A FUN DAY ~ ~ ~

 I am privileged to have many fun days in my life ~ and am very grateful for them!!  This is a lovely little gift that was given to each of us that were invited to my hooker-friend, Sue's house on Monday!  She had three of us for a scrumptious lunch of BLT dip with designer bread (well, maybe not designer but it was french bread baked in a fluted tube and when cut, each slice was like a flower!), salad made with baby greens, hot chicken salad, key lime cheesecake pie,  and we topped it off with champagne in the afternoon!!!  At each place setting were these little pots of flowers for us to take home!  Sue is a very gracious hostess ~ her friends assured me that going to her house is a treat ~ and it was!

This is their property ~ it looks like a park!  I should have taken my camera and taken pictures of her house and rugs.  I took this with my phone just so you could see what a pretty place this is ~ a little slice of heaven, me thinks!!  In the back is a Party Barn ~ the house isn't even in the photo!  There were rugs and primitive dolls and all manner of primitive accessories in every nook and cranny!  We had such a nice day ~ we should all be so lucky to have wonderful people like these three girls in our lives!! 

This week, we've been to baseball games, a dinner with people Sonny used to work with before he went into business  ~ that was fun ~ we ended up at The Happy Grape! Lots of rain and storms here in Ohio but nothing like the Midwest has had!  I still haven't picked up my hook in a couple of weeks ~ maybe this weekend! We're looking forward to a fun-packed weekend ~ I'm trying to get all my work caught up so I'm foot loose and fancy free!  Stories to follow!!!

Have a great holiday weekend doing whatever makes you happy! 

Alice

FLOWERS AND "STARS" ~ ~ ~

Last week was a blur ~ busy beyond words!  Monday, a friend took me to see some wonderful hooked pieces ~ that will be for another post ~ and then off to a fun day of lunch and chatter ~ as only we can do!  Wednesday ~ greenhousing with friends, Donna and Cathy ~ look at the bounty I gathered!  Hanging baskets ~ I cut off the hangers and put them in stands or pots and voila!  Instant beauty!

Flats of impatiens, beautiful coleus, lantana and the hibiscus planter were all waiting to be planted or set in the garden somewhere!  Some of it has been placed ~ impatiens still waiting! 

Thursday, friend Vivian and I went to a small wholesale market ~ and I mean small.  Found a couple of things there and went to lunch at Molly's Tea Room in Medina ~ pretty yummy!  Then I took her with me to plant my Memorial Day flowers on my mom and dad's graves ~ it was all in the same area and I have to make my time count!  It's a pretty place ~ peaceful ~ and I'm always glad to that ~ my dad died when I was a little girl and I always went with my mom to do that so now it's my tradition to do for them both.

If you click on this photo ~ taken out the front window ~ you'll see this sweet little yellow bird ~ who has practically been banging his little brains out, flying repeatedly into the window!!!!!! He makes a career out of this activity ~ and if it's not the front window, it's the one in my office!!  I don't get it ~ does anyone know why birds do this? I've heard it's their reflection that attracts them but holy crow ~ you think they'd tire of it after a while!  But it keeps Mr. Kitty entertained for hours!

I just wanted you to see this flowering crabapple tree that I started from a little seedling that came from the tree to the left!!  A landscaper friend told me it would never bloom ~ well, look at those blossoms ~ it's more showy than the 'mother' tree!!

 

Bluebells ~ don't you just love them?  Maybe not everybody does ~ but they're such a pretty flower!

Thursday, after Vivian and I returned from our field trip to Medina ~ Sonny and I and Tad went to the lake to join some fishermen friends for dinner!  Sonny and the guys went on a fishing charter Friday morning and I just putzed around the condo and went out to buy flowers for the condo pots!!  It was a relaxing day ~ most of it!  Until ~

When the charter got in at 5,  we were waiting to pick Sonny up and drive straight home so that we could go to Miss Luci's dance recital!!  It's that time of year again! We had to drop Tad at home and Sonny got ready in short order and away we went!  A little late but in time to see Luci's (Star # 1) three minutes of fame on the stage!!  What grandparents won't do for their grandchildren!!  She and the other little court jesters looked very sweet as they popped out of a box to dance across the stage! Our daughter-in-law, Cheryl brought her little not-quite-three year old granddaughter, who was very good and very interested in all that she saw!  Sonny and I looked at each other and said ~ guess we'll be coming to recitals for many years to come! Of course, we ended our evening with a little beverage and a bite at one of favorite haunts ~ our reward to us from us!!

Saturday morning, we headed for the ball fields for opening day ceremonies for Little League!  This is Logan (Star # 2) ~ I didn't get a picture of Luke or Luci! Only three of our little people are playing this year ~ we really do wish the other three would ~ but their parents might be relieved!!  Kids and parents today are so busy ~ it makes me wonder if they don't do too much (I should talk) ~ but then a tired kid is a good kid!!   We went to two games after that and then to a funeral service and luncheon for a relative of our good friends. It was a full day and the end of a full week.  We are grateful for all our kids and grandkids and  a host of friends to do things with ~ it definitely keeps us on the go ~ and hopefully, keeps us young! 

Today, the sun is shining and it's actually warm here in Ohio!  I'm having a quiet day and enjoying it immensely!  Kind of a busy week ahead of me so I'm resting up today ~ resting consists of laundry and a little yard work!  I haven't hooked in over a week ~ my rooster rug is calling to me!!!!! 

Here's to a quiet, restful day for you!
Alice

YESTERDAY'S HOOK-IN ~ ~ ~

 A great day yesterday at Lake Farm Park in Kirtland, Ohio at the Western Reserve Rug Hooking Guild's Hook-in!!!  Mr. Sonny and I and friend, Heidi, left early in the morning to drive North to get all set up by the time 100 hookers came to spend the day!  It was a busy day ~ a productive day (yippee!) ~ and lots of fun!  I actually belong to the guild now and they do a fantastic job of organizing a wonderful time for rug hookers!  This  is a Deanne Fitzpatrick rug done by a fairly new rug hooker, who managed to hide behind her rug!  I think this is her fourth rug and she watched a video of Deanne's and away she went!  Absolutely beautiful!  There are some patterns of Deanne's similar to this one on my website! I wish I had taken the rug hooker's name because she did a fantastic job of interpreting just the right colors and the hooking style that it takes to create such a work of art!

The room was filled with gals just hooking away and talking ~ it sounded like magpies most of the day!
Heidi and Laurel (in red) are in the foreground and way in the back right, standing is friend, Donna!!  They had a huge Chinese auction ~ a raffle of a rug hooked by many of the members, a hooked doll and a mohair bear ~ a wonderful lunch ~ a buffet of pastries donated by members ~ all done to create a fun day!

This is a shot of the other side of the room!  There were 7 vendors (I forgot to take a picture of our booth) ~ lots of wool and patterns to choose from ~ and great rugs in progress!  The colors in this rooster chair pad were very vibrant ~ I definitely should have made more of an effort to get out and take pictures! As it happens, after I took this picture, the gal facing the camera won the pattern and wool that came from our booth!  Hope she sends me a picture when she's done!!

This is a little of the dying that I did last week ~ I really like the nice mottling ~ it gives automatic texture and shading when hooked into your rug!  I'm hoping to get some dying done this summer so I have a nice stock to begin the falls shows with ~ I'll post pictures as I go along! 

The Guild also provided these great name tags and necklaces to each attendee and vendor ~ I loved my gifts! The necklace is inset with antique paisley and has a little sheep charm on it ~ thanks to Elaine Molyet who made them!

And a big Thank You to Sonny  for driving me and packing and unpacking, etc. ~ I couldn't do it without him!  He doesn't read my blog, so he won't know this is on  here ~ but I appreciate his help immensely ~ and yesterday, Miss Heidi helped a lot, too ~  thanks a bunch, Heidi!!

Last night, after we got home, we went to supper at a new place ~ The Red Brick Diner ~ where my great-nephew, Louie, is part of the wait-staff! He's doing a great job ~ big smile ~ walks with purpose ~ waiting tables is hard work and he's making the most of the opportunity! I was really impressed with how they all helped each other with clearing tables, etc. One cute young gal came over to clear our dishes while Louie waited on other customers and when I mentioned that to her, she said "Teamwork Makes Dreamwork"!!!!!! I was very impressed with her attitude and think we can all learn something from her motto!! I wondered if she made it up or heard it somewhere ~ regardless, it's a good one!

Today is a nice quiet day ~ I've done nothing so far ~ we have the truck to unload shortly ~ and then Sonny's off to a soccer game ~ it's gloomy and drizzly so I don't know if I'll go today.  Friday night, we went to Luke's ballgame and Sonny left to go see Camden play soccer ~ one night we went to a soccer game and two ballgames ~ last year, we had 6 grandchildren playing ball ~ this year, only three, so we're gonna have a lot more free time!!  Sounds like lots of rain ahead this week, so it might interfere with their games ~ I hope not! 

Have a peaceful day, wherever you are!
Alice

P.S.  The blog counter that was installed in January of '09 reported 100,000 on the hit counter  Friday night or Saturday morning!  I am amazed and astounded that so many people check in on this blog! I thank each and every one of you for coming to visit ~ come back soon and often!!!!  Thank You!!!!!!

ROOSTER RUG PROGRESS ~ ~ ~

 AND OTHER THINGS ~ ~ ~
This hooking progress is the result of Days 10 & 11 ~ the hit-and-miss background takes me a bit more time because I just can't be that random in picking out the colors!!  I try ~ but I can't ~ I have to figure out what neutral will look best next another neutral.  But it's coming long ~ I meant to take a photo of the background wools ~ I'll do that next time!!  Since I hook pretty high, this rug has a nice cushy feel to it under my tootsies!!

We had a big weekend starting on Thursday with Luke's birthday dinner at a local Japanese restaurant!  These kids have great taste when it comes to picking out where to go and grandma and grandpa are happy to go along!  We sat at hibachi tables and watched this fellow work his magic with his chip-chop tools and a little cosmopolitan for me ~ it made for a very fun evening!

 I'll throw in a couple of garden pictures ~ this is hellebore or Lenten roses ~ they're doing great this year.  They're self seeding and I'm moving them around to other parts of the yard ~ lots of little baby hellebores are coming up so there will be even more next year!

Trillium and brunnera line the steps off the deck ~ thru the years, we've moved trillium from our woods up by the house and this is one pretty prolific patch of it.  I love Spring and Spring flowers ~ this weather is bringing out the best of them!  Hooray!

We travelled to the lake this weekend ~ Friday night we went to Mon Ami with friends for dinner and then we danced to The Traveling Lounge Lizards!  Don't you just love that name?  It's a group of guys, probably our age, and we like their music and love watching people our age out cruising the dance floor ~ thank God I'm married and don't have to worry about who's gonna dance with me next!  But it's pretty entertaining to watch! 

Saturday afternoon, we decided to go to Vermillion to the French Restaurant for their Derby Day party!  On the way, we stopped at the little Key West style pub outside Huron, that we went to last year and Sonny walked down to their beach to hunt for beach glass ~ in the rain, I might add!  Well, it started after he got down there ~ I waited in the car ~ after all, I was dressed nice ~ I thought!  We got to Chez Francois and what a Derby Day celebration they had!  All tables in the restaurant and the bar, Touche, had been reserved ~ including the seats at the bar ~ the  brochure said 'come join us for a Derby party!  Two of the four tables on the entry porch  were for walk-ins and under-dressed folks ~ like us!!!  We decided our money was the right color, so we stayed and watched the parade of beautifully dressed women and men out to celebrate the Kentucky Derby!!  The hats were equally as impressive as those worn to the Royal Wedding last week and the clothes were beautiful!  We had no idea that this was such a big deal but believe you me ~ we'll know the next time!  I wanted to take a picture but decided against it ~ I wanted to show you because I could hardly believe it, myself!  We had lovely appetizers and wonderful mint juleps and as always, I can find humor in most anything ~ since almost everyone had to walk past us, it was very funny to me to see these fellows dressed in their beautiful suits or very crisp sportcoats walk by ~ with the TAILOR TACKS  still holding the vents on their jackets closed!!!!!  It made me roar ~ it wasn't just one ~ there were several that I noticed ~ so it was pretty darned evident that they'd gone shopping for some new threads just to wear to Derby Day!! 

We kind of ate and ran (it supports my theory that it's always better to be over-dressed than under-dressed ~ I had to get out of there) and stopped at Nagoya, a very nice Japanese restaurant in Port Clinton ~ found the only two seats at the bar ~ the Derby was about to start ~ we had front row seats ~ Sonny had sushi and me, shrimp tempura with a nice pomegranate martini ~ and ~ we were dressed just right!!  Sonny and I had a great afternoon and evening ~  we were really glad that we struck off on our little adventure! 

Sunday, we had breakfast at the local Moose club with friends, Jim and Kathy and headed home later in the day - Mothers ate free, by the way!!!!  I had Mother's Day phone calls, emails and texts from kids, step-kids, and nieces ~ very nice!  Teddy fixed us gourmet burgers for supper and I got a potted hibiscus tree, chocolate covered cherries, cards and fresh flowers ~ it was a great day and a great weekend!!!!!  I hope you had a fun weekend, too! To all the mothers, Belated Happy Mothers Day ~  it's nice to be appreciated!
Alice

ROOSTER RUG PROGRESS ~ ~ ~

 Day 9 ~ I finished the body of the right hand rooster and got some of the background done.  Seems like not a lot of headway for all the time that I spent at the frame.  I may take out that red accent line at the top ~ it's looking pretty vibrant ~ but I'll wait till I have more of the neutrals in around it ~ it just may look okay to me then!  Besides that, I don't like to reverse hook!!!!

Oh! I found the camera ~ in the car trunk ~ where I put it!!!!!



Monday, after school, grandson Luke and I had a date ~ to make Whoopie Pies!  He wanted to take them to school for a birthday treat and his mom was just sure that I would love to do this with him ~ I think that was her story last year, too!  He was a great helper ~ and cleaned up after we were done!  I was impressed because I didn't even have to ask!!

The finished product!  Well, some of them, anyway!  We packed up 32 to send to school and a couple of plates for Luke's family and these for ma and pa!!  I could eat this whole plate myself ~ they are so good!  I will give you all the recipe but not tonite ~ too tired!  One thing about it, they are a lot of work and we had to make two batches!

Sonny and son Ted got lots of mushrooms tonite!  Sonny fried up a few and then froze the rest ~ cleaned them, sliced them and then laid them out on a cookie sheet to freeze and then bagged in Ziplocs.  He's going to make mushroom soup, he says!  I found a  recipe online for him ~ I'm not that adventurous a cook ~ he'll tackle that next week one evening and I'm sure it will be good.  Teddy thought he might try that, too!  For once in their life, they actually found more than could be eaten at one setting!  Woo Hoo!!

That's it for tonite ~ have to run to Columbus tomorrow to get my car serviced ~ might squeeze in a little shopping while I'm there ~ I hope to get in some hooking time, too!  Have a good day!
 Alice

ROOSTER RUG PROGRESS ~ ~ ~

The tail is almost done ~ and the camera seems to have been left at the lake ~ this photo is taken with my phone!  All it really shows you is that the tail has a short way to go and then I can start on background!  I'm hoping that when 'his honor' gets home that he can tell me where the camera is ~ I think I know!

Until then ~ we'll forge ahead! Friday night, we went to the homebuilders' Reverse Raffle!  Lots of yummy food, card playing, watching a mouse run down a hole otherwise known as The Mouse Game, and a 50/50 drawing ~ which my step-son, Brian, won!  For those of you who know our family, you know that Brian is the luckiest guy when it comes to such things!!  The other thing you'll know about him is that he is very kind hearted!!  The 50/50 drawing was held by his wife  Cheryl, our daughter-in-law Miki and good family friend/my hairdresser Beth ~ they are all walking the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure in July and the drawing was a fundraiser for their walk ~ Brian donated back his winnings to the girls ~ that was very kind-hearted indeed!  For Brian, just to win yet another big drawing was reward enough ~ the whole room groaned when his name was called!!!!!!!  We're very proud of these girls for taking this on ~ Seattle daughter-in-law Coni, has done the 3-Day walk for several years ~ she wanted them to come to Seattle and walk with her!! 

We headed to the lake this weekend so Sonny could powerwash the decks ~ we had a little bit of dry weather for that to happen!  Saturday afternoon, we met  some Mansfield gals, who were up for the weekend and went out that evening with our lake friends ~ and hooked on Sunday!  Perfect weekend ~ filled with fun and laughter ~ and a couple of Peanut Butter Latte Martini's with the Mansfield group!  They were delish but they looked kind of spooky!!  The drinks ~ not the girls ~ they looked fine!!!

Ta ta for now ~ hope you had some fun this weekend!
Alice