September Gardens and More

A.W.O.L.  That's how I feel.  From Sunday the 4th through the following Saturday, I was very sick with a terrible stomach bug.  I'll spare you the details, but if I tell you I lost six pounds, you'll have some idea how bad it was.  Since I left my bed, I've been weak and lacking in energy, but just today, I finally felt good enough to get outside in the beautiful sunshine and warmth and do some gardening. 

I planted some zinnias this year in my front garden.  I love these flowers! 

While Phil and I were outside, a bunch of small, black birds started swirling around in the sky.  A number of them landed on the nearby cell tower.  Can you see them, lined up on the top?  In the second photo, you can see some flying.

The trees in our backyard aren't very colorful in the fall.  Here you can barely see a bit of color that signifies autumn is here:

As I was heading back inside, I glanced down at the edge of the garage door track and spotted this very effective spider web.  (If bugs trapped in webs bother you, scroll quickly!)

This picture of Callie came out over-exposed and I did quite a bit of tweaking to get it acceptable, but she was awake, which is unusual for her, so that's why I'm sharing it.

I will be back soon with more pictures from our Amish country vacation, as well as some crocheting projects I've been working on.

Vacation Part 1 - Repost

My daughter brought to my attention that the pictures on the first posting of this entry got lost somehow.  I'm not sure where they went.  Strange things have been happening at our house with our Internet connection, so perhaps whatever gremlin is wreaking havoc here got to my blog post.  LOL  In any case, here's the entry again, with pictures this time - I hope!

We had our first vacation in six long years August 10 - 16.  We traveled down to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about a 6.5 hour drive from home (including rest stops), which is home to the oldest settlement of Amish in the United States.  [You can read more about the Amish and Lancaster county here and here.]  This is one of my favorite places - it's peaceful, beautiful, and quaint, with farms as far as the eye can see.  For the first time, I was the designated driver, so I missed a lot of photo opportunities.  And because we had five people to please, two of whom are dealing with chronic illness which slows us down, we didn't get to do as much as we have in previous visits.  I would love to visit craft and quilt shops all day, but other than Sarah, no one in our family would enjoy that!  I do have picture of one quilt to share with you today.  This one was in the window of the Old Country Store in Intercourse.  Unfortunately, I don't have the name of it, but it sure is pretty!

 

 The octagonal part in the middle was defined using lovely white braid.  There was also braid incorporated into the scallops at the bottom.  Beautiful!

Vacation Part 3 - Covered Bridges

According to Wikipedia, there are 29 covered bridges in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  We went over three, two of which I have pictures of.

See the little monkey under the bridge?  That's Claude.  He accompanied us on vacation, and enjoyed trying all kinds of new things, including sitting in a covered bridge!

I loved this stone building!

Heidi, we did go into the Old Country Store, the shop with the quilt in the window.  It is horribly overpriced, but has a wonderful selection of quilts (priced in the 100's of dollars) and an extensive fabric selection.  It seems that almost every shop has something quilted, whether it's full-sized quilts, throw pillows, or even potholders.  Someday, I would love to own an Amish quilt.  (I am a lousy quilter or I'd make one for myself.)

We have also been to Ohio Amish country, although I don't remember how long ago.  It is not as commercial as Pennsylvania.  I do recall the place we stayed - an old cabin.  We had thunderstorms every night, and the electricity would go out briefly.  It's not the worst place we've stayed, but it came close!  We always cook as much of our own food as is possible to save money, so sometimes it is difficult to find places to stay that have kitchen facilities and are still affordable.

BTW, and this is totally off topic, I was shocked to discover tonight that regular yogurt can have a lot of cholesterol in it!  I recently learned that my bad cholesterol is too high, so I am more conscious of the fat in what I eat.  Greek yogurt, on the other hand, seems to be cholesterol free.  We're going to look around and see where we can get it for the best price.  We mostly use yogurt in smoothies, but I suspect there are other recipes I can sneak it into.

Happy crafting - and eating!

Vacation Part 2

When we vacationed in Lancaster, PA, we rented a house.  We knew that by the time we rented enough hotel rooms for all of us - two married couples and a single young woman - then went out to dinner every night, we'd spend more than what the house cost us for the week.  The house turned out to be lovelier than the online photos!  It was what we here in New York call a raised ranch - you walk in the front door and have to go either up or down.  On the upper floor, there was a gorgeous sunroom, dining room, living room, kitchen, laundry room, full bath, and two bedrooms.  The lower floor had two bedrooms, what I would call a family room, and a full bath.  Plenty of room for all of us.  The home was on a somewhat busy road, but set back far enough that we didn't notice the traffic noise.  Across the street was an Amish farm.

 The lovely Ridge Garden vacation home.

After walking up the stairs, the living room was to your right.  We loved the couches and chair, all of which were recliners.  The space was large enough with ample windows so the dark paint on the wall didn't close in the room.

The dining room was between the living room and the sun room. 

The sun room.  More comfortable chairs, beautiful windows, and a door that led out to the deck.  Make sure you click on the picture and enlarge it so you can see the beautiful stencil! 

The stencil was carried over to the wall opposite the window in the previous picture.

This was Sarah's bedroom.

 We had use of the washer and dryer.  In the second picture, the dark doors opened up to reveal narrow shelving.  Not sure what its original purpose was.

 The lovely master bedroom. 

 The downstairs family room.  There was a second large screen TV down here.

 Grace and Anthony's bedroom.  This was directly under the sun room - part of that later addition to the house.

 This kitchen.  I'd never worked in one with an island, but found it handy.  The area at the left of the picture was a built-in desk, complete with computer.  How many times I've wished for a computer in my kitchen at home!

I'll be back with pictures of the gardens surrounding the home.  If you're planning a trip down to Amish country and are interested in this lovely vacation home, visit their website!

Fantastic Giveaway

Gretchen has moved her blog from http://www.fashionablymodestpatterns.blogspot.com/ to http://www.happyyoungwife.com/.  To celebrate her move she is offering a $35 gift certificate to CSN Stores.  Hop on over to her new blog to enter!

Wedding Sampler Update

Very slowly, I've put some more stitches into the wedding sampler.  I took the picture with my phone's camera on Friday night.  On Saturday, I filled in another section.  I really am itching to get this finished!

Vacation Part 1

We had our first vacation in six long years August 10 - 16.  We traveled down to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about a 6.5 hour drive from home (including rest stops), which is home to the oldest settlement of Amish in the United States.  [You can read more about the Amish and Lancaster county here and here.]  This is one of my favorite places - it's peaceful, beautiful, and quaint, with farms as far as the eye can see.  For the first time, I was the designated driver, so I missed a lot of photo opportunities.  And because we had five people to please, two of whom are dealing with chronic illness which slows us down, we didn't get to do as much as we have in previous visits.  I would love to visit craft and quilt shops all day, but other than Sarah, no one in our family would enjoy that!  I do have picture of one quilt to share with you today.  This one was in the window of the Old Country Store in Intercourse.  Unfortunately, I don't have the name of it, but it sure is pretty!

 The octagonal part in the middle was defined using lovely white braid.  There was also braid incorporated into the scallops at the bottom.  Beautiful!