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