Summer... Lots of Activities

NATURE
One of the birds built a nest on the backside of the birdfeeder I have hanging near the window of my four-season room.  I've been documenting the babies over the past week.

June 20th

June 24th

June 27th

This week both of them flew the coop.

THEATRE
I've recently attended two plays at local community theatres. Both were a bit controversial, but the actors/actresses did a great job.

“Over the Tavern” is a comedy set in Buffalo, NY during the Eisenhower years of the 1950’s and introduces the audience to the Pazinskis: Mom, Dad and their four children (Eddie, Annie, Georgie, and the hero of the play, 12-year old Rudy).  Rudy is a precocious kid who starts to question his family values and the Roman Catholic Church.  He believes God put us on Earth to “have fun” and tries to figure out why his family isn’t having any.  There is a lot of interaction with Mother Superior at school and dealings with living over a tavern owned by Dad and Grandfather. 

Some people left at intermission due to the Catholic portrayals.

“I Never Sang For My Father” is a drama that probes the epitome of a dysfunctional family… disquieting alienation that can exist between a father and son, a separation that time and old age can sometimes only deepen, despite the best intentions of both.  Gene, a college professor, has tried all of his life to find love and acceptance from his father, a successful, highly respected man, who is sometimes callous, unloving and selfish. Upon the untimely death of his mother, Gene is forced to help his father through his dark days. His sister urges Gene to break the ties for good, or else he’ll wind up as bitter and cold as their father.

The play hit some areas close to home for me that I actually cried.

 CARS AND BALLOONS
The weather was sunny and hot, but I still ventured out to enjoy the activities offered in my area.  Two car shows and a hot air balloon festival with blues music.

Car Show sponsored by local classic car club
 

Car Show at Blues & Balloon Festival
 

STITCHY STUFF
Part 7 of the Words 2016 SAL seemed to go much faster than the previous two sections despite having to frog part of it. Who sent out the frogs?

I've finished the final section - Part 8 and am working on finishing up the border.  The frogs came to visit twice!

FREEBIES
Combine a dream and flowers, what do you get? A pretty freebie offered by DMC.

Click HERE to download the PDF.



Until next time....

One With Nature

I have a large patch of spotted lilies in one of my flower beds.  It started out with one planting that I got from my Dad about 3 years ago.  He told me that it dropped seeds and new ones would grow.  Last year a few sprouts had grown and blossomed.  This year is the biggest one I've ever had.  I think of him every time I see them.

Long time readers know that I have quite a commute to/from work and that there is an awesome walking path that I get my daily walks done on.  Occasionally, I take photos.  It's been a while since I've shared observations so I thought I'd put up a pictorial:

Scary storm on my way home from work one night

Billowy clouds...

Awesome day for a walk...

Huge field of Queen Anne's Lace...

Critters...

I've noticed this year there's been an unusual amount of butterflies flitting around.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get photos.  Trust me, they were beautiful!

Marvelous Monday Update 5/4/15

Where did the month of April go?  Time seems to fly by so fast these days...

FAMILY
Two wonderful things have happened since the passing of my parents.  Two weeks after my Mom passed away, my niece was married in an outdoor ceremony at a beautiful park in Wisconsin.

The bride's family with her new groom.

The happy couple were high school sweethearts.

 Me with the bride and groom.  Hard to believe she's all grown up!

The wedding party drove to/from the park in my family's classic cars.  All the men in my family love old cars. On the right is my nephew's car.  The red GTO is my brother's car (the bride's Dad), the black Trans Am is my other brother's car, the blue GTO Judge on the left is my Dad's.  He was supposed to drive it in the wedding...  Since he passed away two month's before the wedding, my brother drove it in his place.

The second happy occasion is that I became a great-auntie again last week.  I have a new great-niece. At 5lb. 15oz., she's so tiny and adorable.

She slept most of the time I was there, but did open her eyes from time to time.  I wish I'd taken photos when she was awake.  The baby joins her 3 year old brother who's not quite sure he wants a sister.  My niece (different from the bride above) says sometimes he talks about the baby as if she's a puppy and other times he's afraid the baby will kick him and take his toys. LOL!

WEATHER
The weather over the past couple of weeks has been beautiful which makes me happy because I'm able to get my 10K steps outside on the walking path near my worksite.  I get to enjoy bits of nature every time I go for a walk...

 THEATRE

One of my favorite local community theatres had a production going on last weekend.  "You Can't Beat The House is about two minor-league burglars who break into a house only to find it's up for sale.  Before they can leave, prospective buyer's show up.  The burglars can either pretend to be real estate agents or run the run and risk of getting caught. When the actual real estate agent and the police show up, it turns into a recipe for gut-splitting events.  Turns out the house is haunted as well.  Laughs were nonstop with this screwball comedy.  One wisecrack after another proves that "You Can't Beat the House".

STITCHY STUFF

The good news is... I've been stitching.  Currently, I'm working on a Patriotic mailart and a marriage sampler.  The bad news is... I can't show progress pics, although I've been taking them.

In lieu of photos, I'll leave you with this freebie:

FREEBIE OF THE WEEK

Red Quaker Sampler
by
Needle Knowledge

Marvelous Monday Update 6/20/11

I hope everyone honored the Dad's in their life yesterday. I went to see my Dad and take him a little gift. I got him a gift card to Menards and this...


Much to my surprise, he liked the book and duct tape more than the GC. He told my Mom to leave his duct tape alone. My Mom sheepishly smiled and admitted she "stole" his duct tape for something and then hid the roll of tape! lol


IN THE NEWS
My city had quite the commotion going on last week, starting at 6am Monday morning. A building built in the 1800's collapsed out onto one of the main throughfares. It was also located right across from the courthouse.


The streets surrounding that block were closed off all last week. The fire dept said there was danger of the north wall collapsing from the adjacent building (the building on the left side). If you look at the top of the photos, you can see where the wall was separating from the building.

Luckily no one was in the building and no one got hurt. There were people coming to downtown just to "site see", lol.


SCHOOL
Hard to believe it's midterm week already! So far grades are only in through Week 2... I'm holding onto 97%. I'm happy with that. :) The instructor did say that the midterm and final were going to be harder than the quizzes. Geesh, I thought the quizzes were challenging.


GARDENING
The plants and flowers are love-love-loving the rain and temps. The cucumbers, watermelon, and sunflowers are now about 4" above the ground. The herbs and spinach haven't come up yet so I'm thinking maybe the rain washed the seeds away? They were pretty tiny.

Here's a few more pics of my pretties:

Sun Drops
Hens & Chicks
Double-Knockout Roses
Coral Bells
Sedum

With these, you just stick the leaves in dirt and they'll grow. The wind blows them all over my yard. I even pick them out of the cracks in my driveway!


A VISITOR
If you haven't noticed, I love wildlife and nature. I looked out the back window of my four-season room and look who came to visit! I watched him hop all over the yard eating bugs before hopping up on my swing and then fly away.

Sorry the photos are hazy. I took them through the screened window.


STITCHY STUFF
Last week, I focused on the mailart piece. I've got one of the motifs done on the front... can't show pics, though. (I know, I know... you're sick tired of hearing that)

I was invited to join another mailart group, and in looking at their albums I've gotten a few ideas on how I want to finish my latest mailart piece. I am so excited to see how it turns out!

For anyone interested in some history of mailart, go HERE.

I did a tiny bit of stitching on Blossom (couldn't resist it). Here's what she looks like after a couple hours of stitching.


DIY
I started a new "project" over the weekend. I should have it finished by the end of this week. Are you curious? Do inquiring minds want to know? Want to see a preview? Of course you do!



Until next time,