Never a dull moment

This week's weather was cool and pleasant.  95*F is very different than 107.  I could go out without the heat taking my breath away.  Then, this weekend, summer gave us a good kick to remind us that she wasn't quite ready to go away yet and she brought her dog, humidity.  I tried to work in the greenhouse yesterday morning, but by 9:30, I was frustrated with wiping the sweat off my forehead and ready to head back inside.  

It was also the weekend for our friend's funeral.  It's hard to go to a funeral for someone that was only 31.  There was a big turnout, with friends and co-workers, friends from school, fellow teachers and even some young students from her class.  It was a beautiful service and her three best friends from high school all spoke or sang.  There was a video of her from infancy to just before her passing that was made by her sister and I guarantee, there was not one dry eye in that church after that.  Then Rob spoke for a couple minutes and  there were refreshments during a visitation.  It was a wonderful opportunity to share memories and show who she had been and the impact she had made.  

Of course, we looked fabulous...so good that Mable had to slip into the picture.  

 The pliers came for the kitchenaid and I was able to take all the gears out.  Turns out the planetary gear is bent.  It's the one that lets the beater move in a circle around the bowl instead of being stationary in the center.  According to the repair guy I've been following online through all this, that's not uncommon and is the result of putting too much of something that was too heavy/dry.  Maybe trying to make too many loaves of bread in one go, or some really stiff cookies.  I couldn't find one in the same color as the mixer, so I've bought a shiny black one to replace it.  It should be here in a few days.  I was adding up what I've sunk into the mixer now and lamenting that there really is no such thing as a free puppy.  We're up to $165 now.  Still a bargain, but not nearly the bargain it would have been at $50.  And, I still don't have any attachments.  But, I've certainly gotten my money's worth out of tinkering and focusng and learning about it.  The planetary gear is in the lower left of the photo.  It's really the drive shaft of the machine, turning the energy from the motor and gears into movement in the bowl.  

After our two inches of rain last weekend, these rain lilies really put on a show.  I guess I hadn't realized how they'd been reproducing or how many there are now.  I have two clumps this size.

I decided the Postcards from Sweden quilt was a bit much to tackle and I kept looking at patterns.  I finally decided on a Kaleidoscope pattern and have started cutting pieces.  I chose an off-white for the background and am using all 6 colors of the rainbow.  I would also like to make this quilt in a more limited color pallet; just greens and blues maybe.  It's a much easier pattern than I thought it was and made a test block just to be sure I could and see how much I'd have to fiddle with it to get the block centers right.  It went together pretty easy.  You can start to see the circles forming.  Instead of just piecing blocks and putting them together and hoping for the best, I'm laying it out on a design wall to see if I can play with the colors enough to make all the background circles pop.  Right now, I'm only seeing the light ones form and I'm not sure what it's going to take to see the color ones.  It's going to be a 16 block quilt with a border, or a 25 block quilt with no border.  Haven't decided yet.  

It was so hot yesterday that I took the pegboard down and brought it and the tools in the house and laid it all out the way I wanted to and put the pegs in and the multiple locks that are supposed to hold them in place.  That took a long time, but it was the only way I could make the metal pegboard work.  The metal is much thinner than the wood pegboard that I've used in the past and I'm struggling to adapt.  

Everybody have a great week!  Find a goal and set out to accomplish it, but be flexible in case squirrels run by and you need to chase them.  And, hug your loved ones and make sure they know you love them, Every day is precious.

Lane