Pippi

I had intended to write about my day out with the girls on Friday and mention my computer went south the very same day. Lost some files but hey, I lost something far more precious to me yesterday.

It is with great sorrow that I tell you that my Pippi passed away last evening. My frequent readers know how many pictures I have posted of her over the 2 years I have been blogging and how often I talk about her. Heck, she shared billing with the quilts, after all. I assume that this from was the culmination of her kidney insufficiency and heart problems. That is the nurse in me wondering concerned about the cause and effect, I guess. She was first diagnosed in June of 07 so DJ and I both feel blessed that she was with us for a bit longer. The last week or so it was obvious that things were worsening and no treatment was going to be of help this time around. She reminded me of the same things a geriatric human would experience, really.

So bear with me as I write a tribute to a wonderful kitty baby. I married too late in life to have any "real" children. For 11 years it has been Pippi, DJ and I rattling around the house and she was in effect, my child. This is no where near the same as losing a parent or another family member but to me, she was part of my family.

So, we had our girl since early March 97--11 years. The people at the shelter estimated her age to be around 2 when we got her. You see, she was found in a trailer court in LeRoy, IL along with her two orange and white babies. They had already been adopted when we arrived on the scene. I had just had to have her predecessor Tyson Tubbs put to sleep (brain tumor and he could no longer walk) --another sad, sad time. I knew that I needed to find another kitty to love or I was not going to quit crying.

By weeks end, we went to the Humane Society shelter--the cats were on the lower level of the building. The staff member opened one of the doors to a large room and about 4 or 5 cats approached us. All different colors and sizes. DJ was saying "how about this one?" "this one is pretty" and such things. Really Pippi picked me out as much as I picked out her---she turned around and hissed at the other cats like "get away from her!! She's mine" . She had one weepy eye and had licked herself bald from flea allergies on both flanks but they told me she had tortoiseshell markings. I picked her up and DJ said "I don't think you are going to get that one away from her" He was right.

She never was a lap kitty and I always sooooo wanted her to be. Oh, she would occasionally climb on DJ's lap if she thought she might get ice cream bowl lickings. Or even squeeze into his side of the recliner but she would generally slink down low when he tried to pet her. She would take lovin' on her terms and handed out plenty of kitty kisses. She was also good for pawing at the bedcovers, headbutting or circling the pillow if she wanted you up bad enough. What cat doesn't excel at that though? But mostly she got him up to feed her while I got the detail the rest of the day.

She would scare me to death when she climbed up to the rafters of the house. She amazed me at the tight spots she would squeeze into when she wanted to hide. She was a wonderful quilt tester and would also try fabric or batting if none was available. She would make it impossible to make a bed because tossing the sheets and blankets about was an invitation to play as was a bathrobe tie dragging on the floor or a retractable tape measure. She could be the floor show as she played on her catnip box or went tearing up the hall like her tail was on fire or tossing her catnip mouse up in the air and losing a pile of them under the coffee table. She seemed to know when my car came home and often met me at the door AKA her food bowl. She also seemed to be aware when it was time to start dinner always waiting for that handout she seldom got. She was the one who amazingly to the vet, blew out the ACL in her knee a couple summers ago. She was the one who never wanted to go outside but sure could chatter at the birds and act like she was going to dive through the screen if one got too close. She was the one who would alert me, by her behavior, that we might have a real mouse in the house but never catch one. She was the one who would let me share my bed occasionally but loved her window perch best, so much so that she had two of them.

DJ often said she followed me around the house like a puppy. I don't know about that but she would track the sun through the house and often wind up in the sewing room by evening. There she would watch from atop the pressing table, her perch or the fabric shelves. Of course she also had her hiding spots in the sewing room too when privacy was needed. She insisted on drinking her water on a corner of the pressing table and if the bowl wasn't there, the cup that filled the iron would do just as nicely, thank you very much. I could go on and on---she had cattitude.

So we wrapped her in a quilt that I had not necessarily made for her but became hers and DJ buried her out in the yard near the shed where no one is likely to dig up for any reason. We'll plant some perennials out in the area soon.

I will not be able to find us another furbaby till late in the week--that guy is coming to lay the laminate on Thursday and there will be too much in and out and doors opening/closing, too much hubbub to bring a kitty home. I will miss her terribly but I have enough room in my heart for another furry friend to love as long as I am allowed.

Thanks for listening.

ready for a quilt show?

Are you ready for a mini quilt show? Here are a few of the quilts that have been turned in with my thanks to the Belles for the binding help.

1st up, "Bricks" pieced by Aline and quilted by me. Cool crane fabric used as the focus fabric. This one may be staying locally--not sure yet.



Next up, "Just Can't Cut It"--pieced by my mom Elsie H and quilted by me. This one is going to Pam and the M2M project.




The next one you have seen a little bit of already if you have read my previous posts. The cow blocks are like a modified "Bright Hopes" block with a few nine patches thrown in. Not knowing what to do to fill the snowball shape, I quilted the word "moo" in that spot. Top pieced by Elsie and I already said I quilted it, LOL. Headed to M2M.




Next one, Mom called "Leftovers". Some of that same cow print made its way into the modified churn dash blocks (actual name is Crow's Nest or Attic Window Brackman #1647--I just looked in BlockBase) with a modified coloration of a Shoo Fly block. I kept it simple and just echoed the 9 patch grid in the alternating blocks. Headed to M2M.



DJ really like this one. Pattern: Jacob's Strings from Quilter's Cache Pieced by Elsie and quilted by me. Headed to M2M


Next, "Bright Hopes" in a fall theme and set on point. The leaf fabric is leftover from the WTIL raffle quilt that we assembled a few years back--the one that Cher won. Pieced by Elsie and quilted by me. Headed to M2M.

This is probably my favorite one. When I was "home" last summer we were picking out the fabrics from Mom's stash for her to make the top and saving out some pastel plaids for another in the book, I might add. Yellow is my neutral after all! Pattern is "And All That Jazz" from Evelyn Sloppy's book 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts. Headed to M2M.

And tada! My Merkitty challenge quilt--finally quilted and bound by me on both counts. I figured that was NOT one that the Belles should help me with. The woman who donated the challenge fabric to the group requested that the resultant quilts go to WTIL headquarters. Pattern: Jacob's Elevator from Trudie Hughes Crib Quilts.
At our meeting yesterday I spent most of my time taking pictures, LOL but also marking the remodeled top that Finn donated. It will probably take less time for me to quilt it as mark it for quilting. It was the only one that I got pinned--the other three tops I had on hand can wait till next time we meet. Aline and Jane did pin two tops while they were there but I kept marking. Judy came by before and after a couple of appointments while Betsy sewed and Pat F worked on some binding.
Today after I walked ( I think one or two extra laps since I was walking with someone else and we lost count, LOL) I ran by a friend's house to pick up some fabric and quilting/sewing supplies. Some belonged to an up the street neighbor who had passed away. So I spent most of the afternoon sorting through that--tossing some, laundering others. Got a basket full to press yet---ugh big time.
DJ and I also ran by the flooring store after lunch. We will getting some wood laminate put down in the kitchen and laundry room in about a week. Our white vinyl is impossible to keep clean and had been thinking about our options for a few months now. Lots of stuff to move out of the room next week---non-appliance things.

some production and some stashbusting

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Easter weekend. Quiet day here; in fact, DJ had told me a few days prior that I didn't have to cook a traditional Easter meal for us so we had some freezer leftovers with a couple additional sides to round out the meal. Okay by me!

I have gotten some sewing done over the past few days though. Shown at left is what I have been calling the "World's Ugliest Quilt" or WUQ for short. It salvaged what was supposed to have been a Pioneer Braid strippie along with the yellow I had cut for sashing and top/bottom border sections. I had enough for 12 blocks with 4 sections when I whacked them up. I guess it is no more or no less attractive than any other crumb or string type quilt. But I think that they will be ice skating in August if I ever try making either form of this quilt again, LOL. I had enough fabric leftover from my scrappy bargello backing to use it for the backing fabric on this top as well as the binding. Slightly different green but with all this color, I doubt that it makes much difference.

Here is the other top that I was working on this weekend. Actually it is a mostly done top that Finn passed on to the Belles to use last year? She posted about the history of it on her blog at one time so that is probably in her archives under "divorce" quilt. This picture does not do it justice though as it is a little fuzzy. I still need to mark some crosshatching on it and maybe a simple cable from the border before we can pin it.

Anyway, it was in a 4 x 4 on point set minus the borders when I started working on it. I decided yesterday that it had antiqued long enough. and it might be better to get it into a rectangular shape rather than a square for the kids. That required a little dismantling to get the blocks moved from the left side of the quilt down to the bottom--mostly getting the setting and corner triangles reconfigured. I had that much done by supper time.

I remember this fabric well. I had some very near like it that came in a kit from BH&G back in the early/mid 90's. I made it into a log cabin quilt that I donated for a lap robe to a local B-N, IL nursing home--might have been a guild service project. I liked the fabric and always thought I might make another log cabin like it from the leftovers. The first rounds of a log cabin never take up much yardage, right? Didn't happen but I would stumble upon it occasionally and think it might be a quick project for WTIL. Of course, now that I am looking for the leftover fabrics bits or the picture of the quilt that I had with it, I can't find them--figures, huh?

Finn had sent the extra yellow background fabric and I had the burgundy piece in my stash so that took care of the borders. I yanked another bit of yardage for the binding and part of the backing and another piece of yardage my mom had sent along with it. Stash busting, in other words.

In additon I got the backing and binding cut for three other small tops over the weekend and into this morning. I had hoped to find something to border a top that Theramae had sent home with me---the dominant color on it was a rusty red but nothing I had seemed to work. Too bright, too orange, too something. There was no logical point to move the blocks around to make it rectangular either. It will remain square and borderless, LOL. Kids come in all sizes, after all. One fabric I had considered for the borders works fine for backing and binding using up some more fabric my mom had sent for the Belles that I had hand here at home.

Still to do today: write up a handout for the 2nd installment of our group's "non-mystery" mystery quilt. It is like my merkitty challenge quilt but I re-designed it and didn't follow the book instructions for assembly. I also need to do some design work for the heart block quilt and if I have time, the t-shirt quilt. That thing is getting to be a big source of procrastination and guilt. Frankly I am tired of looking at the piled up stuff waiting for me. My Viking has been in the shop for a week now and I truly think it will be another two weeks before I will be back to quilting. Should be hitting it in the piecing department in the meantime.

I had initially thought that I would be going up to Joy's this weekend for a little girl time but the timing is not working out for our hostess. I am hoping that the 4 of us who live locally can at least get together in some manner even if it just for lunch and chatting. BUT even if that doesn't happen, Norma and I thought we might pull out a UFO and get it up to flimsy status this wknd. I have found that we spur each other on when we sew "together" like this over the miles. Makes us more accountable somehow, I think, then when left to our own devices. I'll deal with "hafta" work between now and then and be ready to roll on Saturday. My choice: back to my 4 patch stacked posie, I think.

Well, we spur each other in more ways than one, LOL. I ordered two used books over the weekend, thanks to those little chats, LOL. ( Judy Sisneros' 9 Patch Pizzazz and One Block Wonders by another author--too lazy to go look) We have also been yakking about some other idea for FABS weekend in coming months. We had a lot of fun doing the convergence together recently and have been considering what we might do next. Several ideas have been bandied about and googled over to see some finished quilts. Links flying back and forth. Looks like some good choices for some donation quilts and in my case, some challenge fabric use.

I promised DJ some homemade chicken soup so best get on out to the kitchen----till next time. I'll have some pics of some of the quilts in the next post
that will be going to M2M 08soon.

Happy Easter--almost! Spring just sprung but you would not exactly know that from our thermometer this morning. DJ planned to play golf but was discouraged by frost. He DID go about 2 hours later than he wanted as it was warming up quickly. This afternoon, he is out painting on the shed. So far it looks like we have yet another green toned paint that doesn't quite match. We'll see after the 2nd coat is put on over that primer but it looks like three shades of green on there now, this last bit looks a bit olive.

Me? Goofing off, I'm afraid. Chatting with a couple of friends, surfing a bit. A continuation of yesterday's goofing off actually. I've been reading a bit lately, did some stitching on the bluework snowmen. No sewing unless you count finishing up the binding on my Merkitty challenge quilt. That only took the better part of the 3 days--ugh. BUT I finally got around to all the blogs I subscribe to even if I didn't comment on everyone's--some were too far after the fact. Good to check in with you all though and see what you are up to. I might sew a bit on those revamped braid blocks in a bit.

A visit to Libby and Finn showing pictures of themselves and/or siblings in their Easter finery as children led me to dig out a few pictures from my photo album and scan them.


I think I was about 3 (?) in these pictures but I don't have a date on the back of the photos. My grandparents must have been visiting with us as there is also a shot of my brother and I with our parents in my album taken that same day, I believe. All I know is that the third child down the line is NOT in any of the photos at that point but I think my mom was expecting with him. I am three years older than Dave as he was born just one day before my 3rd birthday in August. I'm only 16 months older than my brother Steve who doesn't look very big to me in the shot above. Well, we both were when you see us standing next to Mom and Dad.
Mom will tell me if I am off base on this whole story, LOL. My maternal grandmother made the outfit I am wearing. Purse, hat, coat and dress. No gloves but I have one from my 4th birthday that DOES have the gloves and big petticoat. Maybe when my bday rolls around this summer I'll share that one. Banana curls and all, like Margaret in "Dennis the Menace"
Well those blocks aren't getting done but obviously I am not aching to sew in the first place. Maybe I'll put a few more rows in my cardigan instead? Too many choices and not enough hours to get it all done in the first place. Easier to just kick it down a notch and recharge the batteries. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Got your green on? I do and it is hard to miss green shamrock socks, LOL. Around our house it is also known as the anniversary of our first kiss. 30 years ago today DJ kissed me in the parking lot of Long John Silvers in Bloomington, IL. We were not even dating at that point but my boyfriend at the time had transferred to a job in Pittsburg, PA. I was wearing a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" pin and not only did DJ collect but so did the co-worker he was having lunch with. We were not total strangers at the point, I might add--he was a friend who later got promoted to No. 1 sweetie when that long distant romance ended.

I have been a quiting maniac the last two and half weeks trying like anything to get all the donation quilts done and be caught up for a change. At left, you see most of the quilts I quilted spread out at our meeting place. 11 in the shot but I have done 4 more since that time.

The Belles and I had a binding party last Tuesday. Linda C, Aline and Jane all took some of them home with them to finish up. In fact, Linda C met me in town this morning with three of them done and requested a couple more! Bless you! Meanwhile I haven't done one more stitch in the intervening time in my challenge quilt --it's there on the end. Maybe this afternoon.

I have just one more donation top to quilt---oh, so close to reaching my goal!! Eric the Red, my trusty Viking that I use to machine quilt decided otherwise. Right in the middle of #13 quilt it was no go. I think just wore "him" out. Well, it is time for it to be serviced though I did what I could to clean it out, changed the needle, re-threaded and all that. I can quilt on my Brother Inno-vis 450 so was able to finish up the quilt I was working on at the time though I was not happy with how the borders turned out. My mom has that one back to see if she can salvage them. I quilted #14 on the Brother and started #15 but hated the results and had to un-quilt 4 long vertical lines. UGH!!! Not an experience I would care to repeat anytime soon.

Over the weekend when a yahoo group was having an online retreat I did quilt one more with regular thread, SID, on a donation top that I didn't much care for and got the job done. This was a top that was given to us from an estate sale that Theramae took apart to make two tops. It is not very well done, I'm afraid. I have the other half here at home as well that needs some seams re-joined. I don't think that is happening. While it has some nice pieces of feedsack fabric in it, I would rather dismantle it to get the sack fabric and re-purpose it than quilt another ugly quilt. Fan blocks would be nice.

The two quilt pictures are anything but ugly. Jane and Sarah had teamed up on the modified scrappy nine patch before Sarah became ill. It has cool backing fabric too---some my mom sent from a Hancock's sale that looks like green and gold ink blot tests, LOL. The angel panel is one that Pat F turned in---cute with a soft yellow flannel backing. I'll get pictures of the three completed quilts when we meet again next week and I can hang them up as I normally do.

I have not gotten any further with my convergence quilt since I am still waiting for my fabric order. Not that I would have had time to work on it even it had been here. Saturday Marilyn and I ran up to Albertville (about 50 miles north of us) to take our machines in for service. On the way up the sirens sounded in a town about 30 miles up from home. Oh oh, turned out that there were tornado warnings almost straight west of our location at the time. I knew that I was going to stopping at a pet store in the strip mall near were we were at the time so we would just hold up there till the warnings were lifted. 30 minutes later we were on our way again.

So much rain had fallen in a short time that there was a fair amount of standing water in Gadsden. We had driven about 4 miles up the road and I just asked my friend "do you think we should turn around and just go back home?"-- the sirens sounded again. Tornado warnings for our home county. Nope, we best keep on going north rather than get back in that mess again! Fortunately, the weather did improve the further north we went. By lunch time it was no longer raining but remained overcast.

We stopped at the discount fabric store about 6 miles from our destination and then off to the sewing machine service center from there. We had lunch at a deli (yummy reuben sandwich and potato salad for me) and a stop Marilyn needed to make for her business. Then home by 2:30 once I dropped Marilyn off at her house.

About the only other thing I have accomplished in the sewing department lately is that I took off the sashing strips on that Pioneer Braid top that I had messed up in January. Read all about that debacle HERE. At that time Norma at Random Stitches suggested a solution when she had much the same problem. I cut the sections into squares as she did but I am using the sashing strips from the strippie I originally planned but trimmed down slightly and sewing the sections into blocks in groups of 4. (Click on the ed. note portion of my linked post to see how hers turned out--there is a link there that will take you straight to her post with the picture.) I have one row done as of last evening. It is not exactly tripping my trigger yet but it is bright, a child may like it better than me and the top is not going to go to waste. I AM afraid that I may not have enough fabric for the sashing part but I used the leftovers on a small wall hanging that is pinned but not yet quilted so it would be easy to un-pin that and substitute something else for backing.

Above you saw Pippi relaxing on DJ's bed for a change. There and his bathroom rug seemed to be her preferred spots the past few days though I know she was sitting on the (closed) toilet lid in my bathroom a good bit last night. LOL, I had to use DJ's facilities when I got up this morning as she was STILL sitting on it. Silly cat! Also a spoiled cat. She wanted up on the bookshelf of fabric so badly the other night that I removed three stacks from the three baskets just so she could climb on them. That used to be a favorite spot till I needed it for storage!

At left, DJ working on our shed. I had promised him last week that I would be caught up enough to help him with replacing the boards on the left side of the shed. Turns out he didn't need me after all. Can't say that it breaks my heart. I would do it because he asked but hey, someone else wants to do it instead?? The two guys that our neighbor had hired to paint/repair the exterior of his house saw DJ out looking at the damaged siding. He offered to do the work for a fairly nominal amount if DJ bought the materials. Plus they could get started that afternoon. Even better, they had a truck and could haul away the damaged siding and trim boards. DJ did the caulking and will finish up the painting. He was doing the prime coat in this picture. The crew is due back today to put on some gutters and downspouts to keep this from happening again.

Well, guess that's it for now. So what will it be--binding or sewing? I want to be say I finished something so I'll pick binding. It's half done at this point and I can sew later, right?

tada!

"Tada" is a word the FABS have been using a lot today as each one of us finished up the body of our Convergence Quilts. As you can see I did not waste too much time putting to use the mostly Moda Blackbird "Water's Edge" I got at the ATL area shop hop last Saturday (previous post for picture). What is on the shelves behind the wallhanging is making it bow out a bit---flat, it doesn't look so warped, LOL. Color is way off but the lights are soft yellow so maybe not as off as I think

Pam and I got started just slightly ahead of Norma since we were all up by 8 CST and chomping at the bit. Cher came along a bit later so we were all at slightly different stages in the making of the top. We kept in touch by IM and photos of our progression so it was fun to sew together across the miles and cheer each other on plus "ohh and ahh" over the different color combinations we used. All so different!

I will use the other fats I got for outer borders and a piece of the line called "wallpaper" cut on the bias for borders. I ordered some possible fabric choices online for a small framing border once I came to the outer border decision. This as far as I will get for the weekend so it will be back to quilting after supper.

At right is one of the 10 donation quilts I have quilted since 2/26. My mom made the one pictured---I hate to free motion but could not figure out what to do with those snowballs so ended up writing MOO. LOL, didn't kill me. We had joked about appliquing the Chick-fil-A restaurant slogan to spell out "Eat" "Mor" " Chikin" when we pinned it but doubted that many would get the joke. Moo is probably the same in Spanish as English? This is one of at least 12 headed to Pam for the Mexico project. I have 5 more pinned tops to go and am determined to be done with these by next weekend. Also I vow not to bring any more home with me from the meeting on Tuesday. Planning on our working on binding---BIG Time!



Pam asked "what is on your design wall?" Well, no wall here but this is what serves as one as shown by my hanging the Convergence piece up there this afternoon. I took the pic a few days ago but didn't post when I got too busy quilting. That same piece of redwork that needs a pieced border---someday. Two blocks in 30's repros that goes with my row quilt from last year---need 6 more blocks. Then over on the other shelving unit attached to one of the baskets, some challenge blocks from one of the Belles---I will be putting the resultant quilt together but mine aren't done yet. Below that leftover binding "bows"---usually shared with Cher or Pam once the bag is full.

Supper is leftover turkey loaf from the freezer but I need to make the side dishes. DJ had me give him a haircut after I finished my quilt top so that's out of the way. And, that is how my day, and week, has gone---busy as usual.

shop hoppin'

I don't know just where the day has gone but it is almost time for supper! How did that happen? I don't have to cook since we have leftovers available and will be going out for lunch tomorrow--cook's night off, I guess. I suppose I'll just keep goofing off--maybe do a few rows on my sweater or the November snowman block.

I had been on a tear with quilting some of the tops for Mexico--4 quilts done in 4 days time-- and intended to continue on that pace this weekend as well. Well, not completely done--the binding volunteers will finish up. My part is done though. BUT my pal Judy unexpectedly stopped by Friday afternoon to drop off a book for me and issued an invitation to go the Atlanta (GA) area shop hop with her on Saturday. I took me about 2 seconds to say "YES" and work out the logistics. DJ and I had tickets to the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast Saturday morning so could we leave after that? Sure! Turns out Judy had just told her husband to go to the same breakfast without her but she would go after all and meet me there. We would send the boys on home without us after we ate. Playtime!

It is about 90 miles or so to the outskirts of Georgia on I-20 so off we went. Got hung up for a good bit trying to hit I-285 North to Marietta since we were heading to Tiny Stitches. Judy had gone to the Hop in '05 with a couple of the Belles but for reasons I don't remember, I did not. She has visited the shop a few times in between and knew how to get there. I have been to Tiny Stitches once with Cher when she was visiting her sister who lives in the ATL area but no way would I have remembered how to get there. We picked up a map for the participating shops and took it from there.

Next up was Little Quilts since it is also in Marietta but we decided not to worry about getting all the passport stamps--no way since we had to get home to AL somewhere before supper and the shops would be closing at 5 Eastern time. Cher had said that Intown Quilters was her fav shop in the area--brights, batiks etc That appealed more to the both of us.

But first, we went to a Cheesecake Factory near a mall off 285--I didn't know where the heck I was all day, LOL. Yummmmy but no cheesecake for either of us. They could have had to clean drool off the pastry case had we not gotten to our seats soon. (I had Thai Chicken Pasta and Judy, grilled salmon and brought the leftovers home with us)

So the picture above shows what followed me home. From top left, a free pattern from Tiny Stitches and Intown Quilters rendition of the tropical themed shop hop quilt. Next to it, Little Quilt fats of shirtings and Civil War type fabric to add to my collection of same. I am not going to cave into the wave of Civil War Diary blocks I have seen on some blogs but I will make something with it in the future when I find a project I want to do with it. The striped fabric was included with their shop pattern along with the candy.

Moving to the right, a yard of bright green fabric. That I need for the next row quilt----a yard of fabric that "represents" us in some manner. We are to tell why we picked it out and what it means. Well, I guess I am a little "dotty", like brights and make kids quilts but what she wants us to do with it from there is unknown at this point. The red tone on tone and the red and green batiks are for the Christmas row that will be headed my way soon in May. The fat eighths in the lower right in front were from Tiny Stitches as our freebie while the batik squares were from Intown Quilters.

Lastly, the 8 fat quarters to the lower left are some I picked out for the Convergence wallhanging that we FABS are doing--check out the ones that Norma has selected! Now to narrow down which weekend we are going to actually sew this!

I got home from GA at 5 our time, just in time to fix our supper. Playtime over! DJ was enjoying the good weather yesterday and getting the lawnmower ready for spring/summer. Here's my fella relaxing in his recliner this afternoon and Pippi, above, thinking about sunbathing in the doorway. It was gorgeous outside today--almost 70 by our thermometer though as I write this the sun is setting and it is cooling a bit. We opened up the windows for some fresh air this afternoon. He got in 9 holes of golf this morning having played only 3 times in February--a little rusty would be an understatement, he said. I walked in my shirt sleeves in the mid 50's. Storms may be on the way in come Tuesday--nothing lasts forever but we can enjoy it while we have it, right?

So, none of plans worked out this weekend but I did something better that I had no idea I would be doing. Nice break away from the home routine and a good day with a friend. I'll take it! Hope you had a good weekend in whatever you chose to do.