More Iris

First thing in the morning I check the iris. The latest ones out are Kahili, reddish falls with yellow standards, and Top Gun, mauve falls with peach standards. Kahili is in my Gopher Garden; it is not really maroon and gold but will do, con- sidering iris colors. I am fascinated by Top Gun and you may see it as in inspiration for the colors in my silk ribbon biscornu.

I decided to add a picture of the white bleeding heart. This spring, I finally separated it from my pink bleeding hearts. It has never done as well as it is this year. I think that the pink bleeding hearts were intimidating it. I also added a slightly more artistic picture of Old Black Magic.

Yesterday I decided to make new sugar syrup for the hummingbird feeder. I picked up a new one because I was disappointed by how quickly the syrup grew mold in the feeder I had gotten. I think that the first new feeder spread the syrup out into a shallow puddle which warmed up faster and grew mold faster. The reservoir in the newer feeder is glass as opposed to plastic but I think that will not make any difference. The feeder that I used last summer had a plastic reservoir.

Iris in Bloom

The iris are beginning to bloom. I took pictures of the first ones but am not very impressed with the pictures. I may resort to archived pictures from earlier years. The very dark iris is Old Black Magic. The one with red/lavender falls and white standards is Gay Parasol. The blue and blue one is Arpege. The little two-tone lavender Siberian iris is Lavender Bounty.

For me, this is the best time of the year. Can you tell that iris are my favorite flower?

It is about the pictures yesterday. It is purely coincidental that the silk ribbon flowers go so well with my orchids. I put the stitchery in progress on the table where I display my orchids and just decided to take a picture of the orchids too. I think I ought to take new pictures because they are so dark.

Continued Progress

As you can see, I continue to stitch on the little Summer Biscornu. I am not very confident of my ability to make the Japanese ribbon stitch flowers. This one is beginning to look accept- able. It needs a couple petals of the darker shade, the one I think of as aubergine. I ended up practicing on a couple flowers that I cut out.

This morning I decided to take a picture of my two orchids that are blooming. They are on the table where I put my stitching and they go reasonably well with my chosen colors.

Summer Stitching

This is Summer Biscornu by Thea Dueck, Victoria Sampler. I am stitching it in my choice of materials, some of which are in the picture. If you want to pick up the free design, register to join Thea's chat group. I think it will eventually appear in the collection of freebies at her website, Victoria Sampler.

Yesterday I did wash the floors and did treat myself to a trip to the University Dairy Store and Storm Cloud Trading Company. At Storm Cloud, I got a tube of Delica beads, filigree beads, and some crystal beads. You can see them in the picture but only the corner of the packet of crystals shows. At the Dairy Store, I got one pint each of Strawberries and Cream, Brickhouse, and low fat Cookies and Cream. Brickhouse is a chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks and Bordeaux cherries. I also picked up some Parmesan, aged smoked gouda, and smoked brick cheeses. All in all, it was a wonderful shopping trip.

It is a splendid day. After so much gray, overcast sky, the sun is glorious. It is still a little chilly for the time of year.

This week, I decided to change the day I wash the sheets from Wednesday to Monday. It seemed to work well. Monday was sunny and windy; the sheets dried very quickly. Tuesday and yesterday were very overcast and cold; not the best kind of day to dry sheets.

Plans for the Day

This is the scarf I made for the mother of one of my friends. Her mother is currently undergoing a course of chemo and then will have a course of radiation for cancer. Her mother likes aqua; I hope she likes the colors in this scarf. It is made of cotton for comfort and easy care. My friend will be taking it to her mother in two weeks.

The day is overcast but the weather forecast says no rain for us. Not a very exciting day. If I wash the floors, I will treat myself to a trip to the University Dairy Store and Storm Cloud Trading Company.

There is no way to predict in advance the cheese and ice cream varieties at the dairy store but it is always worth a visit. Storm Cloud Trading Company is the mortar and bricks store. They have fabulous beads.

What's In Our Neighborhood

The pictures show the road construc- tion that is at the south end our street. It is about a quarter of a mile from our home. The road is being widened so that it will be twice as wide as it was. During the day, we can hear the noise of the construction and on dry days which is most days, the dirt and dust seep into the house. We took these pictures Friday morning before work began.

The first picture is looking west and the second one is looking toward the sunrise. This road is the southern edge of the housing development where we live. The road that forms the western edge is also under construction. It has jokingly been said that in Minnesota there are two seasons, winter and road construction. This year, for us, it is no joke; it seems all together too true.

Do you remember the pictures I posted of our two cats? Quincy is the one that is white with orange; I prefer to describe him as orange with a big white spot. Our cats are strictly indoor cats. They firmly believe that there must be a window or screen between them and the outside. They love to check everything that is outside from the windows. They love to sniff the breeze.

There is a cat that frequently comes around to our yard. Quincy and Mooch are very interested in monitoring his activities. When the cat walks through the yard, our cats go from window to window following his progress. The visitor is orange and white, like Quincy so we call him Fake Quincy. In all unbiased truth, Quincy is much better looking than Fake Quincy.

Sunday morning we saw Fake Quincy in the backyard. It looked like he was intensely observing the retaining wall of the garden. He did not seem to move a muscle and seemed to hold his position for much longer than a cat is able. Eventually we discovered that Fake Quincy was watching a little chipmunk. When we discovered it, it was running along the top of the wall directly toward Fake Quincy. We watched and just hoped that it could out maneuver the cat. The cat tried to pounce on the chipmunk but the leftover construction materials that we had not put away gave the chipmunk cover. The cat tried to get to the chipmunk while the chipmunk kept up a loud chatter.

We felt that a rescue was in order so we went out to scare Fake Quincy away. He reluctantly left but the chipmunk continued to chatter. We were puzzled about where the chipmunk was as we lifted up the things that were hiding it. The chipmunk was stretched out flat on its stomach underneath a piece of lumber that was just barely held off the top of the wall by some small pieces of siding. It remained still and quiet for a couple seconds until it determined that we would let it run away.

Right now it looks like we could have rain. Cross your fingers that it does rain. We need it so desperately.

Memorial Day

Yesterday I prepared an entry that I was just going to upload this morning. Last night we watched a live broadcast of the Memorial Day concert and program on the Mall in Washington, D.C. It was a very touching reminder of the history and purpose of this holiday. My prepared blog entry just does not seem appropriate. I need to ask Roger if he wants to fly the flag today. You will know if he does because I will post a picture of it.

We have nothing especially planned for the day. One of our sons is working today so as a family, we are staying home. Saturday we took flowers to the cemetery for my family. We stopped at the cemetery where Roger's parents are buried a couple weeks ago when we visited his aunt. That is a reminder that we ought to check with a cemetery monuments dealer local to the cemetery because no one in the family has arranged to have the year of Roger's mother's death engraved on the monument. Roger's aunt has taken responsibility for seeing that flowers are placed at the monument but has just this year passed that responsibility on to one of Roger's sisters.

Roger's aunt's health is precarious. With her eventual passing, Roger will be come the senior member of the Nelson Family.

The old soldier raised the flag. Proper flag etiquette holds that on Memorial Day, the flag is raised to the top of the pole and then lowered to half staff in honor of members of the military who died in the line of service. At noon on Memorial Day, the flag is raised to full staff.