Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Adventures!

Martin pond, Iowa
Last Thursday I picked Ceili up from storage and headed east on US highway 24.
Ended up at Wakonda State Park quite near the Mississippi river!
Close to Hannibal, hometown of Samuel C. Clements better know as Mark Twain.

On Friday, I worked on the changes I'm making to Ceili so she will be more comfortable.
Did a bit of cooking for the next day.
Drove into Quincy, IL to purchase the things I forgot to bring!
Well, some of them!
Quincy had some very unusual houses.
I wished for my camera, 
but of course I'd left it behind.
When will I learn?

On Saturday, I managed to get myself lost.
Going from the campground to Larry's sister's place.
Thank goodness for Lucas!
Who talked me through sending him my location on the Iphone
and then found me and led me in!
There was an afternoon and evening of visiting,
most of Larry's family was in attendance.
It wasn't hot which was seriously welcome!
As was the rain that came off and on all afternoon.

Speaking of rain.
It rained at the campground off and on all night.
Woke both Quinn and I several times,
Well that and the folks talking in the wee hours.
Several folks lost dining canopies and one trailer lost it's awning!
Must have been windy,
I didn't notice that.
The rain continued most of  Sunday morning,
finally driving me out of the trailer from the pounding on the roof.
That pounding brought on a pounding in my head!
(I'm not complaining that it rained! 
For one thing we are in desperate need of much more.
Then, if I did, thinking of Chookyblue and how desperately she needs rain-
well I'd feel guilty.)

I had planned a trip into Iowa for Sunday.
When I think of Iowa I think of corn and flat.
I don't think I'll drive up and down hills through a pine and hardwood state forest.
Then we wandered up and down roads like this:

Osage Road to the south

and to the north.
 Not flat.
Although there was plenty of corn!
Finally, we arrived at our destination.
Center Chapel Church.

More specifically the cemetery at the church.
I was looking for this stone in particular.


John and Mary Ann Evans Watkins.
Emigrant ancestors from Breconshire, Wales.
The last of my families to come to the United States.
Arriving in 1881.

On the return trip I thought it would be interesting to see Keokuk, IA.
I don't know why.
Crossed the Mississippi river, unintentionally.
Decided to drive along the river instead of turning around.
I did drive beside the river for a bit then through farms of corn.
Had to go clear to Quincy to cross back over the river.
I've never been fond of Illinois.
I haven't changed my mind.


Saturday, July 21, 2018

The deep hole that is my office

My desk.  It never looks much better.
This week I have spent quite a lot of time in this room.
Cleaning out the closet.
Sorting through the boxes and notebooks.
Making piles of materials to give away.
Beginning to get the Family History research organized.
    I moved the bookcase from the wall behind the desk to the wall along side the desk.
The scanner wasn't working well from the other spot.
The cord connecting it to the laptop just wasn't long enough.
(I will say that the photo scanning process has been moving along.
Another lifetime and I'll be done!)
All the notebooks on the shelves are either holding family information,
or are empty waiting to be filled.
I won't have any trouble filling them.
See the two white boxes?
They hold folders with notes etc in them.
That all needs to be added to one of the family lines.
The bottom center shelf holds yet more files.


And then there's this file!
Most of it on one family!

I have been sewing,
I have been reading,
I've even done housework
and COOKED.
But it seems I've mostly fallen down the office hole.

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Friday Night With Friends plus!

I joined up with Cheryll for Friday Night With Friends.
Only I started on Wednesday!
And I'll go on until Monday.
While the heat has broken-a bit- for a couple of days, 
I spend my time in the studio (aka basement)
where it is much cooler than the upstairs even with air conditioning.

I spent enough hours on Nora's stocking that I finished
 all the known cross stitches to be filled in.
I'm sure I'll find some are missing as I backstitch,
I always do.
The back stitching brings the entire piece alive,
adding details and definition.

I also stitched the first two rows of this little quilt together.
I dug the 4 patch blocks out of a box 
where they'd been lingering for 6 or 7 years.
Leftovers from a couple of quilts I made for Nora earlier.
I fiddled with placement on the design wall for a couple of days
and ended with this.
I might just have the blocks together by tomorrow night.
I think this will be a donation quilt.
Pink is quite prevalent and I'm seriously short of girls!

I've also spent at least and hour each day on this.
It is now halfway quilted.
Perhaps I'll finish this quilt this month?
I think it's doable.

Now, I'll just be off to hibernate some more!