eating at the helpie-selfie buffet.  We are going to have to make a more substantial squirrel inhibitor. 

During the past week, I worked.  Here are the fruits of my efforts. 

The three pockets are finished. 

The Quaker motif is also done. 

The back is finished now except for weaving in the yarn ends.  I have no idea when I will be able to begin one of the front sections. 

Thanksgiving

Today is the U.S. Thanksgiving Day.  We will take a moment or two our of our lives to remind ourselves how thankful we are for the bounty and riches we have.  Among the things for which I am thankful are you, my friends. 

Our current weather conditions are cold and windy but the sun is out shining bravely on the new, clean snow.  There is a path of well tracked mouse tracks along the house side of the back entry ramp.  So far, there are no rabbit tracks in the garden. 

Our family feast will be among only our immediate family.  We have a small fresh turkey which will go into the oven in a few hours.  With it we will have two kinds of dressing, our traditional bread dressing and a cornbread/white bread dressing with chestnuts and maybe some craisins or dried cherries for good measure.  With the two dressings, we will skip potatoes and rolls.  This morning I prepared a pumpkin maple pie which looks lovely; we have eaten almost all of the piecrust cookies made from the leftover crust dough.  We sprinkle the dough with cinnamon and sugar before baking it.  I have also prepared a green bean casserole, not the Cambell's soup recipe, and it is ready to go into the oven at the appointed time.  I also cooked the cranberries that are now cooling on the porch.  It has reached that time of year when the porch becomes a large walk-in refrigerator. 

Last night I baked the perfect little pumpkin only it really was not a perfect pumpkin.  It was extremely stringy inside and had a maximum of a ¼ inch of flesh.  I thought that Roger had planted Sugar Pie pumpkin seeds.  It turned out that he had planted some seeds which came in the post as a promotional offer for something not even related to gardens and gardening.  We had inferior seeds.  If I had only known, I would have gotten some good seeds.  Well, now Roger knows that it does not pay to save some of these freebies.  And yes, it sometimes is a very good idea to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially if it is intended for the garden. 

The weather has been frightful, encouraging me to stay inside.  Sunday morning we woke up to a glazing of glare ice on every imaginable surface.  To walk out of the house, you had to accept the fact that you were taking your life into your hands, or perhaps I should say onto your feet.  Right now we are having a little bit of snow which is covering the dirty, frozen slush. 

Here is a progress report.

Cross stitching is progressing.  I think the little acorns are adorable. 

Not quite as exciting but progressing, nevertheless are the three little pockets. 

Um, it looks like I have been concentrating on the knitting.  After six more rows, I will begin shaping the armholes.  There are five specialty yarns in this design.  All five are now incorporated into the back. 

Since before the weekend, we have seen very little of the sun.  Apparently November is the cloudiest month of the year for Minnesota.  November 2010 seems to be proving that statement true.  I have been keeping myself busy.  I wonder if perhaps I am trying to do too many things at the same time. 

First is a little cross stitching. 

Three little sewing projects are we. 
Today I cut the fabric to make three pockets, both for the pocket and the lining.  I think that you can easily determine the pairs. 

And just for good measure, I am doing a little knitting.  Is this foolhearty?  I really cannot say.  A number of years ago, I began this chevron stitch vest but stopped in the middle of a row, never to resume knitting.  Eventually I ripped what I had knit and rolled each yarn into a ball. 

For some unknown or perhaps unknowable reason I developed a strong urge to try it again.  Last month, I carefully knit a couple swatches to determine if I was knitting to gauge.  Then a little more than a week ago, I cast on the requisite number of stitches and began knitting.  Rows one and two in the first multi-color were easy, plain old knit.  Rows three and four in the solid color fuzzy chenille were slightly more difficult as I had to establish the pattern stitch and the chenille made it difficult to see what I was doing.  At the end of row four, my stitch count was correct so I deduced that I had done it correctly.  Rows five and six in the multi-color mohair were a little easier simply because the mohair made it easier for me to see what I was doing.  Rows seven and eight in the solid color cotton tape were almost my undoing.  It was still difficult for me to see the developing pattern stitch and I made a couple miscounts.  After ripping out and reknitting a couple times, I had the pattern stitch correctly established and I could see it.  Beginning with rows nine and ten, the knitting seemed to work itself. 

I would like to have this sleeveless vest to wear on Christmas but there is little to no chance that will happen.  I would consider myself very fortunate to finish the back by Christmas. 

The Snow Came

Friday night/Saturday morning the snow came.  It was a wet, heavy snowfall that accumulated.  It was the kind of snowfall that young kids love because it packs into the most beautiful snow people and snow castles.  It was the snow that older kids love because they can make the best snowballs.  The best thing about it was that it came on the weekend when everyone could go outside to play in it.  It might have been better if it had come on a weekday because the schools might have given everyone a snowday. 

We unfortunately did not like it.  We had to get up Saturday morning to drive to a workshop 80 miles from home.  We set out at 6:00 a.m. in the dark.  I tested the brakes in the road just down the street from home before I got out into any traffic.  Yes, the anti-lock brakes worked.  Yes, I remembered the feel of a car coming to a stop in the snow.  As soon as we got out onto the highway, a large truck, really a tractor and semi-trailer, passed us splashing slush across the front of the car and onto the windshield.  Instantly it seemed like a curtain was drawn across my field of vision.  I had not even had enough time to judge the traffic behind us; I did not even know if there was traffic behind us.  The only thought in my minds was, "What was I tthinnnnnnnking?" 

The windshield wipers slowly cleaned the goop off the windshield and my field of vision became larger and clearer.  Traffic was really quite light; we were fortunate it was early on a Saturday morning.  About half way to our destination, we realized that there was more rain than snow falling.  That made the driving conditions much less messy and a little easier.  The sky was so heavily overcast we still felt we were in the dark when we arrived. 

Just in case the weather conditions deteriorated, we each brought along an overnight bag.  Our rationale was that if we were prepared, we probably would not need the provisions.  But if we did need them, we had them.  They were a good insurance against bad conditions.  The drive home was much easier as the roads were much cleaner and we at least had a little twilight  when we pulled into the driveway. 

This little squirrel ran along the fence top early Sunday morning.  He looks so happy to be running outside. 

The snow hung itself out on my clothesline.  It would not have been so bad if it had fallen off or melted.  Instead, it froze to the clothesline.  This morning when I tried to hang out the bed pillows to air, the weight of the snow and ice caused the central pole to bend near the ground.  When the pole could no longer support the weight, it toppled over.  Right now I have no idea what I am going to do to air pillows during the winter. 

During my absence, I continued to check out estate sales.  I found this little Irish lace crochet doily.  The colors are a little over-the-top and make it look like something from the 1930's which, for all I know, may be when it was made.  I would prefer it in traditional all-white but I still like it. 

At last the election is over.  It looks like the general feeling was, "Throw the bums out!" in a fit of exasperation.    Now, at the national level and in MN and probably other states too, the politicians must work through widely diverging goals and agendas to take some concrete steps forward.  The big question is whether they can rise to the occasion or will they fall into serious gridlock.  If they do not make some gains, there will be a frustrated electorate at the next election and it will have one thing on its mind, "Throw the bums out!"  The one good thing is that there are no more political commercials.  It was extremely negative here. 

After not seeing any mice in the house for several days, we thought we had gotten past the time they try to get in.  Last night, or rather this morning sometime before 4:00 a.m., Mooch caught another mouse.  I think we need to check the traps in the garage and refresh the bait.  


Last week brought strange weather to us.  Based upon the extremely low barometric pressure, we experienced a category 3 land based hurricane.  The wind was so strong, I could actually lean back into to it as I walked.  We also had the first hard frost last week.  We are now pulling all the annual plants out of the gardens and cutting back the perennials that need to be cut back for the winter.

It has been so very long since I last posted.  It seems like there is nothing going on here that others might find interesting.  About two weeks ago, we found a lot of honey bees in the broccoli flowers.  We were planning to take the broccoli out because it is the end of the growing season but decided to let some of the broccoli stay because the honey bees were in it.  During the summer we hosted only a few honey bees; this was an unexpected but very pleasant surprise.  We felt we should give them as much advantage as we could for the winter.  Hopefully they will survive and come back in the spring. 

Well, perhaps it is a case of the bargain basement reputation the bazaar has and consequently the expectations people have of it.  It is nice that you similarly-minded people have affirmed the desirability of the little boxes.  I think that I will be able to find out today if they eventually sold and how low the price had to be if they sold.  The only discouraging thing is that when I last saw them on Thursday it was only a few minutes until closing time. 

Before we left, I did check over the items at the bazaar and saw a gorgeous hand knit winter hat.  I thought it was reasonably priced at 5 USD.  Apparently other people did not.  If it had been an adult size in a color that would look nice with my winter jacket, I would have gotten it for myself. 

Oh well, so much for that experience. 

Yesterday, we went to an estate sale,  not because it was advertised as anything that might interest us but because it was very close.  Actually, the address seemed very familiar to us.  As it turned out, we had been to a sale there a couple years ago.  It turned out that this sale was of residue from the previous sale.  Apparently the people conducting the sale had not learned from the previous one that the prices were a little high and used the same tags on the items.  Other people must have thought so too because no one was carrying anything away from the sale.  Actually, I think the people doing the sale should have been working through an art gallery to sell the artwork.  They probably will not be able to get anywhere near 25,000 USD for a dining room table and chairs even if the set is by George Nakashima.  It would be better to work through a major art and collectables auction house. 

On a happier note, Friday a woodpecker found the suet I hung out.  I watched the little fellow; it was on the corner of the porch where windows on two sides come together.  It progressed up the corner testing the wood with its bill.  When it reached the top of the windows, it moved along them toward the window where I was watching, again testing the wood along the way.  This is definitely not a good sign but may not be as bad as it seems because the woodpecker left.  It went over to the roof of the garden shed and then tested it too.  It did not waste much time there before flying over to the suet. 

The bazaar and dinner were yesterday.  First of all, no one wanted the little boxes either individually or in a set.  Even at rock bottom pricing, the boxes were still left.  I guess that I may have strangely different tastes and interests.  I know that I would have loved to have a fabric covered box, especially so if I did not know how to make one.  I wonder if we could have gotten rid of any if we were giving them away or if we would have needed to have paid people to take them.  I wonder if people detected the little imperfections and if the imperfections were just to great.  I did not think so but maybe so. 


Secondly, my English toffee was not an unqualified success. In this case, we think that the little packets were over priced.  Perhaps it is just as well that I did not have time to take any pictures of the candy.

If I have not been busy enough, Mooch, our little black cat, has been more than busy enough to make up for me.  The mice seem to be making a concerted effort to spend the winter in our house.  The tuck under garage makes that very easy for them.  Mooch seems to be determined to keep the mice at bay. 

Last night, Mooch got one, maybe more.  This morning there was an extremely messy trail of mouse parts running almost the length of the upstairs hall.  As much as I would prefer to not have to clean up after Mooch, it is far better that he make the mess than have mice running all around the house. 

Here are the little boxes for the church bazaar on Thursday.  There are some imperfections in each box but I think they are adequate.  The bazaar has such a bargain basement reputation that I hardly feel like making near perfect boxes. 

Together with the bazaar, we have a bake sale.  I have thought about making some gingerbread and candy for the bake sale. 

Currently we are having some glorious autumn days with warm temperatures and beautiful blue skies.  I hope to savor them as long as they last. 

Four squash have joined the little pumpkin inside.  The smaller pumpkin is still outside.  We want to remain hopeful that it will ripen but we are no longer certain. 

Warnings of possible frost encouraged us to bring in the fruits of the garden.  We have an abundance of tomatoes in all stages from very green to ready to eat.  Almost as plentiful are the red and green sweet peppers.  Although it was chill during the weekend nights, we dodged the bullet - no frost.  Just the same, we still need to get the garden ready for winter.  It is such a bittersweet task, sweet because all the good food we grew is coming into the house - bitter because we know that winter is coming and with it the end of the garden fresh produce until next year. 

Because of extraordinarily heavy rain, we are experiencing late season flooding on both the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers.  Fortunately the water will not rise as high as originally predicted.  The pictures show the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul. 

The bridge is the Smith Avenue bridge which is also known as the high bridge.  It has the highest elevation of all the bridges that span the Mississippi in the Twin Cities.  Yes, the bridge has a rather steep incline; the end that you see is anchored in the bluffs that lie south of the river.  This part of the river runs more or less west to east. 

The fabric covered box is progressing very well. 

I still need to line the inside and am not certain if I will do it today. 

I think I will quickly make two small boxes for the church bazaar next week.  I could easily make two over the weekend.  I wonder how well they would sell. 

Dinner today will be Cuban sandwiches.  Yesterday morning we decided that we could marinate a little pork roast for dinner yesterday and use the leftovers in Cuban sandwiches for dinner today.  The roast was wonderfully tender, garlicy, and delicious.  If we were to have thought this out sooner to marinate it overnight, it would have been even better. 

Show Off Time

Two pictures for you to see - - -
We had to bring in the first little pumpkin.  As the vine continues to dry, it looses its ability to hold the pumpkin securely in the tree or even on the ground, if it had elected to remain land-bound. 

The second pumpkin which is even smaller remains in the tree.  We are not certain it will turn orange before the weather forces us to bring it inside.  Speaking of inside, this little beauty is inside.  I do not want to take chances by tempting the squirrels with it.  I learned my lesson last year. 

About the woodpecker cakes - - -
I called it that because I was not certain it was suet and did not want to claim it was if it was not.  Yesterday, I made the effort to retrieve the container.  It is suet.  After it has been rendered, bird seed is mixed into to it.  It is molded into little rectangular cakes which fit into the little cage like gizmo that I hook onto the line for the flag and literally run it up the flagpole.  No one is about to salute it and I am certain the squirrels are thumbing their noses at me.  Last year, this was an excellent squirrel deterrent.  I only wish I could do as well with the other feeders. 

Progress on the fabric covered box - - -
I have covered the top of the lid and the bottom of the box.  The process seems to be coming along fairly well.  The tricky part is having enough glue on the box surface to make the fabric adhere but not so much that it squeezes through the weave of the fabric. 

It's for the birds. :-)

This morning I filled and put out the woodpecker cake.  Let's see how long it will be until they find it. 
Last week, I refreshed the hummingbird feeder but we have not seen them.  I wonder if they have now left for the winter.  If we do not see hummingbirds this week, I will take the feeder down and put it away for the winter. 
Junkos and cardinals have been in the yard.  I wonder if that means the hummingbird is gone.  I had no idea how much I had missed the junkos and cardinals.  

There has been next to nothing to tell you about so I have been quiet,  There still is nothing very exciting. 

Yes, I have selected materials for a new project.  Why did I do that, you may ask me particularly when I have finished nothing that is currently in the works?  The only answer I can give you is just because. 

Keep watching here.  You may see some progress on something in the unforeseeable future. 

Today I am making focaccia.  Our son is making minnestrone starting with the broth.  He will use  tomatoes from our garden. 

The weather has been a little cool, cloudy, gray, and rainy.  At times, the temperature has been warmer and humid but still cloudy, gray, and rainy.  There has been some serious flooding in Minnesota. 

I feel like I have been deserting you.  But really, I have hardly had anything interesting to say to you.  Today, it is just a little picture. 

These are some of the materials I have assembled to make a Christmas gift for an exchange.  During the coming weeks, you can watch me construct and assemble my gift. 

Our weather is currently cloudy, cold, and rainy.  It feels like the perfect weather for soup.  Yesterday I found a recipe that looks delicious, tomato basil soup.  It is simple to prepare, I hope and looks delicious.  Let's hope the picture is not too terribly over staged.  We have the tomatoes in the garden. 

Now you know the inspiration for the title of my blog - lazy summer days at the lake.  I wonder if Minnesotans have an inborn longing to be "up north" or "up at the lake."  Even when it is raining, it is enjoyable to be at the lake.  Even when it is cold, we like to be at the lake.  It seems so cozy to be warm and dry inside and listen to the rain drumming on the roof. 

During the time we were gone, our sons confirmed that there are two hummingbirds visiting the feeder.  One is definitely an immature male, the other may be an immature male or may be an adult female.  Some immature males have a golden color; this one does.  It is the more dominant of the two.  Apparently it claims the feeder as its property.  It has been seen poking the other hummingbird.  In fact, it chased a chickadee off the hook from which its feeder is hanging.  Since we have been home, I have seen the hummingbirds every day.  There is going to come a day when we will not see them; I just wish that they could tell us when they leave.  I hope so very much that this little fellow will survive its migrations.  If it does, I think there is a high probability it will come to our feeder in the spring. 

Up at the Lake in Minnesota

Monday morning we drove to the extended family cabin on Lake Mille Lacs.  We brought lunch to share with Roger's sister and her husband, 

This was our first view of the new cabin.  The original cabin had been Roger's parents'.  One of his sisters and her husband acquired the cabin; we have access to it.  The old cabin had deteriorated so much that it was no longer economically worth maintaining it.  This spring they took it down and replaced it with this. 

Roger's sister's husband is an architect and has been thinking about this for the past 40 years.  The new cabin is only 8 feet longer on this end. The new cabin reflects the essence of the old one. 

The new screen door slams just like the old one.  It truly makes the new cabin feel like it has been with us from the beginning.  Two of the major differences are electricity and indoor plumbing.  We do not have television and internet access.  The cabin faces the lake on the north side. 

This is standing in front of the cabin looking out on the lake on a calm day.  I used my time to stitch on a project for Just Cross Stitch magazine.  I wish that I could show it to you but it is unpublished.  I can tell you when it appears in the magazine. 

We took a day trip to Split Rock Lighthouse on the North Shore.  In Minnesota, we refer to the Lake Superior shoreline as the North Shore. 

The lighthouse was built in 1910 and is obviously now 100 years old.  It has been decommissioned but is an integral part of Minnesota history.  Although it does not show well in the picture, the color of the lighthouse is a rosy tan.  At the time the lighthouse was built the only access to it was from the lake.  There were no roads or railroads to it.  All of the building materials and living supplies had to be shipped in and were raised to the level of the cliff top with a tramway. 

Sunrise on a day when the wind will whip up a wild lake. 

This small part of a small bay normally is very calm.  For a while the waves were whipped into a frenzy.  They pounded the beach so hard that it sounded like we were on Lake Superior. 

                                                                                            


It was a beautiful sunrise on the morning of the day we returned home.                                                                     

I continue to work down to the top of my work table.  Although I do add some new things, on the whole there is steady progress toward clearing it.  Today my Little Boy Blue and the fabrics to make the pillow are off the table. 

The pillow is for our nephew's son.  I have obliterated his name on the pillow in an attempt to honor the family's privacy.  I still have to rework the cow's eyes and redefine Little Boy Blue's eyes.  On the back of the pillow is a little pocket for the tooth fairy.  

I had intended to restitch the name and date in a darker blue but after today, I think I will leave well enough alone.  Making the shirred cable, stitching it to the pillow top, and stitching everything together was a much larger job than I envisioned it to be. 

If I were to repeat this pillow finish, I think it would work much better if I made the seam allowance on the shirred cable at least a quarter inch wider.  Right now, it just feels good to have finished the pillow and to know that I am working my way down to the table top. 

Yes, it is a nasturtium.  Because Christine was correct and because she likes nasturtiums so much, I will post a couple more nasturtium pictures.  Like Christine's nasturtiums, mine also are growing very well. 

Yesterday I forgot to tell you what I intended to do with the new shepherd's hook pot hanger.  I put it out in the garden near the sunflower and hung my hummingbird feeder from it. 

During the past few days, I noticed that the humming bird checked out the two empty feeders we had out during the winter.  Since he knows they were not for him, I decided he needed a new place for his feeder.  And, what better place than near the sunflower he likes to visit. 

Shortly after I put the feeder out, the humming bird homed right in on it.  The humming bird returned this morning.  We believe it is one humming bird and it has discovered a private feeder and that st least for now, he is keeping it a secret. 

I have not had the hummingbird feeder out this summer.  During the past week, a hummingbird or several at separate times, has been visiting the tomato blossoms and my sunflower.  The one who visited today encouraged me to pick up a new shepherd's hook pot hanger.   

This is the sunflower the humming birds like to see.  Yes, it is a deep red/maroon.  Yesterday when I saw the hummingbird hovering over the sunflower, I wanted to try to take a picture of it.  It left before I could change the lens in the camera.  I was left with just the sunflower.  It was far better to take a picture of it yesterday than today.  Today is very rainy with no blue sky. 

I took more flower pictures yesterday. 

Can you guess what this is? 

One of the pansies

Hydrangia:  Endless Summer

Friends?

This morning Mooch and a young squirrel entertained us.  I think the squirrel entertained Mooch too.  The squirrel is one of the spring babies and looks almost grown up.  Momma has taught it all she can and it is on its own.  It was sitting on the fence post chattering away.  Mooch was inside but where he was, I am not certain the squirrel could even see him.  It looked like Mooch was discretely watching the squirrel but I am not certain he could see the squirrel.  After chattering, the squirrel exuberantly ran the length of the fence stopping to perch on the fence posts and chatter.  Eventually the squirrel returned to the end post near the bedroom where Mooch was.  Mooch finally went to the window to watch the squirrel.  I am certain that the squirrel could see him in the window and chattered more.  Mooch made quiet squeeking noises but I doubt that the squirrel could hear Mooch. 

The picture has low quality but you can see the little squirrel and Mooch who is in silhouette. 

It has been difficult for me to settle down and write.  Our little black cat, Mooch, was a naughty boy yesterday.  He took a ball of white pearl cotton and unrolled it all over the living room while we were at the health club in the morning.  He and I were very fortunate he only rolled the ball on the floor.  He did not carry it in his mouth and did not chew the pearl cotton.  I was fortunate that some of the pearl cotton fell off the ball in large hanks that were not unraveled.  It took me only 20 minutes to wind it all and there were only two small, easily untangled knots.  Little Mooch did not like being scolded and spent the remainder of the day begging for attention and maybe asking for forgiveness. 

A couple pictures just to give a little color and to show you what has attracted my attention. 

I liked these napkins the instant I saw them.  I honestly do not know if I will use them as napkins or use the fabric in some project. 

I seem to find one little three-footed depression glass dish a year.  This is the one for 2010.  It is by far the most simple of all of them and yet I still like it as much as the others.  It is the only one with eight sides. 

Who would have thought . . .

. . .that 15 zippers could turn into such a mess. 

This is the beginning of a little project for last week.  One of the reasons it became the project of the week is because I need to find the top of my work table. 

I have removed quite a bit but still have quite a bit more left. 

One Small Finish

I did make up the pillow.  Unfortunately I discovered that I still should have worked with the way I applied the stitchery to the pillow top.  Hopefully the wrinkles will not be too noticeable. 

The picture is a little dark because I ran outside with the pillow and camera this morning before the rain began.  Needless to say, there was no sunshine.  I probably ought to wait to send it to its new owner until I have had a chance to take a picture of it in the sunshine. 

Nela's comment about iguanas eating in the gardens where she lives reminded me about a certain pet iguana named Sweetheart.  One of my sons' second grade teachers had an iguana that she kept at school.  It was a little more than a meter long including its tail.  Just before summer break, the teacher told the students that if they brought a note from home saying it was okay to bring the iguana home for the summer, she would draw a name to see who would take the iguana for the summer. 

When our son told us about the drawing, I thought we could handle this because we never win drawings.  Just look at this:  Have I ever won a Blackbird Designs drawing?  That's right, no.  How many have I entered?  I cannot even begin to count.  And the same goes for the Needleprint drawings. 

A couple days before the beginning of summer break, our son came home from school to tell us that we were going to keep the iguana for the summer.  It seems that if your child is the only one who brings a note with parental permission to keep the iguana, you get to keep the iguana for the summer.  I could not bring myself to call it Sweetie which is what the children called it.  I decided to call it Peetie with the hope that if it could recognize its name, it would think that I spoke in some strange dialect or had a speech impediment. 

The teacher told us that she cleaned out the tank - Did I say tank?  It was a large box made out of wood, screen, and  plexiglass; it measured about 4 feet high, 5 feet wide, and 3 or so feet deep. - once a week.  She said that Peetie was quite lethargic; she could pull the large branch out with Peetie on it and he would stay quiet. 

I cleaned the container out once a week and let Peetie out while I did that.  I probably began by pulling the branch out with Peetie on it but Peetie gradually became comfortable enough to walk out of the box on his own.  Eventually he decided that he liked to run around the house.  His favorite thing to do was to climb up the drapes and drape himself along on the top of the drapery rods.  We began to take Peetie outside to run in the backyard.  He liked to climb our six-foot privacy fence and arrange himself on the top of the fence to sun himself. 

This was probably the last time the teacher let a student take Peetie home for the summer.  She was quite surprised that Peetie did not stay on his branch when she wanted to clean the box and that Peetie wanted to run around the classroom.  She was also quite surprised that Peetie wanted to run around the classroom longer than she wanted to let him and he was a little vocal about being coaxed back into his box before he was ready.