I've been advised that some people do read this!  So Maybe I will start posting...the long absence is mostly due to just plain o'l being "run-down".  Nothing major just annoying and boring.

Picked a big bowl of green beans tonight.  They are almost spent...but we got at least 15 - 20 quarts worth this year.  (our first year!).  Lots of them were given away and some froze or just eaten fresh.  Looks like we will be having a late dinner tonight of potatoes and green beans! 

The grape vine was not as generous this year.  Mostly due to the birds who feasted all summer long on them.  Next year we will have a net!

So getting some of my energy back...thanks to big pharma...(sometimes it is needed). 

My talented step-son got hurt playing football last weekend.  And Today is his birthday.  Sports are his life so he is pretty bummed.  But should be ok to do track in the spring.

off to work I go...long week ahead.  Been kind of exhausted lately...

 A half day of work today Yay!!!  So I'm taking my time this morning...having some herb tea.

We brought down a desk from upstairs so I need to clean it out and organize it.  That means filing all paperwork from 2009!  May be able to get to that this weekend...but this weekend I am traveling to see my grandson. 

Not much new on the homefront.  Lots of tomatoes need picking.  And the grapes are ripening!  Sunflowers towering over the rooftop.  Finally it's cooling a little...seems like right after the fair it usually does.  The kids are back in school around here.

The weekend of the 22 (is that this weekend?) there will be a sand sculpting contest in town.  Sounds fun!

Well I need to get some yoga in and knitting before work. 

Photos from the State Fair

We had the best time together!!!

experimenting with old photos

The jeep is in the shop.  It stalled on us Monday night.  Hopefully we will get it back today.  So I'm home from work...which is kind of good but kind of not.  As I hate to disappoint anyone.  But some things just happen.

Started a new shawl.  It should go fast.  I'll try and get some photos of it so far.  I have 4 sisters and hope to finish something for each of them for Christmas.  Plus make some socks for Mom and Mom-in-law.  It's a tall order but possible. 

Organizing my sewing supplies today...

Rainy, hot and humid today. 

The tomatoes are starting to rippen...yay.

Well, tea water is whistling...better go!

July travels

Richie at the bat caves.

We saw some big ass mushrooms.

The area reminded me of prehistoric times.

Always touching something!

Pretty rock formations.

Galena, Illinois.

Crossing the mighty Mississippi.

First pair of socks knitted!!  Yay!!

He is 8 years old now! And handsome as ever!

Clarence, IA. 

Covered Bridge in IA...(I think...could be IL. somewhere...we were all over that day).

To Never Be Born

Mrs. Rooney: I remember once attending a lecture by one of these new mind doctors, I forget what you call them. He spoke ... 

Mr. Rooney: A lunatic specialist? 

Mrs. Rooney: No no, just the troubled mind, I was hoping he might shed a little light on my lifelong preoccupation with horses' buttocks. 

Mr. Rooney: A Neurologist? 

Mrs. Rooney: No no, just mental distress, the name will come back to me in the night. I remember his telling us the story of a little girl, very strange and unhappy in her ways, and how he treated her unsuccessfully over a period of years and was finally obliged to give up the case. He could find nothing wrong with her, he said. The only thing wrong with her as far as he could see was that she was dying. And she did in fact die, shortly after he washed his hands of her.

Mr. Rooney: Well? What is there so wonderful about that? 

Mrs. Rooney: No, it was just something he said, and the way he said it, that has haunted me ever since. When he had done with the little girl he stood there motionless for some time, quite two minutes I should say, looking down at his table. Then he suddenly raised his head and exclaimed, as if he had had a revelation, "The trouble with her was she had never really been born!" [Pause] He spoke throughout without notes. [Pause] I left before the end ... [Sobs] There's nothing to be done for those people! 

Mr. Rooney: For which is there?

---From All That Fall
Samuel Beckett
As quoted in The Lourdes of Arizona

---

First day back at work

after a 2 week vacation.  I'm feeling rested and ready!

The day is foggy and moist.  Have on a fleece jacket...just anticipating fall weather.  But it will be quite a while til we get to enjoy that pleasure.

Lots to do yet this morning.  So this is cut short. 

It seems the photos I have recently taken with the new camera have been blurry....still learning it.

There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.

Hindu Proverbs

Swiss chard day...

Cleaned and froze swiss chard this afternoon.  It finally rained...lots of tomato blooms.  Quite a few green tomatos too...
Trying to figure out the new camera...I'm not good at reading directions...ha..

Still working on the ruffled shawl.  It ties in the back...reminds me of Tasha Tudor.

Maybe the summer is laz-ing along now and I will get a chance to share on here...maybe...haha...
Cheers!

It has been a loooonnnnggg few weeks!  House guests and working have taken up lots of time and energy...

Hope my Birthday brings a new camera because I need something easy and fun to use...as well as video capabilities.

So these days may only be ramblings...no photos on the horizon as of late.  (does that last sentence make any sense? LOL)

I have finished knitting/crocheting a shawl.  It is laying on the dinning room table damp and stretched out between towels to dry.  That is the way your supposed to "block" knitting...or so one source reports.

The altered book work was sold at the auction/sale night...which was wonderful news.

There was an art fest in town over the weekend and I purchased a handwoven basket...for, you guessed it...YARN!  It was a pretty cool (not temp. wise) weekend in the I.C.

Wish I had some photos...the garden is growing perfectly!!!  Sunflowers are leaning toward the sun.

Work starts again tomorrow...no yoga today.  It was spent doing boring but necessary chores.  But I must look at doing the yoga as my medicine.  That is how it feels when I practice.