Long List

Good morning, my friends. It was a busy day yesterday. There's still a little bit more to do before we can take off on our camping trip, but most of it is finished. The kitties are staying home this trip. They're too short to look through the telescopes that will be on site, and so they decided not to come. They've been given strict orders: No wild purrties and no loud mewsic.

My day started with hoeing the garden. It was the thing I least wanted to do, and so I did that first. Everything is looking pretty good, although things are still pretty small. The sunflowers are the tallest, along the fence on the right side of the image below. Corn is about three inches tall now. The green beans are holding their own against the crows. I've seen a few new sprouts, and I'm hoping there will be more by the time we get back.

When I finished hoeing, I walked around to see how other things are doing. I’m happy to see a good crop of plums on our plum tree. I have at least three desserts to make with these. We’ve scheduled our fall trip a little later than usual, and I’m hoping I won’t be gnashing my teeth about leaving unripe plums on the tree to ripen and rot while we’re gone. And it’s possible we won’t take that trip at all if there are gas shortages.

The apple tree is having the best year of its hard life. The poor thing has always struggled, but I’m seeing more fruit than ever before. Possibly I’ll get enough apples to do something with them this year. These are about the size of marbles.

In the greenhouse, there are tomatoes on all three plants now. The largest tomato I saw was about tennis-ball sized.

And there are lots of buds appearing on the dahlias. This one looks as if it will bloom within the next couple of weeks.

The lavender is in full bloom right now, and it’s beautifully fragrant. This is English lavender. The French lavender has yet to bloom.

And wow…this is exciting. The blueberries are turning. Blueberry season usually happens at the beginning of July in these parts. Can these be far behind?

So, there was a lot to do after that. We did our grocery shopping and put everything away. (Some of it went into the camper.) Then I baked some Irish Brown Bread. While that was baking, I churned some watermelon sorbet, and while that was churning, I made some coleslaw to take along. Happily, we had leftovers for dinner, so that was the extent of my cooking for the day. 

There were a few other things to do, but I managed to get in a little slow-stitching in the afternoon. It looks mostly done, but what remains will be time-consuming. The larger leaves are done in fly stitch, which takes some time. Also, look closely at the left side of the sheep. The area delineated with gray French knots is getting filled in with white French knots. I’ll do the same thing on the right side of the sheep. 

Also, I had a little time in the sewing room, and I was able to finish the second of three blocks for the background of “The Yoder Sisters” project. This block is called “Amish Bars.”

And I was pretty well worn out by then. It was tempting to make the third block…a star…but the idea of trimming more HST’s discouraged me, and I stopped for the day.

Today, I have just some clothes to pack. I should have a little time for slow-stitching before we go. It’s about a 3-hour drive where we’re going…not too bad. We’re expecting clear skies. It doesn’t get dark until after 10:00 p.m. at this time of year. I’m hoping I can stay awake to see some stuff. Probably I’ll need a nap after we arrive.

With that, I’ll leave you to your weekend. Probably I’ll be back Monday. If not, then Tuesday, for sure.