Monthly Archives: August 2013

Blessed Rain

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Early this morning I woke to the sound of rain on the roof.  It takes a pretty good storm to hear that rain because of the dead air above our bedroom and below the roof.  The forecast had only called for a 30% chance of rain today, so I thought it might be just a passing little storm.

Before I was dressed and ready to start my toast we had a brilliant flash of lightening.  I counted not quite to ten, I think, and then the longest peal of thunder rolled through the valley and SHOOK THE HOUSE.  It actually shook for several seconds.  Our house is extremely well built.  To hear it rattle was shocking.  I actually wondered if there might have been a terrorist attack at Fermi.

The rain abated, and I had breakfast and then got started in the studio pinning a quilt.  The wind picked up and the trees were whipping around and the heavens opened a second time.  We have finally had a wonderful day of rain.  Well, not an entire day, but most of it.  I was saved from having to schlep the hose around.  I could see the gardens perking up.

I love rainy days!

 

Little Birds

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Cop Car….do NOT ask what KIND of little birds!

I was sitting at the sewing machine yesterday, looking out the window over the garden that surrounds the front sidewalk, and this really big bug flew by.  Wait…..it’s not a bug, it’s a HUMMINGBIRD!!!

I have a buddlea  shrub in the gardens, a butterfly bush.  It’s one of those with the raspberry colored pannicles. There were several hummers checking it out.  The birds were a medium sage green.   I couldn’t really see their wings because they were beating so fast.  I’ve seen pictures of ruby-throated hummingbirds, but I didn’t see any red on these birds.  When they were finished with the butterfly bush, they moved on to the red bud tree, just checking to see if there was anything else that interested them.

The butterfly bush also provided me the chance to see the first monarch butterfly of the summer!

Later, working at the kitchen sink, I discovered that hummingbirds and gold finches were swarming over the herb garden.  They both were checking out the purple cone flowers, and the hummers liked the basil.  The catnip was filled with finches, something drabber than the goldfinches.

I wouldn’t be offended if you called me “a country mouse.”  I do love the view out my windows!

Yet Living

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Baby Blues Resized

I haven’t posted for some time because I’ve been busy working on projects in my studio.  I had three lap quilts to finish for Scraps on a Mission, and I cut out the pieces for two baby quilts.  I also sewed the blocks together for the last of the five twin-sized quilts that will be given to a women’s shelter from our Scraps on a Mission group.

One of the baby quilts is for a woman who has lost everything.  Her home has burned down, her dad has died, and now she is preparing to bring a little boy into the world in September.  It seemed to me that the least I could do was to make a baby quilt for that little  guy.  The picture of the quilt at the top of this page is what I made for them last week.

At breakfast yesterday with a friend who is in my charity quilting group, I described the quilt, and she suggested that we also send one of the cowboy fabric quilts that we’ve made.  The little blue quilt is just 40″ x 40″, but we can send a larger one he can use as he grows.  Another member of the group, upon hearing the story, said that SHE had a quilt that we could send!  I love the generosity that has just risen up for this woman we don’t even know.

Disappointment

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I am so disappointed.  The day started out so well.  I was up early and working in the garden while it was still covered with God’s air conditioning.  I weeded and got almost all of the plants into the ground that had been waiting for me.  I pruned and watered and really enjoyed being out in the sun.

Part of the pleasure came from the fact that my favorite landscaper had finally arrived to give me a hand with the mid-summer clean up.  We have so many gardens that I can no longer keep up with them on my own.  I hire Jose and his crew once during the growing year, and once again to put the gardens to bed for the winter.  Jose got his crew started and then disappeared.  The guys did a fabulous job cleaning at the north end of the garage and around the apple tree.  They pulled the overgrown weeds from the raised veggie beds which are too shady now for veggies.  They cleaned out the poison ivy from the pear tree bed, and weeded across most of the front of the house, and the day lilly bed on the south side.

It was looking fabulous, and then one of them started to work in the herb garden. I wanted them to pull the weeds from the chat in the walk way.  I also wanted them to cut back the lemon balm to about 6″.  Somehow, through lack of English, and the fact that I didn’t understand that THEY didn’t understand, they though I wanted them to trim back plants from the raised boxes that were growing over the sides of the boxes.

Nope.  That wasn’t what I wanted.  With a gas powered cutter in about 30 seconds the sage, day liles and the most beautiful huge  winter savory plant were reduced to stubs.  I was screaming at him from the kitchen window,  but he couldn’t hear.

They’ll grow back, but not this season.  They’ll look mostly stunted until next year.

In the future I’m going to have to be out there working with them.  I’ll hire them again, but I’ll be underfoot to be sure they do what I want them to do.

The rest of the gardens and several non-garden areas look great.  They’ve done a good job, but I’m really sad about  the sage and winter savory.  Dear Husband will say to me, “In a hundred years, will this matter?”  No.  Maybe not even by snowfall will it matter.  I’m just sad today..

The Dentist

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Twenty years ago the title of this post would have been “The Dreaded Dentist,”  but I’ve been working with a woman the past 23 years who has helped me get over some of the fear I have of dental work.  My periodontist has asked for the complete set of x-rays so that he can determine if I have had any bone loss.  I decided to ask the dentist to do the x-rays because we have worked on techniques to put me at ease that the periodontist doesn’t do.

I arrived at the office at 6:40, twenty minutes early.  I wasn’t sure how bad rush hour traffic would be, and whether I might have to wait on commuter trains.  The dentist arrived about five minutes to seven, and we got started on time.  She had to take EIGHTEEN x-rays.  The new office assistant was developing them as they were taken.  Unfortunately, she didn’t realize that the films had to be put through the machine in a carrier.  So, the machine ate them. (sigh)  I had to take four or five of them a second time, but they were the ones in the front, which bother me the least.

I waited for half an hour for the doc to be able to read all the x-rays.  That was almost worse than actively taking the  x-rays, but finally I was free to go home.

There was a message on my answering machine.  Doc was looking at the films and wants to take three of them again.  She feels the camera angle can be improved to show there isn’t anything bad going on.  (sigh)  I’ll have to go back.

I want to record that I behaved myself in the dentist’s office today.  I was pleasant, and easy to work with.  But, I really would like to get things like this over with in one try.

Funeral

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It’s been a sad week at Chez Buffy.  My second sister lost her significant other a week ago, and his wake was held Tuesday, his funeral was Wednesday.  My oldest sister, My-Sister-The-Nurse is visiting her daughter in England, and as the matriarch of the family, she would normally be the one of us to organize the family to support our sister.   Since she has taken a friend with her, there was no question of her returning.   Dear Husband and I stepped up to be sure there was a family presence.  I wish more of us had been able to attend.   My sister is so very frail.  I worry for her.

Quilting Bee

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Seven ladies who quilt come to visit at my house the first Friday of each month. We don’t have an official name, and we all seem to have our own specialty within quilting.  We bring new acquisitions and old and new projects to share, and we chat.  We chat and we eat.

Usually at the meeting close to the Fourth of July we have an indoor picnic.  Everyone signs up to bring something to share, and Dear Husband and I provide the meat.  This year three of our members were going to be away, so we moved the picnic to the August meeting.  Despite the shift, we still had just five members in attendance tonight, but it was a very pleasant gathering.

Knowing that some of the ladies would be away, I decided that I should cook a bit more than usual.  Another quilting friend had shared a recipe for pulled pork that I wanted to try.  I planned to broil bratwurst and hot dogs for those who might not care for the pulled pork.  I made a cold corn salad, deviled eggs, hamburger baked beans and Hot German potato salad.  I also made a peach pie, just in case the dessert lady was one of the absentees.

By 4:00 or so my feet really hurt, and I still had an hour of preparation to go.  The back door opened and Dear Husband walked in, home from the lake.  I had expected him around 8:00, but it was rainy, so he came home early.  DH took over the broiling duties while I finished the potato salad.

One lady brought spinach dip as an appetizer.  Another brought ciabatta rolls.  A third brought romaine, avocados and a wonderful lemony vinaigrette., and the fourth provided Key Lime pie.  I knew we would have way too much food, so I’d picked up containers that I could use to send food home with each of the ladies.

One of the ladies washed the plates and serving pieces for me, and another dried.  I put things away and made a second container of iced tea, and we sat down to chat.  It was a very laid back, lovely meeting.  Oddly, no one bought anything to work on. Hopefully, that will make next month’s show and tell that much more exciting!

There’s a HAWK

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,,,sitting not 15 feet away from me on a branch of the magnolia outside the office window.  He’s been there for at least  fifteen minutes, sitting and watching for little visitors or meals to come by.

I’ve looked on-line for pictures of hawks to determine what kind of hawk he is, and my best guess is a Red-tailed hawk.  He’s sitting with his back to me.  He’s at least twelve inches tall, probably more.  He has a brown back with white speckles or spots lining the outer sides of his back.  He has white-ish gray feathers folded behind his tail feathers, and it looks as though there are white-ish stripes on the back of his head.  He’s a very handsome bird.  Hmmm…no red tail.  I’ll have to check the bird books.

He’s sitting on a shaded branch where the forsythia in front gives him cover.  HIs head has been swiveling, watching everything around him.  I thought for a moment that he might be aware of me, when the cloud cover made the light from the monitor more obvious, but he didn’t leave.

I’m on the opposite side of the house from the bird feeders.  This is the first time I can remember having seen a bird this large so close to this side of the house.  Usually we see them using the bird feeders to hunt up a meal.

He ruffled his feathers and there are considerably more white feathers than I realized.

My quilting bee is coming to dinner.  I can’t stay to watch any longer, darn it!