Aprons Galore!

Stepping outside to put mail in the box this morning I found the mail lady just pulling up. We made the exchange and heading into a lovely conversational exchange as well. I had my apron on because I was beginning to fix lunch, and she commented on it. Thank you, Kristen! It is the one Dillon, a student of mine who did some mission work in India, brought me from there. It was shockingly thoughtful because I make and wear aprons, and, for a 12-year old boy to notice, that amazed me.

Anyway, I thought I'd take you on an apron tour of the latest creations. They are all reversible, so I've turned a corner over for you to see part of the other side.

Below are the kidlette aprons which are also reversible.

When the grand kids come over we can cook together!

I realized that when you have an apron on...even if you are merely lounging about on the couch with a good book...you look VERY busy. I like that! ;)

Straw Garden Girl

Here is Alina the Queena the Straw Garden today.

She is cooling off from the hard work of pulling the "straw train" that we worked together on this morning.
She pulled, and I pushed the train to the garden to make pathways for us to walk when the rains come and make mud.

Her job was to walk the paths when I finished laying them.

TA DA!!

We are finished with this one pathway.

You can see the squash plants to the left along the line of the soaker hose.

The tomato plants are barely visible in their cages to the right of Alina.

And you can see some wayward garlic to the far right.

Part 2, Kimber's Visit

Isabella brought two 'Leo's' with her so she and Alina could do gymnastics.

She let Alina wear her Tinkerbell leotard/swimsuit.

Isabella is quite acomplished, and shy about it too.

And she was so helpful to Alina for the headstands.
This was darling to watch.
They just couldn't get enough of each other.


Alina, the ballerina showed me how she stands on her toes.

They practiced many 'moves' that little girls like to pretend as they live out their gymnastic/ballet lives.

Steve, Lovella's hubby, took his turn with Dante too. Everyone had to have some of him!

Ever-helpful-Evan,

carrying out all the condiments for our hotdog roast.

We ate in shifts, that is, hotdogs first, then a round of coleslaw, then the corn of the cob as it finished.

Last, inside out of the sudden rainstorm, we savored the chocolate pie with a good cup of coffee.

Here are the girls with Grampa and Steve waiting on the fire for their hotdogs.

Oliver, the new kitten,

was quite the hit...almost as popular as Dante.

We had to make the kids go outside in order for Oliver to get a break and a rest sometimes.

This was taken at "The Crema", our European coffeehouse, where we met.

The girls compared new shoes, Isabella with her patent leather, bow-back, open-toed 'slippers' and Alina with her patent leather MaryJanes.

Then it was on to the playground where the kids played for 3 hours without needing us much at all. Kimber, Lovella and I visited, laughed, watched the kids and played with Dante.

More of Isabella and her famous hair...

One of the sweet pleasures of this small town is that the 4th of July is really big.

So, the rodeo girls have to practice with their horses every morning, and they do this on OUR street!

Isabella was in heaven petting and watching.

This girl and her mother were training this horse for town and people and noises, so it was perfect that we needed them to stop for us.

They were quite generous.

That's it on our visit.

The garden is next. I'm going out to pull some weeds and plant some flowers.

We had a sunny day yesterday, but it looks 'iffy' again today.

Kimber's Visit Part 1

My Precious Daughter, Kimber, came for a visit.

She drove without her helpful hubby (because he had to cover for someone at work) and with five-year old Isabella and baby Dante. It takes 8 hours to make the drive, and I am unendingly grateful that she was willing to make the trip for us. This is a picture of her out at the ranch at the trailer we fondly call our version of the third world. She and Lovella have become fast friends, and it is dear to me to listen and watch them. Here is Lovella with her Evan, both admiring Dante.

Kimber chose one of the aprons I'd made, and here she is making Dante sing. He loves it when someone moves their finger back and forth over his mouth while he says, "aaaaaaahhh".

Grammy and Dante have a very close relationship.

I love Dante's 'sausage toes'.

It looks like his toes are too big for his little foot.

He is too precious!

Good byes...

Since there is new snow on Grangeville Mountain and my heart is wanting to take a dip in the shallow end of the pity pool, I'll focus on something else besides gardening.

Below you see my lovely granddaughter, Alana, at her 8th grade promotion ceremony. The venue was way too small, so we ended up sitting in the isle on the floor! But, here is her dad, holding Marcus, as he lifts a bouquet for her.

Alana is truly a lovely girl, and especially so in her beautiful dress for the big ceremony. Her smile says it all!

Another event that occured while I was there for the ceremony was that my favorite son left his family to begin serving his 400 days of war duty.

He had pictures made of each of us with him, and below is mine.

Of course, while there, getting some cuddle time with my great grandboy, Cameron, was a plus.

Marcus and I got some cuddle time too.

And, below, you see my granddaughter Mandi with her Cameron.

She is a wonderful and attentive mother. They were visiting for their last hugs with her daddy before he left to begin his 400 days.

I was able to deliver Kelly to Pendleton before the transport to McCord Airforce Base where his unit was flown to Ft. Hood, Texas for 30 days of special Afghan training.

He is a Chinook helicopter mechanic and had me get into one of those HUGE things at the hanger, sit in the pilot's seat, and wear a heavy headset as if I were a real pilot. We hugged quickly and I drove off. This is the hard part, knowing he won't be available for many, many days ahead, knowing that Marcus will notice that he hasn't come home for a long time, knowing that birthdays and anniversaries will pass without him. My heart is heavy sometimes.




And one last one of baby Cameron. He is well-behaved and LOVES his truck Grammy gave him for Birthday Number ONE!

Garden Soup/Soggy Vegetables

This is what the rain looked like late yesterday afternoon.

I think we've gotten over 4 inches in the last week, maybe more, so my garden is not worth even looking at...but I do because it always holds so much hope in it. The pathways are small ponds, and the beds are full of soggy, limp, bedraggled tomatoes that SOMEONE has been pulling up. Now why would that be?

Two days in a row the south bed was strewn with the plants I'd carefully planted on the one sunny day two weeks ago.

It is so disheartening to see this.

The robins love sucking up the easy worms.

And you can see to left of her that the pathway is muck.

This north bed of tomatoes was undisturbed by the vandals.

The cabbages are doing okay.
I wouldn't say they are thriving, but at least they survive at this point.
Gardening is such a challenge here with clay soil, the late frosts in June and July, the early frosts in August and September. And now the monsoons. We are trying our best to grow as many veggies for our own consumption and dealing with so many forces against us.
I'm beginning to whine so look on down to see what I'm doing while stuffed inside my house cage.




Aprons! I've made four this week and have three more to finish up.
It is so fun to create these cute reversable aprons for myself and others!

AND!

Today is our 5th anniversay, so I've picked some bouquets, fixed a lovely lunch and await my husband's gift of taking me to dinner.

I fixed up the table sweetly with a tablecloth and these bouquets around the dining/living room. It has been special.

We are doing well in this thing called marriage that neither of us excelled in before.

It is good!