Unaccountably Useless

You might think I'm about to say something about government with that title, but no. Today I'll give you a rest from my incessant political posts. I know...it's just a barrage of fake news around here. But here's something real...it's a cat out standing in her field.

It's kind of unusual to see her out and visible like this. Usually, she goes out the door, and I don't see her until she comes back in again. She must have had a gopher or a mouse cornered there. Smitty kept watch from the patio. If you look closely at the image below, you'll notice a few things.

For one thing...tractor man needs to get his sorry self back here from South Carolina and mow the field. Secondly, gardener woman needs to get out and finish pulling the weeds. Thirdly, you can see the huge crack in that pot sitting there next to the Gracie Memorial Catnip Garden. I have geraniums to plant there, but the pot kind of disintegrated. Matthew and I tried to turn it around to have the crack face the other way. I figured I could get another year out of it if we turned it around. What we can't see won't bother us, right? And that turned out to be a big mistake. You can see the crack. What you can't see is the three-inch space where it separated on the far side. Oh well. Nothing ventured...Finally, and this bugs the blue jays more than anything...the peanut feeder is empty there on the left. The blue jays will empty the feeder in about half an hour, and so I dole the peanuts out sparingly. It's surprising how expensive unshelled peanuts are.

So once Smitty got over his disapproving glare of everything that needs doing outside, I caught him in a more reflective mood lying on his kitty pole inside. Probably he's wondering why I don't wash the windows so his view is better.

Did I show you this picture of the bleeding heart already? It's one of my favorite things in the garden, so here it is again.

And that brings me to the unaccountable part of this post. I've rediscovered something I've always known about myself. I'm much less productive when there's no one around watching. Not that anyone is ever watching, but somehow I feel less lazy when there are other eyes on me.

Matthew has been living here in the house since before we left on our trip, and he's still here. He's had a frustratingly difficult time finding a place he wants to live. He and I managed to polish off the whole loaf of bread in two days. Already, I have another loaf rising in the kitchen as I write. But to get back to the unaccountability, he isn't around much, and so no one really cares what I do. Not even me, apparently.

Yesterday, I did get my housework done, but then I did practically nothing the rest of the day. Certainly I took a nap because nothing tires me out more than doing almost nothing at all. I'm very delicate that way. Late in the afternoon I did a little bit of work on the Gingerbread Village piece. This will be a small quilt when it's finished at 16 inches square. Still, it's a mess of colors and angles, and it's distracting and tedious working on it. When I made the Happy Village two years ago, I noted that it was best done in quadrants, and so I started on the southeast quadrant yesterday.

The remainder is kept covered with rulers because, you know...furry feet. When I left it for the day, I covered the whole thing. Today I'll work on the southwest side, and then I'll do something else. It's good to keep fresh eyes while working on these. As I look at the image above, I can already see a few places where I'd like to add some trees and chimneys. Eventually, I'll quilt in some details.

After that, I was completely worthless. I thought a lot about things I could do...start the quilting on Quiltmaker's Garden, for example. It's been sandwiched and folded for a full year, and so when I opened it up, it had deep fold lines in it. I decided to drape it over my sewing chair and let it relax for a day or two before I start on it.

Sadie thinks it makes an excellent kitty fort.

Also, I considered doing the next block for the Chicken Buffet quilt. The next one is Chicken Chow Mein. Here's the image from the book.

I only got as far as making a copy of the applique pieces, and then I put it aside again. Maybe I'll get started on that today.

So when all other sewing ideas fail, there's always slow stitching..."slow" being the operative word in that sentence. I finished up the current hoop.

Now there's just a little bit left to do. I should be able to finish this today while I wait on the bread to rise.

If there's time this afternoon, I might head down to the fabric store to get the burgundy I'm after for the Wine Country quilt. And if not...who knows what I'll do? Certainly not me.

When I spoke with Mike this morning, he was at the RV dealership. They'd already taken care of the wiring problem he discovered. As for the roof problem, I don't know what's going to happen there, but the dealership agreed that the roof needed to be redone. He'll either take it to Indiana where it was manufactured to be repaired on the way home, or he'll negotiate to have it done at a place he likes here in Oregon. (If it were up to me, he'd have it done in Oregon.) I'm hoping he'll call and let me know he's heading for home later today. Because, honestly, the place may fall down around our ears if someone doesn't get back here and start cracking the whip. (No whips will be involved.)