Woohoo!

Six o'clock today was the time to go pick up Fair entries so LB picked up HH and me around 5 o'clock and we went over to the fairgrounds.  I hurried over to the Cultural Arts area where the play kitchen was displayed--and it not only won a blue ribbon, it won Best of Show in its class.  WooHoo!  That means I can enter it into the State Fain next year if I choose.  It's tempting.  My Sudoku Afghan, mohair & wool shrug sweater, and felted purse each got a second place red ribbon. The nest of four owls, the pair of dishcloths, and the play kitchen got first place blue ribbons.  LB got 14 blue ribbons and one red one--and her baby hat, sweater, booties, and blanket won Best of Show too.  HH earned three blue ribbons and one red one.  We did good.  Now to plan for next year...

I finally took the time to go out to see what the garden has been doing all week.  Lots of tomatoes were ready for picking.  DIL1 said that she picks ripe tomatoes, bags them and freezes them until she's ready to roast them with onions, bell peppers, and garlic to make roasted tomato sauce to use in recipes all winter.  Brilliant!  So I got me out a gallon Ziploc and dumped all of the cherry tomatoes that were sitting around in the fridge and on the counter so they didn't just rot, then picked all the ripe ones.  I'll cut some up to put in my chickpea salads and slice others for lunch sandwiches.  I have half a cucumber that needs eating too.  I've got to get back to making decent food for myself.  Eating right makes me feel better.  I should do it.  This diet of cookies and ice cream isn't doing me or my waistline any favors.






The carrots are looking good.  I won't pick them for a while although I probably could thin them out so that the remaining ones got bigger... maybe I'll do that tomorrow or Tuesday.  The two butternut squash are growing nicely too.  Mm, squash soup is in my future.

Yesterday afternoon after we bagged and donated all of Durwood's clothing, carefully separating the business and casual clothes we discovered to our disappointment that the Salvation Army Men's Closet for men needing interview clothes is closed.  DD and I then took ourselves and our wallets to Joann Fabrics and made serious inroads.  A little retail therapy made the day a bit brighter.  I found some stretchy fabric to make leggings (all black and black & white print), the bolt end of the purple and orange floral linen I already have a small bit of, a bright floral for my first 100 Acts of Sewing Dress #3 which is basically a caftan, all there was of some creamy white cut fabric that I'll make a tank-like top from to wear over colored camisoles, some cream cotton printed with tiny black spiders, a pattern for culottes, and some needle threaders.  In the mail last week I got 2 yards of Bee Splat cotton from Spoonflower to make a shirt out of.  I thought I might cut out those three pairs of cotton leggings I got the fabric for a couple weeks ago but I just didn't have the oomph today.  I got a couple things accomplished--dropped Durwood's remaining Rxs down at the disposal box in the police station lobby, donated a few belts that we missed to Goodwill, and cancelled one cable box.  I figured if I can sit on the couch and see both TVs, that's one TV too many, and turning one box in will save me about ten bucks a month.  Every little bit helps.


Smoke from the California fires has finally made its way here.  The sun shone pink/red through the clouds when we were coming home Friday after the funeral.  The moon is red when it rises too but as pretty as it is I hope the fires are extinguished soon.  Scary stuff.



 


DD read yesterday's blog post and sent me the photo she took of Durwood's sea turtle urn nestled in the flowers.  I love the way it looks, don't you?  It's just right.

Time for bed.  I awoke before 5 AM again today.  I have hopes for sleeping later tomorrow.  Wish me luck.
--Barbara