SPEGHETTI SCARFE ON SUNDAY

 It's a rainy windy day at the lake.  This is day four of rains, winds, huge gusts on the lake, so much so that we are still stoking fires and keeping warm and dry as much as possible.

So, this morning as I was on the web, I found this so cute and easy scarfe called "speghetti scarfe".  I found an old tee shirt that I didn't realize wasn't old but belonged to Michelle, the daughter of Mary.  Oh well, I was going to give it to
her anyway as she loves this stuff.

Here is my first attempt at making the scarfe and a sort of tutorial.

I cut the shirt at the arm pit.

Then, cut from one side to ALMOST the other side, measuring sort of about an inch or two as I went along. (NOTE...the skinnier cuts are better)

Then after cutting, I stretched the cuts,
being careful to hold the ends and not to
tear as I was stretching.

All of this took about 7 minutes to do.  I also cut the bottoms of the tee shirt as you can see.

Here is the sample of the cut tee shirt.

Note the cutting just goes about an inch from the top.


I used a rotary cutter because I have one of course, but scissors would suffice.



As you can see, it's a very simple thing to do, even for me.

Here you can see the stretched speghetti
just before I gathered all the ends and then
put them over my head twice to make the scarfe.

This is the original photo that I found from a retro sight which I forgot the name so cannot give the proper claim to fame of the creator.

I think her scarfe is made from a very large and I mean very large and very stretchy tee.

So, is this not so cute?  Wouldn't it just make someone happy?  Search the web and find many many variations of this so very cool little easy peasy craft.

Not bad for a rainy day activity don't you think?

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY....BAGS!

I love making bags!  I'm the bag lady of the family.  I used to make jean bags with jeans about a size 6 for kids.  I'd put fabric pens in the pockets, and put a strap on the jeans so that the kids would have little overnight bags to bring to Nana's house.

Then, I started making these jean bags as birthday gifts for granddaughters' friends which were always a huge hit.

Tory, granddaughter of mine went to a girl's house recently, and saw a jean bag.
She knew it was made by her Nana, so she
asked the girl where she got it.   From her
babysitter when she was 5 she said.

Yep, my other  granddaughter Courtney  had given it to her as a birthday gift that many years ago.

So, I still make bags.  The recycling experience has been awesome for me.
One year, a friend and I made the jean bags in larger sizes for groceries as
Christmas presents.  A big success.

I'm still stopped and asked where I got
the jean bag I use weekly.

The bags above were given as gifts of course
and are used all the time.

The little travel bag is a cake.  Not made by me, but I loved it of course and if I was to get one of these, I'd definitely eat the kangaroo on my way to Australia.

These bags you see were made this week.
Today, the two with the red straps are copies of my mother's 50 year old bag with me making the larger one as I up the anty on my bag lady experiences.

On rainy days here at the cottage, I can
be found at the machine making bags.  This little one I made last year to try and please my mother, but it wasn't heavy enough for her.  Not substantial she said..get canvas.

That is canvas, but light, so now these are all doubled and are used by my mother and the cast offs of her displeasure are used by the grandchildren and their friends.

I used to have cards made up called "Baggie Jeans"  just so that I'd have a different card with which to identify my bag lady status.

So the tradition continues.

AUTUMN DAY ON THE LAKE!

I've said that our friends Mary and Bob are here for the week.  Well the weather isn't the greatest at times, so Mary decided to knit.  These fingerless gloves are a huge hit with young and old.  So very cute and so simple to make.

I make them for charities at the hospitals and also am now making them for shelters so that people can feel good at times of need.

We have had rain on and off, but when the sun came out yesterday, we packed up goodies and took an afternoon boat ride on the lake.

We came upon this sweet cottage all locked up, sitting forelorn on a point of the lake.  I hadn't been to this end of the lake for a few years and didn't remember this little beauty.

This is happy me with Wilson the Wonder dog on the lake.  He loves putting on his very cute red boat coat.  It was such a great day that after this photo was taken I removed the jacket as it was just too warm.  Imagine, September 28th...

As we cruised the lake, we saw a little waterfall that was trickling down and we all commented that next year we would be back in the spring to see the gushers!


I have been quilting a bit.  I had this fabric which was my mother's material from the Virgin Islands.  Well her little pouch that has been her favourite for 50 years, finally bit the dust, so I took the bag apart, copied the bag, quilted this little bag for her.  The ends are recycled from her canvas bag and she will just love it.  On the right top is Tortola BVI...Bliss for my mom who is 92 yrs old.

 Oh, and the bear has visited our neighbours again.   We are told that it will probably be back and back for the next couple or years.  OMG!

MONDAY'S CHILD...THAT WAS ME YESTERDAY...

 Yesterday was my birthday.  Oh I don't dwell on it because I've had more birthdays behind me than I do coming to me.   My friend Mary arrived with a blueberry pie (which is my fav) and it was the most delicious ever.  She used 5 cups of blueberries so you know she didn't skimp!

It's been fabulous fall weather and of course lots of people get married in the fall.  The door was at a country wedding that my daughter and her kids attended over the weekend.

Isn't that just the most clever way of using an old door?  The bride's family live on the farm where the wedding was held.  I am definitely going to look for
an old door like this!

 I wish I could say I took this photo of the sunrise last weekend, but alas, it was taken by someone else.  The person didn't leave their name, just the photo on a weather site.

Isn't it just perfect?  It looks so eirie.

We have many strange mornings at the lake in the fall.  We are now being inundated with falling acorns.  They are
everywhere!  It's taking one's life in peril
to walk near them.  Or worse to step on
them on the ground.  They are like ball
bearings.

Fall days at the cottage also bring a calm to the waters that sometimes the reflections are such that it is hard to tell up or down in the photos of scenery.

The pines are blowing their needles this year also and when there is a breeze, it's
raining pine needles. 

Here is a photo of the wedding people all dressed up.  Our boy loves dressing up.  The life of everyone is so busy these days that to get together to have a photo op is special.

The days are getting shorter for sure.  We are now quite dark by 8 pm.  But that means we get to see the beautiful stars at night here since there is so few people on the lake it is very dark indeed.

THIS IS SO CUTE!

Roz sent me this from California.  It took forever to arrive at our little post office.

Roz said she sent one to Israel and Italy too and they had received theirs a while ago.  Snail mail for sure.

Anyway this is so cute.  I expect that when I travel to Florida this fall that this will carry my needles.

I love this.. it's like a little purse and
it is so delicate to see. Thank you Roz

I noted on her blog that she had a cook book in print too, so have a boo there.

It is an absolutely beautiful fall day here at the cottage. So much so that we took our last cup of coffee to have on the dock.  Those days will come to an end soon enough so we take each as it comes.

While I came up from Whitby on Friday,
it was raining for most of the way, but still
the colours of autumn are breathtaking.

I took this photo while driving up highway 35 to Dorset.  It doesn't do the colours justice, but still the trees are in full autumn bloom.

The loons are busy here too when the lake is calm out our way.  There is lots of little bass at the end of our dock so the loons get a full feed.

Yesterday a humming bird was at our flowers who are looking pretty sick these days, but Helen, who is only a few cottages away saw a fat hummer getting his last feed from her feeder before heading to warmer climates.

All around us there are closers.  The lake is beginning to have fewer and fewer of us hardy folks around.  Next week there will only be a couple of us here, but for the Thanksgiving weekend, many return to close for the season. 

Just an update on the bear issue....the bear is gone...hopefully for good, but we are ever vigilant at night.  Just so that he doesn't tear the door off the garbage bin we have left it open....no garbage in it, but he doesn't know that. 

FIRST QUILTS...

This is Helen's first quilt.  She says that
she did all the wrong things one does when quilting.

She began by seeing that there was a course in "english piecing" I think she said.  She had the pink print which was all cotton to make a dress for one of her girls.

The light blue and dark  were  given to her by a friend and Helen says that they both had poly in them.  The white was cotton.

This quilt is hand cut, hand pieced, hand quilted.  Now the fact that this took her about ten years to make is remarkable to me....I just don't have the attention span to take on a quilt of this size.

  However, her Grandmother's Garden quilt is soft from use by Andrea and is much loved.  It's beautiful in its composition, with knowing the details that Helen put into the project makes it all the more loving.  There is also a label which Helen just wrote and then cross-stitched the date etc.

That in itself was so fine that the camera didn't capture the work.  I might try with another camera one of these days.

After this class she was hooked on quilting
and continued to take classes in the many
aspects of hand quilting and design.

This, is my first quilt...no lessons here folks.  cut with a rotary on a 12" matt and a 12" ruler.

I still have some of the 280 squares left in a little stash somewhere.  I cut so many of the orange and white that finally my sweetie asked how many did I really need.

Only about 120 to make it work so you can understand so many extra orange squares.

The fabrics were sheets, $4.00 for the orange, $2.00 for the white and the back print which was fish or some such.  I have redone the binding on this because the first attempt was looking like I had rolled a cigar in the fabric.  The other part was that I had to add some width to the quilt because I didn't realize that the quilt would "shrink" somewhat when putting it together.

I bought polyester batting...boy was that hard to put the basting through.  I almost quit right there and then.

Trust me, this didn't happen on Helen's quilt. 

Undaunted, as we all are when we love this craft, I made another and another with the same 12" tools.  Then I saw the large matt on sale....wahoo!  Life became so easy!

What was your first quilt....did you take lessons?   I've only learned from the lessons Helen gives me when I hit a wall of what to do.  Patience is not in my dna.

We are battened down today as the lake is roaring, the wind is howling all around us.  Only the brave will be out on the lake today.  There is only one other person down the way on our little island.

We are 11 days without our bear visits.  We are all hoping that we have seen the last of the pesky guy. 



FAVOURITE FRIDAY...."F"

 Friday...the end of the week, welcoming the weekend with Friends.  I love the letter "F"  it stands for so much.

Finished...yep, that's a beauty word!  Finis was what I thought when I finished this quilt.  It's scrappy with totally left over fabrics, but wow does it ever look fantastic.

For sure, quilts just don't look finished
till the quilting is done.

The next quilt was from Walmart Jelly that I bought for $12.00.  A great find and totally awesome, and fabulous.

Finishing the backs of quilts is always a dilemna for me.  What to pick, and how will it look makes me frazelled at time.  Not for this baby.

The back is almost as good as the front.  I also did a bias binding to really pop the quilt.

Finding the right back was a bit of a challenge to find the right fabric to compliment the front.

By putting a black sashing on the back, the same colours, practically are on the back.  The effect is quite flashy.

Finally, thank you to Barb of Bejeweled Quilts, who sent me the jelly fabrics from Samoa last autumn when I was laid up with my hip surgery.

I actually had pieced all these tops last winter while recouping, but just couldn't do the finishing of the quilts.

The back of the quilt which is not shown is the blue of the front.

This quilt is cute beyond belief.  My sweetie who knows I don't do blue well, just loves this.  I do too so it will be a keeper for me to remember the generosity of Barb.   Thank you again.

Finally, F is for fire...we are burning wood to warm our little cottage this morning.  The coolness of the mornings is quite shocking after a warm night under the duvet....The outside temp was just above freezing this morning and the inside a few degrees warmer.  Brrrr...or Frrrr. 

Finished projects make us all happy.  So for now, Friday fun at the cottage begins with 'F"

1. 

DINNER WITH OLD QUILTS

 Wherever I go around the lake, I take my camera as I never know what I shall find.

We went to our neighbours to the east of us, which we must access by boat as there is a small body of water seperating us.  We just putted over there which was about a two minute ride.

Their cottage is over a 100 yrs old, is very ecclectic in that there were additions, renovations over the years, so all cottages require personal touches to make it one's own.

But here is the quilt I saw upon entering their sunroom.  This quilt is soft from loving use, hand quilted by a Christian group that does quilting.

I photographed the labels to show the care given to the quilt.  I don't do that often.  I write the date somewhere on the quilt....if I remember.  This old quilt reminded me that I should label quilts...at least the ones that are given away.


The backing was flannel which certainly seems to have withheld the hands of time as the print is still lovely and soft after many washes.

The other quilt is an old hexigon that she didn't remember where it came from and of course there
wasn't a label on it.


 Also much love given to this soft and cosy quilt.  The backing was cotton and so soft.


We had appetizers on their veranda which was so inviting with all the charm of an old cottage.

The cottage has many antiques from years
of travelling around the country.  The cottage is also their prime residence.  They
have lived at the cottage for about 5 yrs now
but, leave the island around the end of October. Oh, that will be us too this year!

The winds do begin to howl, with dropping temperatures, uninsullated buildings we will leave around the same time as they do.

The cottage has much wood in the rooms, this dining table has seen many happy occasions for family and friends. 

Directly opposite this area is the area where life goes on in the evenings when it
cools at the lake.  That wood burning stove has probably had cords of wood put into its belly over the years.  I love this room.  It is so inviting.

The neighbours also had a visit from our friend the bear.  It raided an outside storage area  while they were away for the night.   Not a pretty picture I can tell you.

Funny though, the bear didn't eat any of the delicious veggies growing around the area.  Well we all know he is a pest, although no one has reported a sighting since last Thursday.  You think he's gone?  We don't. 

We've been sharing ideas about the great memories of bears.  They keep coming and coming....apparently like the Everready rabbit.  So, we are diligent.

I have twenty four Ohio Star blocks done.  My best work to date.  I don't know what it is about my fingers and measuring that makes my quilts always look a bit wonky to me although Helen (private teacher here) says they look amazing. 

I found a couple of tops that are going to charity donation so, till I go to Fabricland which has a sale on, I'm going to practice my "in the ditch" so the Ohio will be awesome.

We are going to get some rain.  The sun came into the bedroom window this morning with so much promise.  An hour later, we are awaiting rain, so I'm not heading to the big city of Huntsville to pick up fabric.   Oh well, I do have lots to do.

|We had the most awesome appetizer at our neighbour's the other night, so I must call her for the recipe that I can post.  She said it was super easy...my kind of recipe.

FRIDAY...FAVOURITES....FINISHED FAN QUILT...HELEN

 I'm having such blocks blogging lately.  Honestly, I used to blog every couple of  days, but now, I feel I will be boring you with my lack of sewing news and only cottage stuff.

Helen, my dear friend is a sewing queen these days.  She keeps producing and producing.  This fan quilt is her latest achievement.  Her very ill friend will love this.

Click on to see the beautiful quilting that she did.  The fans are outlined in monfiliment thread.  I must look very close to see the stitching it's that good.


I'm almost ready to do one of these soon.  

I think that there are a lot of fan quilts being made this year don't you?  It's the finishing that is the challenge for many of us...not Helen though...she starts and finishes without problems.

 If you are thinking of something other than quilts for Christmas, here is an idea if you have any old windows that are lying around.

This is from a poster on a BVI site that
had a photo enlarged, then put it in the window frame.

It's a fabulous idea for someone without spending too much money either. 

Another idea that the new neighbours have is a bunch of placemats done in black and white laminated which display family
photos of precious moment's in the family's life at the cottage.  Beautiful and cherished by Kath as her dad recently passed away at too early an age. 

The bear is back!  I tell you it's getting so that it is a real nuisance to have around.  The other night the neighbours got their garbage pails thrown all over the place, but last night around 8:30 I was taking the dog out, decided to use the leash as I am a bit nervous about the bear thing.

Well, I hit the lights to turn them on, open the door and I hear the fast moving feet of the bear going up the hill!  The dog was going nuts with the smell and his collar is on very loose....just in case I get mad and want to strangle him he can get away from me...so I called my sweetie to help, but the dog was so agitated that I had to bring him back in.

The bear didn't come back, but since there is only a few of us on the island, we must be vigilant at all times.  I can't for the life of me figure how the bear can live here.  There really isn't enough food to sustain a three hundred pound vegetarian!

I am making Ohio Star.  Of course Helen gave me the pointers to which I said that there was a quarter inch out...she did look at me funny...then the next day I realized I'd forgotten to attach the two colours together...now my squares are four inches instead of four and a half.  I never learn...

Still, this is the best effort for me as everything is trimmed beautifully.  Another lesson learned..

Have a great weekend.  Fall is almost upon us as the nights are cooler, the days not so warm.  Somewhere in this world spring is just around the corner.

A PERFECT FRIDAY AT THE COTTAGE!

 At the cottage there are days when life begins to take shape with perfect images of the sun.

When Mary and I got up she was searching for the cameras to get the sunrise over Dennison Island which we face.   Isn't this something?   It wasn't hard to take, just a shot from the big Canon Rebel with the telephoto lense.

The lake was so calm, not a ripple.  It was hard to tell which was up or down when looking at some of the  shots I took of the lake. 

Of course, wait 15 minutes and life changes here.
We had very high winds most of the day with
the docks rocking and rolling.

Helen's sweetie had to go out in the winds to rescue friends whose boat lost power and to add to that someone had tipped their small sail boat and he did that rescue on the way back to his rolling dock!

Then, dinner at the neighbours who set this table to serve an amazing watermellon salad as starters.  I'd never
had watermelon salad and it was yummy.
Who doesn't love beef tenderloin with
veggies done to perfection.  Wonderful
evening and the lake was back to calm
with none of the rains that threatened.

Earlier in the day we had tea at Helen's where she is making a loving quilt for a very sick friend.

Her fans are amazing to see.  She is using mono filament thread to attach the fans.  It's hard to see the stitching.  There will be twenty fans to the quilt.  She has decided to use a yellow sashing around the fan squares.

You've seen my teeny tiny studio, well Helen's is no different.  Her cottage has an antique dining table which anchors her quilting studio at the cottage.

She has a carrier for her sewing machine and table that travels back and forth from cottage to city with her.

It's September.  One wouldn't know it for the weather here as it is warm and balmy.  Very humid in fact but we, here in Canada do not complain of the warm weather days of September.  They are gifts. 

Being the long weekend, I of course didn't post this on my Favourite Friday things, but it was a perfect day to be remembered.  Sorry Shay.

My daughter called to chat, was interrupted by one of her day care girls who told her that her clothes had leaked while she was sleeping.  She couldn't find the "tap" to turn the leak off.   We howled.  Fiona had never had an accident since she was trained, so didn't remember that things do happen.  I could hear Kelly telling her that it happens to which Fiona expressed surprise!   Too cute not to mention for my memoires.

GETTING CHRISTMAS GOING! AND OTHER THINGS....

 My friend Mary and I are making Christmas place mats.  Here is the first two of twelve that we are making for our "country" theme.   Mary loves her tables set with a theme so this is part of her idea to make our holiday table really sing this year.

I've not made one quilt this summer!  I don't know where time has gone.  Honestly, it's not that I've done so much,
but I've not done anything.  The mats are
the first thing I've done!  Hard to believe.

Ok no excuses maybe, but the granddaughter has been busy winning medals at the Canadian championships and we were there.  My sweetie yelled so much that he had no voice for two days and is actually still recouping from cheering her and others on.

We also moved her to her new digs in
Ottawa.  This is her second year at University so she is renting an apartment with three other girls.  Such excitement!

On the weekend we also cheered the young guy with his arm around his "Nana" after winning a gold medal.  He is such a nice kid.  He's been so busy this summer along with his mother, my daughter who was one of the many volunteers for the
regatta that we attended that we hardly
saw her at all.  So Jeremy took a quick trip
home today and brought his mother flowers.  So thoughtful and his mother was thrilled to pieces.

On the homefront, here is the work crew assembling and getting ready to install the new top for my boat which will also have a plastic wrap around to keep us out of the weather this fall when the winds blow cold.

So many of us are getting ready for the new school year.  We could see U Haul trailers on the highways this passed  weekend.  All heading to new places for so many students.

The lake has hardly any activity on it at all.  The odd boat goes by and we wave to acknowledge life on the lake.

The humming birds are going crazy getting fatter and fatter getting ready to head south.  The nights are cooler too.  It is coming fast, that cooler weather.  We see the leaves just starting to change colour.  A sure sign.

A BATIK QUILT BY HELEN

 You all know my friend Helen here at the lake who has been teaching me for about four years now.

Well Helen loves quilting!

It's one of her passions as you can see from another project completed this summer.

This is for a young man who is going to high school in Toronto, at a boarding school, so this is to keep him warm as he studies!

My friend Helen, does lots of hand work, embroideries that are tiny, intriquate, the right side looks the same as the wrong side.

She makes patterns, she loves the challenges of my
asking, about this and that.  Well now she is doing a fan quilt, which was an idea we discussed this summer.

This is Helen, a beautiful woman with a beautiful set of hands that do wonder works with a needle and thread.

She knits very difficult patterns for the challenge of it all and does simple works for people in need.

I'm very fortunate to have her close to me to aid and inspire.  Thank you Helen.

TORNADO WARNINGS, RAIN, WIND...WHAT TO DO?

 Well, I got creative...Look at the kitchen mess!  I decided to bake!

Obviously I haven't done this in a long time, but honestly in less time that it took to make the butter tarts....see below,,,, the kitchen was totally cleaned.


Thanks to a dishwasher which takes only 13 litres of water to do all of the above mess, I was free to relax.

When we came to this place we call home now, we never ever thought of a dishwasher..not at a cottage I said...well a new kitchen and research of how much water goes into the septic system....voila!

The dishwasher is what every visitor says is so neat about coming here when cleaning up the kitchen. 

Only we women know what a mess we can make as we cook/bake whatever.

So, today, a terrible day at the lake, winds howling, trees bent, and tornado warnings on the radio to just make our day that much more stressful here since  we are alone on the island.

So, first our granddaughter Alex wanted crispy macaroni and cheese...note the butter.  It will be crispy.

Then, since we are going away for a few
days tomorrow and of course I have peaches, I made the little loaves of peach bread.  Came from Southern Cooking site.  I will let you know how it turns out as we haven't tried any  yet.

Then, because my daughter has been bugging and bugging for butter tarts, I made some.  No one that makes tarts like these can't get away without the stickies.

So, when we leave tomorrow for a few days
to see the grandkids who do sprint racing in canoes and kayaks (you know those two),we are taking tarts.

They will be surprised.

Oh and just so you know, the warnings have just been lifted for our area, but the winds are still rocking our boats such that we cannot go onto the docks to check them.

And how was your day?

DID YOU WONDER WHERE I WAS?

I've been at my friend Mary's for a week.  I didn't plan on staying that long, but car trouble warranted an extended stay.

Fortunately the trouble was warranty work, but unfortunately they didn't fix the problem.  So I'll take it back soon.

This is an old appliqued quilt that Mary gave me.  It fits the queen size bed in our little bunkie as it is known.

The quilt is probably about 60 years plus old.
It belonged to her father in law's family and although there isn't much history about it, Mary suspects that it was made by the same person that made the beautiful fan quilt that is my favourite quilt of all time.

You will ask about these couple of photos and the sight thereof.  Well, this is what we call the "little bunkie" for no other reason than it is 18 x 10.  Not big, but very effective as the bed overlooks the lake, with the stars at night illuminating the lake view.  It is a favourite of all who don't have the need to get up in the night if you know what I mean....otherwise the big bunkie with the two piece is favoured.

We keep all our water toys in here and as you see, we do a lot of water skiing.  It is not unusual to have two or three skiers up at one time, hence the need to have the skiers able to be accomodated.

Also in the bunkie is a cot size bunk.  It was built by my sweetie when we first came to our lake.  We made the bunk cot like as we couldn't have fit 36" wide singles in the space.  Now, we mainly use the bunk to store coolers, ropes, bags etc so I'm not showing that, but it is neatly piled.  If we need the space for young ones as our grandkids are now too big for the bunk, we put the mattresses down on the floor.  There is a tv in there with many old vcr movies.  Always favoured by any one who goes in there and says that they remember this and that...

The summer has gone by so fast...goodness we are almost into September already.  The hummingbirds are getting fatter and fatter getting ready to head south.  I think they may need a piggy back ride....while I was away my sweetie was here and couldn't believe how much sugar we go through to feed six little birds!  

I was driving up highway 35 today returning to the cottage and I could not believe it but there is a hint of autumn in the air as the maples are starting to pale and lose their colour of green!  Noooooooooooo!  I'm not ready!   I love summer!

We are in for some weather to coincide with the hurricane that is in the southern US or at least the tropical storm as it is becoming.  The lake is rough, the wind is up, and the birds are going crazy, a sure sign of something coming.  

That's good as I have for the first time ever a Christmas project.  I don't usually do anything till the middle of November as I don't get into that spirit thing till then.  Well, Mary isn't like that....she has gifts already!  OMG!  Who does that?   Anyway, our theme this Christmas....yeah...a theme...is country.  Well elegant country as I can't get too much into the greens and reds etc.  So we are planning and I have work to do.   I will post the fabric later this week when I've got fabrics out.  

On the way to the cottage I stopped at the Menonite co op and bought the first super sweet corn of the season!  That's part of the meal tonight.  It's that time of year here in North America where so much food is available that we should all think about our blessings as we savour the bounty.  The abundance is overwhelming, really when one thinks of it as everywhere we look there is so much corn, carrots, beans yellow and green, cucumbers, tomatoes of all kinds and the fruit trees are almost touching the ground with their harvast....we are truly fortunate.

But I'm not ready for summer to end.  I love summer!