Remember that quilted jacket I finally got finished?
Well, I used up some of the extra fabrics and an embroidery sample and made a matching quilted hand bag.
Then I quilted more fabric and made some zippered organizer pouches for the bag.
And now I am done sewing for a while. I have packed up all the paraphernalia, and returned the guest room to guest room status. My sewing machine and serger are going in today for annual servicing.
Now if it would just quit raining, I have some gardening to do, and some patio sitting to enjoy, and some walks to take.
We're in a rain and shine pattern here in the Seattle area.
It rained over night and early this morning. Now in the middle of the afternoon It's almost clear and warming up to 72, and muggy.
I got outside for a while this morning to do some planting and grooming, including dead heading the roses. And of course I picked a few for the kitchen table.
Just before coming in for my 1:00 lunch hour I found something else to pick.
Our strawberries are few, but all the sweeter for being precious.
The raspberries are just coming on. I'm looking forward to a big bowl full by the Fourth of July. Yum.
It's time to go back out and find some more snipping and grooming to do. We have to make hay while the sun shines. I think Tom is on a ladder somewhere, starting the hedge pruning. That's a job we love to have finished. But that will take some time and hard work, as we dodge showers.
What a beautiful day this first Saturday of Summer has turned out to be!
We spent the morning touring Soos Creek Botanical Garden with our garden club.
The long borders drop down the hillside from the lily pond.
The Kalmia (mountain laurel) were very berautiful in the back borders.
Seating in the vegetable garden was a welcome rest for some.
The rose garden was at it's best.
We were back home in time for a late lunch on our patio.
Now Tom is mowing the lawn and I will do a bit of puttering in the garden. Then I'm coming back to the patio to read.
I'll put together a light early dinner, and then we'll settle in front of the TV at 6:30 for a Sounders match being played in Salt Lake City.
There should be time afterward for a short walk in the neighborhood before sun goes down and as the twilight lingers.
Aaaaah - Summer!
The summer solstice marks the official beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere.
The timing of the solstice depends on when the sun reaches the farthest point north of the equator. Obviously that is not happening in the western hemisphere, because our solstice is tonight.
Just when? Well, that depends on where you live. On Universal Time the solstice occurs at 5:04 AM on Friday, June 21.
In the US:
Friday, June 21
Eastern Daylight Time - 1:04 AM
Central DT - 12:04 AM
Thursday, June 20
Mountain DT - 11:04 PM
Pacific DT - 10:04 PM
For me, this is Solstice Day! I sorta' feel the need to dance around a bonfire! But it's going to rain this afternoon and maybe tonight. I might have to wait until Saturday to celebrate the sun!
Happy Solstice, everyone!
I remember my father fondly. He was a good man and a good father. But he has been gone now for a long time.
The father that we honor now, this weekend, is my husband, the father of my children.
Yes, we were all younger once. Those were very busy times. I think Jill just had her braces removed and Jake had his teeth recently wired up. Jill was in Campfire and I was the leader. Jake played soccer and Tom was the coach. There were track meets and soccer games and school activities and all that goes with active parenting.
I worked part time, and Tom was a full time teacher. But we always had dinner together, and debriefed our day. Our lives centered on our work and our family.
Time passes. Families grow up and have kids of their own.
Here we are two years ago, all meeting up in Colorado to attend a soccer match, of course.
Now Jill and the kids live near us again. We spent Friday with them, as documented in my last post. Today we will meet up with son Jake to have dinner together in a brew pub, our usual venue when Jake is involved.
Parenting is a job for life. Tom spent much of Friday with his grandkids and daughter. Yesterday we spent several hours watching our grandson's baseball team win the first round of the Champions Tournament. It was amazing to see how much skill ten year olds can have. Today we will spend time with son Jake.
And this week we will be helping Jill transform her storage unit and her house into better working order. It will involve lifting and carrying and sorting and repacking and moving and transporting and rearranging. But that's what dads do, for as long as they can. Tom has quite a few more years of giving in him, for his kids and grandkids.
Happy Father's Day, Tom. We love you.
Happy Father's day to all of you dads out there.
Because of busy schedules, we celebrated Grandfather's Day today.
Jill had meetings to attend, so she dropped the kids off at 11:00 this morning. They brought their bikes, and soon we headed out, first to the local school to ride around on the blacktop, and then we loaded bikes and kids into the van to drive to the Green River Trail at River Bend Golf Course.
First stop was the fishing hole.
It didn't take Irene long to locate the new little ducklings.
Around the pond we checked out the totem pole...
...and another duck family. These four ducklings have survived the infant stage and are well on their way to becoming adult Mallards.
Then we hit the trail along the golf course
following the bends in the river.
What's Isaac doing? Oh, stopping to pick clover. They like to suck the nectar from the pink clover.
The kids rode on ahead. Tom and I were walking. We checked out the garden at the old Neely Mansion just alongside the trail while the kids rode to the turn around point.
Here they come. it's time to head back home for lunch.
With everyone fed, we all occupied ourselves. Tom mowed the lawn. Isaac had screen time. Irene and I toured the garden to see what was blooming, and to pick a few things.
Irene's flower shop is looking good.
The kids made cards for Grandpa, and Isaac and I played a game. When Jill arrived we had wine and root beer and cheese and crackers on the patio, and then Jill and the kids played while Tom and I got dinner organized. We grilled teriyaki chicken sticks, asparagus and foil pocket potatoes, accompanied with corn on the cob and fresh fruit.
Grandpa loved his cards from Jill and the kids. After dinner we played Scattergories for a while before having dessert - raspberry cobbler and ice cream.
It was a grand day.
