Vacuum cleaners and other things that don't work

I have one of these.

Well, this one to be exact!

I've had it for a while and always been happy with how it worked.

One day a couple of weeks ago it stopped in the middle of the hall.

This has happened before and it was always the filter.

I switched out the filter

still wouldn't start. 

Hum.

Also the beater bar-

Most excellent of inventions-

began making a horrid squeaking noise.

I decided that it had to go off to the shop.

Got it back in two days

(whoever heard of that fast of a turn around?)

I had caused the seal inside the canister to slide up by knocking the canister against 

the trash barrel to get rid of the dirt!

Who knew?

I won't be doing that again.

I have to say it is back to being amazing!

Unfortunately, that means I must vacuum.

In the category of not very amazing.

COMMENTS

Since Google did away with open ID 

leaving a comment has meant signing in to a different account.

That doesn't always work though.

For some reason I can't leave a comment on Chookyblue's blog at all.

Sorry Chooky.

If I have issues, 

I'll try and send you an email instead.

So, sorry about that!

Also, about proving I am not a robot.

I hate all the little squares of photos.

So small I can't always see the fire hydrant or whatever I should see

And now there are two pages!

I hate it.

Personally, I wouldn't care if you were a robot!

Gardening?

Well, not quite yet.  The trees are turning green!  When I drive back and forth to the library I've noticed that first the bushes below the trees are just a bit green and now the trees are a haze of green!  Except for the weeping willow trees-always the first to leaf out they are green!  I often wonder how many people pay any attention to the seasons changing as they drive along.  I love to see the changes, the creatures along the way-keeps the drive from being boring.

Anyway, this happened today.  The plastic pots are cleaned-as well as they are ever cleaned at any rate. Still have the clay ones to do.  I am taking the clay ones to Nashville so that Rob and Tanya can take their pick.  I find the clay to be too heavy so I've been replacing with plastic as I find them.

My gardens are beginning to show signs of life!  The lilies in front are up, the hydrangea and the lavender both have new growth.  The Yarrow and the Tansy are getting taller and today I saw the first of the hostas are just through the ground.  I'm going to have to fix a couple of fences-one in front of the hosts garden and one in the back yard to keep Quinn off her now very muddy paths. No fun that.

It has finally gotten warm-back to back 70F days and warmer for next week.  We've had rain off and on for the past week but it's to be dry now for a few days which will be nice, no more squishing when walking across the lawn!

While inside, the cactus are still blooming!  They must really like the spot they are in!
This one begins very white with just a little pink and gets darker the longer it's open.
I like seeing blooms inside the house.  Some of the Succulents are getting too large for their containers-must shop for something better.  It's hard to find bigger without getting deeper and succulents don't need room for deep roots.

Why I hang finished quilt tops on the design wall.

I hang all my finished tops back on the design wall.

First, because it keeps them unwrinkled.  

They are big, 

I don't want to iron them again!

When it hangs there and I look at it for a few days,

this often happens

See that yellow sticky?

I made an oops!

I'd really rather fix it now than after I've begun pinning it,

or even worse quilting it!

The backing fabric is being washed today.

Tomorrow, I'll make it up.

Then when it is pressed and starched it will hang on the wall as well.

I'll fix the oops today!

Then on Sunday I'll sandwich it - oh my aching back!!

I will be so glad to have this one finished,

it seems to have taken FOREVER 

and to have had an excessive amount of unstitching!

Next week I'll begin Quilting,

once I've decided how to quilt it that is.

It's huge so it will take a while to quilt.

In other stitching,

I've been making up four-patches 

to use up my many leftover squares.

Yellow is finished,

Red will take a while longer.

I've pretty much given up on catching up with

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

(due to large blue and white quilt above)

but will work at just using stuff up anyway.

It's all good.

Tears

For the past several years I've read two kinds of books:  Non-fiction, mostly history, and romance.  I decided not long ago that I would widen the reading and so I've read a couple of really good books outside the box lately.  Books I'd really recommend.

First, I finished The Storyteller's Secret yesterday.  Sobbing with tears streaming down my face.  Mascara and all.  It is a wonderfully compelling book even though you begin with the knowledge that some parts of it won't be easy (or happy) to read.  Still, I could not put it down and the ending is so beautiful the tears began while I still had pages left to read.
Set in India during British rule and today it speaks of family and how the history of that family and its secrets flow down through the generations.  So Good! I can not remember the last time a book made me cry. I'll be downloading Sejal Badani's other book really soon.

 Second, is this memoir by Dani Shapiro-Inheritance.  The story of the author's struggle to come to terms with the secrets in her family (Wow, I have a theme going here) when her Ancestry DNA results are so surprising as to not be believable.  The trauma this causes her and the results of a long process of coming to terms with the why,  the how, and the who.

Again, a really lovely, compelling book. I couldn't put it down.