Cookies and quilts

 I posted earlier that I would be working on some unfinished (UFO's) projects.  Above I have completed 33 6" finished squares from "The Farmer's Daughter 1920's" book.  Not having touched these in several years, I am choosing to finish them before the fabric rots.  After some thought, I realized that I am never going to get all of the squares finished as I am only a few pages into the many patterns.  So I decided to make a center panel from fabrics that I think would have been used during that time period.  The exception may be the first border, but this green was one I purchased when I went to Ohio several years ago with two of my quilt buddies on a trip.  Among other things, we stopped at quite a few quilt shops and I knew I wanted to use a green in a future quilt that was similar to one used by quilters in the first part of the 20th century. I think I must have been born a few years too late as I am constantly finding myself attracted too older things, especially old wooden utensils and furniture. Oh, well.

I remember that my grandmother had several pieces of linens that had similar flowers embroidered with black floss using the buttonhole stitch and my mother inherited them. Mostly I remember that they were dresser scarves and table cloths.   I do it a lot on appliqué.  This tree of life was one I saw in a magazine and I adapted the size to suit me so it is not proportioned as I saw it in the book.  But it will suffice.

With Christmas coming this week, I have been baking cookies and made some peanut brittle.  It was a little difficult to find raw peanuts, but I did. It has been interesting dealing with the humidity.  In Wyoming, dry weather rarely affected my baking.  I like crisp, crunchy cookies, but here everything absorbs a little moisture.  So my friend, Barb, who always loved a soft cookie, would be happy.  I miss all of the Christmas bazaars with her....she always wanted to see if a cookie was soft, so I would see her pressing on the wrapped treats to see if they were soft or hard.  (She is still alive and well and probably pressing on cookies I imagine.)

"A balanced diet is a Christmas cookie in each hand."

Christmas Rose

A few posts ago, I said that my intention was to finish some projects.  This quilt top is DONE! It will not have borders and measures 80X96.  I have the backing and the batting and most likely won't glue baste it until after Christmas, but will do that and start quilting soon after.  Rummaging through my UFO's I found the Pink Caramel 6 1/2" squares from the Farmer's Wife 1920's book.  I have 33 of them completed and worked on it last in 2016.  So that will be my next big project to work on.  It will get finished I hope.  My neighbor behind me with the chickens and new beautiful baby named Charlotte brought me more eggs last weekend.  I made a quilt for Charlotte and when I called to tell her it was done, she walked over in the rain, with Charlotte snuggled at her chest. She also wants to learn to quilt so I hope I can help her with that endeavor.

The Mr. and I have been busy, me at baking goodies and helping him when I can.  We mounted 3 of our tv's on walls, replaced all of the recessed lightbulbs (and adjusted some of the fixtures) as the bulbs were too small in the can lights. He is making shelves for an old sled that I have placed on end to be repurposed as a night stand next to a twin bed, put shelving in his workroom closet and lots of small projects with many more on the list.

My daughter gave me a couple of rose bushes this summer and I planted them in the beds out front, not expecting them to do well...I have never been  very successful with roses, but look!  It had one rose on the spindly bush this summer and when we had a freeze last week, I noticed that a partially open rose had frozen.  I didn't even know it had bloomed.  So look.....I have several buds about to open.  Please, don't freeze again!

I have spoken with some of my friends back in Wyoming this past few days.  I miss them but I very much intend to stay in touch.  I do not miss the snow.  I also received a wonderful card from my neighbor in Cheyenne and she informed me that they had lost their dog.  He was having health issues when we left and that another neighbor, a wonderful neighbor in his 80's had lost his dog.  So all three of us had to say goodbye to our furry friends this fall.

We took a drive yesterday to Littlerock WA as the Mr. is scheduled to play pool there next week.  Not being familiar at all with much here, we knew he would be traveling in the dark so thought it would be a good idea to find it.  Rather than take the interstate, we opted to take the back streets and roads.  Littlerock is just a wide spot with a post office in a trailer, a bar and a grocery store, but the drive was beautiful!  It was drizzling a bit, but a good deal of the drive was rural and with so many green acreages and trees, it was pleasant.  It took us about 50 minutes to reach this little burg, but it was a pretty drive.

"You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses." ~ Ziggy

Candy Kiss Gnomes

With Christmas on the horizon I have been as busy as I can while still battling with this Sciatica.  Not a very patient person, I am not accustomed to slowing down so it has taken me more time to accomplish my tasks.  It used to take me one evening to decorate my tree and this year I spent 3 days between ice and Ibuprofen.  I have made a couple of batches of cookies and have more to make and I did get my cards out...who sends cards?  ME, but this will most likely be the last.  For one thing, I needed to let some people know our change of address and that brings another story.  We have had this address for 4 months and I had a dear friend tell me that I put the wrong return address on the card she received....How many others?  Yep, time to quit!

Yesterday my favorite daughter came and we decorated cookies together---mostly she did the decorating.  I found a Candy Kiss set of cookie cutters at Hobby Lobby. (she had shown me photos of triangular shaped cookies earlier and these reminded me of that similar shape.)

 As I got these out of order, bear with me. We made a royal icing with Wilton's meringue powder and water, whipped in the mixer and then added powdered sugar.  That's not necessarily an easy task as you can see that it snowed sugar all over me, the counter and even the stove.  I had a cake decorating teacher once say that if I couldn't write my name in my range hood with powder sugar that I wasn't doing it right.  I did it right yesterday.

 So as much as I tried, I still got these out of order.  See the kisses shape?  Erica colored the icing and she added a caramel flavor. She drew on these with an edible marker and in the bottom photo she was beginning to outline and continued to flow the icing on the hats. She thinned the icing and actually painted the face color on. When it was dry, the hats, beard, and blue coats were added as each color dried a bit.

 She added the nose, eyes and mouth and they are adorable.  We also decorated mushrooms that she made with a mold that she had ordered and I will post those pictures next.

I also received a package from a dear friend in Saratoga.  She had asked for pictures of the house and knows how I like to decorate.  When our son came to pick up some things in Cheyenne before we moved, he took all of our antlers, our elk antler mount and some other Wyoming rustic things that we didn't think we would have room for.  One thing this friend noticed was that I didn't have any antlers lying around.  We spent so many years hunting and they always reminded us of good times.  She reminded us that we needed a few and she insisted that she would send some.  I will post those pictures later also...Thank you Ginger!

"In the cookie of life, friends are the chocolate chips." ~ Salman Rushide

Happy Thanksgiving

I have been watching the weather from Wyoming and goodness people....I do not miss the snow, ice, cold and wind.  Today I went for a walk with only a vest on and the sun was shining and there was no WIND, although the temperature was only in the high 40's.  I do miss my friends, but I am trying to stay in touch. 

Today is my sister, Joan's birthday. I won't say how old she is but she is only a couple of years younger than I am.  I called her today as she is living in another state and sharing a residence with our other sister.  Because all 3 of my siblings are living and doing as well as most our age, I am lucky and blessed.  We are not without our aches and pains, but we are good.  Part of that I contribute to our parents. I worked with a gal who once told me that she and I were mutts...in other words, we have no fancy pedigree and it has made us strong and and able to overcome adversities. Our father's mother came from strong pioneer stock and and lost her mother as a small child  and although our mother's father was murdered when she was a child, she survived what must have been a difficult childhood.  We grew up without much money, but had two loving parents.  We raised our own beef, grew our own vegetables and were surrounded with family.  Thanksgiving at our house was bustling with people and always lots of food.  We never went hungry.  I am thankful for all of the wonderful memories of Thanksgiving as a child.  I am cooking the bird Thursday and our daughter and her husband will be sharing the meal with us.  It has been a long time since we had family for this holiday and I am so looking forward to it. 

If you are dining alone, or sharing this day with family or friends, be thankful and remember those less fortunate. 

'Shrooms anyone?

 When we looked for homes here, and read the information on this home, it noted that it was near a "soon to be removed mushroom farm".  The "soon to be removed" was a plus as apparently the odor was not very pleasant.  Since fall is officially here and the weather is cooler and more humid, our yard has become a forest of these toadstools.  That is what I remember calling them when I was a child.  My family did not have access to mushrooms I guess as I don't recall ever having a mushroom until I was in high school and the first Pizza Parlor opened in Greeley.  Anchovy and mushroom were the toppings I remember first and pepperoni came later.  I also remember the first McDonald's there and it was a walk-up only fast food place. Yep....I am ancient I suppose.

 I can't even begin to count the number of these and the middle one above is larger than my outstretched hand. Some are small and button-shaped and some are white and round, but these are abundant in my back yard. They are fascinating actually.  I wonder if some of the spores from the farm blew over and deposited themselves here?  Probably not. (I don't know if they are edible but am not going to test them.)

On Sunday afternoon, the doorbell rang and standing on the step was a young mother with a baby peacefully sleeping in a pack snuggled on her chest.  She carried a carton with a dozen eggs.  We invited her in and she is the gal who lives behind our next door neighbor.  Our street backs up to a greenway of trees and some of the houses are tucked back against each other while others have the green area behind them. From the day we moved in, we could hear chickens behind the fence next door.  It was funny to hear them clucking away on occasion and there were no roosters.  She offered the eggs to us and introduced us to her 2 month little girl, Charlotte, still sleeping.  We had a great visit and I have actually begun a quilt for Charlotte with sunflowers on it.  I offered to pay for the eggs, but she told me she just gives the extras away to neighbors.  We have the best neighbors and they have all been so welcoming.  There is a master gardener who has offered me plants, the neighbor next door loaned us chairs for weeks as we waited for the mover and he brought us a wonderful bottle of wine. The neighbor on the other side gave us a lot of wood and the grand daughter, Lisa has walked the dogs and she and her friend have made cookies and delivered them. 

"Life is too short to stuff a mushroom." ~ Shirley Conran

No rain

According to the experts, this has been the driest stretch here without rain since 1957.  I am still waiting for the moss to start growing on my back.  At least that is what my quilting buddy said would happen if I moved here.  Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain region has always been high and dry.  Perhaps we brought it with us.  At any rate I am not complaining about that!  What I have been complaining about and it may explain the lapse in my posts is my age and what comes with it.  Sure, you can get lots of discounts for being a senior citizen, but as your age increases so do the aches and pains.  I can remember my dad saying "just wait until YOU get old", when he would complain with joint issues.  Well, Dad, it is happenin!  I have one leg shorter than the other as a result of an old injury when I was a teenager and I am having sciatica issues.  This past weekend when we were shopping for groceries, I was ready to climb into the grocery cart and ride.  REALLY!  So ice, and meds were relied upon and with very little relief.  Yesterday was our first visit with our new Dr. at Kaiser and I was holding out so that I could visit with him.  We had started to look when we first arrived here, but after checking with 3 different clinics, we were told that either did not accept Medicare or else that weren't accepting new patients.  So we put that on hold until September.  So far our experience has been great with Kaiser and the Dr. we saw yesterday was terrific.  He spent a lot of time with us and scheduled some follow-up appointments that we needed.  There was NO wait time for our appt either.  And in addition to the check-up and prescribed treatment for my sciatica, I have already seen improvement. Enough about that.

Above is a Wedding Ring quilt that was started last year using the "Go" machine and I actually began to quilt it this spring, but of course, it got packed so finally I have finished the quilting and am stitching on the binding.  I also only have 4 more 17" blocks of the blue and white squares to complete.  So, I am sticking to my goals to finish some of the UFO's before beginning another project although I see new projects that are tugging at me. 

We removed our dishwasher as it is an old one, maybe original to the house and are expecting a new one to be delivered in a couple of days.  We couldn't figure out how to make it work anyway, and in addition, our master bathroom floor is in a state of demolition.  The Mr. is actually starting to replace the backer board with new and then we will replace the ceramic with vinyl.  The floor is a wooden floor and was not constructed for ceramic so it had a new floor, but the tiles were not sticking and the floor allowed a little enough movement for them to loosen.  Removing them was a mess, and the toilet is sitting in the garage.  That's right, we were NOT going to get a fixer-upper, but I have eaten my hat before.......

Scary or what?

 Halloween is coming so what is scary is not the first two snaps here, but the bottom one.  Above is some of my fabric folded around the magazine boards, the ones that my daughter ordered for us from Amazon.  I had gotten cubes for storage and have seen the comic boards used to organize fabric, but most of those were too small for my project.  These are 8 1/2 by 11 and are perfect for the 12 inch storage units.  When the fabric pieces are folded salvage to salvage they are approx 22". So folded again once and the stiff paper boards inserted inside the fold, the fabric can be folded more until all is on the board.  Then they can be stacked upright and I will post another picture soon. These come 100 for about $15.00.  Now below is another attempt at cookie baking and success!  This time the peanut butter recipe I had always used was just right.  I saw the movie "Julie and Julia" again this weekend and love the fact that Julie persevered in trying every recipe in Julia Child's French cookbook and if you have seen the movie, or read the book, you know that there are some very questionable recipes in the book.  I would never even attempt most of them, let alone try to pronounce them.  Tomorrow I am again trying to make cinnamon scones.  I have more than one recipe, one my neighbor in Cheyenne left with me to try so.....we will see.

The picture below, is the scary part.  The Mr. bought a new pool table and it was delivered Saturday.  He also ordered a new light for the table and in order to install it, the light fixtures had to be installed

in the ceiling, which is vaulted.  The vault is not centered in the room and because the room is just large enough for the table with access to play properly with cue space, there is not room for much else.  It is a regulation 7ft bar table and he has installed the light, but he had to put the ladder on the table and the kitchen stepstool against the table.  Remember, this man is almost 75 years old, so for me-- YES! this was very scary.

On a sad note...in a few previous posts, I have a picture of my two little dogs, Spencer and Roger, both older rescue dogs.  They have lived with us for 10 years, but Roger, the white dog, went to
Doggy Heaven on Friday after having to deal with more bladder stone issues.  We all miss him and the difficult part was going next door to tell my 12 year old neighbor, Lisa.  She has been coming on Tuesday afternoons to walk Roger.  I told her she could walk Spencer, but he has limited use of one hind leg now and I know she will be careful with him.  She so loves the dogs.

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself." ~ Josh Billings

Figgy pudding?

 When checking clips today, I ran across the above picture of Erica's fig tree in her back yard.  I took this snap when we were still staying with them and she actually had half dozen or so figs on it which she plucked and I ate for some of my lunches.  There were probably not enough to make a figgy pudding and I am not sure what a figgy pudding is, but I used to make those old fashioned fruit cakes each Christmas season and always used dried figs.  Now I know most people don't like fruit cakes and in fact make fun of them, but they are extremely expensive because they take a pound of everything and a dozen eggs and a bowl of huge proportions. (I happen to like them but don't send me any.) . I don't think I had ever seen a fig tree, but this one needs to be moved according to Erica and probably pruned.  It is extremely leggy and most of the leaves are at the end of these weighted branches.

 My sewing room is finished and I will probably continue to tweak it until everything is in the right place.  Being smaller than my previous room, it is a bit crowded and I have had to downsize to some degree, but so far it works and today the Mr. got my television hooked up.  We now have xfinity and got a ROKU box so I stream everything from the internet and our box in the living room.  Really I don't understand it all, but it works and that's all I need to know, right? 

This is what is left of an old fir tree stump in the back yard.  There are two stumps in the back yard which were left when large trees were cut down.  They are mostly rotten and we spent a little while today after the rain quit, trying to chop away some more of this stump.  These trees here in these yards are so large and when the homes are built in a wooded area, some of the trees are left to continue to grow for years.  They smell wonderful and provide so much shade and we feel as if we are living in a forest, and I guess we are.  However, rather than shovel snow, we find that we are cleaning up needles and pine cones.

On another note, I have completed a few more of the blue and white squares and have my wedding ring quilt on another machine and am slowly quilting it.  I hope to get some of these UFO's finished by the first of the year and can start some new projects then when I plan to check with a few of the quilting contacts I have made.  We are still sorting things and trying to dispose of those things for which we have no room.  We have made several trips to Goodwill and to Habitat for Humanity's Restore and have more to take.  Hopefully by the first of the year, we will be finished except for a few projects that we need to do in the house. 

Puppy Love

 Our Dogs are reaching the ripe ol' age of at least 12 years? and with a new sofa, they have not been allowed on the furniture.  Don't feel sorry for them, they have nice plush beds.  We also pitched the small stools they used to jump up on the bed.  Yes they are spoiled.  I have a Lane Cedar chest that the Mr. bought for me on our 1st anniversary nearly 57 years ago and in this home, it is at the end of our bed.  3 days ago after carefully making the bed and putting all of the pillows in their place, the little guy with only 3 good legs jumped up on the chest and limped to the pillows where he immediately made himself a comfy spot under the pillows.  The Mr. and I just looked at him and did not have the heart to make him move.  Then yesterday, Roger decided that if it was good enough for Spencer, it would certainly be fine for him.  This shot was taken this morning just as we finished making the bed and my camera was close by so ..........

 I forgot to flip this picture of these quilt strips but they are the pieces for the remaining 12 squares for the quilt block I put on the last post which I am determined to finish so yesterday afternoon I set about to cut them all.  Now how long will it take me to stitch them?

Before I did that, the Mr. had a couple of small projects that needed to be done.  First, we had four bar stools in the last home and decided to bring only two.  These two were at a taller bar in the basement and we should have brought the shorter ones.  In the past this has happened so he simply cut 4 inches off each of the 8 legs and now they work here quite well.  In addition, the room where I sew is a small bedroom and the lighting is horrible.  I have 3 lamps, one at each station but it was still not good lighting for sewing at all, so as in the previous sewing room, I had a stained glass fixture which I made eons ago which worked well and he installed it yesterday also.  Now I have lots of light.

Also yesterday, since we have nearly cleared the garage for the car (the rain has begun), he ordered his new pool table and light.  It will be delivered in a couple of weeks and that will be the last room to be furnished.  Most of what is left to do are some larger projects in the house, but nothing pressing and as with any older home, upkeep is always ongoing.  More about that later.

"Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail." - unknown

As promised

 As I promised, I am blogging a bit more often.  As each day passes, I see a great deal of progress in getting our belongings placed and in becoming residents of Washington.  In my wildest dreams I would never have imagined living here.  Most of my 74 years has been spent in the Rocky Mountain regions of Colorado and Wyoming. With the exception of the 3 months I spent in California after my birth there and the better part of the time the Mr. was in the service, it was in Pierce Colorado where I was reared and in the southern part of Wyoming where our children grew up and where we worked and retired. (that's a long sentence) Anyway, I am finding it an easy transition so far and it is beginning to feel like home.  Just getting our "stuff" here is a big part of that.  I have gone through all of my sewing "stuff" and have made a vow to myself to either finish my UFO's or ditch them.  With that in mind I have carefully sorted and actually found all of the patterns (thank you Becky) to my myriad of quilt blocks for quilts started and never completed.  I had neglected to keep them with the blocks when I packed.  This is a large block so perhaps it won't take too long to get them done.  There will be 20 so I only need 12 more. hmmmmm....

Now something else I have to adjust to is the altitude or lack of.  Again, as I have nearly always baked at altitudes higher than a mile high..I made or attempted to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Yuk! Although they don't taste too bad, they looked and baked unsatisfactory to what I think a chocolate chip cookie should be. Gotta get onto that as my cookie baking season is nearly upon me and I have discovered great neighbors here where I can distribute my wares.  I can cook some, but I really love to bake (and eat my goodies of course), so it is imperative that I solve this culinary dilemma. I will pick another quilt pattern next time to decide if it will be scrapped or finished and I have a black and white project with which I am several months behind.

"Today I will live in the moment unless it's unpleasant in which case I will eat a cookie."

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck?

Oh my gosh, that was one of my Dad's favorite little riddles.  Here, it seems that everyone burns wood and I don't know if it is because they always have, or if there is so much of it available.  Years ago, we took the truck, a lunch, the 3 wheeler, chain saw and the kids to the forest and spent all day (for more than one day), cutting wood.  It was a lot of work, but it was nice to get out in the country and we did heat the house a lot in the winter with a wood burning stove.  In this house, we have a fireplace which is not the most efficient method, but we decided that in order to have an alternative heat source in the event of a power outage, we would order some.  As our daughter and son-in-law ordered theirs last month, we thought we might be too late.  On the spur of the moment, the Mr. checked on line yesterday and found a new listing, called and the wood was delivered and dumped within 30 min. Now the work begins.  It will be hauled to the back yard and covered to keep it dry and it will be nice on a cold winter day or night to enjoy a fire. 

To update our progress on the move....the furniture did arrive two weeks ago, the boxes have all been emptied and we hauled a truckload of flattened cardboard to recycle.  Then we hauled a couple of pieces to Habitat for Humanity Restore and about 6 or 7 boxes and bins to Goodwill.  That is what became of the excess goods because of the downsizing to a smaller home.  We do have the essentials and are waiting to purchase a pool table for the Mr.  My sewing room/spare bedroom is in business now, most of our artwork is hung and we have received notification that a check for the 30+ days the furniture was late is on the way.  We now have health care with Kaiser and have a Dr.  My intention is to blog more since I won't be spending 10 hours a day unpacking and trying to find a place for everything.

"Wood burns faster when you have to cut and chop it yourself." ~ Harrison Ford

Can you hear me?

I have joked with some of you that when our furniture actually arrived, you would hear me scream with joy no matter how far away you might be.  Well, can you hear me?  Our tracking indicated that it had been loaded the first part of the week and then we got a call from the trucker later in the week that he would be delivering it tomorrow (Saturday).  He called again today to confirm it.  Let the fun begin. In addition, we received confirmation today that we will be having health coverage with Kaiser as of October 1st.  Trying to find a clinic which would accept Medicare, or accept new patients was a little discouraging at first and we were able to get on a waiting list with one where they were expecting a new Dr. hopefully by the 1st of the year.  So that we put on hold for a few weeks, trying to decide what to do.  One more hurdle over now.  Having great neighbors here though has been such a blessing.  One neighbor loaned us two new lawn chairs and another brought us wood and a wood rack as everyone has fireplaces and there is so much wood here.  The same neighbor with the chairs brought us a bottle of wine and most everything else has been an easy transition...just takes time. 

Today, with errands to run, we decided to drive to the AM TRACK station. People, as the crow flys, it is 1.6 miles from the house, but it is a 10 minute drive.  Isn't it cute? A good many trains come through here also and I still am not used to all of the whistles though.  But if anyone wants to take a train trip (you would have to go to CO or UT to board, but) it might be a fun trip. We miss everyone but our phone # hasn't changed so I will try to stay in touch and will welcome news from wherever you are.

"It doesn't matter what side of the tracks you are from, the train still rolls the same." ~                                Robert M. Hensel

Bare necessities

 We are surviving with the bare necessities. Finally we purchased the above folding table and the computer which is sitting on a lawn chair shared it with my little singer featherweight.  That is until a few days ago when I purchased the old computer table below for the sum of $6.99 at Restore.  Really this is a jewel!  We are so reluctant to purchase anything as we have more contents coming than we have room.  I foresee a large garage sale in my future.  It will have been exactly one month from the 28th when our furniture was supposed to have arrived that it is due again.  I am not counting on that too much as my faith in this company has dwindled.

I haven't posted as much as I planned as there is really not much happening.  My daughter and I did go to a "Girlfriends Vintage Market" last weekend and I couldn't resist buying some fabric, and a small rolling pin and a "pounder".  I do collect all of those things and I had to resist buying a couple of other things.  I really enjoyed seeing all the great vintage items though.  There are couple of other events in the upcoming weeks which we intend to see. Because I did not keep the sewing table that I used previously, I do not feel guilty about this rather expensive one and it functions so much better.  The Restore here has such an abundance of things and the prices are great.  I really prefer to reuse and refurbish items that have had a previous life and they are often made so very well.  So now I am starting some more UFO's as I left all of mine with the movers.

"I'm working on my PHD (projects half done) in sewing."

News?

No photo today...no furniture yet.  Is that really news to anyone? We should have had a pool and the person who bet "no" to the furniture arrival would have won.  So now again we are supposed to get a truck loaded on the 23rd and be delivered by the 28th.  We have been told that we actually have a driver now, but we are not putting any money on this either.  In an effort to get on with our lives, we have purchased an inflatable bed, a small tv stand which will allow us to get our cable and internet installed and a few kitchen items from the thrift stores.  The installation is supposed to happen today.  Our daughter and son-in-law bought a new tv and have graciously loaned us that for now.

As time goes by, we have noted that our little dogs have become to show some age.  Little Spencer has developed some age related damage to a joint in one hind leg and is losing the use of it.  Thankfully, Erica's vet is so good with these dogs and very compassionate and we feel confident in her diagnosis.  He does very well and we all feel that surgery is not an option.  On another sad note, we left our cat Coalette with a dear friend and have been informed that she developed a growth in her brain and had to be put down.  However, our friend loved that cat and had her cremated and purchased a marker for her. 

We are learning more about this area and Erica and I have plans to check out some events at the fairgrounds this weekend and another in a few weeks.  We do have similar interests and I love being able to be near her finally.  Leo has started a pool league now and we plan to get a pool table when all settles down.  I will have a nice sewing room and we have met more neighbors who have welcomed us to the neighborhood.  Patience is not my strong point, and we have been here just two months...so if we actually get our personal belongs, you all may hear my shouts even from here.  Stay tuned.....

I don't like spiders and snakes!

Ok, it's harmless I am told and the picture doesn't do it justice. Black and a beautiful turquoise, it was just meandering across my path as I walked the dogs in the park. Actually it was the first snake I have encountered, but about the spiders.....They are EVERYWHERE and they come in all sizes, some of them are monsters.  I won't even mention the cobwebs they leave everywhere. 

We are still waiting for our furniture to arrive and it has become very frustrating to say the least.  However, I have heard a couple of stories from others who have experienced as much as 6 months delay and now I wish we had just sold everything and started from scratch.  We have been able to do some work at the house and have laundry set up and did buy a sofa which should be delivered this week.  As promised, our driver licenses have arrived and we officially are driving cars with WA plates now.

This past week we met more neighbors and they have been so very nice in welcoming us to the neighborhood. One of my neighbors is learning to quilt so we had a great visit. We were informed that our cat, Coalette who was left behind with a very dear friend was diagnosed with a mass which was affecting her eyes and nose and had to be put down. We are so glad that we did not try to bring her. Both of the dogs need to get to the vet this week as they are also experiencing some health issues. We knew they were reaching the age where we would be dealing with these problems. Having been with us for over 10 years, they were adult rescue dogs when we adopted them and we could not leave them behind.  Such is life.

The Mr. has been able to connect with some of the pool league players here and will start playing on  a team in a couple of weeks. I still have not been able to join a quilting group as so much of what I need is still in Cheyenne and I do not have the room here do actually set up much.  There are several contacts I do have and it may be closer to the first of the year before I can get to that point.  It has been so nice to be able to do things with our daughter and they both have been so patient with our residency here not to mention the dogs.  We hope it will not be too much longer, but we are at the mercy of the moving company and our hands are pretty much tied.  The one consolation is that they now have to pay us $75.00 for every day that it is late.  Perhaps we won't owe them anything if it takes several more weeks.

"When the snake decided to go straight he did not get anywhere." ~ William Stafford

Still waiting

 We are still waiting on our furniture to arrive....and as you can see the two little dogs are waiting, and waiting and waiting.  The latest news is that it was to be loaded today and should be here between the 23rd and 28th.  Our fingers are crossed and I am sure that our landlords here are as anxious as we are as they have relinquished their bedroom so we would not have to deal with stairs. 

 The photo of the fern above is for my friend, Bonnie and is as tall as my shoulders.  Erica has a multitude of these in her back yard along with several other varieties.  We worked over at the house today.  As I told friends on many occasions, we were looking for a place with a small yard and that did not happen.  Priorities in other areas took precedence in the decision to purchase this place. There are no stairs to deal with, a great fenced yard for the dogs, a much smaller home, updated for the most part, a nice quiet neighborhood, lots of shade trees in the back with a low deck and a large garage.  But the yard is not small, so the Mr. bought a self-propelled mower.  We teased him today as he did try it on the lawn and nearly had to run to keep up with it (not really)~~no pushing this one!

Erica is a gardener and above is the garlic that she just harvested.  It will dry this winter and she uses it all year long.  She also makes lots of vinegars...something that I haven't tried. She didn't harvest all of her carrots and they have gone to seed which she is saving.  Here another later crop can be sewn and she purchased some starts last week and put them in...beets, etc.  You can get a good fall crop here. We are supposed to be getting some rain finally so it probably will start just as our furniture is due to arrive. Keep your fingers crossed.

"What garlic is to salads, insanity is to art." ~ Augustus Saint~Gaude

If a tree falls..Does it make a sound?

 So I placed a 2 cup measuring cup beside the strainer of blackberries which were picked last week to compare it with the container. Erica has a huge bush in her back yard and it is thorny and invasive.  We can get this many at least a couple of times a week as they seem to be ripening continually.  I have also picked blueberries.  But I wanted to share these two pictures below.  Jeffery took us to another nature park a couple of weeks ago which is  Springwood park.  It was developed a few years ago by a family named Zable who collected varieties of Rododendrums from all over the world.  I am not sure of that spelling?  But when they passed, it was donated to the city of Olympia.  I am told that in the spring, it is just gorgeous and in the past had been visited from people from several countries. There is much more to the story of this park which is about 3 1/2 acres I think.  There are trails throughout the park and I am anxious to see it in bloom.

 The picture above shows a fallen tree with it's top rootball exposed and you can see the remains of the trunk where Jeffrey's hand is resting. The second photo shows the underside of the root system and really, it was a very shallow root system. In fact, where it fell away from the earth, you cannot really see any roots.  In the first picture, there is a untility pole behind this area which may give a better perspective of how thin these root systems are.

We have been over at the house working (there are always things to be done)..and waiting for news of our furniture delivery which is still unknown.  We have met our neighbors on both sides, about our age and seem really nice!

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now." ~ Chinese proverb

Tulip House?

Shall we call this the Tulip house? Yesterday was scheduled for the official walk through for the purchase of the new home.  This is the front door as we stood in the family room.  The double doors are flanked with stained glass windows ~"tulips"~to match the ones in the doors.  Having done some stained glass work in the past, it seemed meant to be.  We met our realtor but the lock box had no key in it, just a note that the key was on the side garage door.  Unfortunately, there was no code for that box but we did finally receive a code.  Again when our realtor opened it, no key.  After a couple of calls, we were told that the plumbing contractors had lost it in the crawl space and they would send a locksmith over.  He spent time on the front door, the garage walk-in door and the garage overhead door and did not want to drill if it wasn't necessary and FINALLY was able to open the back door off the deck. The previous resident did not leave any keys at all. All of the repairs have been made..new roof, new carpet, new appliances, updated kitchen and bathrooms, electric upgrades and plumbing and duck cleaning.  There will still be things to do.  Above, the family room is about 6 inches below the other floors and it has lots of windows. (doesn't really qualify as a "sunken" room), but does add a little charm. Now we have all of the locks re-keyed also, but have no idea about receiving our mail, so you will not get an address until we contact the post office. Things are done a little differently here.  We will sign papers today, then this sale has to be recorded downtown, and we will receive the "key" the following day.  We have a call in to the mover and have all of the utilities in our name now, so things are progressing.  We will need washer and dryer, (those go in the garage and almost all do here) and a microwave and we will probably have too much furniture since we downsized and have one less bedroom and bath. so..........'til I know more.

Just a little news

No pics today....just a little news to keep all updated.  I do have some snaps but need to download them.  We are having some hot weather and I still have no moss growing on my back yet.  I keep hearing that it will rain, but not so far.  We will be closing on our home this week.  Walk through is scheduled for Wednesday.  It was exactly one month ago Friday that we closed in Cheyenne and just 3 weeks Saturday since we have been here at Erica and Jeffery's.  We still have to find out when our household contents can be delivered so we may be here for a while yet, but at least we can tell people that we will have an address.  I will not post this on the blog, but will get it in a few days to whoever wants it and to share with friends as you see fit. We are slowly finding our way around and went to the Thurston County Fair on Friday.  One thing that we noticed was how different it was from our local fairs, especially the one in Carbon County.  Farm animals and FFA members were very much a big part of the fair...pigs, rabbits, sheep, (lots of goats), chickens and ducks seemed to dominate the animals..not so much cattle as in Wyo ranching country.  Also, flower arranging was huge and very little needlework with the exception of quilts. I was so pleased to see so many quilts and spoke with some great gals from 2 different quilt guilds.  One guild meets at night, another in the mornings and there was a modern quilt guild which I did not take the opportunity to speak with.  They actually were doing a lot of wool applique demonstrations.  Our home is very close to the fair grounds it turns out, so that will be nice in the future.  Not much to relate just yet, but will take more pictures on Friday.  We know we will need a washer and dryer, microwave, sofa and hope to ditch at least one snow shovel.  So....until we know more.....

Life is too short

Sometimes life seems too short to be able to accomplish all the things that drive your passions.  Our daughter has such a large yard and she has such dreams of things she wants to accomplish.  It can be mind boggling.  She has planted so much and has reworked parts of the yard, but because Mother Nature provides moisture to all green things, including weeds and invasive plants, it is a battle of sorts.  The ivy has overtaken a portion of the back yard and the borage flourishes and spreads so well, not to mention all of the berries and unknown "green" things.  I am afraid to pull anything as I am not familiar with the local "weeds".  Some are quite pretty. She has a great deal to do and little time.  In looking at the property we are buying (should close in less than two weeks now), my life will be too short I am afraid to have the gardens I would like.  We can't help it----I guess we were born to garden and I can blame my dad for that.  Both of our kids like to have lots of things growing.  Our plan was to downsize and we have done that for a part; at least the house is smaller, but not the yard.  For the most part it is in really great shape and doesn't have too much upkeep. 

Again, we took a walk through the Mission Creek Nature Park, the one here adjacent to Erica's property and found these "fungi".

 The middle one above was about 15" across and I hope the clip below gives a better idea of the size.  I can't begin to describe the size of the trees as they are immense. Last Friday, Jeffery took us to another nature park where we came upon two trees that had blown over next to the trail and I will post pictures of the root balls soon too.

"Life is too short to stuff a mushroom". --Shirley Conran 

A walk in the woods

Well, it is actually a park, but it is so very wooded that coming from sagebrush and greasewood, it certainly feels like the woods.  This park, Mission Creek Park, which nearly joins our daughter's home has so many trees, ferns, berries and flowers. Nearly every day we have walked the winding paths with our dogs.  They love it! For the most part it is shaded and today a group of children, accompanied by two adults passed by the house and trekked through the park, returning an hour or so later. The group consisted of about 20 children perhaps about 8 or 9 years old and a smaller group of 8 that were younger...each hanging on to a rope and all were carrying water bottles.  I am reminded that as we are waiting to get into a home, August is almost upon us and school will soon begin.  But for the present, the children are riding their bikes, and walking their dogs, and the adults are running  or a taking a lazy stroll.  Soon school will be starting and fall will be close behind.

As for the house situation, everything is progressing very well.  The appraisal came in higher than we expected (that's good for us) and our realtor is requesting a duct cleaning be done, by the sellers which has been agreed upon. So barring anything else, we hope to close earlier than planned.

I walked the dogs around the block a couple of nights ago.  This little buck was quietly watching us stroll by and they are so accustomed to people that they ignore everyone.  The does are dropping their babies and we have seen quite a few of those fawns, even some twins. We have had hardly any rain and the temperature has been cool at nights and in the 70's and a few low 80's during the day.  We have enjoyed the lush "green" everywhere and the critters like the deer here.

"An army of lions commanded by deer will never be an army of lions." - Napoleon Bonaparte

Park pictures

 Normally I do not post pictures of people, but the trees and the foilage in this Mission Creek Park which is adjacent to our daughter's home are so spectacular that I had to add them here.  We walk here nearly every day as do a great many people who stroll past her home where we are staying.  (more below about the move below).  So, just to give you a small idea of the size of things here are a few.

 Erica and our too critters...Spencer got a haircut and bath yesterday and Roger tomorrow.

 Now this below is the other side of her yard. I was standing against a short fence in her yard and this is the view of her neighbor's yard.  Her neighbor is a Buddhist Temple and when I first visited her several years ago this was a vacant, grassy area.  They have done such a beautiful job with their property and are very good neighbors.

The house search is progressing way faster than we anticipated.  The market here is hot as it is in many places.  The inspection was done last Sunday, two days after we went under contract and the few safety issues we requested by the sellers were approved immediately.  We are waiting for the appraisal and may have it in a few days, maybe a week.  Our furniture and personal contents are still in Cheyenne awaiting a truck to come to Washington as far as we know.  Our phones, which were in limbo for a week or so (we wanted to keep our same numbers, but miscommunication between Union and Verizon were stumbling blocks) but we now have full service with our WY numbers.

We are grateful for our daughter's and son-in-law's hospitality and the inconvenience for any interruptions in their routine.  Stay tuned for more in a few days.

First house pictures

These are a few pictures of the house which is under contract and awaiting inspection results:

 Storage shed in back yard..(Yes Becky, it is a large yard, but not grass...just low growth)

 Small one butt kitchen, but granite and new appliances

 This is a wood burning fireplace and we may install an insert, although Jeffery is thinking we should split an order of wood.  They do burn wood in the winter.  We will see.

 Built-in- dining room china cabinet

 Tons of storage on all walls in garage

This is a tree house of sorts for when Leo has to go when he is naughty

 Pretty plantings although this is not a great photo (not a photographer)

 Another view of the kitchen and lastly front door, which is a double door with stained glass windows also on either side of the door.  (did not get a picture) The inspection was done yesterday and took 2 1/2 hours. Having done inspections before, this was the most thorough one we have ever experienced and we were impressed.  Only a few minor issues and the home does have a brand new roof.  No structural issues however so we will see what happens now.