...is what I've been doing here in So CA for the last two weeks. I leave to go back again in another two weeks, for the foliage that I am hoping will be spectacular...I had worries it would be there and gone before I got back to it because so many trees were already getting that golden glow before I left...every part on me that will cross is crossed! I'll see the color but will it last until DD gets there the first week of October...that is the question...It has been so unbearably hot the last...well...since I got home, really. I am not a happy girl when it is this hot, no. So that is another thing I've been doing, trying to stay out of the unGodly heat...not so easy for a fresh air fiend who can't stand the windows closed. The AC has been going, though, I will admit...I succumbed to it...
We did go see Wicked last Friday night. It was SO good! I have not read the book so had no expectations of what was to come and I LOVED it. I highly recommend going to see it if you have the opportunity. 
NY this summer was interesting. Not hardly hot at all...maybe 5 days total, where I thought, OMG this is hot...the rest of the time it rained...and rained...and hailed...and blustered...which kept most of us indoors and not socializing as much as usual. I tried tomatoes this year, as I had left luxuriant bushes here and yearned to continue the bounty there...no such luck, they hated the rain. There were some soft, mild days, too, and my flowers were lovely. I did get to see the very end of my peonies, and a couple of sprigs of lilac hung on until I got there. The irises were gone, but the lilies...my oh my...were they incredible!
Early on, in June, my "twin cousin" and I and a good friend went on a great garden tour in a town up the road. Such incredible gardens! One man made a rock garden that was like nothing we'd ever seen before. Such artistry! It was good to be inspired early in the summer to get into the garden and play.
Some of my flowers and a visitor...
4th of July was very quiet, as it often is, since we do the parade on Memorial Day. 
But, of course the meal...it's all about the meal...=-)
Quite a few little teeny strawberries on my bank this year...I had them a few times on my cereal...mmm =-)
The deer were a lot of fun to watch this year. There is a family of 8 that were in my yard most days at one time or another. How I love the fawns, there were 3 of them this year. And one young man has some antlers he proudly wears this year. Their deer path is right along my hedgerow and they eat the berries (and everything else) that grow in the wild lot just on the other side. They cross the road at the top of my property to get into the woods. They are so smart and do the stop, look, and listen thing we teach our kids to do before crossing.
My NY bathroom re-do turned out so well!! I LOVE it! Thanks, cousin Phil! xoxoxo! It is so nice to have a sweet, clean, new bathroom. It changes my whole feeling about my little house. Now I feel I can even stand the kitchen for a couple more years while I save some $$ for it.
There has been absolutely no sewing going on here or in NY, except I hemmed a shower curtain for my "twin cousin" on my great vintage Singer 99K. That is it. I might have sewn on a button, also. I do not know where the mojo has gone but gone it is...The last quilt-related thing I've done was way back when I made the top and back for the "General" quilt for the QoV project...I have been knitting and crocheting a little, though. At the moment I have a darling little baby sweater on the needles, appropriate for a girl baby. No one in particular in mind for it, however. I did tell DD and DDIL that whoever has the first girl gets it...but I don't think that is going to speed them up any in that department...=-/
Well, another summer come and almost gone...however hot this weather is, there is a feel to the air that the seasons are shifting. I am looking forward to cooler weather and my month in NY. I hope you all have had a lovely summer and are safely out of the way of any of the weird weather happenings we have seen this season. Keep your fingers crossed that fire season is not as bad as it can be sometimes...and to those of you in the currently burning areas, I am sending prayers that you are all safe...it is truly the worst time of year here.
See you in October kiddos!
XOXO, D.
