Day 600

On Day 1 I took a picture of some pincushions I had made. Other pictures...

Day 100 - a rose in our garden
Day 200 - a giveaway of things I had made for the tutorials
Day 300 - snowman pin tutorial
Day 400 - clouds out the sunroof of my then-new car
Day 500 - Skagway, Alaska

Day 600 - spent in beautiful Sun Valley.

What does one do in Sun Valley in the fall? Take lots of pictures, of course!

Sit in the warm sun outside the Sun Valley Inn.

Head over to the lodge. Take a peek at the swans in the pond out front.

Head out back of the lodge to the outdoor ice rink and watch up and coming ice skaters.

Snap a picture of Mt. Baldy from the parking lot. No snow yet!

Marvel at the beautiful foliage outside the hotel room window.

But, a few hours later...

Try and take a picture of the barn outside Sun Valley.

IN THE SNOW!

Head back to the parking lot to take a new picture of Mt. Baldy. Too snowy.

Find a fence made of skis.

Head to the park to take lots and lots of pictures of fall foliage in the snow.

Poor hubby. No matter how tight he makes the belt, he's lost so much weight his pants just won't stay up. He's spent the last few days holding them up by hand.

Bear with me...I kind of got picture crazy for Day 600! There were just too many beautiful pictures to be had.

 

The best Day 600 ever!

Day 599

Not knowing the next time I'll be in Twin Falls, knowing the wind wasn't blowing too hard, and knowing that it was a gorgeous morning I decided it was time to walk the Perrine Bridge (the one from yesterday's picture).

I looked up river this time.

I spied a couple of waterfalls coming from the canyon walls.

And to prove to myself I was on the bridge - with no fear - how about a picture looking straight down on the Snake River? (Yikes!)

Day 598

Whenever we drive to Twin Falls, Idaho we have to drive over the Perrine Bridge. In all these years of driving across the bridge I've always wished I had the courage to walk  it, but my fear of heights has held me back. Fortunately after my suspension bridge on the Alaska trip (Day 494) my fear of heights is pretty much gone. Unfortunately because of the high winds I didn't think it was much too safe to walk across this time. But there is a viewing platform that hangs over the edge of the Snake River Canyon.

That I did do.

I snapped a picture of the bridge.

I snapped a picture down river.

And to prove I was standing on a platform hanging off a cliff, I took a picture looking back to the cliff.

Day 597

Enough with the "F" word in regards to the snowman quilt.

How about the "B" word instead? (Border.)

Day 596

I was so excited to show off the work I did on the snowman quilt that I used the wrong "F" word.

I've heard about these things quilters use called design walls. Basically it's a section of wall covered so you can lay out and arrange/rearrange quilt blocks until you get them organized the way you want. With as many quilts as I do, I decided I wanted a design wall. 

I had some felt left over from the Christmas stockings and an empty section of wall. I stuck the felt up on the wall and arranged my snowman blocks. But the blocks kept falling down! Doggone design wall didn't work as well as I thought it would. I barely got them to stick long enough to take today's picture.

I had used the wrong "F" word.

I wasn't supposed to use felt for the design wall - I was supposed to use flannel.

Day 595

Today was one of those days where I planned one picture but decided on a better one(s).

Our burning bush has been very colorful so I headed out early before the sun was up to get a spectacularly beautiful picture. The camera certainly didn't capture the true colors, but I found some things in my rose garden that are really, truly, spectacular.

Day 594

Stepping out the door this morning didn't give many clues to the weather ahead. While the clouds were a bit dark, the sun was shining behind them and the birds were still flying around so it couldn't be that bad.

But as I drove to work the clouds looked more menacing.

Even before my meeting finished, it hit. Heavy, pouring rain. More rain than we had all summer long.

But those pictures aren't the coolest thing about the day. Thanks to the elementary school secretary, this picture is. She stitched up some stockings for soldiers! And today I sent a package containing 202 Christmas stockings to the Stockings for Soldiers organization. Thanks, P-- for your help!

Day 593

The snowman quilt continues. Today's picture is of the other blocks that'll be going into the quilt.

But might I just add a thought?

I wish I had some directions for this thing. I wouldn't shell out the $30 they were asking for the pattern so I'm working off a picture I took last year. Man, it takes some brains to figure these things out!

Day 592

My daughter gets perturbed at me for spending so much time in the sewing room. She thinks I go overboard on making items for charity and spend too much time and money on fabric and postage just to send things to other people. She also thinks I need to sell the things I make as a way to help out with the household income.

So I wasn't surprised when she called the other night and asked what I was doing. I, of course, was in the sewing room. And it bothered her. But when I told her I was making something for me, she was okay with it. Even tonight when she called and I was again in the sewing room making something for me, it was just fine.

What am I making? Well, here's the start of it.

Day 591

The best part of the day came this morning when I found out about this cocoon from Day 587.

According to my mom's friend in California it's a praying mantis cocoon. Only makes sense being that we've seen several around this summer. We'll take that metal sunflower back out of the shed and keep it in the garden for the winter. (Hopefully that's the right decision.)

Worst part of the day was this morning, too. My sewing machine has been acting up these last couple days and when I took the bobbin case out, I saw why. The green and red colors are a giveaway as to the cause. Green and red felt from all those Christmas stockings, perhaps? What a mess.

Day 590

Veggie garden frozen out and done for the year.
All charity quilts quilted.
195 Christmas stockings for Stockings for Soldiers sewn together.
Kidney specialist appointment.
Neurologist appointment.

It's been a busy week. Time for an update.

Hubby's kidneys are continuing to improve. They're having him cut back a bit on the steroids now to see if the improvements are going to "stick". If the kidneys continue to improve on a lower dose the doctor expects he may fully recover. If his kidneys don't improve on the lower dose there may permanent damage. The next few weeks of tests will tell.

The next few weeks will also hold answers to the tremors he has been having. The neurologist almost ruled out Parkinson's - another wait and see game. Same with his numb feet. It may be permanent nerve damage from the kidney failure.

To sum it all up...it is too soon to tell what the future holds, but kidney function is heading in the right  direction.

Today's picture has nothing to do with anything but my scrap basket that is now empty. Empty of scraps, but not of you-know-who.

Day 589

I think today's picture is the most amazing one I've ever taken. Amazing, jaw-dropping, unbelievable, awe-inspiring, spectacular, sensational. (I better stop before I work myself into a frenzy.)

One hundred ninety five (that's 195!) Christmas stockings sewn and ready to go to Stockings for Soldiers. Once they receive them, the stockings will be personalized with the recipient's name, stuffed with goodies, then boxed and shipped to troops in the remotest regions of Afghanistan.

Okay, one more superlative. WOW!

Day 588

Hours and hours (and hours) of sewing, cutting, pinning, and clipping. An additional trip to the fabric store to buy more felt. Help from a daughter who is terrified of sewing anything.

All those things have resulted in this mess of stockings in all stages of completion. I will get them done this week and will have a much nicer, neater picture ready to post. Not today though.

Day 587

Today's picture is a true mystery. Hubby found what looks to be a cocoon of sorts on the back of one of our decorative metal sunflowers. Now that we've cleaned out the veggie garden the sunflower has been put away for winter with the gross looking thing still stuck on it.

Does anyone have any idea of what it is, and should we scrape it off before it hatches in our shed?

Day 586

I grew up watching the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. The superhuman strength and speed and the amazing sight and hearing of Steve Austin or Jaime Sommers was always intriguing to watch. I still remember some of the words from the intro - we can rebuild him...we have the technology...

Better...Stronger...Faster...

Now the next part I'm about to admit will probably sound pretty stupid, but here goes.

When I had my knee replaced a couple years back, my mantra was Better...Stronger...Faster... I honestly believed that (here's where it gets stupid) getting a new knee - a titanium one at that - was going to make my leg better...stronger...faster... 

Only after having the replacement did I find out that wasn't really going to happen. Less pain, yes. More flexibility, movement, and strength? Nope. Not even close. I guess the whole we can rebuild him her...we have the technology... is a bunch of malarkey.

While better...stronger...faster... doesn't apply to my body (and never will), it does apply these quilts. In the past week I've finished them all up and they're ready to head out to Quilts for Kids. Better (designs)...stronger (stitches)... faster (quilting).

Bet Jaime Sommers would be proud.

Day 585

When hubby was turning 50 a couple years back I gave him a choice of birthday presents to celebrate the milestone. A trip to Italy or an automatic sprinkler system. Being he was the one in charge of the lawn and all the watering and moving of hoses and sprinklers, he chose the automatic sprinkler system.

I'm glad he made that choice. Because if it weren't for that choice I wouldn't have today's pictures.

Two more things to know:
*We are on our last week of irrigation water and we've been keeping the sprinkler system going since we won't be able to water again until next spring.
*It was very cold last night.

How cold? Well, one of our sprinklers that hits a low-hanging branch in the backyard resulted in this. I couldn't decide which view I liked best so I'm posting all three.

Day 584

I never suspected going to the grocery store would cause me to dig out a tennis ball. (Although a softball would have been a better model.)

Softball-sized peaches, the biggest I've ever seen in my life for 78 cents a pound. After eating just one hubby has decided we need to make a cobbler because they are just too big and unwieldy to eat.

Day 583

A few things occurred to me today.

A. My husband is a much nicer person now than before he got sick. Don't know how or why it happened, but he certainly has changed for the better.

B. When it comes to quilts my time management sucks. I've had some quilt tops I made for Quilts for Kids that I never got around to finishing, some from as long ago as March. They've been sitting, and sitting, and sitting. I'm now working on getting them sandwiched and quilted, but have absolutely no good reason as to why I didn't finish them up earlier.

C. I keep forgetting to stop and smell the roses. This evening when six o'clock rolled around and I didn't yet have a picture of the day I headed outside to find some type of fall scene. I cruised the rose garden and saw several roses that had been nipped by the frost but many roses still in full bloom. Knowing I've taken plenty of pictures of roses over the past couple summers I automatically passed them by. In my head I kept thinking, there isn't anything spectacular out here. Only as I started to leave the rose garden did I realize everything around me was spectacular.

How could someone look at this and not think spectacular?

Day 582

Something sad - yet inevitable - happened in the vegetable garden in the wee hours of the morning.

The chard wilted. The cucumber and zucchini leaves turned brown. The pepper leaves curled. The tops of the tomato plants became black.

It frosted last night. The days of picking my juice from the veggie garden look to be about over. (Thank goodness the kale and carrots are hearty.)

But also thank goodness for fall, a season of pretty colors. Today's example is the neighbor's vine that creeps over, and sometimes through, our fence.

Day 581

Over the last few days I've been hitting the bottle hard. The juice bottle, that is.

Each day I have:

• 2 bunches kale
• 1 bunch celery
• 1 pound carrots
• 1 cucumber
• 1 zucchini
• 4 leaves chard
• 3 peppers
• 1 portion lemon
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 1 beet
• 2 apples
• 1 pear

All in a liquid format, all made in my juicer fresh each day. That's a lot of juice!

I am avoiding processed foods, sugar, salt, and fats, all with the hope that my pain and fatigue will abate. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm expecting it will soon.

I did have something at dinner tonight that is on my not-to-eat list but I couldn't resist. One of the grocery stores we shop at has this garlic bread that has whole cloves of garlic baked right into it. When you add some butter and Parmesan cheese and pop it in the oven for a few minutes to crisp up the edges it's about the tastiest thing you'd ever eat. Just look at those garlic cloves!

Day 580

Darn the Jackson 5.

You know how you get a song stuck in your head and it sticks with you the whole day? I have one of those songs that pops up a lot.

A B C
It's easy as, 1 2 3
As simple as, do re mi
A B C, 1 2 3

It popped up when I was taking today's pictures. I should never have said one, two, three. Done. That set off the lyrics and they have been stuck with me since.

1. Flowery quilt for a six year old girl.

2. A Thomas the Tank Engine quilt for a two year old boy who dressed as Thomas last Halloween.

3. A baseball quilt for a seven year old Boston Red Soxs fan.

It's easy as 1 2 3...

Now the only way to get that song out of my head is to replace it with another. How about the fact that these quilts are heading North to Alaska to three siblings who has a dad stationed far away.

In case you're not familiar with that song...

Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
North to Alaska,
They're goin' North, the rush is on.

Day 579

I almost took a picture of the reader board at the coffee shop by the gas station. Today it read: Having kids is like being pecked to death by a duck. In my case it should read, Having a husband who is sick is like being pecked to death by a duck. 

I passed on that picture, but opted for a better one. If I hadn't driven the back road to the gas station I wouldn't have been able to capture the morning sun reflecting off of Lake Lowell. What a spectacular view.