Journal: Quilts, Cats, Birds, Raccoons, Flowers, and a Deer

 

When several friends commented on my photos of last week that they liked the powder blue color of this 2003 Thunderbird, I recalled that this was the exact color of my first ‘big bike’ (after the Stingray with the banana seat).  It was a Schwinn one-speed, and sooo smooth and nice.  I had that bike for... hmmm... probably a dozen years.  Here it is, with my Collie-Shepherd, Sparkle.  It was about 1974, so I would have been about 13.  

I trained that dog to stay immediately at my left knee, whether I was walking or riding.  She was The Most Wonderful Dog in the World.

I was sure I had a better picture of that bike, but the only other one I’ve found is this blurry one of Loren riding it, shortly after I got it.  If I have others, I evidently didn’t label them with the word ‘bike’.

I spent a good part of every day last week piecing and quilting.  Tuesday, I finished piecing the top of the Little Sweethearts quilt for Brooklyn, and Wednesday I did quite a bit of piecing to wind up with a big enough backing, and more piecing for the batting, which is leftover Quilters’ Dream wool.  I figured since I wasn’t quite as fond of this quilt (yet) as I wished I was, I’d use Dream wool batting (my favorite batting), and start improving my fondness. 

Thursday morning, I had my alarm set early so I could work outside in the flower gardens, but I hadn’t slept much at all through the night.  At 7:30 a.m., when I thought I was finally about to fall asleep, I turned off the alarm and slept for a couple of hours.

Then I got up, showered, filled the bird feeders, put bed linens into the washing machine, brewed a pot of Cherries Jubilee coffee, blow-dried and curled my hair, ate breakfast, and was then ready to start quilting the Little Sweethearts quilt.

By the time I worked my way through the pot of coffee, I was glad that the box of Celsius Sparkling Energy drink had been delivered that morning.  It’s supposedly good for you, being all chock-full of vitamins and suchlike, but we nonetheless drink it with moderation.  I’d put it straight into the refrigerator, and by afternoon it was cold and good.

In the above picture with the birds, there are house finches, English sparrows, Northern cardinals, and Eurasian collared doves.  Sometimes there are half a dozen or more other species of birds there besides, all at the same time – mourning doves, common grackles, red-winged blackbirds, American robins, downy woodpeckers, brown thrashers, Northern flickers, blue jays...  And off in the trees and fields, I can usually hear house wrens, Baltimore orioles, yellow-rumped warblers, field sparrows, barn swallows, purple martins, Eastern kingbirds, Western kingbirds, catbirds, meadowlarks, dickcissels, red-tailed hawks, bob-white quails, killdeer, and other warblers and sparrows that I cannot identify without seeing.

Sometimes when the bird feeders are nearly empty, I leave them hanging in order to keep getting cute pictures of raccoons on our game cam.  They can climb like anything, but they look like clumsy bears when they’re fumbling their way back down from wherever they’ve climbed.  

Several times we’ve gotten pictures of the one-eyed Siamese cat that roams about.  He always looks plump and healthy, despite his handicap.

I wish cats would politely stay in their own yards, instead of roaming around and picking fights with other cats that are doing the same thing!  Sigghhhh...  Roaming cats in the area sometimes choose to have their shrieking, fur-flying fights right on our front porch or back deck – usually late at night.  Aarrgghh.  It certainly gives meaning to that verse in Romans, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth (and shrieketh) in pain together until now.”  

My parents used to have a scale with weights on it at waist-height, like a doctor’s scale.

One time when Joseph was about three years old and we were at their house, he took my hand and said, “Come see how much I cost!”  He proceeded to lead me to the bathroom and point at the scale.  Hee hee

Friday morning, I spent a couple of hours working in the flower gardens.  It was only 61° when I headed outside, and I had a sweater on.  Five minutes of weed-pulling, and the sweater was off.  It got up to 82° that afternoon – quite a lovely day for midsummer in Nebraska.  This coming week is expected to be much hotter.

I got back to work on Brooklyn’s quilt – and realized that when I posted pictures of the quilt the previous evening, I’d written ‘Eva’ instead of ‘Brooklyn’.  Bound to happen, I guess, when one has 27 grandchildren.

I call daughter Lydia ‘VicLydia’ and daughter Victoria ‘LydVictoria’.  Reckon I named them wrong at birth or something??  But what really took the cake was the time I yelled, “Aleutia, stop that!” at Keith.  Aleutia was our big Siberian husky.  Everyone cracked up.  I never did regather my steam in order to properly yell at Keith after that.

A quilting friend has been having troubles sewing and quilting on account of a sprained ankle.  I have much sympathy for her, remembering how I had a badly sprained ankle just before Hester’s wedding, and I needed to make a dress and little jacket for Victoria, who was one of the candlelighters.  I sat at my sewing machine with my right foot propped up on a stack of pillows, and used my left foot on the pedal.  ha!  I am ambidextrous in neither hand nor foot.  Why, I had such a heavy and unpredictable left foot, I sewed an entire skirt before I even got the thing cut out!

More pictures of the Little Sweethearts quilt are here.

The tall lavender phlox is in bloom.  The phlox in the backyard, which came from the very same pot as all the other phlox around this place, are fuchsia-colored, every year without fail.

The darker orange daylilies are beginning to blossom, too.  They are always a couple of weeks behind the lighter orange version.

The quilting design below was created using one of my new Infinity rulers from Julia Quiltoff.  It turned out totally different than I had planned – because I flipped the ruler the wrong way on the first design.  Rather than pick out stitching, I changed plans.  I’m not totally happy with it; but I doubt if Brooklyn will be judgmental.  😉

I posted a few pictures of the quilting on a big Facebook quilting group.  It wasn’t long before some woman who apparently enjoys giving constructive criticism commented under this picture, “Not a Big fan of this quilting design.”

Neither am I, but that doesn’t make her remark any less rude. 

So... when you click on the name of such a person and discover they’ve made a whole slew of the ugliest quilts you ever did see, do you then get a case of the giggles, like I do?  😂🤣

As for her quilting... well, I’m pretty sure the lady suffers from a chronic case of hiccups, poor dear.

Now, if one posts a picture of a quilt and asks for a critique, why, then, such a remark would be quite acceptable.  However, if you spot a quilt (or a quilting design) that you just plain don’t like, and you are not given to false effusive praise, and you have not been specifically asked for your worthy opinion, you should really scroll quietly on by.

Sometimes quilters post pictures of their quilt tops, not yet quilted -- and there is a glaring block or patch misplacement.  In this case, it would probably be good and kind to tell the quilter about it, before they quilt it like that.  But I always hope someone else does it, ’cuz I sho’ ’nuff don’t wanna.  😏

I belong to a large photography platform with a variety of forums.  There is one specific forum where one can post photos for the sole purpose of having other photographers critique one’s shots.

Try that on any of the other forums, however, and you’ll get crucified.  Aiiiyiiieee.  They’ll string you up by your toenails and shoot you at daybreak, sans last meal.  (I politely ignored Mrs. Hiccup, by the way.)

The mulberry trees have been bearing fruit for nearly a month now.  And... the purple mulberries I took pictures of are no longer on the tree.  😉😋

Saturday, I went to visit Loren.

North of Omaha, on State Street, I put down my camera... picked up my coffee mug... topped the hill — and a deer trotted leisurely across the road in front of me.  🙄🫤  I have no picture.  🦌

At Prairie Meadows, I found Loren sitting and napping on a loveseat in the TV lounge, smack-dab in front of the TV.  A number of others, mostly women, were also in the room, seated in chairs, or, as was more often the case, in wheelchairs.  They, too, were napping.

I sat down beside Loren, touched his arm, and said, “Hi!” 

Purple coneflower

Always a light sleeper, he immediately awoke, looked at me, smiled, and said, “I didn’t know you were here!”

To nearly everything I told him that day, he replied, “Sounds like you’ve been having quite a dream!”  Hmmm.  Did I interrupt a dream he was having?

Rose of Sharon hibiscus, planted by Victoria years ago

The TV had some kind of drama/horror show playing, with barbarians and troglodytes in jungle togs chasing each other with swords, bows and arrows, and spears whilst climbing rock-faced mountains that crumbled away underfoot, leaving them hanging by their fingertips thousands of feet over a gorge.  Sometimes a dozen of these jungle goons tried crossing or climbing a rope ladder all at once, and the ladder gave way (of course), leaving them dangling over an active volcano spewing up tongues of fire, while the rope ladder continued to fray.

Loren was quite distracted, alternately horrified or struck funny (more of the former than the latter).  Evidently he (and all those ladies in the room) had fallen asleep before the movie began?

Sunflower, planted by the birds

It is a well-known fact that dementia patients are NOT AT ALL helped by television shows, especially those showing terror and carnage.  But caregivers often use the TV as a babysitter, and it’s not good.  Those with dementia are prone to think this stuff is real, and it plays havoc with their fragile grip on reality. 

When Loren jumped out of his skin and exclaimed in alarm over an actor and actress suddenly falling down a cliff and then catching themselves on the end of a knotted rope, I said, “Well, they seem to be enjoying themselves.” 

And they were in fact laughing. 

“I guess so,” decided Loren, chuckling.

Then I added, “These stupid television shows aren’t good for anyone to watch.”

Loren turned his head and looked at me, surprised.  In particular, he was surprised over the words ‘television show’, because he thought it was news.  “Show?” he asked.  Then he nodded and agreed, “No, they’re not.”  And he stopped paying so much attention to the tube, for a good three minutes.  Well, two.

I show him pictures of various friends and family on Instagram, along with birds and animals and National Parks.  He always enjoys that.  He believes I took every last picture, no matter how many times I tell him otherwise, even when the pictures were taken on the other side of the world.  I explain about ‘other photographers’. 

“Oh, I see,” he says.

I then show him a picture of a toucan, tell him the picture was taken in the Brazilian Rain Forest – and he asks, “When were you in Brazil?”

I point out the name of the photographer. 

“Oh, yes,” he says, smiling.

I show him another picture by the same man, this time of a hummingbird from Panama. 

“Was that recently that you were in Panama?” he asks.

Oh, well.  Doesn’t matter.  And he really loves to see all the pretty pictures.

I was glad when the nurses started opening up the doors to the dining room at suppertime, as this would get everyone away from that awful movie!

I told Loren goodbye and headed home, arriving at about 6:30 p.m.

This flower with the two little blue petals is called Mouse Ears, aka Asiatic Dayflower (Commelina communis).  It’s also known as Mickey Mouse plant.  It is considered invasive in many places – including in my flower gardens.  I take a picture – and pull it. 

I stayed home from church today because I was awake and miserable all night long.  A little after 6:00 a.m., realizing my alarm would be going off at 6:40, I reset it for 8:10 a.m. so I could wake Larry up, and then managed to sleep until 10:30 with only a couple of interruptions.  Not quite 4 ½ hours of sleep.  That’s not enough.  I stayed home the rest of the day, as I just plain didn’t feel so great.

Jeremy and Lydia and their family gave us this bouquet of a dozen and a half roses last week for our 44^th wedding anniversary.  

Here are the last of them.

And now it is bedtime.  Hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to finish Brooklyn’s quilt.  There is one more row plus the bottom border to complete.  

Then I must make several machine-embroidered labels for the quilts I’ve already finished, and enter several online at the Nebraska State Fair.  Online entries are due August 8, and the delivery date is August 17.

,,,>^..^<,,,          Sarah Lynn           ,,,>^..^<,,,