A Little Slower, Please

Life continues at a hectic pace in July. My new glasses are ready to be picked up, and not a moment too soon. On Tuesday, I took a header on our deck outside and banged myself up pretty good. I was running to get the phone when I caught my toe on a step and fell pretty much flat on my face. It broke my glasses, which Mike was able to fix, skinned up my hands, bruised my nose and eyebrow, and possibly cracked a rib. Oy. Well...I'm still alive and kicking, and how bad can it be? It could actually have been much worse. But, I digress. My glasses are ready to be picked up, and I'm getting my hair cut, so there's plenty on today's agenda. Tomorrow I'm walking with Sue. Possibly things will slow down a little over the weekend.

But let's back way up to Tuesday afternoon, post glasses repair, while I was still nursing my wounded pride. When all this happened, I had Sweet Cherry Chutney boiling away in my water bath canner. (The recipe for this is right here.)

While I was at it, Mike came inside to tell me about some mischief going on outside. If you've been reading for a while, then you might remember we have a bat house hanging near the top of the roof on our garage. (If you're curious about that quilt block, you can read all about it right here. You could even have one of your very own!)

So, the bats. We hung the bat house nearly 15 years ago, and it took quite a few years before bats started inhabiting it. Now, we see their little "droppings" on the ground below. But Mike wanted to show me this:

Hmmmmm...Methinks the raccoons are not the only ones eating our cherries.

After the sweet cherry chutney came out of the canner, I had a couple of salads to make, and then I had some time in the sewing room to finish up the June and July Tuxedo Tales blocks. I was working on the top-stitching when I head something from behind. Turning around, I saw this. Now how did that little bag of buttons end up on the floor. I wonder....Oh! And there's my little 3-1/2-inch square ruler too. I wondered where that went.

So, I figured the buttons might as well lie there where they were at zero potential energy. (That's a physics term...I asked the Resident Engineer. Yeah, I'm real smart.) And I went back to my sewing. And then, I heard a scuffling...what the? Apparently, someone wasn't happy. Things weren't going his way, and there was to be no sewing until his treat dish received some attention.

So, I took care of that, and then I could finish the blocks in peace. I added top-stitching and red buttons to the cat, and then a hot fix nailhead for the eye of the bird, and June's block was finished.

And then there were top-stitching and buttons to be added to July's block as well. And, duh, it took me until then to figure out those were blueberries growing out of the watermelon. Presumably, those are cherries in June's block. He really needs a raccoon sitting on his head.

It was late in the day by then, and so I took a little walk out in the garden before starting dinner. The hydrangeas are ready to take their place as the stars of the garden. These next two are growing from the same plant.

The echinacea is getting close to blooming.

But the real stars of the garden right now are the daylilies.

They're very prolific this year.

And, no doubt about it now...zucchini are coming along.

So that brings us to the Fourth of July. My tasks in the morning were to make some taco dip and bake some cookies. Mmmmmm...once you've baked this cookie, no other cookie will do. These are Chocolate-Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Pecans and Dried Cherries. I've linked to the recipe there, although at that link, I substituted dried cranberries for the dried cherries because it was Christmas. You can also use white chocolate if you like.

When we had everything packed up, it was time to head off for the river. We were set up on the east bank. It was a nice day...overcast, which kept it from getting too hot. There were a few sprinkles during the day, but we had our pop-up canopies, so it didn't bother us. When it seemed the rain was a thing of the past, Mike and I walked across the Tilikum Crossing Bridge. I've written about the why's and the wherefore's of this bridge in a post from two years ago. You can read about it right here. We watched it being built for a couple of Fourth of July celebrations, and it's always a treat to walk across "the people's bridge."

When I walk under these steel cables, I always think it would make an interesting subject for a modern quilt.

Despite the overcast skies, Mt. Hood was glowing across the horizon.

We could see where we were set up from there.

Of course, I took pictures of every blooming thing.

These were growing on the river bank right in front of us.

When we got back from our walk, Erik fired up the barbecue, and we had some burgers and brats.

Erik is an excellent cook, having spent his college years working at a restaurant in Corvallis. Here, he was making what he called a "Death Burger." It had cream cheese mixed with onions, topped with teriyaki mushrooms, topped with bacon, and then topped with a slice of cheese. Yes, death by burger was the goal.

After dinner, we were treated to an unusual sight. Usually and sundown, all we see is the bright sun glaring through the buildings on the Portland waterfront. With clouds in the sky, it was like a beach sunset.

In the water on the left, you can see the barge where they shoot off fireworks after nightfall.

And here we go! They put on a great show this year with some new ones we hadn't seen before.

And that was the end of our day. This morning, these two still have their noses out of joint from having their outside time cut short yesterday. They're just waiting for the doors to open this morning.

But there's always time for some morning snuggles.

And today is another day...lots to do as always, so it's time to get going.