TIME FLIES ~ ~ ~

 When you're having fun ~ and boy are we!!!!!!  Last Saturday, we went to a garage sale in our friends' neighborhood up at the lake.  There is always something fun to buy and for the most part, it's pretty good stuff ~ and we all need more of that!!!  I was so happy to find this little lamp filled with beach glass ~ it takes us a year to find that much!!  Our lake friends, Carol and Bill, showed us all the beach glass they found in the Cleveland area last week ~ nice big pieces and a lot of it, from just one beach walk!  We look and look to find little bitty pieces ~ in our area, there isn't a lot ~ Sonny and I would be in beach-glass heaven if we stumbled across that much in one walk!  It has to do with the current and in some areas, there were dumps out in the lake and in some places, even little towns that were located out where the lake is now! But, we have fun looking and listening to the waves as we walk ~ it's very soothing and kind of a meditation of it's own!   

I'm loving this rusty metal deer that I found in the first garage that day! He'll make a great holiday centerpiece and I can fill his little body with candies or something fun!!  This particular neighborhood has it's own claim to fame ~ what I like to call "thong man"!!!!!  This guy lives there and walks around in his thong swimming attire on a daily basis ~ he has an entire wardrobe of them ~ that's what we hear!!!  We drive people over there just to see this weirdo!!  And on the Friday before the sale officially opened, there he was in all his glory!!!  May I say, that I have observed ~  that he is tan from tip to toe!!!!!!  I would have taken a picture for the blog but I don't think it would pass the guidelines for good taste!!  On Saturday, thank goodness, he had shorts on ~ I'm just guessing that somebody ~ maybe his wife ~ insisted on it!!!  

This is last weeks' gathering of glass and shells and lucky stones ~ it took three trips to find this!  We did have a fun weekend with our friends ~ going out to eat and just laughing and enjoying ourselves!!  We missed our girlfriend, Diane ~ this weekend we should all be together again since we're going to a wine tasting  in Sandusky ~ that's the one where Sonny and neighbor John ended up dressing just alike!!  We'll see what the boys wear this year!

Another thing we collect is driftwood ~ friend Margo, sent Sonny a picture from a gift catalog of one that she really liked so he made it for her!  It turned out really well so as he collects just the right pieces, he'll be making more!

We also went to Art in the Park where there were some very talented artists!  I got my Seattle son a birthday gift ~ and bought a painted tin star that is made by handicapped kids that create things in their own art studio!  We really enjoyed the day and since it was hot, I was ever so glad that I wasn't a vendor.  I have two shows in September but the weather should cool down by then. 

 MJ came to pick up her stretcher frame that Sonny made for her proddy sheep ~ she was in my class this Spring!  MJ has really taken to hooking like a duck to water ~ I'm very proud of her!  She is taking classes at Sauder this next week and then she and I are taking a drop spindle class to learn to hand spin our own yarns for hooking!!  I've always wanted to do that ~ I saw a beautiful skein of yarn this spring in spectacular colors that was done on a drop spindle and had a price tag of $90!!!!  Yikes!!  I think we can do that!!! 

Today, I took four grandchildren to the local county fair!!  I hadn't been to the fair in probably 25 years but Luke and Luci talked me into it!!  We picked up Jakob and Camden (who wouldn't have his picture taken) and off we went!!  They talked me into going into this fun house which seemed harmless because it's just small and kind of hokey!  The boys ran ahead of Luci and me, of course, and then came running back laughing their heads off ~ to tell me that I was really gonna love the last part!!  They were beside themselves, believe me!  Do you see the big round cylinder behind the kids?  Well,  that thing was spinning round and round and I had to WALK through it to get out of the damned thing!!!!  Yeah, they were laughing alright ~ and even more to see this not-too-sure-footed grandma try to walk through a rolling tunnel without falling on my keister!!!  It was a sight ~ I am sure!!! Now I know why the operator gave me back $2 before we started ~ I wondered why he had a smirk on his old wrinkled face!!!!

But, we had big fun ~ ate lots of fair food ~ watched circus performers which were pretty entertaining ~ saw a live tiger show ~ watched the kids pitch ping pong balls  into little dishes so they could win 5 goldfish to take home to their not-too-happy parents ~ they should be glad I didn't buy them each one of the whistles that they sold at the circus show!!!  Summer will be over soon and the kids will be back in school ~ oh whatever am I going to do then?!

We have a busy weekend and a busy week next week ~ I'm trying to get my ducks in a row to be gone next week for a couple of days at Sauder!  Some gals are staying with me at the condo and we're getting revved up to head to the rug show!!  Have a good weekend and we'll talk soon!
Alice