Emptyknitster

Sadly, my vacation is drawing to a close. Tomorrow it's back to reading, writing, and arithmetic. In June I made a list of the things I wanted to accomplish during my break: My Summer To Do List... Sit on the deck sipping hot coffee, watching the sunrise. (Yes!) Go to a great concert. (Yes! John Mellencamp) Find the best "Pick Of The Summer" book - EVER. (Not sure the EVER thing worked out but The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo turned out to be the pick of the summer) Get the computer room closet cleaned out. (A BIG yes!) Go skinny dipping. ( Hmmmmm...) Sew wool Teddy Bears for all my kiddos. (Maybe next year) Spend some great quality time with my kiddos. (Yes) Visit Yellowstone Park. (No) Knit a Pi Shawl in honor of Elizabeth Zimmermann's 100th birthday. (8-9-10) (Yes) Spend a long weekend on Flathead Lake. (Yes) Turn my blog into a hardbound book. ( I vow, before Labor Day) Plan the perfect day for Hubby, from morning to night. (I think so, not sure how he feels abo...

The last few days have been spent slipcovering a footstool for the Tella Tubby. I love my kitties and not only do they think they need to be in our bed at night, but I need to have them there to keep my feet warm. The Tella Tubby, just a little over weight, needs assistance if she is going to end up in our high brass bed. The old footstool worked fine with a beige duvet cover that had been on the bed but I've been busy this summer cleaning and updating each room and the footstool just didn't match the new striped blue, brown and gold bedspread. I've never slipcovered anything but I did watch my mom cover many things. Today, as I stitched each stitch I would remember Mom working on her projects and visualize how she would have done the cording, corners, and tucks. It brought a smile to my face realizing how much I had learned by watching and asking an occasional question! I always love opening up the desk holding Mom's old sewing machine. The first time I did after ...

It has been a trial to get to a concert this year. It was on my summer wish list of things to do. We were going to a concert the day of the tornado (it was canceled, naturally - so to speak ). We had bought Simon and Garfunkel tickets for July, but Simon ( or was it Garfunkel? ) had a sore throat and canceled. Then it was announced that John Mellencamp and Bob Dylan would be in town on August 11th. I bought the 98 and 99th ticket! I've been looking forward to this ever since. The weather has been "iffy", we haven't had one 100 degree day all summer, it's been clouding up and raining in the afternoons, in fact we're two and a half inches above average. Yesterday the forecast was sunny with thunderstorms just when the outdoor concert was to take place. Hmmm, the high 80's and then a storm, how to dress? I decided to go with my new concert duds, a stellar halter top and jeans - no rain gear! It worked! Only a drop or two of rain fell. John Mellencamp'...

I'm told that The Tiger asked a million times while driving to "Hannah Montana" if we were going to go to "The Chico." After having him with us for just a few days, if The Tiger's folks said he asked a million times, it was AT LEAST that many times! (yak, yak, yak!)  The kiddos had an outstanding time! On the way home The Tiger asked if we could move to "The Chico" so they could swim everyday of every visit! - Cool idea!

Hubby loves shopping at two places: the internet and Costco. Today he receive a nine pound piece of dinosaur poo in the mail - not a Costco sale!   The Tiger wasn't sure he wanted to touch it, thinking it would be soft and squishy. Later he asked, "How did Dinosaurs poo rocks?" Tiger biffed it today but saved the ice cream cone!

The Purl Gurl and her family arrived and it has been so nice to have ALL the family home again! The California Dreamin' Gal was looking out for her Momma and got the ball rolling for the family photos.YEA!  The kiddos spent all one day planning a "carnival", we had a catapult toss, bike races, frisbee toss, lemonade stand, bow and arrow stand, and foot races! WOW!  And they're off..... And California Boy wins!

It has been a busy week with family coming and going... Chloe and Cameron enjoyed their Mom's old bike. Chloe has done a little baking. I think she prefers cooking with her Granny, I do things the quick and easy way and her Granny cooks from scratch. Cameron has been doing some creative building. This lovely cabin has taken three days!

The two grandkiddos and I went to Helena to visit their Aunt Chick, we went to the Saturday Farmer's Market, and took a tour of the town on the train,    We drove by the Governor's Mansion - old and new... We prefer the old house and wish the governor still lived there! On the tour the guide talked about how the old mining town burned down three times until the town finally erected a fire tower on a hill in the middle of town! The guide also told us about a WWII pilot that on a $100 bet, flew between the two crosses on the Cathedral. He won the bet but lost his pilot's license!   On Sunday we went to Boulder Hot Springs...  Great times!

Hubby helped the California Dreamin' Kiddos build birdhouses... They had great fun painting them. When the birdhouses were done, The Pirate wanted to make a race car with the leftovers.

The Pirate's sweater is complete and I'm going to start another little Wallaby for the Tiger tonight... Pattern: Wonderful Wallaby Yarn: Plymouth Encore Color: Hunter Tweed            Taupe Amount: 4 skeins Hunter Tweed, 1 skein Taupe Needles: 8 US, 6 US Hubby and I went to a Rob Quist concert last night. Quist is from Montana and writes songs about our state. He's the only Western singer that I truly enjoy and last night he decided to go Blue Grass....  I did enjoy the crowd, the kids loved the music and an old fellow threw down his cane and joined in!

I woke up this morning, and had a cup of coffee while watching the sunrise... Hubby and I started into town for some more tornado pictures, but quickly caught these little guys carefully crossing the road..... (I promise no more Metra/Tornado shots after this.....)    I turned slightly west of the Metra and couldn't let this shot go untaken - priceless... I much prefer Mother Nature's quiet beauty!