After the rain....

What a beautiful day today.  It was cool and cloudy, just what we needed to let the moisture soak in to the parched soil.  By the afternoon, the clouds were breaking up and now and then the sun would peak through.

I spent the morning in the house.  I worked on that blasted feathered star quilt and did up the cucumbers that Beth gave me, in to dill pickles.  There were quite a few teeny tiny ones.  Beth suggested that I put those in half pint jars......little mini dill pickles.  (Beth has lots of fun ideas!)  So that's what I did!  I don't know how they will taste, if they will be crisp, but they sure are cute in their little jars, with their little clove of garlic and little sprig of dill!!!!

I spent a fair amount of time this morning cutting 1 1/2 inch squares for the feathered star quilt.

This is part of the tedium of the project.  But, it will be worth it in the end.

Dill pickles!  Cucumbers from Beth, garlic and dill from my garden.

I think these little half pint jars are so cute!

I spent some time outside this afternoon. The flower beds were too wet to work in so I decided to clean up the raspberry patch.

So, the raspberry patch is always a mess by this time of year.  

Here's a little closer look.

And the view from the other direction.

And now, doesn't that look better?  I think the black berry on the end is going to go away this fall.  It does an awful lot of growing and not much producing!

It always looks so nice when all the old wood is cleaned up and cleared away.

Speaking of messes, my tomato patch is a terrible mess!  I know what I need to do to clean it up, but I just never get around to doing it.  I need to get Reynald to help me make some heavy duty cages to corral them up and off the ground, then I need to prune them hard and often.  The trouble with the pruning part is that usually needs to be done during harvest, and then after harvest and then during seeding.  That's kind of a busy time and it just doesn't get done.  But, getting cages around them, would help a ton.

Just look at this jungle.  It's almost impossible to pick the fruit.  

But the reward is worth the effort....

Reynald checked off a project on his "honey do" list.  I wanted a way to hang the garlic in the cellar. I had these two trees that I scoured from a junk pile.  Reynald had to fashion a way to hang them.  I found an old hook that I picked up in the field with the cultivator this spring.  He used that for one hanger, and the other he used a broken horse shoe that he welded to a square piece of something, both items I also picked up in the field with the cultivator!  I'm so thrilled with how this turned out.

Roni and I harvest the garlic earlier this summer.  I dug the bulbs and she did the braiding.

This is a closer view of the found hook!  

And the other tree, that doesn't have anything hanging from it yet.  I'm hoping to cut some lavender one of these days soon.  Hoping would be the key word here!

Now isn't this just so cool?  That broken horse shoe welded on to this square of metal?  

 Here are few photos of the squash patch and some pretty flowers!!

Not sure where this huge pumpkin came from?  I don't remember planting a variety that was supposed to get this big?

A group of pumpkins, more the size I thought that I had planted.

There will be no shortage of butternut squash this fall!  

I took this photo to show that my garden isn't big enough!  The pumpkins are reaching half way across the gravel to the windmill and the grapes are out of control.  That's another thing I need to do a better job of managing next year.

I really love marigolds.  These I planted from seed.  Just kind of threw them out and they grew!

Another favorite are these rudbekia.  They are so bright and cheerful.

A color variation that I'm just crazy about!

Dinner on the porch tonight, snuggled under the porch quilts,watching the amazing sunset.....

A beautiful sunset.

RAIN!!!

The most amazing thing happened today.  It rained, and it rained and it rained!!!  We ended up with an inch and a quarter.  Pretty incredible, since before today, we had received .97 of an inch since April 1st.   Goodness.  It is welcome relief and just what we all needed.  Our seeding conditions were dismal until today.  Now, we will wait a few days for this moisture to soak in and hit the ball, getting those wheat seeds in the ground, to germinate and happily grow!

Can you see how dark the soil is after the rain?  It hasn't looked like this all year....

After the rain finished, there were still some impressive clouds hanging around.

The plants are breathing a deep sigh, as they are finally washed off from the terrible dust storm that happened last Saturday.

It's been so hot and dry this season.  In spite of that, this rose is giving it one last shot!

And this clematis!  Alicia cut it down to the ground in July and here it is, back again, and blooming!  When it blooms next spring, it will be on this growth, which means the blossoms will be double instead of single like they are now.

I spent the morning in my sewing room.  It's time to focus on this feathered star block that will be the Christmas quilt for our bed.  I am currently assembling parts.  I am so easily distracted away from this project because it is so intricate and time consuming.  But, the time has come.  I must finish it!  I've set October 1st as my completion goal, which may be ambitious because there's still a lot of farm work to do, not to mention yard and garden, but it's a goal!

I think I have posted this before.  I have three blocks out of 25, finished.  But, I do have a lot of pieces put together.  One day I will just start picking up pieces and putting them in order and suddenly a quilt will appear!

AND.....it's September which means it's time to change the dishes to sunflower colors!  K, if I had to pick only one color, (which would be totally unreasonable to ask!) I would choose this brown.  I really love brown!!!

September is sunflower month!  Brown and yellow......

Hiding out!

Yesterday was a miserable weather day.  The wind blew and the dust stormed!  It was all predicted, so Baxter and I hid out in the basement most of the day.  Every time I thought it was safe to come up, it was not!  This morning we had 368 drops of rain!  It smells so good but hasn't done much in the way of washing off all the dust on EVERYTHING!

So, since I was hiding, I worked on Oliver's car quilt!  (Twist my arm just a little harder!)  I think it turned out really cute!!  I also changed the quilt in the guest room to the fall quilt.  I think I've posted a few photos of this earlier in the year, but here are a couple more.  My goal is to have seasonal quilts for all the beds!  It's a quick and easy way to decorate.  That will keep me busy for a few years!

Oliver's car quilt.  Oops, forgot to twist it before I posted......sorry.  It's cute though, don't you think?

Baxter just passed out for most of the day. 

This sleeping position just cracked me up!

Here's the fall quilt for the guest room.

I knew I wanted to do this quilt in browns (imagine that!) but I didn't think it would look this nice in this purple room.  Hard to tell how nice the colors work together from this photo, but they do.  

Sweatshirt blanket

When Roni was home this summer, she got the idea to make a "sweatshirt" blanket out of many of her old treasures.  She had sweatshirts from high school, college and graduate school.  Also had some that represented Alicia's high school and college days.  Hmm......I guess she didn't have one from Alicia's graduate school, but that's ok.  There were plenty to use.

She also used a few t-shirts from high school.  She fused those on to sweatshirts, so that the weight and stretch would be the same during construction and also for use.

A few years ago she made a t-shirt quilt from her Saint Martin's basketball t-shirts.  It's really fun, and is in use nearly every day in Boston.  This is a little different look, also very fun!

The finished product!  

High school volley ball.....

High school basketball.......

Another high school volleyball......

Obviously,  state golf......

Undergraduate college basketball.......

Think Pink is college basketball.  Every high school sweatshirt had her name on the back!

Alicia's high school.  This is particularly funny since Interlochen is a Fine Art's school!  

Alicia's undergraduate college.  Hook 'Em Horns!

Roni Jo's graduate school.  Congratulations to Dr. Roni  Jo Mielke   DPT, PT!  It's official!  She is a licensed physical therapist!

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

No doubt you have heard about the terrible wild fires that are burning in Washington state right now. So many folks are involved in battling the blazes.  Homes have been lost, property destroyed, and the ultimate tragedy, three firefighters lost their lives last week.

Our hearts go out to all involved.

In our area, the smoke has been hanging low for a few weeks now.  Friday morning I took this photo of the morning sun and the windmill.  I know it is much worse in the areas closer to the fires, but I thought this was a descriptive image of what it looks like here.

Friday morning sun trying to burn through a heavy veil of smoke.

The smoke only got heavier as the day progressed.

Visibility on Friday was less than a quarter mile.  

Saturday the smoke cleared out, but was back on Sunday.  

Though it seems bad here, it could be, and is, a lot worse else where, so we mustn't complain.  

Shove Off!

We launched the SS Rolinco this week and headed south to Lewis and Clark Trail state park near Dayton WA.  Roni Jo and Alicia were still home and were so looking forward to the trip.  Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jo joined us as well and we had a wonderful time.

We all used the time to relax, and read, or work on projects.  We had terrific meals, and did a little touring.  Dayton is close by, and a darling little town.  Walla Walla is only 20 miles away, and home to many wineries.

Here are a few photos of our three day cruise!

The SS Rolinco, leaving Rolinco Rd.

Arrived at the camp ground, waiting for dinner to cook!

Grandma and grandpa drove up and set up, just in time for dinner.

It's always fun to have a bouquet of the local flora on the table.

Reynald grilling pork chops for dinner.

Oh man, they were soooooooo good!

I made a table cloth to keep in the motor home, and it was just perfect for covering the camp picnic table for our meals.

Baxter was on guard duty the entire time!

Roni and her book!

This is a series she read in high school which she re-visited for this trip!

Grandma had a cross stitch project that she was working on.

Alicia was working on knitting a sweater.  There was a darling yarn shop in Dayton that we just had to check out!

Reynald reading the new way, with his kindle instead of a paper back like Roni!

Grandpa did a fair amount of kindle reading as well, but right now, he's just enjoying the day!

I brought along a stitching project.  This is a monthly embroidery piece that is my current "carry project".  That means it stays in a carry bag to take in the car or the SS Rolinco!

We saw a sign for Strawberry-Rhubarb pie in Dayton.

Alicia went in and bought a piece for Reynald.  When asked if it was as good as Rolinco Road pie, he correctly answered, "not even close".  He'll be running for public office soon!

More amazing food!  This was our pot cooking meal, plus corn from the garden, dinner rolls and a nice glass of wine.

I had to snap this fast because Reynald inhaled this meal!

One morning we played the farming game for a couple hours.  The girls love this game!

This is one of the wineries that we visited and did a tasting.  

It's an old school building that has been renovated to house the L'Ecole winery.  It's absolutely charming.

We tasted 7 wines and came home with four!

Not sure if Baxter would flunk out of school here or not.  The horses across the street were terribly distracting to him!

Also stopped here to sample some wines.  This is Waterbrook.  Beautiful grounds, though I would have to do a little more weeding than they do.   The wine was good, but not as good as L'Ecole, in my opinion.  

It was a very hot day, 100 degrees, but it was cool and refreshing at the Pioneer Park in Walla Walla.

Many trees in this park are over 100 years old.

Roni Jo found a "sitting tree".  

Grandma and grandpa and Roni Jo and Alicia posing for a photo at the "sitting tree".

Reynald wanted to show how big around some of these trees are!

Here's the other half!

This tree will need to grow a few more years!!!

Baxter was obsessed with the squirrels at the park.  He tried his best to climb up the trees after them!  Here's Reynald giving him a boost!