Catch Up Post

I forgot that I'd taken pics of  Bryce Eleanor's travel journal and the plaque she brought us back from their vacation.  She did a great job, and I'm surprised she had any time to work on it as busy as they were!

Fee leveled the fountain again and now it doesn't need refilling as often.  

Yay, Fee!  He may take a while getting around to the chores

I list for him, but eventually they get done.  :)

Remember when I posted about the garden bells Debra's students made?

She sent me one! 

I've hung it on the patio, but will have Fee fix me a place in the garden soon.

I was dancing with joy when I opened it :)

Thanks so much, Debra, I adore it!

The little crown at the top is a favorite ;)

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 Fourth of July at the camp 

We went down to the camp on Wednesday, but came into town a couple of times.
The kids went to see Spiderman and one day we came in for lunch.

On Saturday, we went to Natchitoches for a cruise on the Cane River--
but when we got there that the river boat was having mechanical problems. 

Natchitoches is the oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase, a beautiful
town with a French flavor and wonderful old architecture.

I took a few pictures from the river front.

We came home last night to sleep in our own beds, but will be 
heading back down to the camp for a couple of hours .

Hope everyone had a happy Fourth of July!

Final Days of June

On the bird feeder, a red wing blackbird!  They aren't rare, but I've never had one in the garden, and I was excited.  Little things.  :)  

I continue the ongoing battle with aphids and their attraction to my milkweed plants.  Having tried the soapy water (finally, even adding a little Neem oil), the most efficient method of destroying the little buggers seems to be examining the plants daily and using my garden gloves, smushing them by hand.  Now, I'm going to have to try diatomaceous earth, which I've recently read about.  Last year was the first time they became a problem, but I really want them to leave my milkweed plants alone.  

"Young nymphs increase gradually in size and within a week give birth to many more nymphs....
Most aphids, except for the sexual forms, do not have to mate in order to reproduce, and they produce live young, rather than eggs."  Source

Why it is so important to me to keep my milkweed plants healthy:  Pollinator Cities Really Could Save the Monarachs.

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Two of my favorite people:  daughter Erin and long-time friend Ren.  They make me laugh-- both of them are witty and funny.

Erin and Ren

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I love words and on Naomi's blog she mentions some of the words for rain in Scotland:  

"Musical, melodic words like spindrift (spray whipped up by the wind) and aftak (an easing or lull in a storm or rain). Hilarious, fun-to-say words that you’d swear were made up, like drookit (absolutely drenched) and daggle (to fall in torrents).

And words that seem to be plucked straight out of a Scottish novel, transporting you through time and space to a place where “wild” still holds meaning, and ghosts in tartan haunt your imaginings. Yillen (a shower of rain, especially with wind), uplowsin (heaving rain), smirr (a fine rain drizzle), and goselet (a soaking, drenching, downpour)."

We've had some goselets here lately, but my favorite is spindrift--as long as I'm inside, that is.   

The many Scottish descriptions of rain kind of reminds me of Smilla's Sense of Snow.

   

 And somewhere I found this Swedish word:

Gokotta--The act of waking early in the morning with the purpose of going outside and listening to the first birds sing."  

How specific and concise! 

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Mail

from Connie

:) she used one of the old envelopes she found

Below I used an image Connie sent me 

on a postcard "Thank You" to Bryce Eleanor--the cat-lady-in-training.

 to niece Maggie, also a cat and animal lover

back

This is worth a smile.

Friday!

 Erin was in town yesterday, and we had lunch at Retro 521 

in the East Bank District.  Delightful daughter and delicious lunch!

Garden

Outgoing Mail

 I took advantage of the back to include another 

Will Rogers' quote and stamp.

The Delray Beach Historical Society

will have a Snail Mail Camp

for the second year in a row!

And Away We Go

Mail:  I'm almost caught up with answering letters! 

 

Incoming Mail

Outgoing Mail 

Garden:  Still a work in progress, and I keep finding things I need or want to do.  It doesn't help that I keep looking at Pinterest gardens.  :)

Books/Reading:  I have a bunch of posts scheduled for my book blog because I get ARCs from publishers sometimes months in advance of publication, it is difficult to remember the book unless I go ahead and write and schedule a review quickly.  I'm not sure what that says about me, or at least I don't want to confront the possibility.

Family:  Mila is sixteen and now has her driver's license!  It is much more difficult to get a license now than it was when I was young, and I'm glad they are much more stringent.  Erin, Max, and Mila are among the volunteers greeting and handing out snacks and necessities to asylum seekers at the Greyhound Station as they pass through Baton Rouge.  

Amelia, Chris, and B.E. are in Italy for another week!  They seem like they've been having a great time!

For Fun--although true.

Labor Day Done and Greeting September

We had a wonderful long Labor Day Weekend with Erin and her crew down in the country.  It was (unbelievably) about ten degrees cooler than the previous weekend, and  we actually got some rain!  Katie brought baby Mack and Hallie Greer for a visit on Saturday and Teresa and Matthew came down for a while on Sunday night.  Lots of catching up.  :)

It takes me some time to readjust when anything breaks up my established routine, but I'm getting back into the swing of things now.  I worked on Scaredy Cat and put her together.

Scaredy Cat in progress

A few details added, and she's done.

Even though it is early, she wants her time in the spotlight.

A couple of Autumn dolls decided to make their annual appearances on the mantel.

Books/Reading

My favorite recent read was an ARC: The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye.  Her writing held me in awe, and the plot and the characters were exceptional.  Lyndsay Faye's  Jane Steele, a strange and fascinating retelling of Jane Eyre , was very good, but The Paragon Hotel will be on my favorite list for the year.  My review of Jane Steele--I won't be posting the review T P H until closer to publication.

Other recent books that I've enjoyed:  Sharon Bolton's The Craftsman and Wildfire by Ann Cleeves.  I've reviewed both on my book blog.

Mail

I've been neglecting my mail and need to get busy answering some letters.

Hope your Labor Day was full of family, friends, food, and fun!

Baton Rouge Visit

We went to Baton Rouge this weekend to see Erin, and boy, were we surprised to see the lay-out she'd prepared!  All kinds of snacks--prosciutto, goat cheese stuffed croissants, a beautiful lemon bundt cake topped with blackberries, and more!  I was so impressed and thought maybe we'd disrupted a party.   Fee took a few pictures while I was busy moving from thing to another gorging on everything.

Later, we sat outside and visited. 

Eric brought Max and Mila home, then left came back later with Katerina and Emil so we could see him. Emil was so smiley and happy, busy showing off his walking skills and his delight in digging the potting soil out of pots.   Below, he was not happy with having had all the dirt brushed off clothes and shoes.  :)

 Max adores him!

It was a lovely visit in so many ways!

Snowmen

I decided I wanted a snowman, and looked up patterns for fabric balls, but my printer wouldn't work.  Did some measurements and made my own pattern.  

I thought my pattern would make a four piece ball, but when I put it together, I had to add another piece, which worked just fine.  This is the first time I've felt like making eccentric characters in over a year, but suddenly, I'm in the mood to stuff fabric and make clothes for snowmen, and I'm going to try another 4 piece ball with a little adjustment to my pattern.

 Dressing him was fun!

Then...

just as I finished  my snowman, Erin called!

It snowed in Baton Rouge--enough to make real snowmen!

Wow, when was the last time Baton Rouge got snow???

Max and Mila had a blast!

I'm jealous.

Snow is a novelty in Louisiana,

and we never have a chance to get tired of it--

unlike many areas of the country.