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