No Sewing Day

Good morning, my friends. I'd say I had a lazy day yesterday. A prosecutor could point to the two naps I took as evidence of my indolence. I'd have to defend myself by pointing out that I went to the farmer's market. I was on the hunt for three things: rhubarb, baguette, and big strawberries. Any strawberries coming into my kitchen have to be big, because I have to cut the sides off them to accommodate the people for whom strawberry seeds are equal to kryptonite. And I found all of it, so there's that. 

Before I left, there was some time for slow-stitching. I took the first stitches on the third Joy in the Ordinary block. When I'm finished here, I should have time to finish the stitching on this today.

When I got home, I went straight to work making a Rhubarb Upside-down cake. It's another perennial favorite of ours. Look how pretty this is. 

The rhubarb is both sweet and tart. Then, there's a layer of cake. And on the bottom, a layer of crunchy streusel. It is so yummy with a dollop of whipped cream. The recipe is from Cooks Illustrated, and so you need a subscription to access it. If you want the recipe and can't open the link, email me, and I'll be happy to send it to you.

While that was baking, I took a little walk around to see what's new. The Fairy Princess peony is covered in flowers and flower buds.

Garden Treasures isn't as prolific with its flowers, but it still has some beauties.

Here's another one over here.

This is the coral sunset peony.

The Edda clematis is thrilling me this year. We planted it 3-4 years ago, and it's always been kind of puny...looking for all the world as if it won't survive another year. It seems to have established itself, and now it is blooming in profusion. 

I counted 11 open flowers, and there are still more coming.

Some wet and heavy snow cost us some big limbs off our sugar pine tree this winter. Sad to see.

The poppies are doing well. This one is on the patio, and it gets full sun for most of the day. The one near the greenhouse has some big buds, but they have not opened yet. It only gets the afternoon sun.

We have some volunteer pansies too. The white ones have been there a long time, but the yellow ones are new.

When the cake was finished, I took a nap. I'd started some laundry just before lying down. Mike was in town running some errands. The dryer finishing woke me up, but then I wasn't finished with my nap. I wanted to lie down again. Mike came home about that time, and he was in need of a nap too. It was all the excuse I needed to continue on with my sleepy afternoon. I needed to be quiet for him, doncha know.

When I got up, it seemed too late in the day to be doing any sewing. Instead, I decided to plan the route for next year's Alaska trip. This trip is a long way off, and this route is very rough. I haven't yet spent much time deciding what we'll do at various stops, and I'm sure I'll change this around many times before our D-Day (Departure Day) arrives.

It's been hard to plan this trip. I've asked questions of different Alaska RVing sites on Facebook, and I've received some good advice. I think the best advice I've received was something along these lines: "Don't overthink your trip. Wherever you go, whatever you do, you're going to see fabulous scenery and lots of wildlife. Be flexible. Go with the flow." 

So, yeah. I tend to be one who overthinks things, and it was freeing to have someone tell me that. The other thing I've heard again and again is not to make reservations all along the way to allow more flexibility. Apparently, one can pull off the road any place and camp if there's nothing else available. Knowing that, I'll probably only reserve about a week out. This trip is a long way off, but it's been on my mind ever since we came home from our last trip. Having a route planned out, however rough, will let me stop thinking about it for a little while.

Okay, so I expect to have some time for sewing today, but there's a lot on my to-do list for today. I've already started a pork roast in the slow cooker to make some pulled pork for dinner. I want to make a macaroni salad to go with it. Also, I'm going to make some strawberry ice cream. It's a bit of a production, and it has to chill overnight before I can churn it. That will be for tomorrow's list. Also, I want to pick a bucket o' weeds, and I have a housekeeping chore. All of that has to happen before I can do any sewing. 

So there it is. Time to get busy.