Taking care of business

Normally, when I have to be away from home, I spend weeks of angst, dreading it.  I'm trying to live life more day by day now, giving up some of that dread and worry, and I have to say it worked out for this trip.  There was just the normal level of anxiety that most people feel about getting to the airport, through security, and on the plane on time.  And, of course, the trip went well.  

I traveled alone this time.  My work team usually travels as a group, but one missed the conference because of a family reunion and another went up early and stayed later to spend time with family, so I was by myself this time.  I didn't mind.  I listened to music and read, walked the airport hallways and got my steps in.  

I got to Cleveland just as festivities were beginning, so I ubered to the hotel and checked in, then ubered to the restaurant and joined in the buffet.  I met quite a few people at that dinner that I hadn't met before and got to spend time with people I only see once a year.  This was the view from my room on the 27th floor.  Not too bad, eh?  Lake Erie as far as you can see.

There wasn't a lot of time for looking out the window, tho.  From that Monday night dinner, there was constantly something going on.  There were so many speakers.  The CEO spoke, then the leaders of all the different products that we sell, speakers that talked about what's coming next for the company and a speaker that talked about insurance fraud and how we catch people.  And I was ready for it.  

I fell asleep.  Yep.  I did.  I didn't fall out of my chair or anything.  But, I fell asleep at one point and realized I'd missed something the speaker said.  God, he was boring.  We were playing around at dinner, trying to find someone that didn't fall asleep while that guy talked.  Yes, there were people that could say they didn't drift off at least once while he spoke, but not many.  

The food was good, the time passed fast, and I got to talk to a lot of people.  At these events, everyone generally moves table to table and once in a while, you end up being part of a small group.  Those are the best.  Young people wanted to talk to me about my retirement and about planning for it and about why I postponed it.  And, when I told them that part of our early retirement plan depended on us being married and now I'm afraid we'll lose that, they hung and shook their heads in commiseration.  I felt very seen and heard.  They also wanted to talk about company history and how I got from where I started to where I ended up.  And, I explained that at one time, my job was a career goal, but for the younger people, it needed to be a stepping stone on the path to a career, they took that to heart.  I explained that I'd stayed at the company 41 years because there were opportunities to move from job to job as the company grew and that we're in a growth cycle now and it's not always this way, so they needed to take opportunities and new experiences as they come and not wait for the perfect job or to be tapped on the shoulder and asked to apply for it.  

It was a great opportunity to reconnect with young people and with the job, and I enjoyed it but was glad to be back home.  And, flying United wasn't bad at all.  They've certainly fixed the issues I had with them when I flew them several years ago (before switching exclusively to Southwest).  Most of the United Airlines employees were great!  Helpful to me and to other passengers.  No more treating us like the customer didn't matter.  There was a gate attendant in Houston that was probably ending a long and stressful day due to weather delays.  She wasn't very nice, but she was balanced by the flight attendants from my flight that were waiting at the gate with us.  An elderly flyer that didn't speak English walked up to them for help.  They all tried, but the young woman that spoke Spanish was the one that helped the lady, who turned out to be part of a group of elderly travelers that came by to express their appreciation and tell her how 'bonita' (pretty) she was.  It was a moment that touched my heart.  So, when I got on the plane, I took the opportunity to tell her what a nice moment it was and that it made a good impression.  

Good deeds have their own rewards, but it didn't hurt that just before takeoff, she tapped me on the shoulder and offered me a seat in a nearly empty row, where there was more room.  I think the guy across the aisle had his eyes on that seat.  Oops!

How about some flowers that aren't daylilies.  There are just a few daylilies left and it's gotten so hot that some of them are wilting before they open, but other things are really starting to pop.  

This is Turk's cap.  The red flowers draw hummingbirds, so when I look out of the kitchen window and see motion in the leaves, if I watch long enough, the hummingbird will come out and go for a more visible flower.  

These are swamp lilies and they aren't fully opened yet, but I couldn't wait to share a pic.  I'm sure there will be another one later of the fully opened flowers.  For such an unattractive name, they make a beauty of a flower. 

When I was walking yesterday, I came across a line of painted rocks.  This isn't unusual.  We have several rock painters in the neighborhood that do beautiful work and occasionally leave a rock at our house with a special message and we see them all around the neighborhood.  This time, there was a message written on the ground "If it speaks to you, take it."  And, this one spoke to me loudly (shouting!), so I took it.  And, waved my thanks at the front of the house.  

'The happiest people don't have the best of everything...they just make the best of everything they have.'

Words to live by.  

I really want to talk about politics, but I'm pretty sure the whole country spoke on that topic yesterday.  The few.  And, the many.  

Everybody have a great week.  Find something that makes you feel good about yourself.  Tackle something that normally gives you pause.  Rack up so many personal wins that you get tired of winning.  That's how I believe we 'win' in this situation.  

Lane

I'll fly away

 Today, I'm off to Cleveland for an annual conference.  Several of the senior people in my job group have retired and there are going to be a LOT of new people to meet.  Young people.  Selfishly, the people I want to get to know and have ask me questions.  Since I postponed my retirement just before the inauguration, I've been looking for ways to remain relevant in my job...I call it 'getting people to say my name.'  Or even better, being mentioned in an important email or 'getting my name in the paper'.  It used to happen all the time, but because I was retiring, I got missed in a cycle of projects and now I'm trying to create a project that becomes important.  I'm just hoping I can get something big in the next cycle.  

In the meantime, we're being audited by an outside organization and I'm trying to get all up in that and smear my name all over it, as in 'Lane provided...' and 'Lane was very helpful' or even better, 'Lane thought of a way to...."  

Vanity, thy name is Lane.

Anyway, I'll go up and make a good impression and shake a lot of hands and offer good advice and help and we'll see how it goes.  I will not indulge my terror of being the old man that fell asleep in the meeting and snored out loud.  That is NOT how I'm going out...but I've seen the agenda.  It might be a challenge.  

This is a new daylily.  The camera didn't quite catch the color.  It's more of a dark red.  All the nice daylilies are spread around, outside of the major clumps of yellow and orange.  If my Mom was right and the yellow and orange change the others to yellow and orange, then hopefully, these are far enough away to not be affected.  

These are also very red on the three dark petals and a pink-red on the lighter ones.  

This is a basket we picked up from the side of the road quite a few years ago.  I've struggled with what to plant in it.  I don't want to rust out the bottom of the basket, so I've been very careful about lining it.  This time, I used a huge plastic storage bag that has a flat bottom shaped into it and cut it to size and some drainage holes, put the coco mat around the sides and inserted the bag and filled it with soil.  We went to the garden center and picked up these pentas and vincas to fill it and this is the best that basket has ever looked.   

This was a trough I found in the phlox bed when I was putting in mulch.  I had forgotten it was there.  It was half full of soil, so I added some and two white begonias (one of which was obviously lying when I bought it...I swear they both had white flowers) and I had bought that trailing ground cover when it was on sale half price and nursed it back to health, so I put it in too.  Loving this little bit of different, surrounded by the phlox.  

I was walking around the garden yesterday.  I'd been out there working a couple hours and was trying to get "finished".  What a joke.  Everywhere I went to finish something, I found something else needed to be done.  It's never going to be finished.  And, that's the beauty of it.  It's like getting to work on the same quilt for years, starting small, growing over time, blocks taken out and replaced with something more colorful.  Or less.  Arranging colors and textures so they look balanced.  And, picking off loose threads (the equivalent of perpetual weeding).  And every year, when it's in its peak, I love it a little more than I did the year before.  

And, soon after that it becomes a chore as I try to save it from the blast furnace of climate change.  

Ya, there's plenty to talk about politically.  They're trying to pick a fight with the gays now, think pride month is the right time.  Renaming the Harvey Milk.  Blocking the park DC Pride is scheduled to happen in.  Intimidation.  The National Guard.  Fear.  

I keep thinking about Rep Sarah McBride (D-DE).  She's transgender and serving in congress.  Her days are much harder than mine.  And, yet she keeps getting up and living each day.  I can do that.  Not the congress part.  And, not the tolerating Nancy Mace's bigotry part.  But I can do the getting up and living each day part.  

However, I have too many other things to worry about today than what the orange and his false christians are doing.  I need to be focused on staying awake in meetings.  And, not getting lost in Chicago's O'hare.  

Everybody have a great week!  Do something you're good at.  And, be sure to also do something you love.  Lane

Ah-ah-ah

Choooooo!

Happy season of sneezes.  Before I took my allergy pill yesterday, I told Rob I thought I'd come down with something, but about a half hour after the pill, I was fine again.  Not quite sure what I'm allergic to right now, but whatever it is, it's got me good.  

While Rob was gone, I did some grout repair and it went so well, I'm going to do some more.  I'm doing an extra special job of sealing this time.  I've always sealed it, but not enough apparently because of the way it stains, so this time, I'm doing more and I am pretty sure it's going to be more effective.  And, if it's not, then I'm going to start looking into new countertops.  I love the 4" white tiles, but they are a pain.  

I also did this spot, which is almost finished.  This is the space between the house and my greenhouse.  It was a mess.  So, I pulled everything out and weeded, then put down weed barrier fabric and then did a string line and marked the center of the pavers and lined them up, giving myself more cement at the end where the hoses are.  I put in that little flowerbed along the foundation.  I also went around the greenhouse base with a galvanized steel edging.  The problem we're trying to solve is that our lawn slopes down to the greenhouse, so soil washes down the hill and gets to the greenhouse and builds up around the base.  That caused the board at the base of the greenhouse (you know, the main one that the whole greenhouse is built upon) to rot and Rob had to replace it in the greenhouse re-do (we got lucky that there was still enough he could do that.  In addition to the edging, I want to put a narrow flowerbed in front of it to also catch some of that water and soil rushing down the hill.  

I'd have liked to take a pic while the hoses are rolled up, but if we wait for that, you may never see this space.  

Yesterday, we took out two crabapple trees, one that was dead and one dying.  My dad gave them to me soon after we moved into this house.  They were old and had lived out their full lifespan.  The arborist said they wouldn't ever do anything because our soil was not acidic enough.  And, he was right.  They never did anything, just stood there and grew and made leaves and crabapples.  They never sang or danced or played the fiddle.  Disappointing trees.  There was a lot of acidic fertilizer put down around them.  

The yellow and orange daylilies are done.  They were beautiful.  But, now a whole different set of daylilies is getting started.  

Okay, this one isn't new, but it was the last one and was the largest and most perfect flower I've seen on this plant.  It was huge!

There is so much going on in the garden.  I just wander around, stopping every so often to look at something.   Some effect I've created by putting a certain group of plants together by chance, because there's certainly no plan, except bring a pretty plant home and find a place for it.  A couple weeks ago, there were yellow daylillies all around the yard to tie it all together.  Now, the phlox have started and they're doing the same thing.  No plan.  I just had a ton of phlox, so I put them here and there...and there, and there, and there.  In the sunny spots where it's too hot for phlox, the echinacea does the same thing.  

Labor Day weekend, I put the wedding ring quilt together and put it on the bed to see how it looked.  It's supposed to be one row larger than the other quilt...except I seem to have struggled with the maths and made a quilt that's the exact same size as the other one.  Dagnabbit! (yeah, let's pretend that's what I said).  Anyway, I've started another row.  And, am hoping I can make a row that doesn't stand out as different.  I pulled fabric over last week and started the arcs (7 blocks = 15 wedges = 30 arcs).  I had 20 usable templates left, so I'm making 20 arcs.  Fortunately, the last time I was in JoAnn's, I bought the last couple yards off the last bolt they had of the background fabric (I don't know why, but am glad I did), so I have plenty of that.  I was very disappointed, but am so glad I decided to make the extra row.  There was considerable discussion about how maybe we didn't need it...but I'd always know that I "cheaped out" and didn't make the quilt I wanted to make.  

Yesterday, I made blackberry jam.  We can pretend it was from the blackberries I grew, but my $70 blackberries ended up being just over a cup of fruit.  We will not be calculating that into the cost of the jam.  It went very well.  I guess jam takes a little practice, and having practiced a little, it went very smoothly.  We were in goodwill the other day and I bought a practically new water batch canner for $7.  It's much smaller than my old one, which was designed for quart jars.  I donated it a couple years ago because I don't can quarts of anything.  On Saturday, they had two, a small one that would have done half pint jars and a larger one that was great for these half pints and is deep enough that if I wanted to do some quart jars, I could.  

So, I feel like I'm all set for jam for a while.  Let's hope I don't have to go back to baking my own bread to eat it on.  

I really don't have much to say about politics right now.  I can share that I'm enjoying watching truth and lies collide.  Pretense and reality, crashing into one another, and I think this is just the beginning of that trend.  I'm still preparing for hard times, but I'm feeling less certain that they're impending.  I'm more focused on keeping my life moving forward and doctors appointments and home repairs and the garden.  What can I do something about vs feeling like I can't do anything about anything.  What's the most important thing I can do today?  What will help me or someone else today?  What keeps life moving forward today?  And, how much time can I steal to sew arcs or play the ukulele today?  And, just remember, TACO.  TACO, TACO, TACO.  

How about tacos for lunch?  

Lane

Shorty post

 Rob is visiting his Mom this week, so the girls and I have been trying to struggle along without him.  (it's been one night)

He'll get a kick out of that.  

But, with just me, there are twice the morning chores to be done.  So far, they've been fed and Dottie has been on a short walk.  When we were about a block away, I realized I'd skipped yoga, so we did a short one and after I finish this, I'll do that and we can go again for a longer one.  

These are the prettiest daylilies.  I'm not sure where they came from or if they're a gift or a seedling.  It's a very small plant with just one very thick and strong scape.  

I planted my glads in a spot that gradually got shadier and shadier.  They never really did well there, so I moved them to a sunnier spot and added to them.  They did great last year.  I must have left a couple of tiny corms that made small spikes last year but this year have grown and are the first to bloom.  There's another one you can't see that I added a stake to yesterday because it was trying to lie down.  The ones in the sun haven't even put up stalks yet.  Funny how things in the garden can be so unpredictable.  

I bought myself a new ukulele.  I have to be careful because it's becoming quite the collection.  They're inexpensive and I have them all strung a little differently.  As I'm learning a song, I decide which ukulele it sounds best on.  Sometimes, it's a hard chord that's easier on a larger fretboard.  Sometimes it's because I want a certain sound.  This is my most expensive so far.  I did more research on it than the eBay seller did and knew it was a real bargain at the price.  There were shipping problems and it took forever to get here, but it's here now and I've tuned the old strings and it sounds wonderful.  I've ordered a new set of strings that should be here later today.  The strings it came with are very different for me and make a slightly dull plastic sound, probably because they're old.  It was delivered in the afternoon and the strings were so hot, they were sticky.  That can't be good for it.  (Amahi zebrawood baritone uke)

Big fat bluejay in the birdbath the other day made me laugh.  He took a very thorough bath, then sat in a tree and fluffed up and sat there a while, like maybe a nap.  

These were a couple things I saw last week that made me laugh.  

A couple we know has decided to divorce.  It's ugly.  But, it was an ugly marriage too, so sometimes two ugly things make a right.  We are very supportive.  We found out last week and had our friend over Saturday night for cocktails and out for dinner.  It was very nice.  We got to share some things we'd observed and never talked to her about and she got a chance to unload about the ugliness of it all.  Her attitude is 'take whatever you want, it will be worth it to be rid of you'.  And, I have so much respect for that.  She also wanted to talk to us about our relationship and how we've made it 25 years.  Our answer; we fight, get it out of the way, make up.  No one has to concede.  No one has to win.  We just move past it.  Consequently, there's a ton of stuff we agree to disagree about.  And, that works too.  And, later we usually realize the thing we were fighting about wasn't the thing we were mad about at all.  

Relationships are hard work and even harder when you're with the wrong person.  

Everybody be well!  Think about what you want and what it would take to get it.  Then maybe do one of those things if you can, or make a plan to do it if you can't.  Me, I'm going to spend some time in the yard...mostly because Rob wouldn't let me start the kitchen remodel while he's out of town.  Cause I would have.  You know I would have.  

Just kidding.  That's a lot of work.  

Lane

So mulch to talk about

Well, I finally got most of the mulch we bought put out.  And, just in the nic of time because it's supposed to get really hot here this week.  It took longer than I expected because I was weeding and cleaning up the beds as I went.  But, they look so nice and uniform.  I got all the way across the back, but still have 5 bags to go that I'll put in the side bed and in the larger flower pots.  

I also got two pairs of rows assembled on the double wedding ring quilt.  

And, I made a batch of strawberry jam.  It isn't perfect, but for a first try, I think it came out fine.  I ran into trouble along the way.  The pot I chose to cook the jam in seemed big enough until it started to boil and foam and came right out the top of that pan.  I pulled out another pan and put some of the jam in it and brought them both back to a boil, but ended up over cooking them, so my jelly is a little thick (my mom would have called it leathery).  But, we had it on biscuits for dinner last night and I can assure you it tasted just fine.  Over cooking also meant more of the fruit cooked away than I was hoping, but I think there's still enough to qualify it as a jam.  

I made this because I was paying $5.75 for a 12 oz jar of French jam.  That's 49 cents an ounce.  Mine cost me 19 cents per ounce, not counting the water or gas (stove) or the jars I already owned that had been sitting empty.  I chose a recipe for a small batch, 7 half pint jars.  It was easier and quicker than I expected and it's strawberry season, so the fruit was less expensive than normal.  Next time, I'll make the jam in the dutch oven I was using to water bath in and find a different way to do the water bath.  Or maybe skip that.  My mom never water bathed jelly, she just let the heat seal the jars.  I don't know.  We'll see.  

It's daylily season.  

There are still a lot of yellows this year, despite me giving away several clumps last year.  I was disappointed, but then I looked at the yard as a whole and I kind of like the fact that there are yellow daylilies all around.  They have a kind of continuity and there are enough oranges to help them pop.  It also helps that the yellows aren't all the same.  

This one has a very unique shape.  I thought it was a fluke, but they've all come out this shape.  

This one must have descended from one of the spider daylilies we had.  It has very long petals like those did.  

Technically, these are yellow, but they're a shade of yellow that looks green.  Not so much in a bright light, but when they're in the shade, they definitely take on a green hue.  

And, the oranges.  

And, there are plenty of new scapes that haven't even revealed what they'll be this year.  Daylilies that I found in pots and couldn't remember what they were, so I planted them to let them bloom and find out.  

The coneflowers are getting started.  These self seed so easily and I wasn't as diligent as I should have been about weeding them out this year.  Normally, I pull them, pot them, and give them away, but this year, I let them stay...I'll give them away later.  And, they're all covered with blooms, ready to open.  I'm not the only one enjoying them either.  

Of course, with that many birds, my veggies need protection, so I've partially built a bird proof area.  I made a mistake and ran out of steam before I finished it, but when I'm done, it should be a 7' cube of bird proof area.  I tasted that first ripe blackberry yesterday and "the birds shall not have them" (said in my best Charlton Heston as Moses voice).  

Saturday afternoon was sunny and beautiful.  And, then it wasn't, and dark clouds rolled in with thunder and then heavy rain that fell straight down.  Then, there were strong winds.  And, then hail.  I assumed my garden was done for the year as we watched it hail for about 5 minutes.  Fortunately, it never got bigger than pea sized, so no damage to the cars or the house or even the garden, though it took out a few flowers and there are holes in a few large leaves.  I felt very, very lucky.  The planet is fighting back.  

Okay, that's it for me.  I'm tired and my hips hurt from being busy all weekend.  Thank goodness my job is mostly sitting.  But first, some yoga to get me moving again.  

Everybody have a great week!  

Lane

Babies and flowers

 It's spring and, as is traditional at our house, babies are being weaned and sent out into the world to live.  

I had a sparrow build a nest in a hanging basket on the porch.  I'm really careful to stop them doing that, but every few years, they get one past me.  I don't mind them being there, but they get really upset when I water the plant.  Anyway, these sparrows found a hanging basket right outside our back door and before I knew it, they had a nest built.  Soon, we could look in and see eggs, then it got really dark in there for a while.  Then one day, I tapped the basket and all that darkness turned into 5 yellow beaks, open for breakfast.  Then I looked in and it was all feathered faces and eyes looking out at me.  And, the parents were so busy bringing back bugs.  All day long it was one or the other of them flying in with a bug hanging out of one side of its beak.  And, last week, I got to watch first flights.  They flew from the nest to deck furniture close by, then from there, some went out into the yard, but the funniest ones tried to land on the steep plastic roof of my greenhouse and then had to catch themselves and fly a little further.  Short bursts that got longer and longer.  She kept them in the yard for a few days, being sure to warn us and the dogs if we got too close.  And, for a couple nights, they came back to the nest.  Now, they've changed shape and look like adults, and while there are a lot of sparrows in the backyard right now, I can't tell which were born here.  It was so fun to watch.  

 Every year, an opossum has babies under my greenhouse.  I'm not even sure how she gets into that small space, but she does.  Dottie went nuts about the babies in the yard, but she didn't hurt them.  Just barked a lot to let us know they were there.  This little guy (okay, he was big as a cat) climbed on top of the fence the other day and sat there for nearly an hour.  I got close enough to see that he was young and I think he'd just been weaned and was lonely.  Poor thing.  

This orange iris opened this week.  What a beauty!  I really need to get this moved.  It's grown into the monkey grass border, trying to get more sun.  

And, the daylilies are getting started.  Just a bloom here and there for now, but it won't be long.  

I've been shopping, not for quilts, but for quilt inspiration.  One of the first things my first mentor taught me was to pattern draft so I could look at a picture of a pretty quilt and figure out how it was made.  It made me a great pattern reviewer when I did that for a short time.  When I want quilt inspiration, I don't usually go to my pattern collections, I go to Pinterest.  This time, I decided to use eBay for ideas.  I've been shopping for quilt kits, not to buy, but to be inspired by.  Okay, I did almost buy one.  If I hadn't gotten distracted Saturday morning, it would have been mine.  But, I have fabric.  I can draft.  I don't need kits (even though they're a lot of fun).  Sometimes I just need ideas and a couple weeks ago, when I was doing all that cutting, that's what I did.  I saw a quilt that I liked and I picked fabrics and drafted it and cut it out.  I saw this block made in 4 browns and was just blown away. 

I had these four blender fabrics I'd bought when Rob and I were driving to different quilt shops one day.  It was a fun day and a nice memory the included a very nice lunch.  I don't know why I only bought four of the colors.  I'd have loved to have the rainbow and make something from that, but I didn't, so they sat in a basket with other fat quarter collections, waiting for inspiration.  (btw, there's only one collection of fat quarters in that basket now.  I cut the rest into quilts). When I saw the brown quilt, I knew these four blenders would be very pretty this way.  I used my Dresden plate ruler, and I cut half the pieces by lining up along the narrow end of the ruler and half by lining up along the wide end (if you want to do this, cut a strip 5" wide along the long side of the FQ and cut the outer blades using the 7" mark (not the end of the ruler, which is 8"), then cut it to 4" wide for the inner blades.  A couple of small blades will come from the fat quarter.  Center circle is 3.25" diameter).  I had originally planned to make the blades and mount the smaller ones to the larger ones before assembly.  I realized I was not going to have enough control over where the smaller blades met if I did that, so I made two plates, hand appliquéd one down and then the other on top.  This should have been a leader/ender, but I got so excited about it, I had to just do it.  

I also got all the wedding ring blocks assembled into rows.  Next week, I'll start turning those rows into a quilt.  Yay for S curves, right?  Yeah! let's go on those S curves!  You got this!  you can do it, you can do it, if you put your mind to it, go team!  

Just pumping myself up for this very difficult task.

I've done it before.  I know I can do it again.  

Everybody have a great week!  I read just enough news to keep up with the utter buffoonery happening in the federal government.  And, that's enough.  We were in Costco the other day and I reminded Rob that the last ships that were tariff free are arriving now.  If we're going to buy it, we need to get on it.  But, we also have to factor in the fickleness of the tariffs and whether we even need to worry about that.  It's the not knowing that's making things so difficult.  

So, I'm making plans to make strawberry jam.  Because that's something I can control.  That's something I can plan on.  That's something I can be confident about.  And, I love it.  I'm also planning a bird net for my blackberries and there might be enough of them for some jam this year as well.  

Figure out what you can do and focus on it.  Let the rest happen around you.  

Lane

Design week

The cutting bender I was on last weekend continued and I cut out a couple more quilts.  

This is one that Rob and I designed in the car on the way home from the quilt show where I bought the fabrics.  There's a print in it with triangles and I wanted to blow that up and out a bit.  It should finish at 24" squarish.  A lot of math went into that calculation, so I hope it's right.  

And a little Christmas table runner from a fq bundle we got at JoAnn's a while back.   There's a nice green and a white with trees on it for borders.  It probably won't have the curve in it when it's finished, but I ain't makin' no promises.  

I also cut out and started this little Lone Star kit that I've had for probably 15 years.  They must have made a bajillion of these kits.  Mine wasn't new when I bought it and I still see them on eBay.  It was popular.  I put the strip sets together as leader/ender then cut them yesterday.  I'll have to mark the 1/4" seam line, then I can start pinning and assembling (no!!!!  not more pinning!).

I also have a ringer that I decided not to show today.  It's too cute and nearly finished...I told Rob I might have to take part of the morning off work to finish it, I'm so excited about it.  I also finished piecing this little top.  It's about 32" square and I'm looking forward to some really simple quilting.  It feels very spring-ey and should make a nice wall hanging.  

And, on Saturday, I laid out the wedding ring to look at it for placement.  I realized that with this much busy-ness, the mistakes I was worried about can't happen.  There are no spots of too much or too little color.  I'm such an idiot.  I laid it out that morning and when I got to the end, there were three blocks that didn't fit and I moved wedges around to fix them.  Then, I came in later and realized that I'd laid it out wrong and instead of joining rows with S seams, I was going to be joining rows by scalloped seams, which was going to be much harder.  So, I laid it out right, and guess what.  I had three blocks that didn't fit and I had to move wedges around to unfix them.  I need to remember that sometimes, my mistake is in the execution, not in the original plan.  Because I do this a lot.

There is one (and only one) purple piece of fabric in this quilt.  When I laid it out the first time, it ended up near the center and once my eye found it, I couldn't see the rest of the quilt.  All I could see was that purple piece.  I've moved it now, but don't look for it.  You won't be glad you did.  

And, there were flowers this week.  I finally got around to feeding yesterday.  It was late.  Now the plants will be thriving in July and I'll spend a fortune on water.  If I'd fed in March, like I was supposed to, the peak would be ending in July.  

This Iris came from my Mom's.  When they called me home last year because she was in hospital, these were blooming next to her driveway.  And, I just told my Dad I was taking one.  I picked a young one that wasn't blooming and dug it up and brought it home.  I think I found a nice place for it.  I think it's only going to bloom this one flower this year, but that's okay.  It's a pretty one!

The last poppy.  I enjoyed these.  I hope I've found a place they'll be happy.  I've never been able to grow poppies before.   Full sun doesn't mean full sun here.  

The first yellow Iris.  it was a little early and there should be more soon.  

I don't often buy pink flowers, but this geranium looked so cheerful that I had to have it.  It's just adapting to its new spot and is blooming happily.  

These are called indigo spires.  I have this clump and a smaller one that needs moving.  These came from the neighbor's trash pile 3 years ago and are having their best year.  Rob's rule of thumb is 'the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year, they leap.'  

Another early Gerber daisy.  I have four, in different colors.  The instructions said full sun.   I don't think growers realize what that means here...or maybe they do and are expecting everyone to replace plants frequently.  These struggled for two years.  I moved them into a shadier spot and they appear to be recovering.  

One of the places Sydney lived had these Iris growing out near the curb.  There are also some purple ones that bloomed last year, but no stalks this year so far.  Anyway, I think it's beautiful.  It didn't bloom for a couple years and I nearly forgot about it, then last year, it went nuts and this year, is going to do the same.  

And, the first daylily was this Stella D'oro.  It's cute and small and put on a real show this year.  There are daylily scapes everywhere now and they'll be blooming any day, but Stella is always first.  

Today is Rob's birthday.  We're only one year apart again and he has to stop calling me old man.  This was his battery powered birthday and he is tickled beyond measure.  He's excited about his new toys, but I have a motive.  In the summer, he waits til after 8 to mow so he doesn't disturb the neighbors.  Sometime in September, I'll say screw the neighbors and make him start at 7.  This new lawnmower is so quiet, he can mow as soon as the sun comes up.  Instead of being out there at 11am when it's 102*, he can be done, showered, and ready to take me to run errands at 11am, as is his duty.  Seriously.  We're too old to be working in the yard when it's over 100*.  We'll leave that to the young people and maybe set a good example for them to follow when they're older and sleeping late is less important.  

Blower, trimmer, mower, it looks like a showroom display.  

Syd went with us to dinner on Saturday.  Mexican food and laughs.  It was nice.  This is one of the new dresses we bought a few weeks ago.  She looked so good, we had to get a picture.  But for some reason I don't fully understand, it's not a picture of her with the birthday boy.  Why didn't anyone think of that?

Tonight, he'll get his favorite dinner.  Swiss steak.  Do you remember Swiss steak?  It was one of those really big recipes in the 70's.  It used cheap tenderized round steak and cooked it in a tomato sauce to help tenderize it even more.  I found a recipe that Rob says is just like his Mom used to make, and I make it for him on special occasions.  Or when I need to butter him up for something.  

Everyone have a good week.  Try to find happy things to do.  I'm at the point where it doesn't really matter what it is,  or how impractical it is.  I'm just squeezing all the joy out of every day that I can.  I finished a couple big projects at work last week and am feeling pretty good about that.  I'm managing to keep the scaries at bay.  Hope you are too!  

Lane