Happy Birthday, Maw!

Happy Birthday to my mother-in-law, Myrtle! Hope you have a great day!

I am writing this from the wood shed at Jenny Lake. I'm in the wood shed because that is where I can access (with permission) faster internet from our neighbor, Howard.

For those of you who have been to Jenny Lake, I can tell you that we are into our second "Jenny Lake" kind of day. It is current 80-plus degrees on the porch and the sun is shining! Life is good.

Jim and I arrived here on Thursday afternoon after a stop in Syracuse to give Corey his banjo and a stop in St. Johnsville to have lunch at the Hungry Bear. We got to work and got leaves raked, the roof cleaned off, water running, a fire going, and the dock in. That was all before dinner!

Friday morning dawned cool and clear and we got the boat in and some more leaves raked. Then we went to Saratoga so Jim could run at the State Park. I tagged along and went to the yarn store. We returned to camp and Gram and GrandDad arrived shortly after lunch. They were pleased with the work that we did and the 4 of us puttered around for the afternoon. Howard, of Neighbor Net, came for a Bean Soup supper and it was an enjoyable meal with him, catching up on news from both camps.

After dinner we walked to the new Arnold camp that is under construction and it is going to be quite spectacular. The place includes a huge stone fireplace and 5 bedrooms, all with a lake view!

Today has been a gem! It is a perfect summer day, without the noise from the beach (not that that has ever been a problem) or the steady stream of people on the front path. We did a bit more work around camp and Gram and I went into Corinth. All is well there.

Jim and GrandDad actually went in for a swim this afternoon after Jim came back from his run. The air temp is in the 80's, but the water temp is 54!! It will be tough to go home tomorrow!

I have done a bunch of spinning and tonight will re-start Tucker's sweater. Tucker I will let you know later, about a change I had to make on your sweater. Don't worry, there is no "whimsey!"

So, that's all from sunny, warm, Jenny Lake. Photos when I get home.

Hope all is well.

Happy Birthday Tucker!

Today is Tucker's 25 birthday. Happy Birthday Tucker!

Here are 2 photos for you, Tucker. The first one is of a "plate" at Tahoes~since I couldn't bake you a birthday cake.

The second one is one of my favorites.

Enjoy your day!

The Work Continues

The work on the sun porch continues. We have enlisted (incarcerated, shanghaied!) the help of GrandDad to do some wood working on the porch. The 4.5 inch shelf under the windows was water-warped and dried out from the sun, so GrandDad has removed the old wood pieces and cut some new ones. I will do the staining and then he will nail them down. He will add some corner moulding on the edge to give it a finished look. 

Jim and I had to make a trip to Home Depot to get the plywood for the shelf, and the Home Depot people were kind enough to cut the 4X8 board in half lengthwise so we could get it in the Vibe. See photo.

Since we moved most of the stuff from the porch to the basement, the basement was a disaster so I have spent most of the past 2 days down there throwing things away, donating things, cleaning and re-organizing. Tucker and Corey, do you want your Disney autograph books? I think my sewing stuff is going to fit quite nicely down there and be more accessible than it was on the porch, especially in the winter. 

I have been shopping for some furniture for the porch and have found a couple of things that I like. The first is a chair, like this one.

And to accomodate Corey's request for someplace he could nap, Gram and I went to the store called Futons and More today and I found this futon, which I liked and met our needs. Corey, please note that I am testing it out for you!!

I'm not going to buy the furniture this week, but I do need to make a decision on the chairs because they are at Home Depot and will get sold out as soon as the warm weather becomes a permanent resident around here.

Today was a nicer day than was originally forecasted. After taking my car to have new tires installed, I decided I could not spend this beautiful, sunny morning in the basement so I went for a quick bike ride. 

Tucker sent us some photos of his adventures last weekend. He went to Moab, for some pre-birthday celebrating, and got some rock climbing and mountain biking in. Check out these pictures and try not to be too envious!

Tomorrow I have to go into school to work on the school newsletter. It is so hard to get it done when I am teaching 10 classes a day, that I decided to give up a day of my vacation and get it well under way.

Tomorrow we are going out to dinner with Bob and Sally, a treat for Sally and I because we don't have bell rehearsal. 

I put our buffet table for sale on Craigslist and have had some interest in it. I may show it tomorrow night before going to dinner.

Hope all is well. 

Spring Break!

Here it is Sunday night and I am not in my "school night" routine. This week is our spring break and I look forward to having a different schedule and different responsibilities. 

Here is some catch-up info: Corey had an OK race on Friday night at Princeton. He was disappointed with his time, but his coach was thrilled that he was feeling like racing so soon after getting over mono.  And considering Corey's past and current health and his level of training, he did just fine. Here is a blurry photo from the race (tough to take good photos of runners at night!!). Corey is the 5th from the right~can you see his new haircut?!

Yesterday I went to a bridal shower for the daughter, Jennifer, of one of my Women's Weekend buddies. It was a lovely party with good food and lots of laughs. Here is a photo of us playing one of those really fun bridal shower party games!

My project for the next few days is to convert our sun porch from a catch-all room to a usable 3-season room. Today we moved all my sewing stuff to the basement and then made decisions about all the other stuff out there. We threw away a lot of stuff that we haven't used in years and will no doubt throw away some more stuff as I look for a place for it in the basement. One of the hardest things I decided to throw away were all my sewing patterns. A few years ago I tried to sell them in a garage sale, but had no takers. So today I looked at each one, remembered what I made from that pattern and then put it in the trash. I saved a few that I thought were things I might make some day. 

I will shop for some casual furniture for this room, with attention given to Corey's request~something he can nap on in the sun porch! Tucker sent us a beautiful blanket from Mexico and I plan on decorating around that, as much as I decorate around anything. Maybe we'll call the room, the Mexican room and we'll invite you over for Margaritas! 

I've put a buffet table that was in our dining room for a long time and then moved to the porch when we got new dining room furniture, for sale on Craigslist. It would be nice to get something for it since we don't need it anymore. Here is a photo of the table. Any interest out there?

I took a "before" photo of the sun porch and will take an "after" photo when the project is complete (or nearly complete) and will post both here on the blog. 

I got a nice bike ride in yesterday morning, before the traffic picked up and it was delightful. The weather forecast does not sound to encouraging for bike rides, but that's OK, it is still early in the bike riding season.

I sent a skein of handspun yarn to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival Skein and Garment Competition committee and I am anxious to get their feedback on my spinning. The yarn I submitted is a 3-ply yarn, and this was my first attempt with that technique. 

While reading one of the knitting blogs that I follow, I saw that the writer had included a photo of some pretty flowers in her yard. I had the same flowers and she called them Siberian Squill. Now, I have always called those flowers "Those Little Blue Flowers in the Backyard", but now I know~they are Squills! What a funny name! So here is my Squill photo:

Hope all is well.