A Vacation

I haven't posted for a long time. I have been reading, stitching, and just enjoying my summer. I went on a lovely vacation this past week-end to Wisconsin with some wonderful friends. I am also getting ready to read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I have read so much about this book that I decided I need to read it. I have been stitching Tea with Jane Austen by The Sampler Girl. The rabbit is one of many who have taken up residence in my yard. They let you get fairly close to them. I love the rabbits.

Before and After

This has been a very rainy summer. Some of my flowers are doing fine, and some are getting too much water. In addition, a very small bunny has taken a fancy to my wave petunias, planted, not in the containers. I don't think I will replace them at this point, just hope that the ones I have left will flourish.

A Lily, a Dragonfly, and a Finish

I love lillies, and I love purple. Is there a more beautiful vision than a purple lily?

I took this picture of a Dragonfly on my prism outside of my kitchen window. I was inside the kitchen. The Dragonfly's wings were glistening in the sunshine.

I finally finished my cross stitch project: Fancey Blackett & The Butter Churn by Pineberry Lane. I love it and am going to get it framed after I show it to my friends this week-end.

Snowball and Fancey Blackett

One of my Maine Coon Cats who usually doesn't pose well for a picture decided he wanted a share of Jessie Rose's popularity. Snowball is loyal and always wants to sit close by me. He is also a great protector of Jessie Rose on most days. Sometimes he just gets tired of her. My other cat Dasher, who is the leader of the trio, I will try to get a photograph of and post shortly. I also am close to finishing my cross stitch project, Fancey Blackett & the Butter Churn. I am having my kitchen redone and have not had the time to sit and stich, so now that the painter is here, and I can't really do anything, I am stitching. I also have a picture of a yellow finch. We have so many finches. They are beautiful to watch. They congregate to our finch feeder often.

Snowball is a cool and charming cat. I think his eyes are hypnotic. He is all white with gold eyes.

This is a fun project by Pineberry Lane. It is supposed to be a pinkeep, but I am going to have it framed. It has been fun to stitch.

We have so many yellow finches in our yard. They are difficult to photograph because they are always on the move and sometimes look like a yellow blotch in the picture. This finch decided to rest on the fence around my husband's garden. The fence is for the rabbits who also inhabit my yard.

Simply Purrfect

Jessie Rose loves to pose for pictures.

Jessie Rose Looks Out. . . .

Jessie Rose, one of my sweet Maine Coon Cats, is an inside cat, but she loves to look out the screen door at the outside world. Here is Jessie Rose and some of the things she might have been looking at today.

Jessie Rose is safe behind a screen door. Let's see what she finds so interesting outside of that door.

That's my purple clematis bush. I think the purple flowers are beautiful. I bet Jessie Rose would love to climb up the trellis.

Here is a picture of the flowers up close. I think Jessie would like to hide in those flowers. Her green eyes would probably light up when she tried to sniff the flowers.

Is that a rabbit that you see Jessie Rose? He's hiding by the plants in the nature area. I bet Jessie Rose would be more afraid of him than he of her. Jessie is a "scarredy cat."

My purple pansies have such pretty faces. I know Jessie would love to walk around in them. I love pansies because they bloom in the fall and in the spring. The fence is there because we have so many rabbits that they eat all of my flowers if I don't fence them in.

This is the side garden that Jessie Rose looks at. I love the standing glass prism that I found at a craft show. It reflects the sun and is so pretty to look at, especially in the morning and late afternoon.

The red-winged blackbirds nest in the cattails behind our house. They are beautiful to look at, and their wings are much redder than they appear in this picture. There are so many of them nesting that Jessie can't see all of them at once.

Finally, Jessie Rose looks at the wild grasses blowing in the wind. They are so delicate and add so much to the scenery behind my house. I feel fortunate to live in an area with so much beauty.

So there you are. Jessie Rose is an inside cat, but she has so much to look at every day. She can see flowers, animals, and birds. It isn't safe for her to be out, but her imagination is stimulated every time she looks out at the world.

Cross Stitch

I am posting a few of my cross stitch finishes as well as a work in progress.

This is the first cross stitch chart I completed so many years ago. My mother and I learned how to cross stitch at a small shop in old St. Augustine, Florida. We both bought kits from the lovely lady who owned the shop. This was mine. My mother bought a chart with a horse and carriage set in Charleston, South Carolina.

I cross stitched this Mother Goose for my baby before he was born. John is now nineteen-years old.

This is a Mary Garry's Cabin chart. I can't remember the name of it. I made it for my special cat Jessie Rose. I know that Mary Garry is not designing anymore.

This is Mockingbird by La De Da. My son wanted me to make this for him last year. John picked out the mat and frame. I really like the way this turned out.

This is my work in progress. It is Fancey Blackett & The Butter Churn by Pineberry Lane. I coffee dyed the linen.

Celebrating

I went to pick up my son from college on Saturday to bring him home for the summer. This is my happy time. It's hard to believe that he has completed two years of college. It is always my favorite time when he comes home for the summer. While I was there, I took some interesting pictures. The first picture is of an American flag hoisted on a crane and flying over the street. I think there was some sort of celebration in the town going on. I know that Saturday was graduation at the university. The second picture is of a blooming hosta that was outside of the house where my son lives. The last two pictures are of the sunset that I took at my home on Thursday night.

A Really Cold Week

It has been such a cold week with windy, rainy days and cold, cold nights. It's going down into the 40s again tonight. It's a great evening to drink tea and cuddle up with my cats and my stitching. I took a picture this afternoon of a dove sitting on my back patio, with the wind ruffling his feathers. My yellow-headed male blackbird was still here Sunday on his migration route north.

Birds and Other Critters

One of the greatest advantages about where I live is that I'm ten minutes from great shopping, Starbucks, and Ulta. The other great delight is that I can go outside or look out of one of my windows, and it appears as if I live in the country. There are blue and white herons, many varieties of birds, rabbits, ducks, geese, deer, and then there are the predators, coyotes and hawks. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I took around my house this week.

Mr. Bunny was watching me as I took his picture, but he didn't run away. We have so many rabbits. I have to put a fence around my flower garden just so I have some flowers over the summer.

This pair of ducks decided to hang out in my raspberry patch. Hopefully, little ducklings will be around soon. After the ducklings hatch, the duck family lives in the nature area behind my house.

The bird in the feeder was an interesting bird with a yellow face and white on its wings. I have never seen a bird that looks like this around here. The red-winged blackbirds were not too happy and tried to chase him away.

This is another picture of the yellow-faced bird. He is really pretty. I believe he is a yellow-faced blackbird.

I took this picture of a hawk from my dining room window today. He was flying from fence to fence, but the red-winged blackbirds chased him out of the yards. He was quite magnificent. Maybe this is a sign that I should start stitching Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow.

Reading with a purpose. . .or not

I always listen with great interest and attention to the titles of books my friends read. When we go around our stitching table and tell what good books we've been reading, I usually have as my bedside book something in the category of an English cozy or Scotland highland mystery by M.C. Beaton or a great mystery or gothic romance. My current book of choice is Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House. It is light and nice and enjoyable. In comparison to the books some people read, it is definitely on the softer side, without serious themes or passions. I sometimes feel like I should read more serious books in my leisure time, but then I realize that I read enough serious books as a part of my job.

Actually, my serious reading comes from the novels I teach to my junior and senior students. My juniors are just finishing The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. It is a brilliant, harrowing insight into the Vietnam War. It is memorable and the themes it embodies I don't think any of us, my students or me, will ever forget. Reading (and in my case re-reading) this book with young people and listening to their wonderful insights into the thematic aspects of this novel make reading and discussing this book even more remarkable to me.

My seniors are reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. This is the penultimate descent into the darkness that exists within everyone. It is a book that challenges the reader and is one of the most difficult literary experiences that one will ever undertake. I can never say that I like the book, but I am glad that I have experienced this book. Teaching this book is often an exhausting lesson for teacher and student, but after reading it, I can honestly say that a person never looks at life in the same way again.

I believe that all reading is important, but I suppose that after the novels that I teach, my choice of English cozy, highland mystery, or gothic romance is a balance to the intricate works that I cover each day in my classes. For me, reading for enjoyment is an escape. I cannot imagine what life would be like without reading. Reading is a challenge at times and an escape at other times. The next book on my leisure list to read is The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb.  It should be a great read, and one that I look forward to beginning soon.

Finishing Stitching Projects

I have decided to use DMC to stitch the lovely Carriage House Samplings' Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow. I am going to start stitching this project on Wednesday. I have decided that it will be my Wednesday stitching project. Do any of you have a project that you stitch on certain days of the week? I know a few people who do this. In addition, there is a group at a lovely cross stitch shop, Inspired Needle, who stitch on Carriage House Samplings' Hawk Run Series or other equally interesting projects one Sunday a month. I am going to try to make those events as well. I must confess that I have a difficult time completing my stitching projects. Other obligations or interests (lately reading) seem to get in the way. I also know that I used to finish many more projects when I purchased and worked on one project at a time. Now I seem to have many more projects, UFOs, and new items without the commited interest in finishing them. That's why I am going to start stitching certain projects on certain days. I wonder if any of you have the same problem of finishing stitching projects as I do. How do you manage to complete your projects?

Spring Days

Spring surely is gorgeous. It is spiritual and life affirming. I love the ornamental pear tree that lives beside my house. It is especially beautiful this year. Even though it's cool today: think heavy sweater weather, the blooms and spring flowers are still brightening my day. I especially love the hyacinths and the rhododendron in my gardens. I also have a pair of geese who have taken possession of my yard. They will have goslings soon.

Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow

I have decided to stitch Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings. I am, however, going to leave the two Halloween blocks out, thereby making it somewhat shorter. I am not fond of the witch nor the other Halloween block. I have decided to stitch my project on 36 ct. Sand Dune. I am now trying to decide whether to use Needlepoint Silks or DMC. The cost of Needlepoint Silks for this project is somewhat prohibitive, even though I think the final look of the silks is always beautiful and subtle. DMC colors are beautiful as well. What are some of you using if you are stitching this project?