War and Peace

A lot can happen in a month. Even when one does not get around to blogging much. So here goes an epic post to catch everyone up with the adventure I call my life.

First of all, the girls are here. I picked them up from the Nashville airport, where they arrived, all by themselves, like seasoned travellers. Everything went off without a hitch. I have never flown SW airlines, but from what I could see, they did a great job getting the girls to us on their first solo flight.

Since then we have been busy. I knew there was going to be alot of down time for them, way out here in the country with no other kids to play with. So I suggested maybe they would enjoy reading the Harry Potter series. Maddie dove right in. Katie, not so much. But she did pick out another series at the bookstore, and it seems to be keeping her interest so that's fine with me.

They have had no problem with the sleeping arrangements. Katie grabbed the iron bed, but Maddie seems to like the air mattress on the floor. I gave up pretty quickly on getting her to put it back under the iron bed during the day, tho. Daisy also likes the air mattress and I often find her curled up next to Maddie in the morning. The girls really took to the animals right off, and except for Lexi, they took right to them also. Lexi is just now coming around. Over the 4th I took them over to Chattanooga for a 3 day weekend. The girls felt right at home with all the zoo that lives their great aunt Mary and uncle Richard. Especially the gorgeous new feral kitten they are trying to socialize. This little sweetie is a flame point Hemmingway and took to Maddie like she was her mother. I kind of expected some tears when we headed home, wanting Bluette to come to. But I guess Maddie trusted Aunt Mary to find this beauty a good home.

Uncle Richard came with us downtown to the aquarium. All his extra knowledge delighted them and made the experience extra special. We also hit the museum to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit. It was a bit disappointing, being very very small. I have seen more of his work in the hotel at the Houston Quilt show. The girls also enjoyed the pedestrian bridge across the Tennessee River. Of course, having a glorious weather day didn't hurt.


Sunday we hit a local farmer's market downtown and then went to ride the carousel. It is the last totally wooden, hand carved carousel in the country. I wish I would have brought the camera, but alas, hadn't thought of it when heading out the door.

We headed home on Monday with one last activity before hitting the interstate. I thought the girls would really enjoy riding the incline railway up to the top of Lookout Mountain. It really was a pretty cool fun thing to do. Part of the rail goes up at a 72 degree slope. The only thing that keeps you from feeling like you are sliding out of your seat, is that they are mounting in the car at an angle that minimizes the effect. There is a small park at the top that has some amazing views. One day we would like to go back and walk some of the trails that go down from the park to some points of interest. We were all wearing flip flops that day, not exactly mountain climbing gear.



One of the secondary reasons for heading to Chatty that particular weekend, is that the wild blackberries were getting ripe. The girls and I braved the thorns and managed to bring back 6 qts of berries. These are frozen right now, but will be jam and wine when I have the time to deal with it.

Once I saw that the girls liked Harry Potter, it quickly became obvious that they would be my dates for the opening of the new movie. That meant we would have to watch all the others in the days leading up to June 15th. That was 5 very quiet evenings around the house. They got into it from minute 1!! So I splurged and went on line, bought advance tickets for opening day of the Half Blood Prince. We have to say that this is probably the best movie of the 6 now done. Of course it can not cover everything the book does. For instance, I wish they would bring out the personality of Tonks better than they did. But I have to say, several times in the movie, the soundtrack goes silent. During these brief moments, not one person in the audience was even breathing. We were all on the edge of our seats, even tho many of us know how it all comes out in the end. If any of you have not yet seen it, go now. I may even go again.

I have not gotten alot of knitting done. Or quilting. But the girls have gotten some nice 9 patch blocks done with help from me. Maddie can really run the machine quite well, while Katie takes a bit more help lifting the pressure foot and all. But Katie has a lead foot while still maintaining her accuracy. Both girls pick out some nice fabric combos. Now I am very glad I cut those 100's of 2.5" quilt seeds. Katie told me today she really only likes picking out the fabrics and doing the ironing. That's my girl. Always trying to get someone else to do the hard work!!



But I did managed to completely finish the Buttercup sweater and even wear it a few times. I am really happy with the end result. My only change next time would be to knit the top section a size smaller in order to raise up the neck line a little. But the yarn, pattern and sweater are totally a winner. I have now slowly started the Faerie Ring Jacket. I am on the cable that runs along the bottom. Thank goodness it is a totally memorizable pattern repeat since I rarely get more than a few minutes alone to knit these days. The last thing keeping me busy is the garden. It is producing bushels at a time now. I have so many squash that I am dehydrating all the zucchini and trying to keep up eating the yellow squash. And I am falling desperately behind, despite trying every yellow squash recipe on the web. Next year, 2 zucchini and 1 yellow squash. Period. And let's not even start to talk about the green beans. Lets just say the new freezer is already filling up. The biggest one I could buy at the appliance store. I just picked the first ripe tomatoes today but I have a ton of greenies waiting to redden up. I have 14+ watermelons on the vine and many many more little babies waiting in the wings. These are those cute baby melons so it will take 2 at a time to feed the 4 of us. Cucumbers enough for quarts and quarts of pickles. Spaghetti squash enough to feed the county. My only failure seems to be peppers. They were doing well but Japanese Beetles waited until I went into town one day and ate them almost down to the ground. They may come back but it will take a lot of babying and no more attacks from the unwelcome pests. I am getting really really good at hand picking bugs and throwing them to drown in a big Bucket O' Bugs.

This is already long without having added the pics I plan on showing off. So off I go to plug in the photos. Hopefully the girls and I will come to an equilibrium and I will get some free time to post more frequently. Maybe after we get back from the Knoxville quilt show, or the hiking next weekend, or the water park trip the week after.......