An Ominous Arrival... The headline in the paper says it all. On Friday, storms came and went through my city. Dark clouds along with 70mph winds and sheets of rain were part of a storm system that wreaked havoc all across NE Iowa and NW Illinois before making its way father east.
~Courtesy of the local paper
Trees as large as 18" in diameter were uprooted and over 400 households had their power knocked out. I was one of the lucky ones. I didn't lose power or have major damage. The weather was very scary, though.
Within a few minutes, the wind went from blowing lightly through the window to blowing so hard it toppled my yard swing over.
My poor garden didn't fare so well....
BALLOON RALLY
This year marked the 25th Anniversary of the Monroe Balloon Rally. I attended this event about 12 years ago when it was part of the World Honda Grand Prix (an international ballooning competition). It was awesome then and still awesome today.
STITCHY STUFFThe online stitching community is absolutely the greatest!! Last week, I posted I was looking for the Mar/Apr 1991 issue of Cross Stitch & Country Crafts. Stitchers to the rescue! I had SEVEN ladies offer me the magazine. Thank you so much for helpin' a stitching sister out!!
RETREAT!!!
At the end of this week, I am going to a stitching retreat hosted by the ILCS Yahoo group. Each year it's held in a different state that the members vote on. This year it's in St. Charles, Missouri. I went to my first retreat a few (THREE already??) years ago and had a great time despite the Hit & Run. Can't wait to see everyone again :) I think I'd better start packing!
I am leaving home a day early to do some site seeing on my way down to St. Charles. I'll be driving through Springfield, which is the capitol of Illinois and burial place of Abraham Lincoln. So, I am going to spend some time there seeing some historical sites as well as the Lincoln Memorial Library and Museum.
