Valerean

The two fruit trees we planted in memory of my parents on Mother's Day are doing quite well. This is Mom's grapefruit tree. Dad's orange tree isn't growing quite as fast, and lately it's been plagued by swallowtail catepillars, but we're giving it extra attention and checking for pests every day. One of the oranges that was on Dad's tree when we bought it survived the planting, and there are a few new blooms promising more fruit this winter. This past week Mom's tree has been flowering like crazy, so we're also hoping to see some grapefruit at the end of the year or the beginning of the next.

I'll apologize in advance for the steaminess of these pics; it's so hot and wet here that my lens fogs up the minute I step foot outside. We'll just call it bokeh if anyone complains. :) Since we're on the cusp of the fall growing season my guy cleaned out our little gardens yesterday. We're giving the strawberries their own bed because we're afraid they'll sneak in the house and take it over while we're sleeping. We decided to save the chives, oregano and parsley from the herb section, and transplanted them to their own pots. Right now only a little bit of basil is left in the veggie garden, but we're going to plant pole beans, radishes and cucumbers again when the temps drop a bit more next month.

The boys like napping under our dining table best. I think it's because the tile floor is cool, and wearing a fur coat in summer means you're always hot. So cute. :)

I have a lot of smaller quilts that don't get much use, like this art quilt I picked up at a show some years back. No one in the family wants them, so when I head off to the next place I imagine they'll be donated to Goodwill. As you can see I've started putting the sturdier ones I have down as play mats for the puppies (this discourages them from chewing and tugging on the carpet.) I also use some of the old ones that are softer to line their crate. I like that they're finally out of the closet and being used. Just seeing them around the house makes me smile.

I haven't opened a fortune cookie since the pandemic began. I guess the novelty wore off, or I was too depressed. Anyway, this one was taunting me. "The aim is useless without the way." I'll take that under advisement.

This is my current desk journal, which is almost full. It's basically a school composition book covered with a lovely quilted jacket by Sonya Anderson , one of my favorite Etsy artists. This year I haven't been journaling much other than recording what I eat every day and keeping important stuff tucked away in the back pages, and I want to change that. The next journal I use will be Paris-themed blank book by Punch Studio. It's pretty, I love the page colors, and it will prompt me to be more forthcoming. While I was straightening my office closet I came across an art journal I kept eleven years ago, and saw this page. I remember that was a tough year for me; Dad's health was spiralling downward, we had serious problems with two family members, and I turned 50 and started menopause. A colleague I respected died at the very beginning of 2010, and I ended Stardoc with the publication of the tenth and final novel in August of that year. Yet somehow I ha

Beau smiles while he naps. The size difference between the boys -- Shadow is starting to catch up to his brother now. The first time the boys obeyed my sit command. They're still not sure what the camera is. :)

My guy was out in the yard picking up tree debris before he mowed the lawn, which is his weekly chore. Lots of trees + summer storms = plenty of falling twigs and branches, some large enough to cause harm to our mower. While he was doing that I came out to walk the boys and saw this moss-covered stick in the grass I don't know why it struck me as something I had to pick up; it's not exactly beautiful. The twig part snapped the second time I handled it, too. But it grabbed my attention. There's something about it that's got my gears whirling, too. This happens to me a few times, and usually with things other people don't notice. Anyway, I stuck both pieces in a little jar and I'm going to look at it for a while.

Once the puppies are house-trained (we're almost there now) I can get back to quilting, so I'm looking at my pending projects now and deciding what I want to do. This is the time of year when I usually decide what to make for Mom's birthday, so I'm a little sad. This modern quilt kit will be my winter project for sure; I'm making it as a Christmas gift for someone I love. I also want to do one more art quilt, probably lap-size, with these recycled hand-dyed fabrics. I might do a quilt-as-you-go project. For the puppies I want to make these bunny blocks into a quilt I can put in their crate. Three seems like a reasonable number to finish before the end of the year.

One more pic of our new puppies. My guy took this one. The boys have very different personalities. Our sable Beau seems to be fearless; he throws himself into everything whole-heartedly. He barks at everything and gets in your face and can be grabby with toys and food. Whether he's eating, walking, or playing, just get out of his way. That's why I gave him Bulldozer as a nickname. Our tri-color Shadow is the exact opposite: quiet, standoffish, and sneaky. He's only barked once since he came to live with us. As the runt I thought he would be scared of everything, but he just watches everything for a bit before he decides what to do. Then, when he jumps in, he's fast and precise. That got him the nickname Baby Shark (also he loves it when I sing him that song while we play.) They're both really lovable, and each in his own way is very affectionate. It will be so much fun to watch them grow up.

The premise behind the romantic supernatural Korean film The Beauty Inside is really provocative: what if you fell in love with a man whose body changes into that of a different person every day? Woo-jin (played by 30+ actors) is a custom furniture designer with a very odd condition: he transforms completely every time he goes to sleep. After he wakes up in the morning he changes into a different body that can be of any age, appearance, race, gender or nationality. It's completely random, and he can't control this change at all. When he becomes a new person his eyesight, body size and language can alter as well. Switching nationalities, for example, leaves him able to understand Korean but only speak in his new body's native language (which he doesn't understand.) Despite his complicated life Woo-jin manages to get along okay. He works alone, does everything via the internet, and has the support of his childhood best friend and business partner. He even

I was looking through my photo archives last night to see how much quilting I've done so far this year. There's not a lot, but I'm pretty happy with what I managed to accomplish while going through all the changes in my life. I'm glad I finally finished the Election Night quilt. It reminds me not to get caught up in hatred. I started working on this crazy quilt tote back in April as a gift for my mom for Mother's Day; I was going to fill it with sugarfree candy. She died a few days later. A month after we lost Mom Katherine left home to work as a scientist in the Pacific Northwest, which made me happy but stressed me out, too. My Summer Dreams art quilt brought a lot of much-needed peace back to me. I loved working on this vintage patchwork, and finishing it for the original maker. I haven't done many little pieces this year, but this is the last thing I sewed before our new puppies arrived. Tonight after the babies go to bed I'

The Delta variant of the Covid virus has swamped hospitals here, so we're taking a few steps back and self-isolating again. My guy and I were still wearing masks in public anyway, so nothing changed there. Since getting our second shots we had dined in at local restaurants a few times as a treat for ourselves, but because the variant is infecting vaccinated people we're nixing that. I don't mind the extra cooking or taking extra precautions; it's only sensible to avoid getting sick (if possible) at our age. I'm just tired of all the bickering and misinformation about the virus, the vaccines and how to stop the spread. My disabled nephew (he's the one with a heart condition) chose not to get vaccinated, no doubt because of the idiotic crap people are saying. When he visited us I politely let him know I wasn't happy about it, but other than conking him over the head and dragging his unconscious butt to the vac site here I couldn't do anything about

I've been so busy with the new puppies that this morning was the first time I've gotten out to check the gardens in a couple weeks. The strawberries have finally stopped burying us in berries. The oregano and the chives are fighting. Obvious to see the chives are losing. Meanwhile, the parsley is getting huge. The basil grew a foot taller and bolted. So far the artichoke is hanging in there, too.

Due to various stressers I have been struggling with writing for the last six months or so, and (not for the first time) considered giving it up. My partner is almost ready to retire, and financially speaking neither of us really need to work any more. The state of the world has been hard for me to deal with, and my health issues and depressing empty-nest home life haven't helped. I like to work, and there will never come a time when I give up writing entirely, but the temptation to stop writing for a living has been strong. Here's what I discovered while wrestling with all that: Writing stories for myself helps. I've always written stories I've never shared with anyone, but I got away from that when I went freelance. Lately I've written about a dozen short stories; I'm currently working on a for-fun novel that I'm writing a page or two a day. I can't write well or happily without dogs in my life. This kind of surprised me, but I now realize t

On our last run to the Russell Stover outlet store I noticed they were selling sugarfree semi-sweet chocolate baking chips. Once I come up with a diabetic-friendly low-fat version of the classic Toll House recipe, I can make my own cookies. Thanks to being on steroids, extreme stress, and not watching my diet closely, my A1C went up a full point, which makes me officially diabetic (though still low on the danger scale.) My doc was not pleased, but gave me three months to bring it back down. Since I don't want to go on medication again I'm back on the very strict diet I followed right after being diagnosed the first time. After resolving it and being declassified I thought I was in the clear, but it's obvious that I'm always going to be in danger of slipping back into diabetes. I'm not happy about that, but it's better to accept what I can't change and sacrifice what I can't have to live healthier and medication-free. I don't want to end up

August is usually the worst month of hurricane season, and by today Fred will reach us, probably as a tropical storm. I'm not as worried about that as I am what comes in the next couple of weeks. Andrew hit back in 1992 on August 23rd; Katrina landed on August 29th. Even when we get into September and October we're not in the clear; Irma arrived on September 10th; Matthew on October 7th. Storms are also the reason I'm not terrible fond of fall -- it means cooler temps and pretty leaves in other parts of the country; here it means monster hurricanes. Although it's always a roll of the dice whether or not we'll make it through storm season without a direct hit, I'd still rather deal with hurricanes than blizzards, droughts, or wildfires.

We're house training our new puppies, and it's working out well. Beau and Shadow have the run of the house during the day, and only go into the crate when we're sleeping or if we have to leave the house to shop or run errands. They've already learned to wake us up in the morning when they need to go outside. Accidents in the house are minimal now, too. Shetland Sheepdogs typically aren't biters, but I discourage the puppies (who are teething like babies) from gnawing on me. Kisses are fine, biting is not. The pups stay with me most of the day in my home office, which I've transformed into a play room for them. They nap there whenever they're tired. When I leave the room they always come with me. Because we're in a rural area with lots of wild life we always take our dogs out on leads. They're a lot faster than we are, and there are a couple of farms around us with working dogs who might attack them if they get loose and trespass

Life has been so gray for the last year and a half that I've forgotten to look at the little universe of beauty in my corner of the world. Like wild flowers. I don't even mind them when they're yellow. Yet this is the first time I've noticed them since the pandemic began. Maybe it's the new puppies, or just the old me waking up. Anyway, it was a beautiful morning.

I made this fox-themed crazy quilted block to indulge my love of orange and turquoise. A peacock feather inspired this piece, so I added it in as an embellishment. Sometimes all it takes is an interesting pendant or bead to get my gears rolling, like this rose. Roses are definitely a recurring theme in my crazy quilt work. I don't often do pictoral quilt pieces, but this one was an exception. What inspires you?