Summer Storm

This afternoon while I was at work we had a nasty summer storm. We need the rain so I'm not complaining, but I came home to this..........

Limbs and leaves everywhere, flowers flattened, cushions blown off the deck. It was a mess.

A new building up the road that just had roof trusses up, had them all flattened. It looked like tinkertoys that had fallen. A couple of workers were hurt.

I'm glad it wasn't much worse!

Butterfly Summer

I think I'm obsessed with butterflies this summer. Everyday I have to go out and see what is out there. I've done a little research tonight trying to identify them, but there are so many varieties I'm still not sure. These are my best guesses:

Male Tiger Swallowtail (the black/blue one from yesterday may be a female Tiger Swallowtail)

Variegated Fritillary (who knew?)

Male Tiger Swallowtail again

My eyes are now crossed from looking at millions of butterfly pictures!

Finished Sweater!

It took two months but the Bamboozle Sampler Sweater is finally finished. The yarn was wonderful to work with and I will definitely use it again. Very soft and smooth. This is a summer sweater, but I think this would work for a warmer sweater too. The color is a little more bright in person. In the picture it seems a little washed out.

I am sill working on the magic loop socks (in an effort to get the sweater finished before snowfall, I had put them aside). Now I'm anxious to start another sweater - a winter one this time. I'm looking at patterns and yarns, but so many choices! At my knitting group last night several were working on or had just finished some gorgeous sweaters. When you put so much effort and time into something - not to mention money - I want to be sure I like it!

More butterflies! Click on picture for closer view.

New Blooms

This clematis bloomed earlier then for some reason just died. Nothing was left but a mound of dried leaves and vines at the base of the lightpost. I went out to clean it up and as I was pulling out the dead vines, I found one small green vine. I started training it up the webbing I have wrapped around the post and it has grown like crazy. This weekend it bloomed again!

Jon is out to sea again so Janet and the girls spent the weekend and it is so fun to see N change so quickly. She has been a little late walking and talking because of some medical problems, but now that she's gotten started she is just going to town.

Can you tell I have new sunglasses? The perfect accessory for my new dress, or even pajamas!

Nurse Gloria

Can you tell these flowers have grown in the last month or so? I love wave petunias except for all the deadheadding! These are in full sun almost all day on my back deck so they drink lots of water too.

We have a new volunteer at the nursing facility where I work and she rescues greyhounds. This is Nurse Gloria our new pet therapy dog. She is adorable! A sweet, calm dog! Her owner dressed her up today and the residents loved her!

I am still knitting on my sweater. As you can see below the back is finished and the front about half-way. I'm using Cascade Pima Tencel and it is great to work with - very soft.

These are my first pair of socks using the Magic Loop method and so far I love it! It goes quickly, eliminates keeping up with the 4 double pointed needles, and helps eliminate ladders. I had a little trouble getting started, but it didn't take long to get my rhythm. I also love this yarn, Jojoland Melody. I don't know if you can tell, but the color goes from purple to green. The pattern is Lacy Mock Cable Socks.

I always forget to take my camera to Ktog on Monday nights, but Robin is our official photographer. Check out our great group here.

Farmer's Market

Saturday morning I headed out early to the Community Market, hoping for tomatoes most of all, but also any fresh vegetqables. Although this was my first trip this year, I've gone lots of times before and never saw a crowd to match the one Saturday. It was crazy! It was almost impossible to get to a booth and one booth had a line just to get up close. I did manage to get tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and best of all fresh corn - is there anything better? That night we had turkey breast and all these veggies, plus wheat rolls and it was sooo good!

Next year I'm going to have a garden, even if it is just a small one. When we lived in Kentucky we had a small garden and it was great. When we moved to Virginia and bought this house we tried tomatoes several times, but never had much luck. There is very little topsoil here and mostly clay soil. The flower beds which we've amended do pretty well, but it takes lots of additives! Next year I'm determined we are going to try again.

I forgot my camera Saturday morning and took pictures with my camera phone, but don't have any idea how to get them off! Going to look for help.

Stormy

The last few days have been full of hit and miss thunderstorms. Half a mile down the road will get a good rain and we get 10 drops. Typical summer.

This is a terrible picture out of our windshield but this was Saturday afternoon about 5 pm, headed home from Norfolk after taking B home. It became almost totally dark and rained like crazy. I took one picture during the worst of it, but it was just a dark blur. This one was as it was clearing up. When we got home we had not had one drop of rain. (it has been very dry here so we really need it and I really need it so I don't have to water flowers!)

Last night most of our town and county got a good rain, but we got a puddle. Tonight finally we got some rain - yeah!

Got to show you a couple more pictures of the girls - when we got B home, N was so glad to see her! (& the the Elmo chair we took her) When B sat down in the playroom to play a game, N had to play too. She was so happy to be playing with her sister, but Dad had unplugged her controller!

She didn't know the difference and loved it anyway.

I love my Giggle & Shake Elmo chair! Mom & Dad may either be pulling out their hair by now though or taking out the batteries. Elmo laughs a lot!

This is Alex, their 4 month old Bernese Mountain dog. So far he is very calm and gentle. I hope he stays that way, can you believe the size of that head? He could swallow N's whole head.

Knit Night

Tonight was Monday night knitting for our Starbuck's group and we had a good time as usual, even though everyone couldn't be there. Robin wasn't able to make it tonight, but Laura, Wendy, Brenda, Wanda, Michelle, Kelly, Timmie, and I knitted and chatted and Gaye stopped by for a few minutes before her meeting too. We missed the rest of you. Most everyone seems to be working on sweaters!

My first try at a slide show - enjoy

Happy Canada Day, etc., etc.

I was reading Yarn Harlot today and realized this is Canada Day, similar to our July 4th. Through the power of the internet I feel I've met many people from Canada and come to know a little about their beautiful country and find myself wanting to know and see more. Such nice people, such beautiful scenery, such a varied country. I want to go! Happy Birthday Canada.

My daughter Amy has a beautiful new blog design. Check it out.

While my granddaughter is visiting, Amy let her borrow her back-up laptop so that she can play her games, access Webkinz, and Be-Bratz, and all her websites. Last night we were both on our laptops and watching a Disney movie at the same time. I noticed B was very intent on something. In a little while she had a presentation for me and she had created a power point presentation! It was wonderful. I had no idea she knew how to do it. It was all about pets, and she had a screen about cute pets, then ugly pets, then cats, then dogs. It had a title page and an ending page and even applause and moving fonts. I was so impressed. We sure didn't learn that in 5th grade! A few nights ago we had watched a program on the Animal Channel about ugly pets and there were some that even a mother would have a hard time loving. B found similar pictures for her presentation.

What a beautiful day today. July 1 and in the 70's! We will take this and enjoy it while we can. It will probably be 100 in a few more days.