A September Morning

Thunk!  Thunk, thunk!  Those are the sounds I'm hearing from halfway down the backyard.  It's the sound of wood being tossed into his pickup by my eighty-nine-year-old dad as he loads it for Dan to stack.  I awoke this morning to the sounds of a conversation and I realized two things:  it was 6:30 and the voices belonged to Dan and my dad.  That meant Dad left his home about five.  He's amazing!

Yesterday we had a little barbecue to celebrate Mom's eighty-seventh birthday which will be on the 6th.  Since yesterday was a holiday, it proved to be a good day for us to host a little party which could also be attended by Ann, Eric, and the boys without school or soccer game interference.   As the chef, I completely forgot to take any pictures. but Dan did grab my camera and got this cute picture of Gigi and Daniel as he checked out her necklace.  (It had a large, round pearl-like bauble on it and Daniel loves "Ball!")

As Mom and Dad were leaving last night, Dad mentioned he might be back this morning to get some wood and sure enough, he came.  Point of information:  Mom and Dad have a wonderful wood stove in their family room and have burned wood for years to heat their house.  In recent years it's been too hard for Dad to get out and cut his own, so my sweetie took it upon himself to begin supplying them.  He cuts it in the woods, brings it home, splits it, and then hauls it down to them.  Dad likes to help by coming up and getting some of the loads, hence his trip this morning.  They're out there having a good time.  

Meanwhile, September has arrived and it's a lovely one. Dad and I were talking this morning as I fixed breakfast for him and Dan and we both agreed this is the best month and our favorite.  He said he had a beautiful drive up and saw lots of deer.  I'm sure he was thinking of all the years he's lived in this country and all the early mornings he's been up and about, seeing the sunrise and the deer head for a spot for the day.  This is his ninetieth September!  

Fall is here--here's hoping all my readers will have a beautiful one! 

And in This Corner...

I just realized that I forgot to mention that a new little treat has shown up in my sewing room and I love it!

It's an adorable little Bernina B330, kind of a baby sister to my 830 (also known as Moby Stitch).  I love that Berninas have a knee lift (seen on the lower right of the machine) which can raise and lower the presser foot without using hands, and I also love using the heel tap feature of the foot pedal to raise and lower the needle. Soo... for my birthday, Dan got me this little sweetheart. 

Now I can sew while embroidering on Moby and its small size will be perfect to take on trips.  It doesn't come with the knee lift, but I had Sam install one for me and I'm using the foot pedal from the 830 since it's not needed for embroidery.  (The 330 came with a foot pedal, but the heel tap feature only comes on foot pedals for higher end machines.  Since I already had one, I didn't need to buy one!)  

She stitches like a dream and I've been enjoying getting to know her this week.  And yes, I'm thoroughly spoiled.

(I've been wondering what to call her, then realized I called her Moby's baby sister.  Then I thought about her being in the corner and of course you know what came to mind next:  "Nobody puts Baby in the corner."    {Name that movie...})

House Musings

Dan is measuring the big windows in the entryway so we can buy trim.  This house, built in the late '70's, has no, what I call architectural detailing.  No molding around the windows or archways between rooms.  I love details, especially wood trim, so as we continue renovating, adding trim is high on my list of wants.

As you can see from this photo, the windows look stark. The bottom is still undone--there was white tile there (all the windows had this for the ledge) and Dan will put wood there.  The next picture shows trim he's already added in our bedroom.  (Sorry it rather hard to see--it's difficult to take a picture that includes a window.)

I also want to frame the opening from the hallway into the living room and add crown molding, at least in the living room.  (And yes, we'll be replacing the front door and the wrought iron railing with a wood one.)

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Meanwhile, in the kitchen I'm toying with a simple upgrade to the handles on the cupboards and drawers.  The handles that are in there are definitely '70's in style and color.  And I really hate them because there's an inch or so on each side that I catch my jeans pockets and belt loops on.  Let me tell you, when you're whipping around the kitchen, that'll bring you up short!!  Here's a little look-see at the uglies:

So, when we were at the building supply store last week, I picked out a handle I thought I might like.  We bought just one and Dan put it on a drawer so we could contemplate.  The color matches the knobs on my new cookbook cupboard and the new faucet (I told you we're nothing if not coordinated here at the resort--or at least hope to be).

I really like it, even on our, um, rather dated wood.  One of these days we hope to replace the faces of the drawers and cupboards with framed bead board to go with the work we've already done.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in a new house with everything done.  Every house we've ever owned, except one, has been at least twenty years old when we purchased it.  But then I think, it's kind of fun to have a project and plan and make a place what you want it to be.  It might be kind of boring to have no dreams or projects to ponder.

Meanwhile, we keep puttering away and we'll keep you in the loop.  

Fishing

Saturday night Dan, Eric, Cameron and Keaton headed out for a little evening fishing. Here are a few pictures of the boys before they left.

And here's little brother with Dad:

After all the boys over age two left, Ann, Daniel and I went out for dinner at a local Mexican eatery and enjoyed yummy enchiladas and a new treat, fajita nachos.  Yum!!!  

And the fishing?  They caught three which will be frozen to save for Great Papa to smoke.  Double yum!  

The Heat Is On

It's August and it's hot.  Dan just snapped this photo on our indoor-outdoor thermometer:

Note the humidity:  17%.  The air is smokey and if you stand outside, there's strange feel to the air.  Dan says that's because of the low humidity and the angle of the sun; it's like you can feel the sun's burning rays.   I'm grateful I can be inside in air-conditioned comfort.

Meanwhile, I was supposed to be driving across central Washington on the way to Seattle with my mom and brother today, but because I'm still coughing and blowing my nose, I decided I couldn't go.  Mom is going to get a new lens implant and I didn't want her to get my cold, and even more, I didn't want her to get it and give it to my dad.  Dad had a terrible winter with his heart and pneumonia and there's no way I want to be responsible for his getting sick.  And I'm certain a hacking cough wouldn't have been good for Mom's eye.  Some of my coughs make me feel like my eyeballs could pop out and that couldn't be good for her implant. 

I hope you're staying cool. 

Mid August

Apparently I crossed paths with a cold germ sometime last week and it liked me well enough to stay.  Sunday morning I was fine, but as I walked into church, I felt a little niggle in the back of my throat.  I thought it was because I'd caught of whiff of someone's aftershave (unfortunately, I'm allergic to most of them), but by the time church was over my throat was really bothering me. After lunch I took a big nap, but awoke feeling no better. By Monday morning, I was miserable.  I've learned through the years, that if I succumb to a cold bug, the best thing I can do is sleep, and this time that's all I wanted to do.  Yesterday I finally pulled on some clothes in time to eat dinner.  It's been a slow recovery, frustrated I think, by all the smoke from fires and dust from harvest.  I still have a cough that almost rattles the house...

Before I fell prey to the germ, I was enjoying some sewing.  Last week I posted a picture of a pumpkin embroidery and said I was pondering what to make with it.  After trying some fabrics out, I realized the design didn't have enough punch to be a star attraction, but it would be perfect as an accent.  I dug into my pile of tea towels and came up with a perfect match.

I also got started on a new set of pillowcases for our bed. The main fabric is part of Moda's Urban Cowgirl line and the machine embroidered "Sweet Dreams" on the cuff fabric is from OESD's pack Words of Wisdom.  Hopefully I'll get back to them in a few days.

Obviously not much knitting has gone on this week, so there'll be no OTN post tomorrow.  I did get a few rounds done though.  

It's Friday! (And OTN)

Yup, I'm still alive friends.  Busy.  Or lazy.  Or both. Hmmm, those don't seem to go together.  How about I'm lazy, and then I hurry and get busy so I get something done.  Yes, that's it!

Knitting has been done although these warmer days haven't been conducive to knitting. Sock one of the latest pair is complete and sock two is started.  I'm still lovin' plain socks with self-striping yarn.  

Meanwhile, I have the bibs all done except for attaching the velcro, which is my least favorite part of bib making. Too pokey (figuratively and literally), I guess.  Maybe if I made just a couple of bibs at a time instead of a dozen or more it wouldn't seem like such an ugly job.  I know!  I'll just do a few at a time.  Divide and conquer.  Sometimes I stun myself with my brilliance.  :-)

I'm also working on an embroidery project--just waiting for the final inspiration.  Table runner (in which case I'll need to embroider a second piece) or just a quilted wall hanging?  Ponder, ponder.  

I like the simple, almost hand done, lines of this design. It's from Autumn Contours by OESD.  I'm starting to get in the mood for fall and like the idea of some new decorations for the house.  And speaking of fall, I picked up some fat quarters at Huckleberry Patches in McCall when I accompanied Dan to a meeting there this week.  

They're from Sandy Gervais' Phenomenal Fall line by Moda.  I'm a sucker for her fall lines and I couldn't resist these.  I'll probably wish I'd purchased more, or some yardage, but thought these would be perfect souvenirs of our trip. 

And that's it, folks.  I'm off to dust our bedroom.