A Few More Photos from Tower Hill

Henna coleus

I wouldn't mind getting some of this coleus for my garden

 They call this area the Court. That is my older sister way back there on the left.

garter snake

 A denizen of the gardens

young pine cone

 Lots of pines out there.

 I think this is part of the Lawn Garden

 This was definitely out in the Lawn Garden, I love that yellow green tree in the back

 The turtle fountain as seen through some of the fox tails

The turtle fountain in the rain. This is part of the Winter Garden.

2016 Alcona County Fair Results

I entered 8 items in the county fair this year, 2 quilted items, 3 sewn garments and 3 crocheted items.

For quilts I made a table runner to go with some place-mats I made for my friend. It took 2nd in "Other Quilted Items". I entered a small quilt (a future gift). I wasn't planning to enter any quilt. I know neither this one nor the other one I made so far this year could take first, and indeed, it came in 3rd.

In the garment section I entered the denim skirt I made last summer and did not enter last year because I entered a different skirt. It took first. (last year, too)
Then I entered the gingham flannel shirt I made at the end of winter this year and the green seersucker top I started 2 summers ago and got stuck on because I gained weight since I bought the pattern and forgot to take that into account. It only took 2 years to try again, I added gussets. The same kind I added to the flannel shirt because that too, was too small a pattern. The green seersucker took 2nd and the flannel shirt 1st. They were in competition with each other.

My hat took first in crocheted hats.

My little market bag only took 3rd in the category "Other Crocheted Items".
My shawl took first in crochet shawls AND Best in Category for all crocheted items. I have never won a ribbon like that before.

I never got to the fair during the week after I dropped my items off, but one of the women working there said they had a good turnout of entries so I wasn't only competing with myself. Makes taking first place a little more special.

Presenting my haul.

 Not bad I'd say.

Tower Hill Botanic Garden

In June I went back to Massachusetts with both dogs. Stayed with younger sister again and visited with her and my older sister for 2 weeks. One of the things the 3 of us did together was visit Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston just a hop, skip and a jump from where we grew up in Worcester. I'd never been there before because it didn't exist till 1986 and I had left in 1981.

It was a warm day with a short fast storm in the middle but I managed to take a lot of photos. Unfortunately my photo taking techniques were very rusty so for some bizarre reason I upped the aperture 1/3 instead of down 1/3 so I have a lot of photos with blown hgh lights. Still, here are some of the better ones. It was a nice day.

courtyard entrance

near parking lot

 I would love some of these poppies.

grape poppy

I wish the turtle fountain was turned on. Don't know why it wasn't unless there were some sort of water restrictions, there might have been. Oddly, there was a cloud burst in the middle of our visit.

Turtle fountain

large succulent near the turtle fountain pool

another pool

tall water fountain

cool unknown flower. a lot of plants seemed to be missing tags

Hope to go there again someday.

We Did Move that Table

Back in April I showed pictures of the plan to move the dining table into the kitchen assuming the temporary table sized obstacle did not prove to be annoying. After a week or so, we did it. Moved it with help from one of Hal's brothers.

It's been in the kitchen since May 8th and I have not regretted it. That is a very good thing as Hal is not interested in moving it again. It's heavy.

Disaster Averted!

Met this guy on the morning walk in the woods today. The dogs were behind me poking about another area. I tried to snap a few shots with the FZ40 camera I had borrowed from a neighbor, not knowing it's idiosyncrasies quite yet and only managed to get a couple half decent shots.

When the dogs trotted out on the opposite side and saw the porcupine my stomach plummeted but I yelled "STOP, leave it," and other similar commands and they LEFT IT ALONE. Can't believe Ziggy listened when it counted, for once. Good dogs!

Skunked Again!

Barely 1/3 of a mile into our morning walk Ziggy come barreling past me, leaping a downed tree and within 30 seconds the pungent smell of skunk wafted to my nostrils. Yes, Ziggy has for the second time in his life attempted to play with a skunk. At least he didn't take if full force into his mouth, it seemed to be a glancing blow. I cut the walk short there and we went home with Ziggy rolling in leaves, dirt, weeds, every few seconds trying to get rid of the smell.

I gathered the bucket, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, Dawn dish-washing liquid and a little lemon juice which isn't in the traditional recipe but I think it helps. So Ziggy is freshly washed, unhappy though that made him. And now he is drying outside, also unhappy that I won't let him back into the house yet.

At least this time I remembered to wear rubber gloves.

And Luna, smart girl, stayed out of trouble.

It's a Hat!

I've been very busy all summer. And it's been a hell of a hot one up here. Many days in the 90's, high humidity, and then a weeks long drought that took it's toll on the farmers in the whole state as well as many of my plants. Then there was the deer in the vegetable garden that has essentially killed any chance at decent home grown vegetables this year. Not that I've had many bumper crops in the past, but this has been the worst. But that's for another post assuming I get back to making them. In the meantime:

It's a hat!

This hat is a gift for a SIL and since very few people check my blog at all, I am sure it will be a total surprise when I give it to her. I also took it and 7 other items, both crochet and sewn, to the county fair this week. This shawl is one of them, it's called Leafing Out by designer, Vicki Mikulak at ravelry,com. It's made with Red Heart Unforgettable in the Springtime colorway. This shows it unblocked and with the ends still hanging off of it. I don't expect to win with it as it's pretty simple and the judges don't seem to be fond of variegated yarn, but we'll see when I pick them back up this weekend.

But for now, back to work.