Making Rainbows

 

 It started out kind cloudy and proceeded to rain off and on all day Saturday but we took the opportunity to make a rainbow day.  

Starting out at daughter's family cottage we drove the coast of Michigan (make the state of Michigan with your left hand, hold your hand so the back of your hand is facing you) along the tips of your little and ring fingers.  We took the family to places they've never seen, city of Petoskey, through the Tunnel of Trees to Cross Village (at the very tip of your ring finger.)   The Tunnel of Trees is the most beautiful drive in Michigan and is stunning during the leaf change in the fall, but no less impressive now.  

Our destination was Legs Inn for dinner.  It's a Polish restaurant, an experience just to see the decor and the largest amount of Polish Pottery I've seen in retail. 

We had to wait for dinner.  There was a long wait, but worth it.  Our newly minted teenager has decided masks aren't a bad thing when you are "forced to smile" but with the mask on no one knows you're not.

  We got our drinks at the bar and strolled while we waited.

That night when we got back to the cottage Lily was so happy to see us she wasn't going to let Grandpa out of her sight.  He got into bed and she climbed right in with him, set her head on the pillow and went to sleep. 

 

I brought along a bit of the hand sewing daughter wants the girls to learn.  The squares are all cut, 1/4 inch lines drawn, needles, thread and pins ready. 

Adelaide worked on connecting her first four squares with intense concentration, she was working hard but said it wasn't "as bad as I thought it would be."  I wish you could see how perfect her points are meeting in the center!

While we were sewing Elizabeth and Dad were having a painting session.  He was showing her how to mix and layer color.

They were working on laying down the base colors for this scene

 

Even a rainy weekend can be salvaged.

Mojo

 

 

  I lost my mojo for awhile but found it again last night.  Chookyblue had another zoom stitch session and I was able to join everyone for a little while (till the battery on my iPad ran out.)  People from all over the world are all stitching, visiting, comparing notes on the pandemic, showing projects, and just happy to be together.  I have to be more organized when she has these meetings.  I have to 1) have a project to work on 2) clear the calendar 3) make sure the battery is charged to it's top speed.  But for the hour I was with them it was enough to recharge myself.  PH even popped his head in for a second to say hi to Jenny.

Mojo meant I got up this morning and immediately made a peach pie. 

When the pie came out of the oven I put in these blueberry bars for tomorrow when my friend and I meet in the park to have lunch.

But the biggest jolt to my mojo was digging out the butterflies again.  Here are some of them. There are lots more still to do.  They are all different and I can do maybe 1 1/2 in an evening so it isn't going fast.   But they've been sitting in the basket for a week or so till I was inspired again after the zoom gathering.

Today I'm going to finish cutting the fabrics for the girls' quilts. I'm cutting, they will apply the 1/4 inch sew line and I'll show them how to hand stitch using the line for their guide. They chose the fabrics. Daughter wants them to have a quiet, artsy hand project for this school year's home sessions.  So far they are going to school two days one week, three the next.  Not ideal and between now and start day this could change but if it holds, at least they will be going. Enthusiasm running high to be back. Masks obligatory.

 We are auditioning the table around the house.  Right now it's behind the couch and I don't think I like it there.  It seems too big.  BUT I just noticed I can finish cutting the girls' fabrics while watching some TV today.  I haven't been able to watch a movie while cutting or stitching since we moved into this house six summers ago.  It will be a treat.  The Godfather marathon today!  My mom lived for these marathons when she was alive.   She would call, "Guess what!  The Godfather is on today!"   And I'd say, "Good for you!  You haven't seen that one yet."   She must have watched it 50 times.   We would tease her that when St. Peter came to get her she would tell him to wait till tomorrow if  The Godfather was on that day.

So, thanks Chooky, for the injection of Mojo.  One little hour and look what happens!

Table update

 Remember the tale of the table?   When we unpacked it from the car it looked like this.

 

  

And today it looks like this.  

I made a couple of executive decisions while I stripped three layers of paint from it.   On the raw saw cut ends the paint really soaked into the raw edges of the wood.  I chose to sand it down as far as I could but left some to tell the story.   There are also some bits and pit holes on the top and sides that I didn't dig paint from, also part of the table's story.   The furniture fashion thing now is to paint the supports on tables and leave the top with the wood grain.  But I told PH while I considered it, after scraping off those three layers I didn't want to repaint them. The house is filled with furniture that comes with its own story and this table is ready to join the party.  

Now, where to put it?
 

Square Peg in a Round Hole

    

     This is PH.  He thinks anything is possible if you have a rope.  I have stories to tell about him and his rope. 

     Many years ago.  Many.  When I was young and foolish and believed everything he said, we loaded a full sized couch onto the roof of our sedan and with one rope in hand he threaded it once through the windows and over the couch, tied it in a BOW and told me to hang on.  Then he headed for the expressway and drove it 55 miles home at 70 miles an hour.  Somehow we made it.  But God loves fools and drunks, right? 

     Another time he took his rope and tied a four foot by four foot sandbox to the top of the car and we drove that home. 

     There was the time he tied a king size mattress AND box spring to the top of the car with his one rope and drove it to another house.  It was a favor for our daughter's friend Kathy.  Kathy has never been the same since. 

     When we watch people truss Christmas trees to the tops of their cars with miles and miles of rope and bungee cords he just laughs as we head for the road with ours tied with one rope in a bow. 

     This week we went to his brother's cottage up north for a couple of days.  It's part of a cluster of three cottages that have been in their family for probably 60 years.  There was a table that one of the cousins wanted to be gone and no one would take it.  Well.  I looked at that table and saw all of the meals that were shared on it out in the yards between the cottages.  

     In the old days, the early days when all of our kids were little and we'd pack 30 people into those three little places, this table would be dragged out, butted against any other table that could be found and we'd all have dinner together.  It was a production, to be sure, but looking back after 40 years I can smile now. 

     When SIL Joyce said cousin wanted to let this table go I said I'd take it.  I had a glass of wine in me so wasn't thinking clearly.  I forgot what it would take to load it into (not on top of) the car. Knowing it wouldn't fit, knowing we'd have to drive with the tailgate open all the way, knowing his one rope would be all we had and knowing what was going to be expected of that one little rope.   We were 2.5 hours from home at 70 miles an hour. 

To him all things are possible if you have a rope.  Somehow he always manages and somehow I haven't killed him yet.