Day 171 of 2025

We're headed back to our car downtown tonight. 

I know I'm not giving you much to go on, 

but does anyone want to guess where we were?

Where am I?

 

Day 170 of 2025

Update on my purple dye splotched jean jacket:

I took the advice from the comments and did a Google search. 

While vinegar did come up so did Borax natural laundry booster. 

I happen to already own a box of Borax so I put half a cup in a large bucket 

and added the hottest water I could get from my tap. 

I submerged the jacket and let it soak. 

I can't remember how long I let it soak

 but I'm sure the water was no longer hot. 

When I poured the water out, it was purple. 

I rinsed the jacket and then put it in a regular laundry load. 

It worked fabulously. 

There is no trace of purple splotches.

 

Day 169 of 2025

A storm blew through this afternoon. 

We were out and about and had to wait it out to come home. 

There was a lot of rain but we saw first hand how damaging the winds were. 

On our way home we encountered a tree across the road

 for which we had to turn around and take another route, 

uprooted trees, tree limbs all over yards and roads, 

and traffic lights that were not working. 

Upon arriving home we found that we had no power. 

Limbs from far away trees were strewn all over our front and back yards. 

Our own trees fared pretty well with just a few small limbs down 

with the exception of this hawthorn 

which lost close to a third of its fullness in the break it suffered. 

We'll start clean up tomorrow after the rain is done

 and the puddles have receded a bit.

 

Day 168 of 2025

The day lilies are mostly all in bloom now. 

This is the biggest group of them. 

Further out, under the maple tree and closer to the street, 

is the second largest group. 

That group was started from the originals I got from a friend.

 I planted them strictly under the tree 

and have replanted all the rest in the yard from them. 

I have one more smaller group by the front of the house

 but couldn't get them all in one picture. 

This is the best showing of day lilies I've had for many years.

 

Day 167 of 2025

Fireball. 

I had taken some pictures of a Cooper's Hawk in our backyard

 which was fascinating to watch, but they all turned out poorly. 

So Fireball it is, making his way through John Green

 a couple chapters at a time.

 

Day 166 of 2025

We visited the butterfly exhibit at the zoo

 for the first time in a long time. 

I am amazed at the number of butterflies that tend to gravitate

 toward flowers that seem to act as camouflage. 

 

Day 165 of 2025

So much clover.

 

Day 164 of 2025

Tonight we got to go see GB#3 participate in a musical

 after two weeks of musical theater camp. 

He had fun being in the show and we had fun watching it.

 

Day 163 of 2025

It's another picture of a bunny. 

This is one of the little ones who are growing bigger every day. 

Those ears with the sun shining through them get me every time. 

 

Day 162 of 2025

Displays like this always make me smile. 

It reminds me of the Richard Scarry books

 that we read all the time when the kids were little. 

My favorite.

 

Day 161 of 2025

Out of dozens of day lilies that have sprouted buds, 

the first half dozen has bloomed today.

 

Day 160 of 2025

As I began the task of knitting the right front I spoke about yesterday, 

I found myself in need of a system to keep track of what I was doing and when. 

This pattern calls for multiple things happening at the same time 

but at different intervals. 

It was, at best, confusing to me. 

Little E is working on this same project so I contacted her for help. 

She had created a chart of sorts for her version and sent me a picture. 

After some time studying her notes, 

I made my own version of it specific to the numbers I needed to achieve. 

I think I have wrapped my head around it as the knitting is going well now.

 

Day 159 of 2025

Update to the Geddy Tee: 

The back portion is at the required length 

and has been put on waste yarn. 

I've picked up the first side of the front.

 

Day 158 of 2025

Our plans for the day began with breakfast out. 

When we tried to leave, 

we found the neighborhood cat guarding our house. 

It took some effort to get him to move so we could open the door.

 

Day 157 of 2025

I grabbed my jacket from the dryer

 on my way out the door to an appointment. 

It wasn't until later that I noticed there had been a laundry mishap. 

I'm not sure how to remedy the situation. 

Fireball suggested color catchers, but I'm not sure they would help

 for something that has already been discolored in the washer

 and then dried. 

Suggestions welcome.

 

Day 156 of 2025

Happy Birthday, GB#3

 

Day 155 of 2025

This should give you a better idea of why I made the four granny squares.

 This is the back of the Geddy Tee. 

Two more inches of blue and then I can start the front sections.

 

Day 154 of 2025

Well, that isn't going well.

I have reread the directions and this is definitely not right. 

I have since torn the blue back to a beginning row 

and re-knit that section. 

I have begun the straight knitting section. 

I'll be here a while.

 

Day 153 of 2025

When these are the colors of any scan,

 red is not usually the color you want to see. 

This is the case with my retina scan today. Treatment was administered. 

After that, it was not a great day for me and my eye.

 

Day 152 of 2025

I found this needlepoint piece in a container today

 during more garage clean out. 

I believe it was made by Mom. 

I was never sure how to handle it

 because it was a nice neat parallelogram. 

It occurred to me today that I could try to wet block it. 

So that's what I have done. 

I washed it completely in water with a bar of wool soap. 

I stretched in the needed direction

 and pinned it to a foam blocking square. 

There are a few moth holes here and there

 which I will attempt to mend once it's dry. 

 

Day 151 of 2025

Fireball and I spent the afternoon cleaning in the garage. 

We came across a selection of greeting cards from our kids

 among other people. 

We laughed so hard. 

No wonder we can't seem to get rid of these treasures. 

Also, have you ever noticed that children up to a certain age 

feel the need to sign cards to their parents

 with their first and last names?

 

Day 150 of 2025

For the last few days 

I've been going through past issues of quilting

 and knitting magazines. 

I'm deciding whether there are any projects

 in each that I will realistically make. 

Then I make the decision to save the whole magazine

 with post-it bookmarks, 

tear out the article I want and save it in a binder 

or recycle the entire magazine.

 

Day 149 of 2025

I don't grow roses here at home 

so I am always happy to see them when I am out and about.

 

Day 148 of 2025

Today's granny square progress.

 

Day 147 of 2025

The top square was my test square to see if I could get gauge. 

I did, so I continued with my chosen colors. 

Each will get two more rounds, 

after I fix the mistake I just noticed in the bottom square. 

These will form the base on which I will build a new knitted tee.

 

Day 146 of 2025

As I planted flowers and Fireball worked in the garage today, 

this little one seemed a bit uneasy 

about all the foot traffic on his turf.

 

Day 145 of 2025

It's been a very long time since I've done a changing of the dishes. 

I've chosen an expanded red, white and blue palette. 

With a patriotic holiday in four of the next five months, 

I feel it's an appropriate way to go. 

(scarlet, flamingo, peony, cobalt, lapis, twilight, 

peacock, turquoise, sky, white)

 

Day 144 of 2025

We dropped Little E off at the airport this morning in the dark

 but drove home into the sunrise.

 

Day 143 of 2025

The weather couldn't decide between clouds and sunshine. 

I caught this moment in the sun.

 

Day 142 of 2025

GB#3 is officially done with elementary school. 

Onward to middle school in the fall.

 

Day 141 of 2025

This really made me smile.

 

Day 140 of 2025

I spied a baby cottontail. Mama was nearby.

 

Day 139 of 2025

The most beautiful thing I saw today.

 

Day 138 of 2025

To end our Big adventure

we visited the cemetery and put flowers and heart shaped rocks 

on the headstones of our family members. 

Mary was my great grandmother.

 

Day 137 of 2025

Evidently if it is clear enough, 

one can see Chicago from Michigan City, Indiana. 

 

Day 136 of 2025

One BIG adventure.

 

Day 135 of 2025

Early morning visitor.

 

Day 134 of 2025

I woke up to this. 

Luckily, the birds are all fledglings as of a couple days ago. 

I'm guessing the raccoon had to check the nest just to make sure.

 

Day 133 of 2025

Irises. 

In this area of the garden there is one gold and many yellow.

 

Day 132 of 2025

Lunch. 

Leftover chicken parmigiana in gluten free tortillas.

 

Day 131 of 2025

Coxhall Gardens Mothers' Day walk

 

Day 130 of 2025

My favorite from this year's Decorators' Show House

 

Day 129 of 2025

I'm doing some color matching. 

My inspiration here is a page from a home goods catalog.

 

Day 128 of 2025

The lilac is in bloom and it smells amazing.

 

Day 127 of 2025

When last we spoke about the nest and robins I could only see one chick.

 The next day I could see a second one

 and thought that was going to be the final count, 

but today I got a surprise. 

As the chicks are getting bigger, 

I can see that there are actually three. 

If you can't see them all, zoom in. 

 

Day 126 of 2025

I'm still loving what's going on in my front garden. 

Coral bells.

 

Day 125 of 2025

 

I'm still working on collars. 

I'm still not sure if it's worth the effort, 

but at this point I feel like I'm too far in to quit now. 

As for the Cheerios, I have recently found that sometimes 

when the directions suggest a person eat a little something

 and drink a full glass of water with medicine, 

it is a good idea to do so.

 

Day 124 of 2025

While looking for a certain yarn in the yarn closet, 

I found a very large tote bag containing the collars and cuffs 

from all the shirts I have deconstructed for quilting use.

 These pieces need the buttons removed and the pieces cut apart. 

I am giving it a go to see if the effort is worth it. 

Either way I will be glad to have the space in the closet back.

 

Day 123 of 2025

It's chilly tonight. 

 

Day 122 of 2025

It won't be long before we see the irises.