It's a little Warm around here!

It's a little warm around here these days. Yesterday the official temp was supposed to be 100 degrees. Well it made it... we went to buy groceries yesterday afternoon and our Blazer showed the temp outside at 107 when we left... by the time we got up the road a mile or so, it said 109. On the way back home, the thermometer outside the dentist's office said 108 and the one outside the vet's office said 110. At one point, the Blazer said 112. Whew! And this is only mid July. I surely do hope that this not an indicator of what it will be in August!

Although this is not the 17 year swarm of cicadas, they are surely singing for all their worth in our backyard this year. I took this picture on our front porch last year, but they are evidently muliplying plentifully this year also... grin

Wordpress Featured Blog

I was checking my stats on my Fabric Follies blog and checking back to see where some of the links were coming from and boy! what a surprise! Fabric Follies is the Featured Blog on Wordpress under the tags Quilting, Fabric Postcards and Embroidery!

I'm a Snapdragon

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Feather Stitch

This is my first try at using feather stitch. It is actually a very easy stitch to do. I had trouble trying to figure out where to start my pattern... kept getting a bit confused (grin.. imagine that!) since you have to start this stitch at the top of your pattern regardless of whether you are going up & down or left & right. Since any variation of any kind throws my brain into a cluster of stir fry, I had to start it a couple of times before I figured that out.

T-Shirt Pants

I found the most amazing tutorial the other day. How many old t-shirts have you got laying around? If you're like me I have dozens. This tutorial that was put up in Live Journal by 24 blackbirds is just great. Cut the top off your t-shirt, cut the sides up and the sleeves out... well, I'm not real good at the telling how to do this... have a look at the tutorial... grin It's here...

Eggs!

We bought eggs and breakfast things for our company that came from Virginia to visit... then ate out most of the time..grin As a result, the eggs passed their expiration date. Instead of throwing them away, I decided to try blowing them and painting them. This is the first one. I hope that each one will get better, but we'll see. I think they would make really cute Christmas ornaments..

Our Sonic Kingbird

We finally had time to run up to Sonic for a hamburger at noon a few days ago. The nest was still in the tree and one adult was still flitting among the branches, but there were no babies in the nest. With all the traveling done lately, we missed the fledging of the baby Kingbirds... sigh

Wedding Day Photos!

It is with tremendous joy that we can finally announce the marriage of our son Jim to his long time partner Don. They were married in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on June 27, 2006 at St. John's Presbyterian/United Church.
There is nothing that makes a parent's heart sing as much as seeing their child's heart sing..

Fourth of July

This being the 4th of July with celebrations of our Independence Day going on all over the country, I guess I just felt the need to say a few of the things that are on my mind today.
This is our son Chuck ... who is today in a foreign land working with the many other Marines and soldiers who give every day of their lives for the protection of this land and our many freedoms. This is his 3rd year (1 year tours) serving in Iraq. He had a choice when this tour came up and he chose to return. I cannot say how proud we are of him and at the same time, I cannot say how anxious I am about him during this tour.
On the trip to my daughter's a few days ago, I was listening to talk radio. The statement was made that it should be called Hypocrite's Day. This gave me pause.. How many of our children really know and will sing with dignity the National Anthem? How many actually know and can recite the Pledge of Allegiance? How many adults will consider today a day to think about all the freedoms our soldiers work for every day to preserve for them? Or is it all about fireworks and backyard bar-b-q's, fishing trips and beer?
Perhaps we should give it some thought, stop for a minute and think for a bit about all those who are still fighting this fight for independence even as we fire off our Black Cats and grab another beer as we run for the boat with our fishing poles.

Back from Paula's

This is my daughter Paula and her 4 sons ... We had only been home from Dallas a few days when I talked with her on the phone and found out that she was on vacation!!! So I jumped in my trusty car and off I went to spend a couple of days with her when she could actually visit..grin Had a good time and got to visit with the grandsons who are now much bigger than they were in this picture... We moved her tv into the living room, bought a DVD player and a couple of movies... Watched Failure to Launch and laughed ourselves silly... She has the Round Robin Letter and assures me that it will arrive at my house early this week... She wouldn't even let me peek at it!