July

Good morning! I'm sitting on my pollen covered screen porch thinking of ALL the things that need done. Decided to write a blog post first before I'm forced inside due to the heat.

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted. Chuck and I both had hospital procedures done and we are feeling much better. My giant "ort" stones are gone and thankfully it was done in one procedure! The doctor feared it might take two due to the size of the monsters. I'm so happy they are gone.

It has been so so hot here. We have had a bit of rain but day after day of 90+ degrees really takes a toll on the gardens. Our tomatoes are loving the heat though and if all goes well, we will have a bumper crop. Is there anything better than fresh from the garden tomatoes?

I've been assessing my back yard and trying to make it more to my liking. When we had the back porch added, we hired a landscaper to lay sod and add some plants. After the porch, our landscape budget was small and I was never thrilled with the end result. So we've slowly been moving and adding and tweaking and it is starting to shape up. There is much to do and it will be an evolving and changing process.

Lily Paige visited us for a couple days which is always a treat. She is twelve going on 20 as is the case with girls. We worked on art projects, she caught up on some of her favorite Netflix and AppleTV shows, cookies were baked and eaten and she even helped Poppa mow the lawn. Such a good girl! Helen adores here and is always close by as seen in the picture below.

Because of my health issues this spring and early summer I am WAY behind on designing. I'm working on a drum design now and have a few other designs started. I need to start thinking fall and Christmas and most importantly, Nashville Market in March! It will be here fast!!!

Sometimes when I'm designing, I get it on paper and love it but when I start stitching I find the colors aren't quite right. So there is some frogging and restitching and frogging and restitching to get it right. My current project is suffering from much frogging. Poor linen!

I hope you all are having a relaxing summer. It's such a strange time with the uncertainty of health, social issues, politics. I'm thankful for my needlework!!!