Just add butter and salt…

You know what I’m talking about… the first corn of the summer.  Oh, my.  It was wonderful.  Stretch cooked dinner tonight.  Fresh maters, hamburgers and corn on the cob.  It was the first corn of the season.  I was very surprised.  We have had so much rain and our summer has been so strange I had no idea any sweet corn was ready, but this sure was and it was wonderful!  The maters were just right, too.  Bright red and juicy!  Eating that corn all I could think of was those old cartoons where the character sounds like a typewriter and goes up one row of kernels and down the other….   Did I tell you it was really, really good?  It was.

 

I must be crazy!

Chris and Brittany at the train station at the beginning of the trip

My feet hurt!  I’m thirsty!  I’m sooo tired!  The whining!  The agony!  What was I thinking taking a 13 year old to Chicago to see the town in a whirlwind trip on a hot sunny day!  I must be crazy!  Oh, and just to make the record clear… the whining was me.   We started the trip on the train from Geneva, IL to downtown.  That wasn’t too bad.  It was fun watching people who use the train on a daily basis.  One woman paid all of her bills, wrote a lengthy letter (do people still do that?), did some filing in her file-o-fax and just plain got herself all organized.  She had a contraption that fit in her bag that had all this stuff and it was very efficient.  See, I could be organized too if I had to ride 1 hour each way on a train every day!  Not happening!

Brittany wanted this candy bar!

 

 

 

Once in Chicago we looked for the free trolley service offered in the summer months.  It was actually a pretty neat way to get around.  Sure saved us some money.  No parking, no taxis, no bus!  Here is the website and it will give you the details and a map of where all it goes.  We rode the Trolley to the Water Tower.  From there we had to visit the Hershey store.  Brittany was trying to figure out how she could buy the $30 Hershey Bar without having to buy a piece of luggage for it for her trip back home.  That baby would have been melted in the first of hour of our Chicago trip… or gone because some Chocoholics had consumed it and were now feeling sick to their stomachs!
  Chris had to take us to the American Girl Store…. the only thing I can say is it didn’t appear to be hurt by the economy crunches seen elsewhere.  When we left there we were all a little hungry.  I hadn’t eaten breakfast and I was feeling it.  We decided on the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock.  I recommend not going on Tuesday afternoon.  That is the day they have their buffet.  The place was packed! 

Brittany and I went up to the 96th floor and took photos of the city from above to pass the time.  So cool!  By the way the one photo is at the bottom looking up, the other photo is at the top looking out.  I did want to say that the slight list in the photo of the Sears tower is not due to the fault of the wonderful photographer, but rather due to a the wind making the Hancock sway and making me a little of center.  It’s the truth!  Unfortunately, this silly program is frustrating me and I don’t have the patience to mess with it tonight.  The John Hancock photos will have to wait.

Great fun!

After lunch we caught another trolley out to Navy Pier.  We walked that pier from one end to another… my feet hurt, my face looked like a big red balloon!  Chris and I were fighting over whose face was the reddest and I declare myself the winner… no photos!  The highlight of this trip was the Ferris Wheel ride!  OMG!  Just too awesome!  This little site seeing trip was not for those who are afraid of heights. 

Brittany enjoyed the refreshing water after our long, hot day!

Navy Pier was followed by the Millenium Park and the Bean!  Did I say my feet hurt, I was thirsty and tired… so tired I drew it out like I was from the deep south!  Say it for me Brenda!  We took photos at the Bean and stuck our tired tootsies in the water at the fountains and hiked over to Michigan Ave to hail a cab to take us non-stop to the rail station.  Our sorry little butts were going home!

 

Photo Challenge Preview

Niece Brittany and I are in Chicago visiting my sil, Chris.  We woke this morning and headed off to a flea market in Yorkville.  What a gorgeous day!  Sunshine, no humidity, temperature in the mid 70’s.  Couldn’t ask for better.  The flea market was pretty good… although I don’t normally shop flea markets… I might just start now.  I hit the jackpot… or at least feel like I do.  I found some vintage table cloths and fabrics and couldn’t be happier.  When we finished we were sitting around talking and I mentioned I hadn’t seen anything with numbers and that is our next photo theme.  Chris promptly stood up and struck a pose.  Any guesses?

  Next photo is the first purchase.  A vintage table cloth in perfect shape.  Don’t you love the blues?  The soft colors and the wonderful drape of the fabric!  It is fabulous!  The first table cloth was followed by two beautiful blues I found at another stall.  Both were in mint condition and also had a beautiful texture and drape.

At the final stall I found two table cloths in not as good a shape, but the colors were wonderful and at $3 a piece… I couldn’t pass them up.  I also picked up the two vintage hankies for $1 each.

I did learn that by not saying anything the dealer will make me an offer.  I think I can learn to do that!  (You may click on the photos to get a closer look.)

 

Mama Mia can’t get here too soon!

Brittany and I went to the movies today. We both are anxiously awaiting Mama Mia, but we saw Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D… complete with the glasses… so attractive! It’s a fun movie and the best place to see it would be the theater for the 3D effects.

While there they showed the previews for Mama Mia! I have seen the stage show, but I love Meryl Streep and I love, love, love Colin Firth. (Do you know he has a website created by fans and a club called Drool…. I guess I’m not the only one!) As anxious as I am to see the movie… a couple of the tv promos show him moving to music… you know… dancing. EEEEhhhhyyaaa… it’s not pretty. Ruins my whole image of him. I just want him to stand still and look stoic… don’t move! I am hoping when they show the whole thing maybe they will manage to make him look better while moving. Here’s a couple of previews for those of you who are as Mama Mia crazed as I am.

 

Brenda Photo Challenge - Patriotism

This seemed easy at first. The fourth of July, red, white and blue, parades… all of that. Then I got to thinking… are those really patriotic or just routine holiday events. Do people really feel patriotic when they see these parades or are they entertained? I started to feel very guilty… I wasn’t putting enough effort into this and then I realized… I’m not being graded… everyone’s will be different and just relax. LOL! My photoshoots in the last week haven’t really made it out of the basement. Brittany has been a task master and I haven’t really been doing much but sewing, so I will share the photos I have taken that have touched me and made me feel patriotic.

This first shot was taken on a small town street right around the 4th. It reminded me of the days in small town America where we would proudly hang out our flags and truly feel the impact of what that flag meant. Growing up in a small town I was a member of my elementary school’s patrol. One of the things I did besides helping kids cross busy streets was to raise and lower the flag every day. We were taught how to respectfully treat the flag, how to fold it correctly, and how to raise and lower it on the flagpole. I remember an older man one time stopping by the school to complain how ragged the flag was and it hit me how important it was to many people and it stayed with me.

The second photo is taken from near the steps of the American Legion National and State Headquarters. The view is of the World War II Memorial and the World War Memorial Museum. Off to the right you can see the top of the Monument Circle Soldier and Sailors Monument. Downtown has many tributes to our country’s brave soldiers throughout our history… starting with the civil war. They have really displayed and honored them beautifully.

My last photo is probably the most moving to me. It was taken at the Healing Fields which was in the Indy area a year or so ago. I went out one day and the winds picked up and it was so emotional. There wasn’t anyone else there but me at the time, but it didn’t feel that way. Here is the poem that is on the website.

When we hear we forget…When we see we remember…
When we do we understand!

This is the truth. Walking through the flags, reading names, and re-attaching tags that had fallen made it very real. It was an incredibly patriotic filled hour that everyone should experience.

 

My eyes are blinded by pink and orange….

I have been dreaming in pink and orange……and this is the reason…

We are going to take a break and finish up the borders tonight.  We still have to put a strip of white around three sides and then the colorful strip trim Brittany has been working so hard creating.  She is so happy with this.  Hopefully we will have a chance to take it to a long arm place while she is here so she can see how that whole process goes.

 

No quilt photos today ~

We did work on the quilt some, but it is hard to see much progress in photos, so I will show you instead what other things we did.

Now turn off all the lights and tell me, do they glow in the dark?  The sure look like they should.  Oh to be young again and wear those vibrant, fun colors.  Me?  I went with my same ole California Raspb

erry.  Very conservative, but pretty… sounds yummy, too.

This evening we went downtown to catch a burger which seems a safe thing for Brittany to eat.  If I keep her around long enough I might lose some weight.  So far I am down 1.5 pounds because I don’t want to eat certain things in front of her…. you know…. unhealthy but yummy stuff.

Well, she’s done working on her MySpace so it is time to go back downstairs and tackle the quilt some more.

(I have so much I need to be doing…. aaahhh!)

 

Quilt ~ Day 2

We are now on day 2 of the quilt.  I don’t know how many times we have re-arranged the squares so they look balanced.  I keep swearing this will be the last change.  The first row is sewn and I will be going downstairs to help with the other rows.

The little pieces on the left are pieces she is going to put together for a border.  Could you hear my groan from there?  Eighteen bazillion more pieces to cut out…. but she will learn…LOL!  I do think she is already tired of it, but she is going to find that all those pieces she spent hours cutting out won’t even finish 1.5 sides.  I would be willing to put money on it.  I am thinking another border of white with end to end pieces of the different colors and then another thin border of white before the edge.  What do you think?  Any opinions out there?  I know there are!  Let’s hear them…. please!

 

The project is on!

We hadn’t even properly started the day on Sunday morning when I posed the question to Brittany. What project would you like to do this trip? No hesitation… a blanket! As in a quilt blanket. Tall order for a two week trip and we will be gone for about four days in the middle. But, let’s do it.

We established her new favorite color is orange. Last year it was periwinkle and lime green. I have the same problem with favorite colors… it usually is the fabric color I have in my hand or the yarn I am rubbing against my face.

We all know a little bit of orange goes a long way, but I have quite a stash of orange if you remember from the photo challenge a week or so ago. What color to mix it with that will pep it up a little or down… whichever way you need to go. We tried out some colors and decided it was to be a pink and orange palette with a lot of white to give it a really clean and fresh look.  We have a couple of starts on some different ideas that I might finish at a later date.  I think this plan will work best, look great and possibly be finished… at least piecing before she goes.

Luckily, I have two sewing machines set up on a table downstairs and we have been cutting, sewing, ironing, and listening to movies. As you can see, she is very determined to get this project done. I think I am going to farm it out to be quilted. I told her we were making her first heirloom made by her. It needed to be finished right. Now to find someone who can do it for a “reasonable” amount.

Here are some of the finished squares. We want to have 25… five rows of five. The squares are 10.5 square. Maybe we will do six rows of six. Hmmmm… we’ll see. With a border it should cover her for a nap or look pretty on her bed.

A quick update. I ran into my friend who had been told she had a metastasized brain melanoma. The good news is they were wrong. There was no sign of cancer in the blood tests and the tumors had shrunk. Two doctors were wrong. They don’t know what the little tumors are, but it could be something as simple as broken blood vessels. She still doesn’t know what is causing all her neck aches and headaches. They started up after a visit to a chiropractor… Anyway, that is all good news! I still want you all to go get yourselves checked out!

 

Sex in the garden…

Every summer it seems I have one post that deals with the rampant sex going on in my garden. I’m not even talking about the ducks or the rabbits or even the chipmunks or squirrels. No, this is all about the Japanese beetles. These nasty little critters are sex addicts. When they are not destroying your plants they are “doing it” everywhere you look. This year hasn’t been as bad (so far). I still can’t decide if that is two or three beetles in that bloom. They have sex orgies going on where there are three and four at once. I haven’t seen four, but a neighbor has. He had a somewhat wistful look on his face as he related that fact like maybe he was a little jealous of that beetle. I had to remind him of their life span and how much we hate them. He snapped out of it. I read something somewhere that said the Japanese beetle had the hormones of a sex starved freshman frat boy… wish I could find that quote, it was so funny and so true. Anyway, I know they are here now and I am going out to stalk them when I finish here.

I picked up niece Brittany from the airport last night. She has grown even taller since I saw her in April. Be prepared for photos of her… she’s gorgeous. We are going to be busy doing things. I think we are going to see the bean in Chicago.

I finish the post with a photo of my garden. I wish I could take a photo of what I see from my kitchen window. The problem is glass and screen… it distorts, but you see a reverse here. The window is right behind the hanging geraniums.

By the way, I have a new fun site I found by way of Dee. It is called Pioneer Woman. She has recipes, gardening tips, and photo tips… too fun. She had this YouTube on and I had to share.