Beautiful Harvest

 

A basket full of lavender...The beautiful scent of summer personified.

A storm is coming, and I'm waiting to hear the trees sigh in relief. We really need some rain. The thunder is rolling.  I'm a nervous Nellie in a thunderstorm.  My Buscia would light a blessed candle and prayed, sometimes cried, till the storm passed.  I'm not that bad, but time to shut things down...

Have a wonderful weekend my friends.

Red, White and Blue

 

You're a grand old flag
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave

 

You're the emblem of
the land I love
the home of the brave and the free

 

Every heart beats true for the

red white and blue

and there's never a boast or a brag

but should auld aquaintance be forgot

keep your eye on the grand high flying flag

keep your eye on

The grand old Flag!

by: George M. Cohan

Putting red white and blue touches all around the house.

Some, like this flag my Mom crocheted are priceless...

 

others are just for fun.  What are your plans for the July 4th holiday?

One hundred degrees today in Chicagoland. Yikes!!!  Take care my friends.

The Lion and the Lamb

 

Here is the official photo of dearest Penny, and her yet unnamed friend, celebrating her one month birthday.  She's rocking her first of 12 onesies I made for her back in the spring. The transfers are available for free here, from Martha Stewart.

I get to see Penny everyday with face time, but I long to hold her, and feel her velvet cheeks.  Talk amongst yourselves while grandma sheds a few tears....  Ok , I'm better now.  Happy One Month Birthday baby girl.  Grandma loves you, so much!!!

The weather has taken a HOT turn, stay cool my friends!  (But then, all my friends ARE cool ;-) !!!
 

Summer Romance at Ravinia

A beautiful spread, from a table nearby...

For the last 40 years, I've been attending concerts at Ravinia, a beautiful outdoor venue on the North Shore.  The first time, way way back... I went with friends to see John Denver.  On our honeymoon we saw and danced to Barry Manilow!  We've seen Tony Bennett, Jim Brickman, James Taylor, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra...and heard the most beautiful music under the stars.  Last night we went again.  This time to hear Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers.  It was billed as a night of comedy and bluegrass music, and that's exactly what we got. We laughed at all of Steve's jokes, LOVED the great bluegrass music, the excellent sound system, the great weather, a friendly and respectful crowd that was really into the music. There were so many families, grands to tiny babies! 

photo from the Ravinia website

If you came of age in the 70's like we did, Steve Martin was "our" comedian.  From his appearances on SNL, his comedy albums, they are all part of our youth...  Maybe because so many of our favorites didn't survive the 70's and 80's that we treasure Steve Martin all the more.  Still sooooo funny, a talented song writer, amazing banjo player, excellent actor, storyteller and writer.
  I love this guy!
I'll need to post someday about his movies,
 my favorite, LA Story...

 

If you haven't been, you've gotta go enjoy
 "The Ravinia Experience."

 

This was our staked out piece of lawn.
Yes, we even have a "Ravinia Table."

With the sweetest of sweethearts by my side, sharing some laughs,
 relaxing, people watching, snacking
 and sharing a toast to our 38 years of dating! 

Yes, I do remember all those dates from way back when...

 

We shared it all with 12,000 people...or so Mr. Martin tweeted after the concert!

 

There is something about candlelight
 under the stars that's so romantic...
It was a great summer weekend...
Hope you had a wonderful weekend too.
Have a great day my friends!

Sweet Summer

 

My dear friend Carmella gave me this sweetest of momentos to commemorate the birth of my sweet p.
It's called The Grandmother!

 

When I thought I lost all of my of my ever blooming hydreangeas to frost, they came back with the sweetest blooms.  Enough to cut and share.


 

The 4th will be here very soon, and I made this pillow.  Sweet Liberty!

 

The back is a bandana from the Hob Lob, 30% off, sweet!

 

Last but not least, before I put you all in "sugar shock"...day lilies.  Oh Summer, you are so very sweet!
Enjoy this beautiful day my friends.

The lamp that took 3 months...

 

I bought this lamp at a thrift store in April...



Sanded and spray painted it in May...

 

Yesterday, I took some arcylic paint in dark brown and painted over the whole thing.  Then I wiped off the brown with a wet rag, leaving plenty in the nooks and cranneys...

 

I sprayed it with eucalyptus walnut ink for a mossy look, then clear coated it in a matte finish.

 

Auntie Penny, what took you so long?  Have a great weekend my friends.

Picking up the pieces...

 

The blustery days we've been having have caused some damage around the old homestead.  My gazing ball was the first casualty.  The rest was tree limbs, blown over chairs, and horizontal hydrangeas.  Just comes with summer weather.  I feel sluggish in this weather...but am determined to accomplish a few things today.  Yesterday I discovered random-tutorial.com You press a "button" and a random tutorial pops up.
I found some awesome blogs this way.  I will refrain from "The Button" today, in hopes of finishing a few real world crafts I need to put in the mail this week. 

 

Great news!  I have one cherry tomato!
Kristen suggested that we share it ala Mickey Mouse when he shared a bean in paper thin slices.
The real great news is that Penny smiled at me while we were face timing!  Kristen and I started to laugh, that turned into a cry.  SO sweet and a moment I'll never forget.  Kris was showing me PJ's band aided little thigh from a shot she got at the Dr., and I said, OH NO!  Penny thought that was funny. 

 

Just a few photos of the pots that have really taken off.  It's the constant watering.  We may need to do a rain dance soon.

 

Everything is on the deck right now, but later in the summer we'll have a party...and the pots will go all over the yard.

 

The wagon (That was Kristen's when she was little.) is full of four o'clocks, an old timey flower with the sweetest scent. Reminds me of my Buscia...she taught me how to collect the seeds when I was young. The only thing not growing...hollyhocks...they were old seeds, just thought I'd try. My patch did not come up this year.

Keep cool my friends and have a great day.