Fall is Falling

Fall is falling.  Yesterday I pulled in all the squash and pumpkins, roasted them and filled the freezer.  Well, not filled - I also shredded the last large zucchini, chopped a couple dozen peppers, and cut back the tomatoes.  There is at least two batches of candies jalapeños but they'll wait.

I picked some flowers, too, and will pick more, then gather seed from what's left.  I'll cover them from light frosts, and enjoy them a little longer, but soon, they'll go.

Today's job is to clear out what will be next year's flower garden.  It'll be a perennial annual mix - the bees are gonna love it!



I hope to find some time to sew this week, but I'm really not sure.  It gets dark early enough that evenings are no longer outside time, so maybe I can.  Knitting too - it's easier and more portable.

This week at work plans to be a little busy, but differently so.  I have a new boss!  And she's starting tomorrow!  And she's going to focus on 2019 recruiting, so I'm going to do, pretty much exactly what I've been doing. 😜

This Week:

Busy busy busy at work (all of our cultural student exchange visa workers are leaving this week + some regular staff as well)
Tuesday - 1/2 day school
Thursday - last farmers market

What's for dinner?

30 Pork & Potato Hash
1 Grilled Cheese
2 Meatloaf
3 Spaghetti
4 Last Market FFYS
5 Pizza
6 Burgers
7 Ham & Scalloped Potatoes
8 Quiche
9 Chicken Sandwiches
10 Baked Mac & Cheese
11 Pancakes 7 Bacon
12 Pizza
13 Soup/Deli
14 Garlic Chicken
15 Grilled Cheese
16 Pulled Pork
17 Lasagna
18 Fajitas
19 Pizza
20 Mac & Cheese

At last!

It's cooler.  We've had some rain.  It's the 19th already, but it finally feels like August.

The garden survived!  This butternut is almost a foot long.  And there are five or six of them.  Good thing I've learned to like squash!

I planted some Hubbards too - an heirloom variety that is gold, not blue.  There are a couple of those too, and a half dozen acorn squashes as well.  

There are a zillion tomatoes, the beans have been plentiful.  Zucchinis continue, cucumbers are very, very late.  Beets, maybe carrots?  I can't tell though, because I am over-run with volunteer tomatillos.  I pull them, more grow.  And more, and more, and more.  We'll see.

And this year I indulged and give up a half a bed of the garden to flowers.  My thinking was that no, they would not feed bellies, but they would feed my soul.  I was, obviously, wrong.  No, people don't eat flowers, but the bees and the buggies and *my heart!* the returning Monarch butterflies are being fed, and they need to eat exactly as much as we people do.  Next year, I'm planting a WHOLE bed!



I uploaded pictures of Christmas-to-be on Thursday, and aside for more of the same knitting, nothing's changed.

Last week's H2B lawyer meeting was informative (and informal, whew!)  I think we need to meet with all of our visa staff, though, to make sure we are where we need to be.

Tomorrow is the last band concert of the summer, and there's pie!  I'd like to go, but we'll see.  I'm late out of work most days.  And Saturday's Vergennes Day, and then school starts the following Wednesday.  Wow.

Last load of laundry is in the machine, then groceries, I think, and some yard work.

This week:

Monday - Last band concert.  With pie!
Thursday - Farmers Market
Saturday - Vergennes Day
Next week - Daniel haircut, 1st day of school (we'd better go buy some pants.) 😂
Dinner:

19 BBQ Beef sandwiches
20 grilled cheese
21 pork chops
22 spaghetti
23 deli
24 pizza
25 FFYS Vergennes Day
26 pork loin roast
27 Grilled Cheese
28 Fajitas
29 Mac & Beef 1st Day of School!
30 deli
31pizza
Sept 1
2
3 Hot Dogs & Salads, Labor Day
4 Quiche
5 Lasagna
6 deli
7 Pizza

Ha, Oops! Hi!

That was an unexpected break.  I just didn't. Anything but work, pretty much.  And have a Friday Fire. :)

My boss took a few weeks off, came back Monday and was fired.  I had been in my chair exactly 2 months, and suddenly, it was my job to do ALL of it.  I have as much support as I need, thankfully but the shear volume of it.  Whoooo.  Neither of us saw it coming.

August has finally brought a slight dip in the temperatures, although today we will break a decades old record of continuous above 80º days.  And tomorrow we'll break it again, and then again, and again, into the foreseeable future.  Right now, at 10:15, it's 85º on my deck.  I cannot wait for a long, lovely autumn.



So, where were we?  I have some sewing and *gasp* knitting pics to share, but they're Christmas, so I'll save them for Thursday (sneak peek here - I like it!).  I've taken a few minutes here and there to make light/dark HSTs for a redo of the Concentric Squares quilt.  They're going fast since I'm using stacks of the charm squares I got on my road trip (in June!) to Erin's mother in law's home.  I should figure out how many I need, though.  Hundreds.  I'm at about 100 so far.

What else?  Garden?  Gangbusters.  Yard? Overgrown and under-maintained.  (See the heat whine above)  I'll catch up.  I'm going to take apart the perennial bed up front - the meadow type flowers will go into the field in the back, the irises and hostas will find new homes here in better places, and the rest will find new homes in someone else's garden once it's cooler.




This week:

Monday - OMG! Meeting at work w/H2B lawyers
Tuesday - hair cut 5:15
Thursday - Farmers Market

Dinner:
12 pulled pork
13 Cheese & Tomato Sandwiches
14 Fried Rice
15 lasagna
16 deli
17 pizza
18 burgers & potato salad
19 grilled chicken
20 grilled cheese
21 bbq beef
22 spaghetti
23 deli
24 pizza
25 FFYS Vergennes Day
26 pork loin roast
27 Grilled Cheese
28
29 Mac & Beef 1st Day of School!
30 deli
31pizza
Sept 1
2
3 Hot Dogs & Salads, Labor Day
4 Quiche
5 Lasagna
6 deli
7 Pizza

Weekend Update

Ugh, it's so hot.  Approaching 90 already, and it's not even 10:00.  I've spent an hour in the garden already, and there are 3 loads of laundry on the line.  I've had a shower, and shortly I'll get dressed and go to Costco.  It'll be cool in there, at least.  This heat is supposed to last until tomorrow evening - thank goodness I have A/C at work.  It's just awful.  I do need to drag the hose out to the garden for a little bit.  I thinned and transplanted some carrots and beets, and they'll need water to survive.  Maybe I'll do that now, actually.  BRB

There, done.  They don't look too traumatized, and the birds are dancing in the spray of the sprinkler. The spinach has bolted, but everything else looks gorgeous.  Maybe I'll stir fry some chard for dinner, and maybe I'll build a smoothie to for tomorrow's breakfast - there's a lot of kale, and I can use some of the spinach as well.  Berries and bananas in the freezer.

Onward.

July 1 Canada Day! Burgers & Poutine (and chard?)

2 Grilled Cheese
3 ravioli
July 4 Hot Dogs, Salads
5 Baked Potatoes
6 Pizza
7 Chicken Salad, BYO Salad
8 Ribs
9 Grilled Cheese
10 Fried Rice & Egg Rolls
11 Spaghetti
12 Chicken Sandwiches
13 Pizza
14 Bratwurst
15 Spatchcock Chicken
16 Grilled Cheese

 

And again, it's Sunday

I am not going to bother getting groceries this week, beyond cereal, burger rolls, and spaghetti sauce. We have everything else!  Woo!  And there's plenty more in the freezer for next week.

My new mantra is "I want to be out of debt more than I want _this_, whatever this is.  And it's working!  Now that I'll begin having a biweekly paycheck, I can start regularly contributing to paying down the debt load we have.  I can't wait to be done with it!  Using savings and credit cards carried us through the time that Scott was without work, and then again when I was, but both of those situations are done, so it's time to climb out of the hole.  I should make a ticker!

Jen at work gave me a stack of size 24 month sized onesies (what 2 year old wears a onesie?!) that she wants cut into t shirts if I can.  I have permission to make one or two sacrificial, proof of concept test drives.  She'll pay me, maybe cash, maybe free meals, it's all good.   That's kinda/sorta job one, and maybe I'll do that instead of going to VQF.

The garden needs attention too - plenty of weeds.  Early last month I cleared a lot of scrubbiness along the side of the driveway, and it has grown into a beautiful wildflower mini-meadow, jam packed full of milkweed and daisies and... this. It's pretty, and I'm sure it has never grown here before, certainly not in the abundance of this year.  It's Valerian - an herb whose root is used medicinally to induce sleep and reduce anxiety.  Could have used this 6 months ago.  Or last year... no worries, I'll harvest and dry some of it this fall.  Maybe I'll start a collection, a pharmacy of sorts!



Anyway, yesterday's rain spoiled my laundry plans - it's dry now, and the washer's running.  It's not sunny, but there's enough of a breeze that things will almost dry.  I'll finish 'em in the dryer to knock off the pollen and soften the towels.









This Week:

Sunday - Vermont Quilt Festival?  Maybe not
Monday - City Band concert & Strawberry Festival
Thursday - Farmers Market
Friday - Payday!

What's for Dinner?

24 BBQ Chicken
25 Grilled Cheese
26 Fajitas
27 Spaghetti

28 Burgers
29 Pizza
30 Cold Meat & Salad
July 1 Canada Day!

June is Bustin' Out All Over!

Let's just throw some pictures in here, hm?  June, you're such a show off!  

We've had lovely weather this weekend, and the garden is happy.  Tomorrow it will rain, and the garden will be even happier!  I found the zucchini seeds and snapped these pics when I went out to plant them.  No just the onions, and I think they will go into a revamped herb garden. I'm taking over Daniel's space.  There's a lot of mint of various varieties, and it's run rampant.  I'll dig it out, plant it in a pot, then plant the pot.   It won't work forever, but it will work for a while.  That stuff is tenacious!  Let us all hope that cockroaches (is that the unkillable bug?) never develop a taste for mint - we're doomed.

I'm finishing inventory at VUES this week, then

maybe back to Lillian's on Wednesday.  Unless I have a job.  I feel like the interview at BHC went well, but I've felt that way before.  It'd sure be nice, ad I feel I could do a good job with it.  We'll see.

I'm going to spend a few minutes whenever I find them and get that binding done on Olivia's quilt.  *note to self, Next Four needs attention* My wrists have been giving me some trouble, of course they have.  My feet are mostly fine now, so it only makes sense that something else breaks. It's Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, I've had it on and off since I was pregnant with Tori, and I expect with bracing and icing, it will dissipate again as it always has.  Stacy is now a licensed Reiki Master, and she can't wait to get her hands on my wrists. ;)  That'll help too.

Anyway, onward.  I'm meeting someone in Midd in an hour and a half, time to get the grocery list done and another load on the clothesline.

What's for Dinner?
3 Roast Chicken
4 Grilled Cheese
5 Quiche (or omelets)
6 Spaghetti
7 Pulled Pork
8 Pizza
9 pancakes
10 Fajitas
11 Grilled Cheese
12 Baked Potato Bar
13 Spaghetti
14 fish & chips
15 (Last Day of School) pizza
16 Burgers
17 

The garden

The garden, she is in!  Or just about.  No onions (where to plant them??) and no zucchini.  I lost the seeds, somewhere on the kitchen counter.

This morning a small group of us got a friend's garden planted.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago, and the every-four-weeks chemo is kicking her butt.  Her family is picking up so much, but there's a limited planting window here in VT, especially if you actually want a harvest.  It was a fun morning, and inspired me to get back here and get MINE done.  And it is.  Ish.

And yesterday, with no commitments until 1:30, I dragged my right brain upstairs and quilted the little log cabin for Baby Next-door.  I decided that the double stars that I'd put together looked too much like something I found in the basement.  They're going in the yard sale.  Tonight I'll slip a cold pack into my wrist brace and get started with the binding.

Oops

Long weekends mean I have even less of a grasp on what day it is.  I'll be messed up all week.  It's Monday, Memorial Day, and I'll be heading over to Jackie's shortly to watch the parade.

After that, it's garden day.  Garden Week, more likely, but the garden needs to get it.  I have just about everything but onions and potatoes - perhaps I'll run down to Middlebury after the parade and grab some.  Or maybe I'll plant what I have and the fill in the holes later in the week.  We'll see.

I spent a couple hours yesterday helping a friend of Lillian's (and now mine!) get her yard spiffed up.  She works from home and needed the entrance and gardens to look a little more businesslike.  And now they do!  And tomorrow I'll be back at the lake, I think, helping Lillian.  It's not the job I thought I'd have, but it's the job I have right now, and I do enjoy it.  I should have an interview at Basin Harbor this week - she reached out last week to be sure I was still interested.

I've also been giving over 5-6 hours each weekend to de-junking here with the ultimate goal of a yard sale in August.  Saturday I came across a new, in the box rock tumbler.  Posted it on FB Marketplace and within an hour had $50 in my pocket.  Score!


28 Memorial Day! hot dogs, potato salad
29 grilled cheese
30 sausage fusilli
31 fried rice
June 1 Pizza
2 Burgers or Chicken sandwiches
3 Roast Chicken
4 Grilled Cheese
5 Quiche (or omelets)
6 Lasagna
7 Pulled Pork
8 Pizza
9 pancakes
10 
11
12 Baked Potato Bar
13 Spaghetti
14 fish & chips
15 pizza

Happy Friday!

 It's Friday!  Pizza, s'mores, and a fire.  It's still cold, but it was nice. 😊  Warmer, and dry this weekend - time to get some yard work done!  Tomorrow is Agway's open house - free hot dogs and cheap dirt.

Yeah... not so much

That whole "I've got time to get things done" feeling? Poof! The phone rang yesterday and I"m working again all week. No biggie, pile it on. The paycheck will be nice.

My goal for this week is to get the front corner garden cleared out and ready for mulching. To say it's been neglected is a huge understatement. There's CORN growing in it. Or at least something that looks like corn. No cobs, no tassels, but the plant looks exactly like corn. Weird. I blame the squirrels (especially since the bunnies have been scarce since Bob made his appearance a few weeks months ago.

I fear there will be very little stitched content for the next while. That doesn't make me happy.

It's nice to feel a little goosebumpy this morning!

At last, a morning below 70! It's 8:30 and still only 67º Ah, bliss!

Last(ish) Week

Needlework
Assemble Madness top
Call to schedule longarm time

Other
Sunday - fireworks!
Monday - Bristol parade
perfect a slug repellent
weeding, planting, watering

I've been doing inventory in the library this week, but without windows or A/C, I'm out of there before noon. As long as it's finished before school starts next month, I'm free to work when I want. So I scurry about madly here, getting laundry on the line and the kitchen tidied, then get to school by 8 (Friday I was there at 7.) Work 3 hours or so, and head home to do nothing for the rest of the day. I just can't function when it's 95º+ with humidity so high you can see it.
The garden is finally taking off. The snails have been dispatched, by chemical means, unfortunately, but my plants are strong and healthy now, mostly. Even the ones chewed to bare stems are sending out some nervous new leaves. C'mon out kids! The coast is clear! Of course as soon as that pest was under control, the rabbits moved in to devour the beans. A couple bars of shredded Irish Spring soap kept them out of the garden, then the big guns moved in to help keep them out of the yard!
I love that "wild" still lives so close. We've had some onions out of the garden, and a single tomato. There's a zucchini that's about 7" long (should be baseball bat sized in a day or two) and more coming. The squash and pumpkins and cantaloupe are blooming, the tomatoes are turning pink. Lettuce continues, carrots are still too little to eat, and IF THE RABBITS LEAVE THEM ALONE, the beans should be starting by the beginning of August. Life is good in my garden these days.
And at the sewing machine? Yes! Progress there too! A picture tomorrow.


Next Week

Dinner Menu - July 24 - July 30

Sunday - pizza
Monday - Picnic in the park
Tuesday - Yakitori and rice
Wednesday - tortellini
Thursday - Quiche and fruit salad
Friday - *something grilled*
Saturday - hotdogs & burgers

Needlework
Start cutting denim for picnic quilt
Get Madness quilted, cut binding

Other
M-F - Daniel swim lessons
M-T - inventory
Wednesday - Thread Connections 2:00
Wednesday - Terminix (we have carpenter ants)
Thursday - Lunch with Kathy
weeding, planting, watering, harvesting?
get propane tank refilled

Lazy hazy

Beans are up, corn is up, cucumbers are up. That's it - everything's in business. Daniel and I filled the feeder and we've been visited by finches and chickadees and junkos all morning. We put up a hummingbird feeder too, but I don't hold out a lot of hope for visitors.

Tori cut the grass last night, Simon's off at work. I guess there's no reason I couldn't be sewing. I'm off!

ToDo ToDay

It's going to be a beautiful day today - I can tell even through the fog that is keeping my from putting my laundry out on the line. No point in hanging it out there with 100% humidity and no breeze. I've got two basketsfull waiting, but the mist isn't going anywhere so its the dryer. Maybe tomorrow.
The garden calls, but I need to let the mosquitoes get to bed first - it's still a little bitey out there. Everything is covered in raindrops and dew, playing in the mud now would literally be playing in the mud. I'll wait.
In the meantime, there's dishes and vacuuming and some work on Madness, and coffee. Yes, coffee first. I'll sit outside and watch the trees grow.

It's a three day streak!

I'm only procrastinating a little this morning. I swear.

The garden didn't happen yesterday, BUT lots of other did. My motivator? a timer. I gave myself permission to knock off housework after 2 hours and got the kitchen clean, three loads of laundry done, and some general tidying accomplished. Of course that all needs to happen again today, but such is life. The washer's already going, some dry, clean stuff is folded and waiting to go upstairs, and the dishwasher is... clean and full. SIMON!!

I had to take His Fatness to the vet yesterday - it's summer, and just like every year it seems he's worked himself up a bladder full of stones. Since his surgery last winter, though, this too will pass (heh) but I firmly stand by my assertion that there's no such thing as a free kitten.

And in cleaning up my desk I came across the receipt for my Cherry Tree that managed to survive 100 inches of snow and cold this winter, but couldn't handle the combination of clay soil and record setting rainfall this spring. I know there won't be another sour cherry to be had this late in the planting season, but maybe I can find something else to fill that hole. I'll go look today, AFTER I'm done my chores. I'll pick up some composted manure at the same time and the garden will be done today.

And finally, I sewed! I got 2 centers corrected in Simon's quilt, finished piecing a few more blocks, and now have about 1/4 of the blocks done and done right. Fixing them insn't hard, but it's picky work so I've told myself I only have to do 2 a day. That'll take me about a week - I can handle that. Onward!

Monday (I'm stalling)

There is a big pile of To Do staring me in the face this morning, and I don't wanna. So I'm stalling.

I want need to get the rest of the garden in. There's no rain expected until Wednesday, and I want everything in there to reap the benefits of nature's sprinkler. So I really need to get out there. But I don't want to, yet. Too dewy, too mosquito-y still.

I have a counter kitchen full of dishes that need to be plowed through, but Simon needs to empty the dishwasher before I can refill it. I mean, I could, but wahhh, I don't want to.

There's a pile of laundry to move through the system. Some is folded ready to put away, there's some in the dryer, and some on the clothesline (from yesterday!) but the washer sits empty. Gotta get that in gear too.

And Simon's quilt... I think I spooked myself when I noticed that center mistake - I haven't touched it since.

Two cups of coffee hasn't motivated me (I blame the Nyquil cough syrup I took before bed yesterday) but stalling isn't going to get anything done. So hi-ho, hi-ho I guess. When I finish, I think I'll treat myself to a trip out to Survivor Greenhouse to start tomorrow's To Do list. :o/

The Queen of Getting Carried Away

Ever have one of those early June days where you're minding your own business putting away the outdoor Christmas decorations? You know, the ones that somehow got missed in April when the snows receded enough to get them down? And the next thing you know you're putting away the circular saw and your porch is 40% bigger?

You don't?

How about when your toddler daughter can't turn on the weird-o bathroom faucet and you end up with a whole new paint job on the lower level of your condo?

No?

Must just be me. One thing ALWAYS leads to another. There is no self-contained project in my world. The second story is an old one, since that toddler is graduating from high school tomorrow (OMG!!) and can turn on any faucet, weird-o or otherwise. The first though? Well let me say that I'm on my way shortly to Survivor Greenhouse to get myself a hanging basket to show off my fine workmanship. Keeping my eyes out for a rocker too. In a few weeks (September?) I'll stain the whole thing I'm thinking charcoal, slap a new coat of paint on the door and boom, a beautiful front entrance. Yay!

Saturday

I was on a roll this week, yes? I posted! A lot! Then Blogger decided that Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich announcing their bids for the White House job wasn't nearly thrilling enough and decided to shake things up and delete posts and lock us out. Well poo to all of you.

Speaking of poo (like that?) I dug some manure into the first garden bed and got this planting season off the ground. While my intention was to weed, feed, and prepare half of one bed, I, um, got a wee bit carried away and weed and turned two, started a third, manured a whole one, and dug under some compost in the other. I should have taken a picture, and will if the situation presents itself agin, but it appears that either egg shells float in soil, or worms don't like them. The compost I dug into that bed last fall was just average kitchen scrap made stuff. This spring, the ground was covered with egg shell. So the shells either floated to the surface or the worms were protesting. They're dug under again, and my tomatoes are DEFINITELY going there this year. The worms are striking sanitation workers, but tomatoes are seagulls.
First planting of lettuce, spinach, onions and carrots are in. In about 8 weeks, we might get a salad! Since Noah's been called back to active arc building duty, today seemed like good day to get things tucked into the soil. Ahhhhhh...

Outdoors!

Now that the 40 days and 40 nights has finally (temporarily? I hope not) come to an end, I spent several glorious hours playing in the mud yesterday. My friend Jackie culled her herd of Hostas and the grocery bag full of my share has been waiting patiently for me to have the time to attend to them. Mother's Day afternoon was it. I split the clump into 5 pieces and then set to work weeding the daffodil bed (picture yesterday) that in summer becomes a Hosta/Astilbe bed. The new babies were way ahead of what's there so I had to move carefully to avoid stepping on new shoots. I marked what I found, and then filled in gaps with newbies. Best thing? I discovered that DO, in fact, have room for a few more Astilbes! Woohoo! More edging, more mulch, and this bed is ready to take care of itself.

After that, I'll move on to the raised beds and get them ready for the veggie garden that will go in probably Memorial Day weekend. That's my usual technique, though I read, somewhere, that waiting a little bit decreases damage from cutworms since they are only in the larval chompy stage for a limited period of time. Plant late, and they're beyond chewing age by the time the corn comes up. So if I plant corn, I'll do it last.

I've started peppers, tomatoes, and lettuce. I'll direct sow beans (green and lima), carrots, cucumber, cantaloupes and pumpkins. Anything else? I'm not sure yet. I guess need a garden plan - nothing where it was last year, and compatible room mates are the order of the day. I've read rosemary for crucifers (broccoli, cabbage), nasturtiums for curcurbits (cucumbers, melons), marigolds for tomatoes, geraniums for peppers, onions for carrots. It'll look good, anyway!

Lowes had only apple trees yesterday :o( so I guess I'll head out to Survivor Greenhouse and see what he's got this year. I'm after at least one pear, a sweet cherry, and maybe an apricot.

But it seems, not today. Daniel just came downstairs feeling sick, so I'm not going anywhere. That's okay too. I'll work on Simon's quilt.

It should be spring

From inside the house, it looks like spring, if you can orient your gaze in such a way as to miss the piles of snow. There's still a lot of snow, it's not so easy to miss. Still, there are hyacinths and tulips poking through in the garden, and I was serenaded by robins several mornings last week, so it seems we've survived another winter, mostly intact.
The Talent Show and Silent Auction have come and gone (we raised about $2400 for enrichment programs at the elementary school.) American Cancer Society daffodils have all been delivered and the money turned in. Girl Scout cookies have arrived (and been eaten.) We've had birthdays and parties and now my spotty dirty windows are driving me crazy.

I let Jackie know that I am unavailable to work at all this week. I probably could have managed it, at least a few days, but I really want to be a slug for a few days while the opportunity presents itself. And so I shall. There is certainly work to do this week, but it will get done properly on my schedule rather than crammed in resentfully when I have a minute. And on that note, I'm going to attend to those kitchen windows.

Snow!

It seems the weather outstayed it's welcome and Atlanta decided to send it home. I knew there was *some* snow coming, but this one came further north than was expected. We got about a foot, I'd guess, but with the wind, it drifted. One side of my car was buried to the roof. (The other was completely clear.) You can't really tell from the pictures without a little person for scale, but the shoveled and plowed piles are at least mid-thigh high, in some cases up to shoulder height. I did most of the heavy moving before 7 this morning since there was no school delay - they needed to be there by 8. I got home after a cup of coffee with the lunch ladies and tidied the edges. About 2 1/2 hours in total, but I think I can skip the gym with a clear conscience today.
I spent a few snowbound hours sewing yesterday, assembling just about everything I had cut for the raffle quilt. Today, more cutting, and maybe more sewing too. I'm having lunch with Kathy in about an hour, and then home, start supper, play with some scraps, maybe take a wee nap since it's a late one tonight. Simon has to be at school at 10:45 pm to get on the bus to go to D.C. He'll be home Sunday. Thank goodness Mother Nature got this out of her system yesterday - there's be a lot of very sad 10th graders this weekend if they'd had to cancel the trip.

So - a cup of coffee, a quick shower, then lunch. I'm off!