Mt. Rainier and Lenticular Clouds - Dec. 2008 copyright: JMM

July 25, 2016

Lazy Hazy Dayz

The east coast heatwave continues with horribly uncomfortable temps and humidity, and no end in sight.  We desperately need rain.  Only one day was nice and dry, so I went over to my friend Sue's for a few hours.  She lives here in town on a fantastic piece of property on Bourne Pond.  It's so idyllic that I told her if I lived there, I would literally never leave.  




She has 3 adorable, white fluffy doggies that float around like little fuzzy clouds around your ankles.

Little moppet.


Side of their barn.


I loved the way she had the property decorated.









I'm not sure that anyone swims in the pond, but it's nice for kayaking or floating.

Looking straight up at the tree canopy



When I first moved here, I was driving around taking pics and I'd stopped to shoot this barn.  I had no idea it was Sue's property at the time!


I loooove this view from her front yard.

Besides the Canal walk, this has been the sum total of my summer adventures this year.  I'm just not willing to go out walking around when it's this miserable. Hoping for a cooler, dryer August.

July 20, 2016

A Walk on the Canal....Finally

I've slacked off on my walks, big time, this year.  Two summers ago I was walking around all over the place.  Last year less so, and this year I've been a total slug.  Of course in my defense I had a very painful ankle for May and June.  June was just a lost month with that month long derailment, so I didn't feel like leaving the house.

Finally got out for a nice walk with my friend Jen, who went to Emerson College.  She graduated a year before I did but we share the same dear friends and that's how I met her.  She moved back to Falmouth recently so we got together for a walk and then lunch at Sandy's Restaurant.  


I get a kick out of the Canal Cruise.  I'm glad we went a few summers ago.  I think what cracks me up the most is that it's a 3 hour tour, just like in Gilligan's Island.  Then that leads me to ruminate how no one takes trunks of money, changes of clothing, etc. on the Canal Cruise like they did on the Minnow. hahaha


It was a very hot, humid day but the wind was amazing.  It really took the edge off the heat and discomfort.  There's no way I would've walked in the direct sunlight if it wasn't windy.







We both loved this boat.




I should probably think about taking more walks now that things are slowly getting back on track. But truly, all I want to do is stitch.  I don't think any summer will be as action-packed as 2014 was!

July 18, 2016

Summer 2016

I've been a real homebody this summer, for many reasons.  I haven't done anything except stitch.  I did venture out a couple times for pretty sunsets and some other photo ops in the yard.

Full moon on summer solstice.


July 3rd sunset



July 4th sunset

Dew on spider web.


Juicy blackberries! Not quite ripe though.

July 16, 2016

June & July Projects

I spent the month of June stitching my brains out.  It's all I want to do.  I've gotten so many projects done.  

First let's start with the yummy stuff.  I did Canada Day and July 4th cupcakes.  I was too lazy to make them from scratch so I used a mix but made my own cream cheese frosting.


I did these strawberries dipped in chocolate for Marsha for her bday.  I used crushed peppermint candy, nuts, coconut, sprinkles and red sugar on some of them.

Also decided to try my first banana cream pie.  It was really tasty but next time I'm going to make a graham cracker crust instead of the Pillsbury pie crust.


On to the crafting portion of our program.

This beaded cross stitch took 2 days.  It's a Jim Shore design.

I also got the Hummels design completed for my friend Fernanda.

Got this paisley needlepoint done too.  Not sure what I'm doing with it but I'm thinking of going the pillow route.

This beaded cross stitch gave me a lot of trouble. It was just 'one of those projects' that went wrong right from the start.  I didn't realize till I was half done with the stitching part that I was supposed to be using three strands of floss instead of the normal 2.  I made tons of mistakes that required ripping out sections to start over.  The top row stitches didn't meet...one side was a row higher than the other so I had to try and figure out what I did wrong.  It is pretty though and I'm glad I stuck it out.

I picked up this small needlepoint in a thrift shop a couple years ago.  The center four leaf flower was stitched, as was the gold border around the blue.  It took about 3-4 days to finish it up.  Not sure what to do with it.  Kind of an odd shape for framing.  Maybe I'll make a coaster or something.  Or sew it to the back of a jean jacket.

I had hoped to feature my peacock needlepoint but they didn't include enough fiber in two colours I ran out of.  Then I requested they send more, and I got a completely different dye lot of fiber and it was too light.  They are trying to match it now and hopefully will have enough for me to finish.  I've also started a Halloween themed beaded cross stitch that will be very colourful!