Fabulous, it's Friday

Finally it's Done!  Terrible picture with it being cloudy, bad lighten; but was anxious to show this afghan is finally finished.  It's a knitted feather and fan pattern with each section being a 20 stitch repeat.  This one is named Sea and Sand, Sand and Sea.  In the beginning I called it Sea and Sand, but later kept interchanging the names.  This afghan has been in the works over 1 year.  I found a post from June 4th of last year where I had about 3 stripes done.  Now, it's not like I worked on this everyday or didn't work on anything else during this time; but...it's been a long time...much longer then I like to have one going.

And So for the first time in ages I do have a Finished Object to share with you on Friday AND a post for Random 5, Friday Five, 5 on Friday.  All badges are clickable, join us!

• Hope you had a wonderful and safe 4th of July.  Sadly our fireworks weren't quite as good as normal.  It rained, not stormy so they went ahead.  But, I wonder if they couldn't shoot them off as high because of that?  And or, because of the dampness they didn't last as long in the sky?  No matter, Happy Birthday America.  You're an awesome country and I so appreciate all the sacrifices of those that made it possible for us.
• Obviously I'm really excited to have the above afghan completed.  It's still in need of being laundered and blocked, but and a better taken, but it's DONE!
• More planning for the trip to Spain next Spring has taken place AND, we now have all our tickets for flights confirmed.  We've decided not to stay the full 10 days in Malaga (Marbella Beach Area), we'll be there a week then fly to Barcelona via Madrid for a few days, AND we now have confirmed hotel reservations there in Barcelona as well.  Gonna give our brains and our charge card a rest before we move onto the next step...which will be planning tours, though I do have a lists of things we want to see.
• House smells so good right now, hubby is making his "World Famous" Baked Beans.  We're going to a Baby Reveal party later today with family (normally we would have spent yesterday, the 4th together here at our house so this is combined deal).  We'll soon know whether my youngest nephew, Ryan and his wife are having a little boy or girl.  I'm pulling for a girl which would give them one of each...wouldn't that be nice.
• Continuing to work on my SIL's family tree, but also pulled out my Mom's side file that I've not worked on in a good long while and am happy to say...I'm finding some of the missing pieces from before!

Pop in tomorrow for the 3rd Year of Projects, it's a group through Ravelry, always happy to have more folks join us.

AND don't forget to join in on Monday for my Memory Monday...I've already gotten 4 or 5 posts written and placed in que.  Looking forward to seeing you all, the more the merrier.  The more you link and visit the more fun folks.  Join any or all of the meme's.  Enjoy the rest of your week-end.

Walking Through the Old Neighborhood

It's time for Memory Monday.  I've pulled something from the way back machine for you today.  This is my older brother Chuck on his bike.  The picture was taken on Easter Sunday probably right before or after Church, can't remember that part.  You can see from the cars in the photo the picture was taken in the 50's.  This was on Lilac Lane in my old hometown of Marion.  Some of you may remember my mentioning a group on Facebook filled with people who have fond memories of living there as children...some still live there, though not on Lilac Lane.  The bike was new and was red, my brother LOVED his bike.  The driveway was gravel and shared with our neighbors The Belvilles (Frank, Bernie, Pam, and Shannon).

The bush there on the corner was a favorite spot for my folks to hide an Easter Egg or two.  I think this had to be before Church, after church we would have changed clothes to do the hunting in the yard for the eggs.  The trike there would belong to my younger brother, Mike.

The other day a childhood friend, Wendy and I met here in our old neighborhood for a day of fun and remincing.   We walked around the neighborhood remember who lived where.  In fact we spoke to the gentleman that owns my old house.  He owns and lives in the house that was Belvilles, to the left and owns and rents the house that I grew up in, the white one on the right where the BIG bush is.  The driveway is still a shared one, but is now blacktopped.

Join us for Memory Monday

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