What A Ding Dong

I emptied my purse on the kitchen counter tonight. My purse was filthy and I wanted to stick it in the laundry before we went to NC tomorrow. Not the most convenient of places, I know, but I won't forget to wash the purse or refill it with my essentials.

After dinner we are putting dishes away and my husband absent mindedly picks up a tampon off the counter and starts to unwrap it...thinking it was a piece of candy. A cylindrical piece of candy? The kids looked on in horror. What a ding dong.

7 Deaths in the Familiy

How do you convince your would be/want to be oceanographer 11 year old that she should go out and buy ANOTHER fish after seven of them have died in 2 months?

We have 7+ (the plus sign is because her last fish was pregnant) gravestones under the tree in our front yard.

Fish # 1: "J.J." Cause of death? Chlorinated water Length of life? 4 days.

Fish # 2: "Luigi" Cause of death? It was killed by her cousin's fish (we were fish sitting). Length of life? 1 week.

Fish # 3 and # 4: "Hermoine and Ron" Cause of death? Water. Length of life? 2 weeks.

Fish # 5 and # 6: "Fred and George" Cause of death? Water. Length of life? 1 hour.

Fish # 7+: "Moe" Cause of death? An unfortunate accidental suicide. Moe jumped out of her temporary bowl (next to the kitchen sink) and into a soaking enchilada pan in the sink. I noticed the fish was missing and found her fins up in the pan floating next to pieces of soggy tortilla. She was VERY pregnant. H had already bought the breeders net and was wishing for many many babies.

How do you encourage her? After she's invested her own money?

Vampires and Soccer

I have been MIA. Sorry. I blame it all on Vampires and Soccer. I started reading New Moon (Stephenie Meyer's sequel to Twilight) and got hooked. I finished New Moon and have now moved on to Eclipse. It is all about the Vampires at my house. H really wanted to read New Moon, she read Twilight, and I wanted to pre-read the others before she started in when we go on vacation.

Soccer Camp started on Monday. Long about January of this year when David lived here without us he registered the kids for this Challenger Sports British Soccer Camp. This program is AWESOME. The coaches are wonderful with the kids and my kids are having a BLAST. The training that these coaches must endure before teaching has got to be extensive...and they play wonderful training games with the kids like "Pac Man" and "Austin Powers." They are tired and happy each afternoon, and the coaches give great "homework" that my kids eat up each night. Homework has been things like "make (an edible) sports drink for your coach," "find facts on your country and bring them in," "make a bracelet for your coach," or "make a t-shirt jersey for your world cup team." We won't mention that each one of the coaches is adorable and has a dreamy British accent.

Since I have known about camp since January you'd think that I would have planned out my week and would have made tons of progress and done a bunch of sewing and stuff. But no. I have frittered away every single day while the kids have been at camp, shopping for beach trip stuff, wandering the library, reading, etc. Now on the eve of my last day of freedom I am asking myself what I have done?

Advice

Last Friday our family was invited to one of D's bosses (we'll call him Mr. X) house for dinner along with many other couples from D's office. D and a few of the guys at the office get together every once and a while and smoke cigars...and Mr. X found out and wanted to join their "club." D started the club with his BFF and the club has grown to 6 or 7 now.

So we get over to Mr. and Mrs. X's house and are enjoying ourselves...time passes and pretty soon Mr. and Mrs. X are, let's face it, pretty much drunk. For those of you who don't know me well, I'm not a big drinker, if I am going to partake of anything more than Diet Coke, which happens maybe once a year, I am going to be at home. Mrs. X is drunk and decides that she needs to start taking pictures of things with her BFF's iphone. Alas, a few pictures get taken and I am in two, at her insistence holding a cigar I had picked up off the patio table. Whatevah.

Mrs. X then, thru the miracle of facebook, finds me and posts the pictures. Again, whatevah. Not my first choice, but whatevah. Mrs. X is now facebook messaging me and posting a message reading "The guys talked about it today and decided that we are all getting together Friday night at the pub. We can send all the kids over to the movie theater to watch a movie while we drink and hang out."

First, the "guys" never invited David. A few of them were talking about it around him but he never got invited. Second, do I feel comfortable that my kids would be across the open area mall at a VERY busy movie theater on a Friday night? Third, this woman is going out of her way to make me feel welcome, which I appreciate, and we AREN't invited! Fourth, how many times am I going to go and sit and watch these idiots get drunk? Thoughts?

Second Best

One of my favorite foods in the world? The stuff childhood memories are made of? Puyallup Fair Scones. (Washington State Fair) I know, I know. Scones!? Really?! I swear to you that it is not the nostalgia talking, it is the fact that these crazy scones, are crazy good. So good, in fact, my brother who lives in Knoxville has his MIL fed-ex a box of scones to him every fall during fair time. So good, that the scone line is always a mile long and there are rarely complainers because you A. drool over the smell wafting around you, and B. watch the cute little ladies in their white uni's cranking out the scones.

I swear to you people walk away with shopping bags filled with scones, people mozey the fair with arm loads of this crazy breakfast food.

The box of scone mix and the jam they make the scones with are sold in most grocery stores in Washington and surrounding states, but THEY NEVER taste the same as Fair scones. I don't think I have had a real fair scone in years. Sniff. Sniff.

I know, I know...where is all this going? It is leading to the SECOND best scones I have ever tasted. Completely different in texture and flavor, the follwing scones are flakey, tasty and the best homemade scone I have ever tasted. But you have to follow the directions (duh) and as my father always said, don't over touch or over mix the dough. It makes it tough. I made mine the night before baking. I cut them, placed them on the cookie sheet and put them in the fridge til morning. Still excellent.

If you don't care for the orange cranberry flavors indicated here, try chocolate chips...raisins or whatever your fancy.

Scones-Orange Cranberry

3 cups flour

½ cup sugar

5 teaspoons baking powder (yes, FIVE)

1 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut in small pieces

½ cup dried cranberries, soaked in orange juice for 10 minutes

½ cup chopped pecans (eww)

½ cup milk

1 egg

Zest of one orange

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Cut in butter until dough is in pea-sized crumbs. Drain cranberries and add to dough along with pecans (eww). Whisk milk, egg and orange zest in small bowl. Add to dry ingredients and mix until JUST incorporated and dough clumps together.

Roll out onto floured surface ½ to ¾ inch thick. Cut into desired shape, I made triangles, and freeze, refrigerate or bake shapes at 375’F until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Blogger is not allowing me to post! This is a test, because I have spent the last 30 minutes trying to get the dumb thing to post my entry!

Work

I spent a few hours on the computer today looking up craft ideas for my new Kindergarten class. The teacher I am working with gave me a list of themes, and I am at the compiling stage. I figured I would give the teacher a list of ideas and pictures and have her choose.

I found some great ideas...my favorites are the "gifts" to make for Grandparent's Day, Mother's day etc. Here are some of my favorites:

Lino prints from styro foam meat trays...













Heart pendants from clay and paper clips...













Plexiglass mosaic frames....

The Help

I just finished reading this book, something I must have found whilst on Amazon, and it was amazing. Honestly when the notice of hold request arrival from the library popped up in my e-mail I couldn't remember reserving it, not even when I read the cover flap did I remember the synopsis...but it was good. Read it in a 30 hour period and be anti-social to your family good.

I started it Friday night when D and the kids were doing a puzzle (?) and I was uninterested in participating...stayed up til all hours and finished it the next day.

The story is told by three different people...two black servant women and one white well to do woman...in Jackson, MS.

Go check it out!

Awkward part 2

My brother and sister have both agreed. They are willing to submit the phot to AFP. So I'll fill out the paperwork and sent it in.

My brother obviously wanted his full name left out of the credits, along with his social security number (like I would do that) or some other specific binding agent. His comments about the photo were "I'm not trying to be snarkey or anything, but how do you find time to submit photos to bizarre web-sites?" "Dad obviously had just yelled at L and I for something."

Awkward

So I kind of sent a photo of my family to AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com and they want to use it in a book. I have to ask my family's permission.

What do you all think? Would there be any weird repercussions? I thought it was only fitting for their web-site...

The even funnier thing is that I have others that may be even funnier in the ole scary family portrait folder on my computer. I just liked this one because it is supposed to be taken at the happiest place on Earth and my brother and sister look like there in, let's just face it, HELL.

Okay I Lied

Isn't it nice when you go to the library to pick up your books on hold and discover that a book (that you requested AGES ago)
that you can't wait to read is waiting?

Today I picked up Sew Darn Cute. And people, it is just that darn cute. Glancing thru at the stop light (bad I know) I want to make everything in it. I am looking forward to sewing again! Woot.

While I was at Micheal's this afternoon to replace the paint brushes my daughter ruined yesterday (argh) I saw this book Sock and Glove and rushed home to place a library request. I have a feeling Owen is going to be getting some very cute sock animals for Christmas. The animals inside are just as cute as the dog on the cover.

Meine Mutti is Back

After weeks of frustrating phone calls and begging my brother and nephew via facebook and phone to fix my Mother's wireless...my Mom is back in the 21st century. Huge relief.

At one point yesterday David suggested I hop on a plane and fly to Washington to fix the wireless, rather than go through another excruciating phone call with either my Mom or Dad.

Thank you God!

Back on Track

A few weeks ago I made a blogging promise to blog daily. Lately I have fallen short of the goal, but maybe, hopefully I am back on track.

I have too many things to be thankful for at the start of this week...a beautiful healthy family, our house in NC is closing in a few weeks (woot!), I have been doing great with my other goals of morning Bible reading and working out on our elliptical, and yesterday when we walked into church...drum roll...wait for it...people that I had met last week at VBS smiled and engaged us in conversation! We interacted with people at church! Big double woot!

This week's plans? Nada. We are meeting my new co-worker for lunch today, and my kids are BEGGING to go back to the Dayton Art Institute for their final scavenger hunt...so my Monday is planned. The rest of the week holds promise...I am severely burned out on sewing for some reason, so Hannah and I are making plans for fabric painting, batik, and more photography. Her last black and white/old school camera set of prints came back (man I need a scanner) and there were some wonderful stills. I will find a way to scan my favorite, a self portrait of sorts that she took of her feet and shoes (low black converse) in the grass. I LOVE it and may enlarge it and matte it for the wall.

Sam and I love this wonderful mixed media piece at the DAI and I have been saving paper garbage to make a small version. (Couldn't find the artist's name, but we will look today while there). We can do that this week too...

Two last things...

I R*E*A*L*L*Y want to get into a jewelry forging class (havent found one locally) but saw this interesting post about recession friendly jewelry...recycling old gold pieces into something new. Maybe next week.

Owie needed some dessert to go with his sandwich...I am thinking of options. Here are a few of the unfinished pieces I have made so far (felt sewing is therapetic and the only thing I like sewing.)

I H*E*A*R*T Google

I know it is the fourth, and I should be talking patriotism, but I really love Google. I think I am addicted.

Last night, after my post about the cupcakes, I was remembering a fictional book I'd read a couple of years ago that had recipes at the end of each chapter for yummy cakes. Within 2 minutes I found the title on Google and had a request in at the library.

This morning I started freaking out because I had a weird bikini line rash (Sorry TMI) and what did I do? Googled it. Found out that it isn't such a good idea to go months without changing your razor. Bacteria can form a crazy rash on your bikini line.
Ooops. Well, it saved me a $20 co-pay. Easy fix. New razor.

The other day Chloe's teeth were falling out, weird, I know. Well...you guessed it. I Googled it and found out that Shih-tzu's have notoriously poor teeth and they fall out.

I HEART Google.

Chocolate

Last weekend for O's birthday party my sister made these bad-boys for the adult dessert. (Photo stolen from the beautiful and talented Andrea-without her permission!) Laura got the recipe from one of her favorite books "A Homemade Life." The author had a wonderful blog called Orangette. I love her recipes.

Whilst my Mom was here she bought me a copy of the book. It is a nice read, excerpts from the authors life, each chapter with it's own recipe and tie to food.

Today, I doubled the recipe and made a huge batch of said cupcakes for our 4th of July parties. Two different kinds of chocolate (power and chunks), yogurt...etc. Man they are yummy chocolate goodness.

Tomorrow we are having D's family for lunch BBQ (including his Mom hopefully-first time she will have visited our new home and she lives 1.5 miles away) and we are going to a friends house to watch fireworks. I made enough cupcakes for both occasions (as well as tonight's dessert). Yum.

Movie and Trouble

Tonight was my second date with my neighbor Lynn. Of coarse both of us brought friends, but tonight was the night we went to see the movie "My Sister's Keeper." Let me just tell you A. the book does NOT match the movie apparently and B. Bring an entire box of Kleenex. My sister-in-law (my bring along friend) said at one point during the movie he had to pinch herself because she didn't want to start sobbing. I was so into the movie that I didn't notice all the sniffing until EVERYONE in the packed theatre was sniffing. LIKE CRAZY. Go see it!

Trouble? Oooooooo. My kids got in H*U*G*E trouble today. Ask my sister, it is not like Hannah is unfamiliar with trouble lately. (Yesterday she tried to burn the house down whilst baking cookies. I came upstairs to find a first level full of smoke, burned cookies, and two girls upstairs with their music so loud they could not hear me SCREAMING my head off calling theirs names.)

Anywho, today's trouble? My kids, using a combination of "Spy equipment" and just plain old second extension handset pick up eavesdropped on my phone conversations. At one point I said to my sister-in-law, is someone on the phone? It is kind of "echoy." I asked if anyone was on the phone repeatedly. No acknowledgement. So finally something dropped upstairs and I heard it quite clearly. My kids fessed up to everything, little turds. The whole "do I listen outside your door to your conversations?" lecture ensued. Willful disobedience. Their punishment? Sent to their rooms for the rest of the afternoon (a good 3 hours).

And then there we Five.

Tuesday H and I show up to VBS and find we have another child in our group. Tyler. About five minutes in Hannah and I both realize that Tyler is going to be a handful. I've been around enough kids to understand that this particular kid has an issue or two.

Cute as a button, but oh how he fixates. Whether it is the sign that our group sits next to, the bracelet we made in craft today, or the noodles lying in the grass at game time this kid has his hands all over everything. Today Tyler and I had a bit of a Come to Jesus when I asked him to give me the paper (cootie catcher foldable) in his hand so we could move on to the next activity. He looked at me and then looked back at the cootie catcher and continued to play. I asked again. Tersely. He kept playing. I went to take it from his hand, he moved it away staring me down, and my teeth started gritting. Give me the paper so we can move on to the next activity. This went on until I came a millimeter from loosing it and I grabbed it from his hand.

That my friends, is my beat me button. (Or one of them). I have asked you to do something/give me something and you are BLATANTLY disrespecting me and making my blood pressure raise to the point of boiling.

I am obvioulsy learning patience during VBS.

So Sorry

Blogging got away from me. David has been burning the midnight oil on a project so I think I just got caught up in keeping everyone busy.

We are helping with VBS this week and so far loving it. It is really a different feeling to be on the "I show up and work for a few hours and leave" side. I LIKE it. No worrying about how many kids are enrolled, if the parents are happy, if all the workers are doing their jobs...I just live in my little cocoon of my 4 kids.

Gotta run to VBS...

New Bag

I have been sewing some different tote bags recently. And I must admit, that I have sewn off and on for years, atleast 30?? and only recently have I learned the benefits of good interfacing.

I've been experimenting with different tote bags, bought some patterns on Etsy, but only when I saw an Etsy bag I really liked, have I found success. I have been using heavy interfacing for my tote bags this week and have found that I love it.

The interfacing makes the fabric stand up well and smooths the fabric surface. I have also experimented with a tab and rings on the end of the straps.
This is the easiest pattern yet, but the interfacing makes it look so much different!

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is meine Mutti's birthday. Happy 72!

Sorry I have been MIA, I have a bunch of pictures to download to the blog and catch up with you a bit, last night my router was acting jiggy and really making me crazy. It seems like I've fixed it now.

Rhonda-I don't have your e-mail. I would be very happy and excited to make bags for you and the girls. Let me know the style and it would take around 1/2 yard of at least two fabrics.

Facts about today...

-Finally watched Twilight for the first time tonight.
-Been sewing off and on. Pictures of the latest and greatest tomorrow.
-I gave H access to my old Canon TX with a couple of rolls of BW film. She is learning how to adjust shutter and apperature, etc...load and wind film as well as shoot some composition. Two rolls at the developer, we will see!
-H and I are reading Fahrenheit 451 together.
-Went back to the DAI today (Dayton Art Institute) to take some BW's and so the kids could do another scav hunt.

Yesterday

Yesterday was the first day without my parents. I spent the day on and off the phone talking with different members of my family about my Dad, helping my Mom connect her new computer to the Internet (which didn't work and I told her to go get one of the teens next door).
Right before my Mom left here I took her out to Best Buy and we bought an HP mini laptop for her to be able to check her e-mail.

I cleaned and rearranged furniture, tried to mow (mower broke) and ended up weeding and edging, nothing much...kind of have the doldrums. I need a project.

Happy Father's Day

Mom and Dad left this morning at o-dark-thirty, but we were able to celebrate Father's Day yesterday for both my Dad and David. My Mom cooked a fab dinner last night, of steaks, veg, garlic bread, and fruit salad. Real man food.

Dad has been anxious to go home, and Mom's back has been worse, so it was time to go home and see their doctor tomorrow morning. Dad is showing more and more signs of dementia or some other neuro effect of PD, to the point at which I e-mailed his doctor to ask questions and alert them. Hopefully the doctor and his PA will be able to give my Mom, sister and I some advice as to how to proceed.

Dayton Art Institute

Today we FINALLY got out of the house and took everyone to the Dayton Art Institute.

It was there that I decided what my new dream job is. When you walk in the door the information desk ladies introduced us to their free kids program. They have a program that after a brief registration they provide each child/teen with a packet that is color coded. Today we did the "green" pack. The kids packets include close up images of a portion of an artwork that the kids have to "find." Once the kids find the work of art (there are museum maps on the back of the packets and the artwork is very easy to find) there are questions on the back of each artwork's card that the kids must answer. For example one of the early Renaissance paintings had a hidden picture of a king in the landscape. The card went on to talk about symbols and hidden pictures in paintings.

My kids (8 and 11) were absolutely enthralled with the scavenger hunt.

The museum general admission is free (only the special exhibits have an entrance fee) and it would take 4 visits to complete each of the scavenger hunt packets. You receive a punch on your kids club card each time you com Once you complete all four each child receives a REALLY nice art kit in a snazzy plastic carrying case. The art kit included a wonderful set of pastels, watercolors, etc. Very nice, NOT cheap.

In addition to the 4 scavenger hunts the museum also had a great childrens section in the lower level. It was hands on with puppet show supplies and lots of interactive things in the center, but around the perimeter of the room there was a collection of (real)artwork that went from A to Z. Each letter had an activity or blurb to read and explain things to kids. Here is H with the H is for Horizon section.








Hannah was instructed to draw a 5 second horizon line.

I was for imagination. Next to this painting by Miro was a card reading I is for imagination. Artists use their imagination to create works, use your imagination to describe what you see in this picture.

So my dream job? Designing all these interesting children's activites and brochures. I have always wanted to write a book about weird and interesting facts about different paintings and sculptures, the stuff I learned in art school. Maybe I will write a coffee table book about facts like...in the painting American Gothic, Grant Wood's models were his dentist and his sister.

I LOVE this kind of stuff.

We hear the DAI now too. Only 19 miles from our house...and the kids begged to go back next week so they could do another scavenger hunt.

Felt Food For Owie

I finished the felt food for Owie sometime last week, but I have been dragging my feet regarding posting this because the package is in route to my sister. She should get it tomorrow, so hopefully she won't read my blog before then.

For Owen's birthday this year I decided that my felt gift would be a picnic. Sandwiches for Owen and his Mimi (my sister) and a bag of chips to share, apple slices (which I forgot to mail), and a carrot from my sister's garden to take to the horses across the street (Owen's favorite thing to do since he is a cowboy and all.)

Every time I am on the phone with my sister Owen is telling her he is hungry or wants to cook. I thought this would be something fun to keep at Mimi's so Owie could work on something in the kitchen too.

First the bread. I saw lots of ideas posted about bread and decided

to do it this way because it was easy. I bought a piece of 1/2" foam from the fabric store and sandwiched it between two free form cut pieces of tan felt (whole wheat bread). I sewed the edges and painted the crust on with some darker brown acrylic paint mixed with a fabric paint medium.





The sandwich ingredients...tomatoes, meats, cheeses, lettuce and pickles. The tomatoes I cut free hand orange shapes and red wedges and zigzag stitched around the darker wedges. After the wedges were done I sewed the two pieces of orange felt together. (All the pieces in the sandwich were basically two pieces of felt.)








Lettuce. I sewed two pieces of green felt together in the shape of a leaf of lettuce, then scrunched them a bit in the middle to make it a little more realistic.










Turkey. Or maybe the mayo. Just spiral sticked the two pieces together.







Cheese. I made two kinds, but this piece of swiss is more interesting than the cheddar. All I did was free stitch circles and a crazy outline and cut the holes when I was done.











Bologna. I used shrunken wool felt to give it the weird bumpy texture.









The carrot was all by the seat of my pants. I cut some 1.5" strips and tapered one end. I sewed them all together making a point at one end....








I turned the carrot inside out and sewed up the last seem not even bothering to tuck the final seam inside itself, but first I stuck a strip of fringed green felt in the top (see next picture).















Chips. I can't decide if I should have just made stitched lines in two pieces of felt THEN cut the chip shapes out or cut the shapes out like the picture, then made the stitching lines. I whipped these out, then cut all the threads later. They were a little more labor intense cutting first. It was a ton of snipping.

I Broke My Streak (NOT for the easily grossed out)

Yesterday I found myself in the Doctor's office. AGAIN. 6th time in two weeks for our family. I had an UTI. I got antibotics. I took one about 2 p.m.

Long about 8:30 the GI Issues began. For twelve + straight hours. Long about 1:00 a.m. the vomiting began. All because of these dumb pills. Let me just say that I weighed myself that morning, and sometime during the night out of curiosity I weighed myself again and there was a -6 pound difference. It was THAT bad.

BTW, thanks a lot Rhonda for introducing the barfing subject in your blog yesterday. Can I just say while I was naseuous and barfing I kept thinking to myself poor Rhonda. Lord, please help Rhonda get thru this.

Vomit. My brother and I have a running tally on vomit incidents. We always argue that we haven't vomited in years and have almost a competition. Honestly, I can count the times I have vomited on 4 fingers, technically 3. #1. Road trip to Ocean Shores over Labor Day weekend when I was 11 or so. I felt queasy before we even left on our trip and I remember my Dad stopping at the 7-11 and buying me anti-puke med's. Right when we reached the gate of Ocean Shores I tossed my cookies all over my white painter pants. It was NOT pretty. #2. Concussion. Some idiot threw a fishing lure off a pier that I was standing on when I was about 16 or 17. It hit me square in the forehead. Instant giant purple bump and gushing blood. I went home and hurled and went to bed. Not very smart. #3. Post-op. After my thyroid surgery I was given anti-puke med's (yes, I learned my lesson) and I spit up into a plastic bucket while in my hospital bed. *Technically this one shouldn't count.* #4. Stupid Antibiotics. Cost me my crown.

This morning when David came in to see how I was feeling (he slept with the kids) I told him I barfed. The first words out of his mouth? "Did you call your brother yet?" So I called Matt. When he picked up and said hello I said, "I ended my streak." He broke out in laughter and knew immediately what I meant. The conversation digressed to past incidents and gross things...

I humbly bow to King Matthew.

Craft things to come soon. I promise.

Sick

Not feeling good. More when I feel better...

First Day of Summer Break

Another picture from yesterday's walk...pardon the un-showered bed-haired motley crew.

Today being the first real day of summer break we decided to start the break off with a bang. Hannah woke up with a raging infection in her ring finger. Not to be too graphic, but there was much puss, throbbing, and swelling. So this landed us in the doctor's office by 9:30 a.m.

We followed the doctor's visit (soaking the finger/antibiotics for 7 days) and trip to the pharmacy with a trip to the library. Hannah finally got her library card, and we checked out her 7th grade honors and English and Reading list books so she could get a head start on next year. (I know, I am a super freak parent.)

We came home and mowed the lawn (I mowed, Hannah edged and Sam weeded), vacuumed (Hannah upstairs, Sam downstairs, I did the stairs), did tons of laundry, folded and exercised the dogs.

All in all it was a good productive day, which I know will all change as soon as my Summer defenses are down.

Excellent Day

We had an EXCELLENT day.
Since we went to Saturday night service last night we had the whole day ahead of us. We decided to take the 2 dogs on an exhausting walk through a local state park right outside of Yellow Springs. We hiked for a few miles and spelunked through rock formations and along the base of a cliff. The dogs were in and out of streams and the river. It was a wonderful few hours in a beautiful park. I (anti-nature girl) even had fun and had minimal bug bites and didn't fall.





Then we went into Yellow Springs for a late lunch. Since the
street fair was yesterday, there were a few vendors left over
lining the streets and we happened upon this vendor in the
parking lot of a gas station. We had to partake.
Once we had our caveman feast we went and sat in the Kings Yard and ate while the dogs panted for ribs.

Unbelievably D gave in and gave them some scraps.

On the way home Bubba and the dogs crashed in the back seat.

Street Fair

I had every intention of bringing my camera to the street fair. But no. I forgot. Lynne and I had a wonderful time, I had looked forward to it all week! Lynne was super nice and really easy to talk to...and showed me all the sights of Yellow Springs.

The fair itself was typical street fair...if you have ever been tot he University District in Seattle's street fair you'd feel right at home. Lots of people to stare at...wonderful ethnic food smells...rows on rows of white pop up tent stalls with everything from homemade rolls and cakes to local NPR literature. There were tons of handmade goods including this BEAUTIFUL purse I bought from an artisan from Bali. The bags are handwoven in Bali, then they smoke them for 6 days to create the wonderful carmel color. The purse smells a bit like smoke if you put it right up to your nose, but that will diminish with time.
I love the draw string cinched top and the
handles are a perfect length.

Lynne and I have a ton in common...both graduated with a BA in Fine Art, both survived a husbands long work and school hours, both have Dad's with Parkinsons, both sew and garden...etc. She has also invited me along on our neighborhood's book club field trip in a week or so to get to meet all the other women in the 'hood. They are going to see "My Sister's Keeper." Woot. More people!