We've hit the dog days of summer, when we seem to abandon our computers and blogs for the comfort of a hammock or swing in the shade, a summer read and a cold drink. It's been ages since I had a good idea for a blog, but I wanted to let my friends know that I'm still here.
I've been going to physical therapy. My knee still hurts, but much less. I like the woman who is working with me, despite the tortures she devises for me twice a week. We discussed the exercise program Elegante Mother and I attend, and agreed that it might be good to avoid any of the floor work that goes side to side, until my knee strength is better. So, I modify what we do in class a bit.
I got into the front garden for an hour about two weeks ago. Sunday morning I hope to get more done along the sidewalk. If the weather is good, I'll use the string trimmer at the front of the house, too. The gardens were beginning to get that burnt look when we FINALLY got a healthy rain on Thursday morning. I'll need to use the watering wand, to more heavily water the new transplants, but the rain saved a lot of parched-looking plants.
Last Sunday I cut the pieces for a wall hanging from the run of fabric that you'll see in one of the next entries. It's the second in a series using this fabric. Cop Car, you'll be happy to know that I'm still thinking about the third one. Tuesday and Wednesday I pieced the blocks. Thursday I cut the setting triangles, and today I pieced most of the rows. I hope that tomorrow I will be able to sew the rows together and choose a border.
I think my stash is procreating. I KNOW that I've made four wall hangings in the past few weeks, but it seems like there is more of this fabric now than when I started. If I really want to use it up, I'll be making wall hangings for the next year or two!
Quilting bee met here tonight. Occasionally this group is in really good spirits and can find things to chat about until close to 11:00 at night. Tonight was just the opposite. We actually quit about 45 minutes early. Everyone was simply ready to close down, and they were out of the house and down the driveway by 9:45. Thank you Bee....you've given me the time to post tonight!
I plan to crash shortly. My goal for tomorrow is to make a very early run on the Farmer's Market, and then stop at Target on the way home. If it's convenient, I'll get the car washed, and pick up the dry cleaning. I hope to spend the rest of the day finishing the wall hanging, and perhaps planning the next.
This weekend, it's going to be the girls and Ed again, as Dear Husband sails across the southern end of Lake Michigan. EM loves bruschetta. I was thinking about making bruschetta, and serving either shrimp cocktail, or shrimp scampi for dinner. I'm still pondering what's for dinner Sunday.
Dear Husband has asked for stuffed green peppers for dinner one night, so I've put that on the list. Several of my relatives prefer stuffed RED peppers, or any color other than green. I might cook a red or yellow pepper just to see if Elegante Mother likes them better than the green pepper. I have a watermelon I plan to cut up for dessert.
I have harvested the first of my miniature yellow pear tomatoes. The early cherry tomatoes are gone, but there are several cluster developing. I'll have to be sure to water the plants to avoid blossom end rot.
So, my days are following the traditional summer plan: gardening, reading, cooking, visits to the Farmer's Market, and quilting, with little things thrown in here and there. I need to make time to see what you have all been doing. Stay cool!
Comments (12)
Your knee must be getting better. You are talking about strengthening it, rather than just surviving! *g* Do you not have nutsedge or bind weed? You must not if you can spend an hour every second week on your front garden. I keep telling myself that if I can just keep plugging away, I shall outlast all of the little seeds that have been hiding for the years since we first planted. The mulching helps, but does not solve the problem. *wistfully wishing it would*
With fabric, it is either feast or famine--having oodles and gobs left over or scrimping to get the required pieces cut from it. I'm anxious to see your finished product. Will the jewel-toned quilt be available for admiring?
HH's (Serbian) mother gave me the recipe to her delicious stuffed peppers (I think it is on Cop Car's Chow). She always used green, but I like to use red, yellow, orange peppers, too--although--HH says it can't be a pepper if it isn't green and won't touch the more colorful ones. That just means that I have more of them. Usually, I don't actually stuff a bunch of peppers. I stuff 1, 2, or 3 and just put the rest of the meat mixture into the kettle as meatballs.
Sounds like you have a great plan for the weekend. Hope you, the girls, and your EM enjoy it immensely!
Posted by Cop Car | August 5, 2006 8:24 AM
Posted on August 5, 2006 08:24
I'm so glad your knee is getting a bit better - as CopCar said it must be if you are thinking of exercising it rather than just resting it.
Posted by Adele | August 5, 2006 2:53 PM
Posted on August 5, 2006 14:53
Cop Car, my knee is crabby as hell! I think the weights we use around my ankle may be part of the problem. It's also possible that we have resolved the ligament problem, but overlooked something else.
I never said that one hour every other week is adequate! I just said that was all I'd been able to do! Please come and teach me the names of all those noxious weeds that I'm saying nasty things to.
You hit the nail on the head with the feast or famine concept for quilting fabric. There's one fabric that I could easily use three or four more yards of, and I have checked page after page on line, and even asked my bee members, but it's not to be found! Too bad Moda didn't realize they had a gold mine.
I'll have two tops from the Rhubarb and Ginger line, and two tops from the Green Jacobean line done by the time you get here. I need to start layering them so I can work on the hand quiltng.
I'll check for the green pepper recipe. I have a basic one I follow, but it couldn't hurt to look for another. Thanks, CC!
Posted by buffy | August 5, 2006 4:28 PM
Posted on August 5, 2006 16:28
Adele, I'd LOVE to be excused from those leg exercise, but I've kept to them. I wonder if we're using too much weight, too fast. My physical therapist probably would say we haven't been aggressive enough! At any rate, the PT ends next week, so I better get on with my life, whether my knee hurts or not.
Posted by buffy | August 5, 2006 4:31 PM
Posted on August 5, 2006 16:31
Ooh, Buffy, I wasn't thinking, was I? If I recognize your weeds, I'll be happy to name them for you--and even pull one or two.
Posted by Cop Car | August 5, 2006 5:56 PM
Posted on August 5, 2006 17:56
YOu don't have to weed for me, but I'd love to know the names of some of the interlopers. I used to have a book on the weeds of the North Central US....but I think it must have been packed away somewhere.
Posted by buffy | August 5, 2006 10:40 PM
Posted on August 5, 2006 22:40
My psychology works against me, Buffy. When I see weeds (even if they are in the plantings about a business--or the Red Cross building), my arm automatically reaches out and my fingers assume a weed-pulling stance. I don't like to weed, but it has been such a part of my life that I can't stop myself! Talk about (the censor doesn't want me to use c-o-m-p-u-l-s-i-o-n-s!)
Elder Brother and I earned money by pulling weeds for neighbors when we lived in Tulsa, and we left Tulsa when I was 8 years old so you know that we were young! (Elder brother is 2 years the elder.)
Posted by Cop Car | August 6, 2006 9:57 AM
Posted on August 6, 2006 09:57
Hey! What a discovery. Your censor can be side-stepped by spelling words out. (It's your blog's "inner child!" It hasn't yet learned about spelling.)
Posted by Cop Car | August 6, 2006 9:59 AM
Posted on August 6, 2006 09:59
CC...I need to be more careful about what I ban. The other day "google.com" got ditched. I didn't realize there was a way around the censor. Leave it to you to find it! *G*
I seem to have that same need. I had to forcefully hold my hands together when I was visiting my sister-in-law's garden. It wouldn't have done to notice the errant weed or two.
Posted by buffy | August 6, 2006 3:09 PM
Posted on August 6, 2006 15:09
Guess the heat of the summer is affecting your quilting group? You have a positive take on that... you could share with us. :)
EM is not the only one that loves Bruschetta... omg I love that stuff!
I have not made stuffed peppers... you can be very stimulating for ones cullinary desires... I may have to make better use of my kitchen!
Farmers markets... wonderful! I have got a taste for that and now eagerly anticipate Saturday mornings... we have such a very awesome farmers market in my new home city.
Posted by Desiree | August 9, 2006 4:58 AM
Posted on August 9, 2006 04:58
oh... and btw, continuued hope and good wishes sent for that knee of yours.
Posted by Desiree | August 9, 2006 4:59 AM
Posted on August 9, 2006 04:59
Hey, Desiree! The stuffed green peppers were quite a hit, and they are readily available at the Farmer's market. I've been eying the eggplants, trying to decide if I want to make Eggplant Parmesan or not. The recipe is not difficult, but there are a lot of steps to it. On the other hand....it's a bit of heaven to eat! You need to get out and see what's available in your area. Take the kids and have them carry your finds. Or, leave the kids at home and go with your husband. It's just about time for home grown tomatoes here, so we'll be doing bruschetta regularly! *G* It's one of the best things about summer!
I'll see if I can get pictures of the tops that I've finished, and post them. I know that when talking about quilts, a picture is worth MORE than a thousand words, here.
Thanks for the kind word about my knee. I hope that you get some good news soon. I can really understand the need to be well again, and how frustrating it has to be to have to start over.
Posted by buffy | August 10, 2006 8:37 AM
Posted on August 10, 2006 08:37