Wildlife

Or....as wild as it gets around here - although a friend who just lives a few miles away had a bear in his backyard recently - so who knows.

But, at our house except for cats and squirrels, this is wild enough. This little fellow is cute as a button, but....he/she is eating our tomatoes! We find him in the yard almost everyday and he isn't even too scared of us - I walked out on the deck and he just looked at me for awhile before he decided to run into the woods.

More hummingbirds! Look closely.

Last summer I had a huge butterfly bush, but it had gotten overgrown and woody and so we cut it back last fall. It never really came back this spring, so we planted this little one. It doesn't attract quite as many butterflies yet, but I did manage to capture a few pics.

We are just having beautiful weather for July in Virginia. Low humidity, clear blue skies, not too hot. We're trying to enjoy while we can. I have a feeling the humid, hot summer days are still to come.

Catch Up Day

Very random post - just catching up. The last few weeks have been busy and somehow (can't be age!) I don't recover as quickly. I refuse to give in to it though - age isn't going to get me!

Is this not a pretty sight? Our own homegrown tomatoes and they are sooo good. We don't have a lot yet so we treat them like gold!


4th of July weekend we stopped by an old cemetery that dates back to before the Civil War. There are several of these graves - mauseleum type crypts above the ground similar to those in lowland areas. One of them is the burial place of a young girl who attended a girl's school here. It is reported that she died of fright after another student played a trick on her!

Granddaughters exploring. Of course the most interesting thing to them was a dog lying on the rock fence at the back of the property!

I had never seen anything like this before. These are on the graves of twin baby girls of a prominent old family. So interesting, but so very sad.

Many of the family plots were surrounded by these pretty iron fences.

N napped through our late lunch, so she got to eat and watch TV alone (not really alone, she brought her stuffed dog and cat with her).

Today I cleaned, shopped, cooked and now am generally pooped! Think I am going to knit and watch a movie! Have a good weekend!

Socks and Hummingbirds

This afternoon as I watered my porch flowers two hummingbirds came back again and again to the feeder. I ran and got my camera and sat really still. Little stinkers are too little and too fast! If you look really closely I captured one to the right of the feeder, just in the edge of the tree. The prettiest one was iridescent green, but I never got a good shot of him/her.

Finally finished! If you carry a second sock around with you for almost a year, even if you only knit 2-3 rows at a time - it finally gets finished. Proof is below! I loved knitting the first one, but got severe Second Sock Syndrome with the next one and it took forever!

Trip to Kentucky

Last weekend we made a flying trip back home to Kentucky to visit family and attend a wedding.

The wedding was my cousin's son and was held on a terrace overlooking the Ohio river. It was a beautiful setting, however it was about 100 degress that afternoon and I felt sorry especially for the groom and groomsmen in their tuxes. The rest of us stayed inside until time for the wedding, then hurried right back in to the comfort of the air conditioning as soon as the ceremony ended.

Before the ceremony - poor musicians dressed in black. They had to be out in the sun longer than anyone.

I don't know the man with no hair in front of me, but hope he didn't get too sunburned!

Beautiful couple!

Sorry this turned out so dark with the light in front of me.

First Dance.

Congratulations Drew & Sara.

We stayed with my aunt and she has these rabbits that come right up to her patio. Even with us going back and forth gawking at them inside the patio doors, they still didn't move and seemed very comfortable and at home.

We enjoyed our trip, but it was too short to see everyone. I hope we can go back soon and have time to visit more family.

Judge Not

Tonight after knitting group and picking up B at VBS I caught the last half hour of the much talked about J*on & Kate Plus 8. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that this family of 10 has been the focus of all the tabloids and gossips for the last couple of months. Their marriage has seemed to be in trouble and today it was announced they were separating. They talked about it on tonight's episode.

I have read so many judgmental statements about this couple such as, they brought this on themselves, they deserved this for bringing the media into their homes, they only wanted fame and fortune and didn't care about their kids, etc. It has amazed me how personally everyone took this and seemed almost gleeful that they were in trouble and their marriage was failing.

As I watched those beautiful children tonight and saw how the parents seemed to be struggling with this decision I was so saddened. I don't want to see any family broken up, but people, it happens. It happens to good Christian people who aren't on TV or have 8 kids. It happens to people we all know who started out with the best of intentions to have a strong marriage and then can't seem to make it work. It is so easy to attach blame - she was bossy and domineering, he ran around, she ran around, etc., but in the end none of us know what happened, and none of us should judge. It is just very sad.

Baby Sweaters X 2

Finished! Two Plymouth Yarns Cotton Kisses baby sweaters. The twins I knitted them for were born at 28 weeks and are still in the hospital, so even though I knitted the 0-3 months size, I think it will be awhile before they can wear them. By the way, they are the same size - this is a camera illusion! We are going to Kentucky to a wedding this weekend and hope to deliver them then. Since the sweaters will have to wait awhile, I crocheted a couple of preemie hats today that will fit now. They are drying now, so pictures later.


Notice the cute duckie buttons!
I love my Croc flip flops and have worn them for a couple of years now, but needed another color and have been hearing good things about Yellow Box flip flops. Yesterday I was shopping for dressy sandals and saw some Yellow Box flip flops, so I ended up with both. I love these! They are very cushy and comfortable. Cute too.

Happy WWKIP Day

Today is World Wide Knit in Public Day. We met son, DIL and granddaughters half-way today and picked up the 12 year old to spend the next few weeks with us. Her school was out Wednesday and she always comes and spends part of the summer with us. I know as she gets older this will probably end as she may not want to leave her friends and activities very long, but by then the little one will probably be coming. I hated so much to leave her today, but I have to work and granddaddy can handle the 12 year old alone, but not the two year old just yet.

We met at C*racker Barrell so while we waited for them to get there I did knit some while sitting out on the front porch. I took pictures to prove I participated in WWKIPD!

This is the first sleeve of my second baby sweater, knitted in Plymouth Yarn Cotton Kisses. The first sweater is finished except for buttons and blocking. I'm knitting these for my cousin's twin granddaughters born very early and very small, but doing well - keep them in your prayers.

Miss N loved the rockers too, especially the ones in her size!

While we ate she wanted the lemon from my tea. I think she thought it was an orange, but she found out differently! Oh Mama, this is sour!

We of course had to add to B's Web K*inz collection!

When we left, N cried to get in our van. It broke my heart to leave her! We will have a good time with B though the next couple of weeks - probably spoil her a little!

All the rain we've had has at least been good for the flowers and tomatoes!