Short on Words...

{Wisteria on the cornzebo}

...so I've been of late.

Other than identifying descriptions, this post will, likewise, be short on words...but long on photos.

Some photos are over a month old - my apologies. It seems this summer came and went without telling me it was even here.

{A fuchsia with the largest blooms I've ever seen}

{Coneflowers...a/k/a echinacea}

{Roses and wisteria on cornzebo}

{Thistle...yes, intentionally grown}

{Butterfly on coneflower...Sedum in the background}

{Coneflowers and foxglove "digitalis"...A bumper crop of both this year}

{Black-eyed Susans...a/k/a rudbeckia}

{The first hibiscus of the season}

{Foxglove}

{My back stoop}

{Million bells (calibrachoa)}

{False sunflower (heliopsis)}

{Morning glories...they've taken over my old twig patio bench and repurposed it as a trellis}

{Butterfly on hydrangea}

{More hibiscus}

{More million bells and more foxglove}

{Patio planter with volunteer petunias and baby's breath/gypsophila}

{False sunflower and bee}

{Balancing crow whirligig}

This past week I was also in charge of keeping the "hooker-down-the-lane"'s garden alive.

The trust of some people.

{The lane down which the hooker-down-the-lane lives}

{A glimpse of the hooker's garden}

{A second glimpse 😉)

So pretty it hurts.

There you have it. 

The 'happier' side of my past month (or so).

I'll be back when I find my words.

{Sunset in Nod}

 

Rajah's Ride, Country Sampler and the Weather in Nod

...in no particular order....

But, let's start with Rajah's ride anyway.

In my last post I mentioned that there were a great many things going on in the background of my world that I doubted you would care to read about.

Your comments and responses were so very heart warming.

Many of the things are trivial...many are unpleasant...and most I feel would likely be "TMI."  But several of you asked specifically about Rajah's dryer ride.

Well, here goes.

Rajah has always had an affinity for hanging out in the dryer.

I have been warned (repeatedly) by well-meaning, animal-loving, friends how dangerous this can be.

I know.

After a life full of animals and pets, many years of schooling (including at the school of common sense), and too many years of experience, trust me, I KNOW.

But I NEVER leave clothes in the dryer once the cycle has ended. (On the rare occasion I have forgotten and have, I rewash the clothes and start over due to wrinkling, etc. so it's a torture I'd prefer to avoid.)

And, besides, I'd obviously notice a 20+# cat in there when I put the wet clothes in.

Except I didn't.

 

I had stripped the guest bed and dried things on the line, but one blanket I do in the dryer.

After several loads of washing sheets, pillowcases and protectors, mattress pads, etc., the final load was the blanket.

I tossed in the dryer, turned it on and walked away.

And heard, THUUMP......TTHHUMMP.....THHHHUUUMMP.

Thinking there was something wrong with the dryer, I walked back to the laundry room and shut down the dryer....

THUUUUMMMMPPPPPPP.

...opened the door...

thuuump...umpp....

And out from the wet folds of the blanket - a bit disoriented and even a more bit put out - crawled Rajah.

In my defense, he had not been caught napping in the dryer in a long, long, time but how I did not notice him in there I do not know.

In any event, he does not seem any worse for the wear...and he's forgiven me.

I think.

In other news, I made my (second) annual trip to Country Sampler in Spring Green. (For those unfamiliar with Country Sampler, it has no connection with the magazine publication.  It started as a quilt store and then morphed into a quilting/cross stitch store and has become a destination mecca for many stitchers worldwide.)

I wish I could say the trip was uneventful, but things in my life never quite seem to be "uneventful."  I drive an older vehicle (2016) and the gps in it has never been updated.  (It is a foreign model, and the nearest service dealer is 2-1/2 hrs away.)  What should have been a 3-hr trip ended up taking 4 hrs due to a bridge that was out.

The detour wound me through roads with hairpin turns, sharp drop-offs and absolutely no shoulders to pull over on nor any towns or civilization to speak of, with my gps constantly trying to redirect me back to the way I originally intended on taking because it wasn't picking up the detour.

Gah!

After about 40 minutes, I finally came to a widening in the road with a bar and 3 houses and pulled over hoping to get some reassurance I was heading the right way.

Upon closer inspection, however, the bar had both a "for sale" and a "closed" sign.

And let's just say the houses were a bit too sketchy for even the likes of me to approach even if any of them had looked inhabited...which they didn't.

Worst of all, my phone had absolutely no network down there, so no outgoing calls or internet (including gps via phone) other than 911.

I still had a little over a quarter of a tank of gas and kept going and finally did get there. But seriously???

The time there was thoroughly enjoyable.  We stitched, we shopped, we were serenaded by a very gifted musician playing in the little park area outside the open windows of our rooms above the shop, ate homemade ice cream, and shopped and stitched some more.

The shop, of course, was full to overflowing with temptations and deliciousness -all decked out with a patriotic, summer vibe.

{Yes, I have a twin to this sweet angel girl....}

I did not purchase much...just a few pieces of linen, and some fabric - and a pattern I've wanted for some time.

And a whale...yes, I purchased a whale.

His name is Humphrey, and he will go to live at the lake...eventually.

The trip home was (blessedly) less eventful having received help researching an alternative route.

It wasn't quite as scenic as my original route or the detour but beautiful, nonetheless.  At least there were shoulders to the roads in some places.

So I am home now, playing catch up with all the background noise.

The trip inspired me to drag a few (very few) pieces of my summer/patriotic decor up from the lower level on my bi-daily trips down there to empty the dehumidifier.

{Vintage cross stitch flag}

I have heard in the news and read in posts and comments the severe heat waves many of you are enduring and lack of rain.

I truly wish I could share some of Nod with you.

I am currently wearing two sweatshirts and waiting for the next wave of storms to roll through.

We are in a flood watch right now...some areas due to get up to 4" of rain in 24 hrs. I have had to hook the hose contraption up to my sump pump pipes again - something I typically never have to do once the spring thaw is done.

Plants are drenched and drowning, but I took this photo of my roses-and-wisteria-gone-rogue before the skies opened up.

Wishing relief to those whose who need it.

Yesterday's Roses

 

The days are slipping by while I am still standing still.  More than three weeks have passed since I last posted and I have little to show for the time, and even less to say.

So I thought I would show you yesterday's roses and a few other random photos.

 

We had one good rain a week ago, and that has been all. This is typically when our drought season starts but this year it has gotten a wicked head start.

Things have been hot and humid - the days smoke-filled and hazy from the wildfires. So, in some of the photos below, you may notice the gauziness of the skies in the background.

{Wisteria on Cornzebo}

{The teeny, tiny, house in Nod}

{Follow the red brick road....}

I continue to stitch a little - mostly on littles.  The Isle of the Unfinished, however, is becoming grossly overpopulated, so I have committed (🤣) to do better at final finishes.  

This is "Keeper of the Pins" by With Thy Needle & Thread.  I finished the stitching over a year ago, but now it is truly finished:

And this is "1864 Sampler House" by Chessie and Me:

Little Mia continues to grow.

And I continue to look up.

One never knows what one might see up there.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Happy July my friends - and Happy belated Canada Day to my friends across the border.

Icebox Hotdish

Sometimes, when growing up, we would have "icebox hotdish" for dinner.  My mother would go to the icebox and pull out whatever leftovers and bits in there and combine it into a one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-replicated, casserole.  (We called them "hotdishes"..."casserole" was a bit too formal a term.)  

And since I have nothing of substance to chat about, that's what you're getting in this post: Just a bunch of "this"-es and "that"s.

About the most exciting thing going on (and this says a whole lot about my uneventful life) is that my wisteria is finally blooming.  I love my cornzebo for many reasons, but one of the primary ones is that it serves as a support for two of my favorite plants - bittersweet and wisteria.

There is much to be said for cherry blossoms, but they seem so flighty.  They are so quick to run off and leave you.  And then just when your regrets are the strongest the wisteria comes into bloom....

{Murasaki Shikibu)

I know in more temperate climates vegetation like wisteria sometimes does not know its place and can overtake entire structures.  But I live in Nod and nothing is invasive here other than the snow and relentless cold.

(Something tells me I just may regret saying that at some point.)

We had some storms come through a little more than a week ago that brought damaging winds (I heard, through the grapevine, that we lost several trees at the lake) and heavy, heavy, rains.

This little hummingbird was marooned on my wanna-be porch during a particularly heavy downpour.

I don't know what I was thinking when this happened, but I DO DEFINITELY know I WILL regret it:

This beautiful butterfly comes to visit every sunny afternoon...I love the blue on his wings.

I have found more time than motivation to stitch some.  I finally finished (re)stitching Centennial Eagles (a design by Tina Woltman), but I am undecided about whether to finish it as a pillow (it is rather large actually) or frame it...or just file it.

(Sorry for the wonkiness...it has not yet been pressed and was simply roughly folded.)

I also finished stitching this little piece - It is part of the "Sea Ornaments" pattern by The Primitive Hare.

(Again, apologies for my lack of ambition in pressing it before taking the photo.)

Of course I did not notice the misspelling of "whaling" until I had stitched the first three letters, so had to frog them all to adjust the stitch count.

I am somewhat wishing I had stitched this one over one but too late for regrets...the wisteria is in bloom.

There is still nothing on the rug hooking frame.  Sorry MD.

Well, I am thinking you've had about enough fun with me for a Saturday night and enough icebox hotdish for almost any night (my mum had an incredible gift for making anything taste good...but you really never knew what was in there and I was always the wary skeptic).

Our weather is supposed to turn, with rain tomorrow and then highs in the 50's for the beginning of the week.  I think it's time for a baking day anyways.  Good thing I have long johns right next to my tank tops.