Summer is Fading

 

Welcome.  We've been having lots of home maintenance done this past month.  We had new doors installed with internet key locks.  We have a side door as well as this front door.  The Petunia's are getting very legging.  They won't last much longer.

You saw the hole from the tree that was luckily cut down before the tornado.  We had 2 of these trees planted in the back yard.  Red Sunset Red Maples.  They're about 14 feet tall.   We had new gutters, downspouts, and facia installed.  Also, needed a roof repair, we had leaking into the bathroom; presumably a tree limb caused the hole.  At least that's what the roof guy told us.  I've cut back some plantings away from the house in preparation for the house painters which might happen in the next couple of weeks.  We aren't yet scheduled with a date, just an estimated time.

Hard to believe it's September already.  The Rose of Sharon's are close to being done.  Thankfully I got some pictures earlier.  The Pink are my favorite.

But, the purple and White are also pretty.  The bees love them, as do Hummingbirds.

Once they're done, I'll have nothing left blooming for this year.  Always hate that.

I'm beyond disgusted with him, the war, the contaminated food, the prices, renaming Lake Ontario.  I don't think he's done anything decent in his entire life.

I knit and crochet.  This is crocheted; but not by me.  Someone is talented.

I recently finished A Founding Mother by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie.  I really enjoyed this book.  I knew Abigail Adams was a force, but still learned things about her I didn't know.  Highly recommend this book.  My feelings for her husband John took a dip.

I didn't know America is Speaking, When Will Our Hearts Listen was so short when I added it to my Libby app shelf.  Less than an hour.  It's a collection of angry letters from Americans to the government.  I rated this a 2 because I didn't really learn anything new.

Hotel Exile by Jane Rogoyska was interesting.  History told through the eyes of a Hotel in Paris.  Hotel Lutetia was built in 1910 and housed the likes of James Joyce, Picasso, Matisse etc.  Then it housed The Germans when Paris feel in WWII, then it housed those freed from the Concentration Camps.  I wish I had known this before we toured Paris last fall, as the Hotel still stands and has a plague on facade of Hotel.  It's located on the West Bank, and we walked all over that area.  We might have walked right by without knowing it.

Meet Me at the Lake, another Carley Fortune love story.  Think this is the 3rd book of hers I've read.  They're good summer reads, or maybe better in the cold of winter to warm you up, lol.  Her books are similar, but still entertaining.  I do wish they were a bit less graphic when describing love scenes.   

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods is a cute historical fiction/fantasy that takes place in Dublin and a bit of time travel.  A sweet love story as well.

The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson is entertaining.  A love story, bit of love triangle, baby out of wedlock.....Peyton Place came to mind.  And the song from South Pacific, Gonna wash that man right out of my hair also comes to mind.

Bye Bye Tree, Fungi, Books and Hubby and I

 

We recently had to cut down the tree in the back yard.  We also trimmed the two trees in the front yard.  The amount of equipment and people was more than I expected.

I was amazed they got it all done in about 2 hours.  

All 3 were Silver Maples.  The tree in the back had been damaged by several storms and was near the house and in the middle of the power lines, so we really had no choice.  Hated to loose a tree, but our timing couldn't have been better.  One week after the trimming and removal we had a tornado.  We still had lots of debris, but I'm sure if we hadn't gotten the back tree removed, we would have had more problems, as well as the 2 in the front.

We've had rain, rain, and MORE RAIN.  In the daytime, as well as at night.  Some flooding in our area, and not just the day of the tornado.

No clue what kind of fungi these are growing in our flower beds in the front yard, but thought they were interesting.

Things in Washington DC have not improved and there's so much going on it's maddening.  None of it is good for the majority of the country.

The amount of our tax dollars he's wasted is beyond repulsive.

A light summer read with a cute love story to take your mind off of the mess we're living with daily.  Every Summer After, makes you want to spend the summer at the Lake.  A coming of age story.  Cute, light, and fun.

One Golden Summer is book 2 in this 2 book series.  I enjoyed both books, but liked the 2nd book better.  Also a good summer love story, but a more adult love story, with some twists, complexities....and some steamy love scenes.  I'll say that as a disclaimer.

An interesting book about how we can make ourselves happier and treat others better in this difficult times.  I didn't enjoy this as much as her first book, Becoming, but still worth the read.

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Hubby and I a last week out to dinner.  We hadn't planned to wear the same color of blue and didn't really pay attention until the people we were with at dinner said something about it and took our picture. 

Rabbits Part II, Summer Flowers, Books and More

 

Ok, the follow up on my Rabbit problem.  You can now see I only have 1 very small blossom left on my 4 milkweed plants.  Despite my chasing them off constantly, they continued to eat both the Milkweed and the Zinnias.  I now have cages around all the plants here in the Butterfly Garden.  You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it enough to see the cages.  Took some time as the pieces come flat and you bend them and zip tie them together, and there are metal clips to make sure they stay put.

These are some of the lilies in my yard.  They (the rabbits) have eaten some of them as well; but thankfully, I have a lot. 

I can no longer plant Petunia's in the flower beds because the rabbits eat them completely.  I keep an eye on my pot which is about 4 feet off the ground.  So far so good.

For my crafty friends, thought you might get a kick out of this meme.

This bingo card shows where we are IMHO.  Tomorrow is the 4th of July, and this is our 250th year; but I do not feel like celebrating.  I've seen video's and photo's of trumps pathetic Great American State Fair, with one disaster after another.  Everything he touches is an embarrassment.  

Beachy fun, romance, heart break, family secrets. Something for everyone. I had fun reading this.

Important read, heavy and heart breaking. A book that will really have you thinking about how people are treated/miss treated. Award winning book.

A once Grande Hotel, a dysfunctional family, and Jewish refugee children all come together...and some romance.

Weird is the first word that comes to mind; but I couldn't put it down. Single Moms strained circumstance, and lots of mixed emotions.

 

History of The Harvey Girls was very interesting, really enjoyed that part of the book. Romance added to the fun; but I was disappointed with the ending.  I plan on reading a bit more about The Harvey Girls.

STOP the war in Iran and Gaza.

If you're traveling for the holiday, travel safe!

No updates on knitting projects, too hot to have yarny things on ones lap.

Work In Progress, Damn Rabbits, Milkweed, Audiobooks, and Down with trump

 

Corner to Corner Afghans are fun to make and you can see it grow a bit quicker than you can just knitted side to side.  I'm guessing on when to change color, because I don't have equal amounts of these colors.  The fiber is called Cotton Fleece, 80% cotton and 20% Merino Wool.  So much softer and easier on the hands then I find 100% cotton to be.  I'm using a size 5.5 inch needles.  I have twice as much of the rose as I do the green, and less still of the Robin Egg Blue (according to the label), but too me it looks sorta Turquoise.

This was the start.  I like to start new projects right before a trip whether we're traveling by car or plane, so I don't have a large project on my lap as we travel.  So I started this wee triangle and grabbed the additional colors to pack.  When I took the picture of the progress above I had 174 stitches on the needles and it measured 37 inches wide and 17 inches to the point, and 25 inches on the two sides.  

On a previous trip I had started this corner to corner.  This is heavier yarn, but at the moment I don't seem to have the label to tell you what it is.  I'm using size 8 needles for the heavier yarn.  Funny thing (as it wasn't planned), when I measured this and counted out the stitches, I had 174 stitches on the needle for this work in progress as well.  It however measures 48 wide, 22 inches to the point, and 33 inches on the sides.

Took this additional photo because in the first one you can't really see the color change to the darker variegated.  The current plan, based on the amount of yarn I have is to continue with the darker variegated until what perhaps will be just slightly more than half way and then switch back to the light.  I have 3 large balls of the lighter variegated and 2 of the dark.......so we'll see how it shakes out.

This is bulky yarn.  Quite a bit heavier than the above afghan.  I'm using a size 10 needle for this one.  It was started several trips ago and currently has 150 stitches on the needle and measures 46 inches wide and 29 inches tall.

It's hard to see the colors in the first picture of this ghan, so took a close up of a section of it.  It's much more colorful than the first picture shows.

All of these projects are now deemed home projects as they're too large to comfortable work on in the car or on a plane.  Don't think I'll be traveling again until September, so hopefully I can finish up something here, though I don't tend to work with the heavier yarns much in the summer months.........so we'll see how it goes.

I'm pretty excited my Swamp Milkweed didn't bloom last year but is starting to now.  I had planted two plants last year.  I'm hoping the aphids aren't as bad this year.  I've been told you can wipe them off with a wet paper towel, or just hose them off; but you don't want to do that if you have Monarch eggs on the underneath sides of the leaves.  This is pretty close to the ground and a bit hard for me to get down low enough to check out the underneath sides for little white eggs.

This however is what's left of one of the new Milkweeds I planted this year.  The 5 bare sticks you see is all the rabbits left.  I was checking the garden at 7 am this am and chased 2 rabbits off.  The leaves you see were all scattered and I piled them up for sake of the picture.  There was a tiny start to it flowering yesterday.  I've used pellets, whirl a gigs, and have now purchased those sonic steaks with lights you put in the ground that's suppose to ward off animals.  It doesn't seem to be working.  This has me pretty frustrated.  I don't know if the plant will come back.  If any of you know, please sing out.  I was able to find a u-tube video that showed how to do a root cutting.  One of those 5 bare sticks was taller, so I took a cutting and we'll see if I'm able to get roots and can plant it.

When We Meet Again by Kristin Harmel.  The above picture is a screen shot from Libby while I was listening to this book, the next two images are from Goodreads and Google.  The 3 jackets are very different to my way of thinking.  I don't know which book jacket was designed first, or why there are so many different ones.  I've not run into this before.  I often pick a book by it's jacket and then read the summary.  The first jacket picture to me, best represents this book.  I really enjoy this book about WWII prisoner of war camps that takes place here in the US.  While I knew they existed, I didn't realize how many of them there were.  AND I don't think it's a subject widely known or understood.  It certainly wasn't discussed in my history books back in the day........but then I'm old as dirt, so perhaps it is in the books now?

The Girl They Left Behind by Roxanne Veletzos.  Another WWII story of hardship, loss, and love even well after The War was over.  It helps you realize though times were very hard, and lots of people couldn't be trusted; they were some folks who did not loose their souls.  I recommend you put this on your list.

The Day The World Came to Town by Jim Defede.  LOVED this book.  I knew about airplanes landing in Gander Canada due to 9-11....I'm sure we all do; but this book shares so much more.  I didn't realize how many planes landed there, or the huge number of people they took care of.  The incredible opening of their hearts to help people they didn't know out.  Truly heartwarming.  Reading this knowing how truly disgusting trumpie has been to our good neighbors to the North is heartbreaking.  Heart Breaking.  PLEASE put this on your list.

The Big Lie by Jonathan Lemire.  I've read soooooooo many books about this disgusting excuse of a man on so many fronts.  This book focuses on his continual lying about winning the 2020 election.  Lots of details we've maybe only heard bits and pieces about.  The Big Lie actually started back in 2016 when he laid the ground work as he was expecting to loose to Hillary Clinton, and should have....probably would have had Comey not pulled a last minute run around.  Sadly, his first mention of the Big Lie started at a rally here in my home state of Ohio.  GROAN!!  Though I've read many books about this man, his corruption before and during the election process, I still think it's important to read as much as one can about this CONVICTED CRIMINAL.

Though I saved this to my computer before Pam Bondi got fired, it still seems worth sharing.  She is complaisant in hiding the Epstein Files and protecting donnie john and all the other Pedophiles.  How any woman can betray other women/girls/kids like this is beyond me.  I hope she ultimately goes to jail for failure to do her job.  Her job was NOT to be trumps personal lawyer; but that's what she was.

Good Businessmen do not loose money on a cassino.  

All our tax dollars being spent on this diversion of trumps, because the Iran war hasn't been enough of a diversion to get people to stop talking about and investigating the Epstein files.  This meme showed up in my knitting group.  The caption was something sure hope she's not using her good scissors.  Anyone who knits, crochets, sews etc will know the importance of their "good" scissors.