How We Pass the Time

You know where we are, but what do we do?

We color and do puzzles.  We also borrow lots of story books from the lodge.

We let a three year old pound in stakes with the ax's blade near his face.

We swim in the lake ...

and build excellent sand castles.

We have campfires, both day ...

and night.

Most of us have huge breaksfasts at the Logging Camp...

...while one has to eat a tin plate.

Most of us mini golf ...

while one has to chew a golf ball.

We bumper boat.

We swim in Vagabond's pool.

We go on Vagabond's pontoon boat where we play games.

At Vagabond's lodge, one of us gets to hand Carol a wooden nickel.

And in exchange get a humongous ice cream cone.

Yum.

We spend time in our tents.

We pontoon on Potato Lake

where most of us take a turn driving.

Ah, Vagabond, we love family time thanks to the wonderful family who have owned the resort for all 29 years we've been coming here.  Each year something new is added or something old is updated.  Friends, if you are looking for an idyllic spot to camp, come to Vagabond ... especially at the same time we are here!

29th Year at 1 of Minnesota's 10,000 Lakes

We're at Potato Lake in Minnesota with Rob & his family.  We started coming here 29 years ago when Rob was almost one and, many years before that, Bob came here yearly with his parents.  Would we be coming back if it wasn't a piece of heaven?

We camp quite rustically.  This is the King Compound.

Our view is lovely.

Our lake is clear and unpolluted.

The skies this trip have been a startling blue although some years we've witnessed terrifying storms.

We're in the north woods.

Look at this cute bird we found in a tree.

We have an annual photo taken on the dock.  Riley napped through it.

Weyburn Quilters ... Try This Quiz

At Rotary last week a Rotarian told Michele and me that he had seen all the fiber art and that he knew Michele and I well enough that he could figure out which pieces we created.  That gave me this idea.  Ten of our guild created for the "Join the Thread" challenge.  Can you match our quilters to their pieces?  The quilters are Michele Craigen, Jaynie Himsl, Shelley Hoium, Brenda King, Jan Linnell, Bonnie Mactaggart, Vera Osborn, Gloria Scaddan, Colleen Sproat, and Donna Wolfe.

If you haven't seen the shows, I highly recommend you see them soon.  They'll be gone at the end of August and time passes quickly.  The show in The Gathering Place of Grace United is now installed and it's a wonderful addition to our city's fiber art shows.

A Trip Through My Garden

I always seem to post when we're traveling, but I have to tell you that I love time at home too ... especially in the summer.

So welcome to my garden and the best flowers I've had in years.

Day lilies will never rate as my favorites, but they look charming this year.  Some I've received from neighbors like Ellen and some have been in the yard since before we moved here 28 years ago.

It took me ages to get echinacea (coneflower) in my yard, but once it took, it thrived.

The purples look marvelous with the globe thistle.  Both these plants originated from my friend Leah.

I've started yellow and white echinacea more times than I want to admit, but finally I have some which came back from last year.

Gallardia also thrives.

My sunflowers always cheer me and they always surprise me as they self seed from year to year so I never know where they will appear.

My flower seeds came from Floribunda as they usually do and that company's quality of seed is incomparable.  Much seed is heirloom and much seed reseeds the next year, something that seldom happens with seed from the big companies.

Don't just look at my sweetpeas, come over and smell them.

The amaranthus (love-lies-bleeding) was much higher than I am and I was just starting to read about using the seed as a grain when our giant winds felled them.

The hollyhocks are colorful but bent from the wind.

The Hope for Humanity rose took a hit in the wind, but it's beautiful.

The bees like my yard; here is one dining on my cosmos.

My favorite flowers this year are my zinnias which come from Floribunda seed.  The blossoms are huge and vibrant and I have bouquets of them all over the place.

Scabiosa (pincushion flower) is one of my little favorites and it's spread through many of my flower beds.

I have four varieties of poppies and the shirleys look cheerful.

There are lots more blooming and my vegetables are coming on fast and furious.  No wonder I love my garden.

Now if you want another type of trip, let me once again suggest a trip through all the fiber art in Weyburn this summer.  Every stop has pieces to marvel at.  The last of the installations is now in.  It's in the Gathering Place of the United Church and it's just as wonderful as the others in town.

Have any of you beat the heat by sewing in your cool sewing room?

I've just completed my fourth Harris Tweed book bag and it's my favorite one.  I've sewed them out of men's blazers which I find at thrift stores from $4.99 to $9.99.  Almost all of them look unworn - perhaps they are too hot for summers and for winters of central heating.

I've been making the bags 18" by 18" which seems the perfect size to bring home a huge stack of library books.

That finishes a couple of local trips.

We are headed out for another far-away trip ... camping in Minnesota and then flying out of Minneapolis for time in New York City. 

I love the anticipation and the googling for ideas.

Happy August, everyone!