Surprise Surprise!!

Please play a drumroll fanfare.  Maybe add some herald trumpets too!! 

Both floral motifs are done.  My deadline was to finish them by the first of July.  I can begin to finish each into a little fabric box.  The silk that is behind them will cover the boxes. 

After stitching the first one, on the left, I decided that I liked the way the two shades of scarlet gave the flower dimension.  For the second one, I decided to add some dark green to give the leaves dimension.  I know that I used white and and off-white for the lilies of the valley in the first one; I decided that I needed to use two other choices to show a little more contrast.  I think that the second attempt is still very subtle. 

After I took this picture, I decided to take a picture of my blooming orchid.  In that extra short time, Mooch found the silk and decided I put it out for him. 

 And here he is!!

Ba-a-a-aco-o-o-n!!

Following church today we went out for brunch with a friend.  Roger had French toast and our friend had a Belgian waffle.  I had a BLT and you will not believe how much delicious bacon was in the sandwich.  The mayonnaise was infused with truffle but it need not have been the bacon was so good. 

This is Sunday and I can hardly wait until the evening television programing on the public broadcasting station.  Last week I discovered Doc Martin; I can hardly wait to see the next episode tonight.  It is supposedly set in Cornwall.  The location shots look a lot like Port Isaac which we visited almost eight years ago.  One of the characters in the series is supposed to live in Delabole although it was never shown.  We have friends living in Delabole. 

Cherries and More Cherries

Here are the products of our cherry tree.

One batch of cherry preserves - - -

It has a soft jell which I decided not to correct.  It will be excellent cherry syrup on waffles and pancakes.  I guess that I should call it cherry syrup and not cherry preserves.   :-) 

One cherry pie and one cherry cobbler - -


Yesterday afternoon we spent some time with friends and brought the pie along.  The cobbler was for us.  I have to admit that the cherries are some of the tastiest ever.

The flowers are blooming and the cherries are ripe. 

This is one of my Julius Wadekamper hybrids.  I cannot remember its name. 

Another Wadekamper hybrid. 

Grand Cru:  I especially like the orange brushmarks on the petals. 

                                                                    Tiger Babies 

Jackmanii clematis in the early morning sun

This morning we picked cherries again and are sharing the remainder with the birds.  Yesterday I made cherry preserves.  We think that the jell is a little soft.  I decided to leave it that way; if it is a little soft, we can use it in place of syrup on waffles.  We still have enough cherries to make one pie and one cherry cobbler.  I understand that the spring caused the sour cherry crop in Wisconsin to be small.  It did the opposite in our backyard.  We have never had a crop as large as this one. 

My stitching progress is painfully slow.  I am beginning to wonder if I will meet my deadline. 

Saturday my new sunglasses arrived.  For some strange reason I seem to loose them every 24 to 28 months.  

Just a couple flowers for you today. 

Honeysuckle Vine

Forget-Me-Nots

This is sunrise on Lake Koronis last Thursday. It was more dramatic than that of the previous day. 

Do you remember this little verse? 

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.
Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning. 

It proved to be true. 

No, Christine, we have very few warning lights because we have a rather stripped down car.  There is not much fancy circuitry in it. 

We just discovered that we have been driving for a little more than a week without brake lights.  Last week we drove about 300 miles, round trip, probably without brake lights both directions.  Eeekkk 
It was not as simple as replacing the brake lights.  We needed a new part.  The brake lights work now but we are wondering if a switch is malfunctioning. 

This is sunrise last Wednesday.  It was a subtle one. 

We were on Lake Koronis. 

 Now that Christine has mentioned it, the flower that I have been stitching could look like a red Japanese peony.  Just so you could see it, here are pictures of two.  Nippon Beauty is on the left and Aztec is on the right.  They are older hybrids. 

 

I have been stitching just not on the little box lid.  After struggling with it, I have finally finished the pink version of Hope.  As you may recall, I stitched this for a friend.  That may be part of the reason why was such a struggle for me to finish it.  It is just not something that I would personally choose to stitch. 

It is now finished and in the post to its owner.  I feel so extremely relieved to add it to my finished list. 

I took these pictures a week ago and intended to show them to you while we were away.  But, and this is a very important but, I forgot that I left the pictures on the PC and did not take them along on the laptop.


This is Pillow Talk, one of my favorites.  I think that I just might say that all of the peonies are my favorites.  Does that mean that I am indiscriminate or just that I like peonies?  I like this one because of the cream deep inside the center.  That little bit of double color is fascinating to me.

The second one is Lotus Queen, a single Japanese variety.  As far as I know, all Japanese peonies are single.  They have a disk of petals and do not have a fluffy mass of petals.  And if it has a yellow pom pom in the center, it has to be a Japanese variety. 

In an average or more normal year, the peonies would be at their peak right now.  They are past their prime and it is time to cut the stems back so they do not go to seed. 

Yesterday it was a cool, rainy day.  We went to a Geocaching event.  It was fun to socialize with other cachers even if it was not the best day.  I took a family of novice cachers out to find a cache in the park.  Until yesterday, the only caches they had found were temporaries set out specifically for training purposes at caching events.  This was the first time they hunted for a "real" one.  Because I had not found it before, I got to log it in as a find.  The kids and Mom seemed to enjoy the caching; I am not certain Dad thought much of it.  The kids are now begging for a GPS.   :-D   I think Mom will get one for them.  I told her what to look for and a quick, easy place to get it.  I think Mom  looked at this as an interesting summertime activity for the kids.  I know that I would. 

Today looks cool and rainy.  June tends to be a rainy month in Minnesota and 13 June more likely than not is rainy.

Continued, Slow Stitching

Here is my current progress on the second little box top. I have not touched it since a week ago tomorrow.

This past week, we were away from home attending a seminar discussing science and theology and how they intermesh. It was extremely interesting and mind expanding. Did you know that once your mind has been stretched by considering new ideas it does not return to its original shape?

We have been trying very hard to resume our usual roles in the household. It seems hard to make your own lunch when all of your meals have been prepared for you for a week and you have not had to wash the dishes after eating. Aaaahhh, back to real life.

Rainy Day, Baking Day

Are rainy days baking days? This rainy day is but it was going to be a baking day no matter the weather. I feel like I have been on a baking marathon - - - chocolate chip bars, molasses raisin bars, and oatmeal raisin cookies. I think that cookies are very time consuming and fussy to make in comparison to bars so it is an indication of how much I like a person when I bake cookies. Roger asked for oatmeal raisin cookies. It has been so long since I last made cookies that I cannot remember when it was.

Because Kathy likes poppies, here is one of my poppies. I am supposed to have white poppies and some light pink poppies but I am yet to see them blooming in my garden. I have an oversupply of orange poppies and will be thinning them out this summer. I have one huge poppy clump that has never bloomed. I wonder what I can do to coax it to show its flowers.

The rain today is very welcome. Last night I planted an assortment of flower seeds and some cilantro. The rain has been very light all morning; there are no rivulets of water tracing channels in the dirt. It is all slowly being absorbed into the soil. It is so good for the seeds and all of the plants.

Still Slowly Stitching

I am stitching a second floral box lid. I want to make two boxes and would like to make the boxes at the same time. Ideally I want to finish the boxes by mid July.

I continue to stitch but the pace is quite snail-like. This banner is one small victory. It is ready well in advance of the baptism.