Summer's finally here!

This has been some beautiful weather lately in my part of Indiana!  Today is partly cloudy, but with these big beautiful piled-up clouds that makes you want to throw a quilt down on the lawn and look up at those clouds and decide which is a horse and which is a car and which is a turtle ...  I used to do that when I was a kid.  Now I'd just get chigger bites!  And have a tough time getting back up!  LOL!

Yesterday I dead-headed my rose bush by the porch and I need to do the other one a.s.a.p.  Keeping ahead of the weeds has been a job this summer; Preen doesn't seem to help for long anymore.  Also, the deer ate ALL of my hostas in the flower bed near the house.  And the coons dug out everything I had in a pot that was outdoors.  Okay ... I give up.  I surrender.

Today I took up all my rugs from the hard floors and cleaned under them, washed the rubber underlay, and gave the rugs a light vac.  Now I have to decide if I want to put ALL of them back down.  Probably not.  Here I am starting a new hooked rug -- AND warping my loom to weave rugs -- Why?  I may not be able to safely use more rugs.  I truly need to re-think my craft life .....

Soooo, what's up with me?

This has been my motto through the past 3 months!  It's still out there on my kitchen cabinet door!  It works!  So many people are afraid.

I finally TRULY finished my quillie trees.  They were done but I hadn't put the finishing touch on them -- birds on the top (thanks Margo) in nests.  I really love these trees!  (But I don't think I need to make any more of them.)

I made a key lime pie last week.  I'm not a meringue person so ... Wendell enjoyed it.  

We had to do some banking in Martinsville a few days ago so while we were there we enjoyed lunch at 21 North and stopped at the Art Sanctuary.  This was my favorite painting of the day at the Sanctuary.  You can posses all of these with your eyes!  You don't have to take one home.  Really love this one.

Just finished winding the warp onto the loom.  Now ALL I have to do is thread the heddles and tie it on.  😉😉😉😉  When people ask about weaving I always tell them that the actual weaving is fun and fast.  It's the warping of the loom that takes all the time and is the real work.

Got a new sofa ... getting used to it. Hmmmm.  I don't know.

Ahhhhhhh .... freedom

I feel like a person who just got out of the joint!  Free at last!  Past couple weeks we've been going out more and actually ate at three of our favorite restaurants in the last two weeks!  So it seems as if it's all good ... for now. Hasn't this been a terrible year?!  I think 2020 is a year everyone on earth, and especially in the USA, will be glad to see pass. We prayed at church this a.m. for all of the people who have lost their livelihoods to the rioting and that the "protests" will be peaceful and productive! And this year is not quite half way over yet.

Maybe I should always begin these blogs by saying "In my opinion ...".  That would keep me safe from cancel-culture haters and people who don't "feel" even close to the same way I do about life. 

Hey! The best part of this feeling of freedom for me was that we went to church this a.m. and we actually went INTO church! It was so good to see my church family, talk with them, smile and send long-distance hugs. Words cannot adequately express how I felt today. Like I was really back to normal. As I've told a couple friends and all my family who will really listen, I missed going to church the most of all the things taken away by this virus. And I still have a hard time getting my head around the fact that our government closed our churches. And my denomination (U.M.) just acquiesced. No questions; just 'yes sir!'.  Sickening to me. Unbelievable in my lifetime. As I told several people, I didn't know that besides being governor, Eric Holcomb was also a scientist ...  

But I digress; what have I been up to?  Really, not a lot of special or important things; just special to me. Around here I continue to clean and clean out. De-cluttering is my specialty lately. Also, got started warping the loom with a 12 dent harp in a mixed dark color yarn.  First thing, I HAVE to weave a rug for a friend who I literally OWE a rug.  Bartering. I've got 'almost' all of the squares done for my flannel raggedy quilt and now need to put up the flannel design wall so I can play with arrangements. I've Preened again because the weeds are flourishing with all this rain we've had. I plan on painting the two big garage doors and washing the [house] garage floor; really needs it!  That's the two big things on my work calendar for the rest of the month.

My mammogram was postponed again, into August. But I did get my bad tooth fixed (YEAH!) and got my annual exam done with my (new) NP. The blood work is always the hard part for me. Do you hate needles, too? And TA-DA -- I got my hair cut! It looks so much better!

Well, let me look to see what photos I have to share ...

I moved these little iris from a shady flower bed to the north side of the house and wow, did they do well this year. Only thing about them, they only last about a week.  Lovely -- red, white and blue!

Trying to get this arrangement to look just right. Been messing with it lately. I think I've cluttered it too much. But what to take away? Maybe one of the canteens?  But I got them both from SW antiques shops! Memories!

You know, when you go to an antique mall you eventually see just everything but this was a new one for us. A racing boat. The yellow lamp was made from an old diver's air tank. To say this booth was very eclectic would be an understatement .... Taken at the Exit 76 Antique Mall in Edinburgh last weekend.

I loved this booth! Just a small part of the hats in this collection.

We saw five dumped puppies on our road last week. Reminded me of the type of dog we always used to have when I was a child. Made me mad and sad. And wish I could give the person who dumped them a piece of my mind. (Think I was about 10 when this photo was taken. That's my dad in the background with one of our Dorset sheep.)

Well, that's about it; that's what's on my heart and mind. Hope you're doing well and taking care of yourself. And feeling free again! And know that God is so good!