So, here we are in the middle of June.  I know I sound like a broken record, but, time is flying.  We have been so busy.  Well, David has been. I just point to jobs for him to do and he does them.  We are turning our back yard into a park or trying to. We have planted several new shrubs and one new grass. I bought plants that would have some color in the Fall as well as the Spring.   Two are supposed to have bright red foliage in the Fall. Now my garden has something blooming almost all the time between Spring and Fall. We both love sitting out on our new patio looking at all the pretty flowers and bushes and watching the birds feed their babies.

I wonder about a bird’s life. It is so short and it is made up of canoodling, hatching children, feeding them constantly and once they are out of the nest starting all over again. We humans have it easy. We canoodle, have children, raise them and generally for most people, they are out of the house and we don’t start all over and we live years and years longer than birds.  Our children have been out of the nest decades.  They did bring home babies for us to enjoy and watch grow.  One of them graduated this year. He has chosen his college, what he wants to major in and knows who his roommates in the dorm will be already.    Next year his younger brother will graduate and our daughter and son-in-law will be empty nesters.  We went to a graduation party at a park for the graduate.  It was a nice afternoon and we got to visit with family.  I forgot my camera so no pictures.

I have been busy in my own way.  I have several projects I am working on.  The little quilts group I joined on Facebook is making a small patriotic quilt in celebration of our country’s 250th birthday.  Ben Franklin said when he signed the Constitution, “It’s a Republic, if you can keep it.”  I hear so many people call our country a Democracy, but it isn’t.  It is a representative  Republic.    I am also working on two larger patriotic quilts. Here is a picture of my small quilt in progress.

And here it is all put together.

Here is the border fabric I used.

How appropriate is that for a patriotic quilt?

And here it is all pinned ready for quilting.

 

I have painted several custom paint by numbers in the past.  There is this company who would take a picture you send them and make it into a paint by numbers painting to do. I have painted all my grandchildren and I ordered two more pictures this Spring. It ordinarily takes them six to eight weeks to make the picture and provide the paints for it, but after twelve weeks and not receiving my paintings, I contacted the company to inquire.  I get my pictures already stretched on a frame and I was told their framing machine needed a new part and they were waiting on it.  I waited another four weeks and still no paintings and I contacted them again and still was told their framer was broken. I was getting a little peeved by this time.  Then I was  on Facebook this past week and the owner had a YouTube video we were supposed to watch and she explained the business was closing because of poor management. Well, they had my money.  So I was getting ready to contact them again when I got an email saying my order was shipped!  And I was to get it this past Tuesday!  I was so excited and then while tracking the package I was told their shipping date for my package was being changed. Then David found where the train it was on had derailed!  You cannot make this stuff up. Now my package is somewhere here in my state and I wonder what condition it will be in being in a train wreck and all.  And will I get it at all?   I will keep you posted.

I have told you I joined a group that gets a fat quarter bundle of William Morris inspired fabric each month.  It’s almost like getting a Christmas present every month except I pay for it. With each bundle I am making a little quilt using the same pattern each month and when the year is up, I plan to sew all the little quilts together into one big one. It has been so fun seeing what colors I will get each month and I am never disappointed. I can cancel anytime, but why would I want to! Here are the fat quarters I received this month.

William Morris had birds in a lot of his designs.  Here is one of them.  I just find his designs glorious.

How delicious is that fabric!  I can’t  wait to get started on another small quilt with this fabric.

 

Now for the Big Bang.  We have been having very strange weather lately. Thunder storms, threats of tornados.  A week ago,it could have been two weeks as fast as time is flying, I was downstairs alone, David having gone to bed early and I was browsing through Facebook as I like to do. I have followed so many interesting groups one of them being the Asher House where this man goes to animal shelters and rescues dogs who are going to be euthanized.  Some of the stories are really sad. Some people just should never have dogs.  He has taken in some pretty abused dogs and turned them into beautiful, healthy, happy dogs. Most he then puts up for adoption, but some he adopts himself.  I think he has about twenty dogs of his own. He has branched out to saving horses, donkeys and I think he has one pig.  He has this one dog, Matilda, who is handicapped.  When she runs her hind legs go every which way and sometimes she falls down , but she has the best and sweetest spirit.  I love watching her.  She has even had her own calendar.

Now where was I? Oh, the Big Bang.  There’re I was,  browsing through Facebook watching a storm coming, lots of lightening, counting  the seconds between the lightning and the thunder. That is how you tell how many miles away it is. It was getting closer and closer when suddenly, Flash! Bang! Lightening and thunder at the same time is very loud and there was a flash of light outside our dining room window and I knew it had hit  our house. All the lights everywhere in our house went out. It is very dark when not one light is on. Not the microwave clock. Not the stove clock.  Not the lights out in my greenhouse, I was in complete darkness.  I started looking out windows seeing if all the lights in the neighborhood were off, but, no, just our house had no electricity so I went upstairs . Our stairway is very dark with no lights. Woke up David. He did not believe me when I said we were the only ones hit by lightning so he came downstairs and looked out all the windows and proved to himself, yes, we were the only ones. He went down into  the basement where the breaker box is and reset the breaker and the lights went back on.  I discovered later after he went back to bed that the lights were still off in the back of the house and in my shop where our freezer is with a lot of meat in it. The next morning he had to reset the breakers to those places and everything was alright.

But  now it gets interesting. David works three days a week and he got ready to go to work the next morning, I had been up most of the night not being able to sleep after the Big Bang so I was up when he left for work. A short time later he came back in and said the Jeep had been hit by lightning as it would not start despite all its lights going on. So he called to have it towed and drove our other car to work.  Here a week or more later, they are still going through our Jeep part by part to see what was fried and what is working.  David told them if the repair bill hit five thousand dollars to let him know. I really hope it doesn’t hit that number!  May as well buy a new car. First car we ever bought together was a 1968 VW for three thousand dollars and I loved that car. Wish we still had it. Can’t buy a new car for less than thirty or forty thousand dollars now. So I am hoping we get our Jeep back soon  as I love riding in it,

We are getting a new pastor for our church this Sunday, Father’s Day. He and his wife have three young children so I am pleased about that.  I think our church is growing. David and I have been going to this particular church for over forty years.  It really seems like our family.  We have seen people come and go, had good friends to pass away and seen people go through joys and tragedies.  But we all serve the same God and love each other.

I will,leave you with a photo of our back yard.  The dogs’ yard I must say.

Sunflowers came up volunteer.

I hope your Summer has not been quite as eventful as ours. No big bangs or anything of that nature.  I will try to get back sooner, but time fugits and all that.  Bye.