Today's Added Adventures...

...I have three area rugs on the first floor of the house. Two are such crap that if I threw them away, the scavengers wouldn't touch them; the other is very nice. So guess which one our aging cat, Hobbes, decided to pee on?  Hubsy was able to rush her straight to the vet; it turns out she just has a bladder infection. She is on meds for this condition and the "good room" is blocked off to all cats for the time being. She is a very good cat--a very old cat, too.

A Mini-Project, the Next Project and Notes on Summer Reading....

 ...Gardener's Hubsy was tossing  out an old orange crate with remnants of the paper sunkist label on one end. At first ambivalent, eventually I snared it before it was kicked to the curb. Cleaning, light sanding and a clear coat of urethane helped. Standing on end, it's a perfect dress-up for our too-casual (aka "a mess") deck. My Hubs' thinks it might be from the time when they made these crates from redwood.

...You're Next! Likely this is from the 1920-30's. It's got a stamp on the back from Richardson Bros. in WI. That company is now called Richardson Ind. and claims it's the oldest family owned furniture manufacturer in the country. It's an (extended) family heirloom, so if it finishes well, I will give it back to them. And No, I not going to touch that yummy design! It's a child's table, with legs that detach and are stored in the back...

...like this, except it's falling apart.               OK, Summer Reading : I read the book about maroons and castaways thru the section on the early nautical adventurers and explorers, the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, etc. If marooned, the first thing you need to do is find water, shelter, food; this must be done soon since you will weaken quickly in the stressful conditions.      I started reading "The Adventures of Theodore Roosevelt". I am heartily sorry I never discovered this guy before--Why Was I Not Forced To Read TR as a junior at Maine East High School?? What an informative and entertaining writer! Especially if you like to read about nature--right now he's telling me all about stalking prong-horned antelope in the Badlands in the Mid-1880's; it's as if he's written a letter and it happened last week!

Sanity-Preservation Project: Completed...

 ...the brown lingerie chest, one of two found on the street, is the "before" picture. Nasty brown paint was practically poured on...

 ...after much machine and hand sanding, priming, more sanding, painting with semi-gloss acrylic, more sanding  to distress it a bit, plus a finish of clear polyurethane, here it is!

...i tried a design on the top by applying green acrylic lightly to actual fern fronds, transfering the design by pressing the fronds onto the wood paint-side-down; then some krafter paint to high-light. (Have to work on that technique :-< )

...and I was shy about distressing the piece too much. It's against my nature, yet I know it creates a nice affect. This new craft-mania's inspired by my favorite "creative-living" blog  My Pink Life!

Always the Perfect Hostess....

....The wonderful Mom of our daughter-in-law, L'il Pearl, is admired as a gracious and welcoming hostess; her parties are a delight! Almost by accident, she allows her yard to serve as a valued sanctuary for the Monarch Butterfly. Once Upon a Time, she got a packet of various "wild flower" seeds; it contained Milk Weed seeds and those took firm hold in her yard. You should see it! The other day, she took a photo of this Monarch caterpillar I found while helping weed a bed. It's gorgeous.

Keep Forgetting to Re-Charge Mr. Nikon's Battery!

(and I hate all my archived photos at the moment.) Back Soon with New Stuff.

How Do You Like Them (Road)Apples, Thomas A. Edison?.....

....due to weather conditions like this and worse, poor ol' Aunt Blogs' was out of electric power for about 48 hours. Thankfully, there was no damage to life, limb or property at our house, but we nearly lost our freakin' minds!! Tonight we had a mini-feast with Gardener and her Hubs', as food was beginning to go soft in non-working freezers. The other great blessing: after the big storm, it cooled down mercifully, so we sort of shivered in the dark, instead of sweated. Fine With Me; I appreciate that I seem spoiled when so many this year have lost so much in bad weather, floods and other mayhem--Thursday was disjointed!

Summer Reading...

...drifting from book to book lately, but finally settled on "Colonel Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris. It is very well written, a pleasure to read. Who knew TR was a writer of many books? So I trotted off to my local public learning palace (aka the new library uptown) to look for a book actually written by TR; I found "The Adventures of Theodore Roosevelt" which is a collection of various writings. AND accidentally, while gazing at the titles on a nearby shelf, I found a 1988 book "Desperate Journeys and Abandoned Souls: True Stories of Castaways and Other Survivors" by Edward E. Leslie. If you like Pirates of the Caribbean, you will love this book! It starts with accounts of 15th-16th Century sailors, survivors of wrecked ships and others marooned by their shipmates, and explains how they survived.

Mid-June in the Flower Bed and Garden

...we are full of greens, such as mustard, chinese cabbage, collard and spinach. Not to mention lots of lettuces and mixed greens. I just put a little left-over meat in a pot, sweat the greens with a little broth and eat. Or add more broth and whatever seasons we feel like and it's soup.  We're about to have goodness knows how many pounds of snap peas.

"Cooler By the Lake..."

....a phrase heard frequently in these parts. It's written in the sky: on a pleasantly cool day last week, we had a nice breeze coming from the N-NE, spilling chilly Lake Michigan air onto the land. At the shore, in these conditions, it can be downright nippy. But here, 7 miles inland, the chilly air is mixed with the warmer air. At times this produces rain, of course, but today just upper level interesting clouds. Time for SkyWatch Friday!

Hubsy Found this....

...and thought it was funny and unfortunately true.   To read it better, click on the image. Here's the link for the blog.

Bloggsy's Been Reading the Crafter-Blog Genre...

...secretly, I've always felt my mission on earth is to rescue cast-off wooden furniture from the garbage dump...somehow I am to fix these items and give them "new life". This makes no sense, but finally this summer, with inspiration from several creative-crafty blogs, I decided, The Clock is Ticking and I better get this out of my system...

...Hubsy found these two chests (I think they are lingerie chests) reposing on a curb outside some old place in Wilmette, waiting for the amigos-with-salvage-trucks to come by. The first chest is nearly finished, tho it took much sanding and priming, more sanding. I purchased and now own a tack cloth. I feel like such a carpenter!! Then there was painting and more sanding; presently I am finishing the top with a uniquely individual design which will capture the essence of early summer, I hope.

B3's been Boring Lately....

...so I'm borrowing this great photo from the Blonde Guy's Adversely Blog. He's doing some interesting photos lately! Someone else in the family is doing great work. He's also a graphic designer when not selling home goods to celebrities.

Shhhhh...Lights - Camera - Action....

 ...these antics reminded me of the kind of thing that might have happened a decade ago when the Blonde Kid was in high school....

 ...as the camera rolled (mine too) the kid in the tight Mod suit, umbrella and bike rolled past his friends who aimed the water hose at him...

...what was the point? perhaps the explanation is here... probably a school project...

 ...another take about to start?

...this went on for half an hour one evening, a week or so ago....  moments of summer..

The Class of 2011- Irises...

...these are not hybridized for appearance; Hubsy rescued them from various construction sites over the years. Frankly, anything that the Gardener didn't give me probably came from a construction site. But they Smell Like Those Old-Fashioned Irises You Vaguely Remember (when you were as tall as the iris).

So Darn Kool to Have a Real Photographer in the Fam....

 ....young and adorable cousins were expertly and creatively captured while with a whole group of friends at an old-fashioned carnival in a suburb of Denver....

 ....the artist who staged, arranged and captured the visions of pre-teen summer fun is Erin Evans Gilliss whose Green Chair Photography in Parker, CO specializes in these colorful fun-fantasy arrangements of kids, celebrations, pets and what-have-you....

 ....her background includes growing up in Hawaii and travelling some too; helps give her an eye for interesting fruit salad jello color twists that make her's unique.... and very Kool!

...action, color and giggly fun.....(I asked permission to use her material, as we all should.) The evening shots were even more vibrant.

Another Long Ride Today...

 ...the weather was perfect: upper 60's with a nice breeze off Lake Michigan. So we did not want to waste the opportunity. Our route took us north to Lake Bluff, using several of the local trails to get there and back.
The wild life sighting of the day was this little painted turtle. He as just starting across the trail....

....I stooped down to get a good close-up. As I walked back to my bike, the turtle heaved up onto the asphalt and hauled a$$ and shell across the trail. Luckily no other traffic was around. When I turned to look back, he almost across....

 It's a long, hot, harsh trail for a little animal.  There once was an interurban rail line here. Now just bikes and peds.

...the turtle disappeared into the underbrush on the way to a cooler, shady marshland area. Today's ride was 48 miles, on asphalt (somewhat easier than crushed limestone). I didn't take enough breaks near the end and got overtired.

Recent Memories....

...Hubs' took this one of me, arriving at L'il Pearl's parents' house for the traditional Memorial Day Sunday cookout. No, I didn't walk all the way over (tho the exercise won't hurt). We parked around the corner. I brought a cake.

An Old Woman's Game....

 ...collecting and arranging, nurturing and trading: Hostas give us something to do after the children have left...

 ...when we travel in late spring, we can visit nurseries in other communities and buy novel varieties...

 ....I don't know all the names of mine; when I started collecting, I didn't save the plastic ID tags....

 ...I have a lot of shade in the front yard. Grass doesn't do well. So it's a fantasy forest for hostas...

 ...the Gardener gave me the one above....

 ....this one is called Forest Fire, I think...

....unless things get too busy around here, I may try to hybridize some of these this season. Are you still awake?

A Few More of the Twins from Alice's Party Day...

 ...the old wooden rocking horse is a family heirloom, tho I'm not sure how old it is. Molly thinks she's the first baby-girl member of the Pony Express, and she has to out-run all the men...

...after a hard ride, she stops at a local saloon to cuddle her dolly.

...her brother, Micah, is not feeling all that competitve today. He's just sitting there; the mail packet will have to deliver itself.            (OK, this is a lame post; but I just wanted to work in these pics of the kids.)

There Was No Restaurant or Tavern in the Community...

....at Trail's end. (Just south of the Kankakee River, which is bigger than you think!). At the end of the road we asked the worn out middle-aged lady; there was nothing. But near the house that needed painting and the junked cars and the discarded plastic toys, I saw these lovely lilies--ok, the clump needs dividing--but it was vibrant. So I complimented her and she beamed, and looked better. I asked if I could take a photo and she was delighted. Her Dad planted them many years before......a gardening moment.

Live-Blogging the Birthday Party....

 ...Birthday Princess Alice beams at her Court of Visitors. Once again, she, Mommy and baby July visit G'ma and G'pa for a Great Three Year Jubilee...

...her cousins Molly and Micah have come from Far and Wide (a northerly suburb) bearing gifts and best wishes. It wasn't long ago they had their 2nd Birthday. Micah thinks the word for "Happy Birthday" is CAKE....

...frankly, the Twins see less of me and Big Nik(on) than Alice and July. They are shy and uncertain. So far, they wish they'd see less today; but then how will their fans keep up? This is a nice photo of Micah and a nice cameo of Molly.

 ...People, it takes a Village of Professional Food Scientists to raise turtles that turn into cakes! They have the magic! Alice's Mommy didn't have a pattern for the turtle cake; she was able to free-hand it. I'm impressed.

...so are the partiers. That's Molly, July who doesn't have the foggiest idea what's happening (but She's Next, since her Big #1 is just about a month away) Princess Alice the Gleeful and Micah, who just wants to dive into the cake...

...never was a turtle head more delicious or appreciated. Knowing the Gardener's family, this cake was home-made from scratch from an old family recipe. I had a tiny bite of the piece I took home for Hubsy and it was yummy...

 July doesn't know from cake yet, and would rather play with the combs, which I'm sure are  dedicated toys, not just something she picked up. She's a quiet little package and I can't wait to see how she matures....

 ...little Molly is still a climber, strong and sure-footed. Shy tho, so it was tough to get photos that show how cute she is....

...and Micah aka "Mr. Cake", a big gob of frosting on his fork and he's keeping an eye on that cake. More please?