6/19/17

Food, Fathers, Family, and Fun

We had such a nice day yesterday. We headed down to Erik and Mae's house for a Fathers Day Eggs Benedict brunch. Here's a shot of the cooks in action:


Erik toasted the English muffins and warmed up the Canadian bacon. Mae poached the eggs, and I made the Hollandaise. We had it all done surprisingly quickly. After breakfast, we took a little walk around Erik and Mae's garden. Their vegetables and herbs are looking really good.


On the opposite side of the yard they've planted this flower garden and seating area. Doesn't this look like a nice place to spend a summer day?


Here's a close-up of that red blooming thing on the left side of the image above. So pretty, and Mae says it's easy to grow.


Here are The Stanbro Men.


I've been on a quest to get good pictures of their kittens, Cricket and Clementine. I got some good ones with my phone, but I'm not sure there's enough resolution to make them good for pawtraits. We'll see. This is Cricket.


Clementine was outside and a little harder to capture, in more ways than one.



After that, we stopped off at the grocery store to pick up more eggs, and then we went for a walk in Barrows Park, where I "sowed" my first heart into the wild. Now I'll have to watch the blog to see if anyone reports it found.


This morning we're heading out for a walk on the Fanno Creek Trail with Matthew. I have another heart to sow there. We saw a few blooming things in the park. This was a blooming tree...I think this is a dogwood.


And this one...I need to remember to use my Like That Garden app so I know what these are.


On the way home, we stopped off at the Hoffman Farms Store. We were hoping they would have some cherries. I want to make another batch of barbecue sauce. They had none, but they do have a quilt block on the side of their store.


Hoffman Farm is a Century Farm. This is their "trademark" image. I wonder what this structure was used for. I would think it was an old-fashioned grain elevator, but the windows would seem to rule that out.


We tried again for the cherries at the Smith Berry Barn farm and garden store. None there either. We'll try again at the Newberg Farmers Market on Wednesday.


We did pick up some hanging baskets there. Ordinarily, I would plant these myself, but I've planted no annuals this year. Being late getting home from our trip and then planning another trip in just a couple of months, summer at home feels a little temporary this year, and I'm having a hard time investing much energy in the outdoors.


They'll brighten Sadie's view from the catio. She was enjoying a nap in the warm sunshine.


Mike spent the rest of his day getting the catio mounted on the side of the camper. This involved installing some stainless steel hooks.


Here's how it looks from the inside. I like that there's a shelf there for them to sit on while inside.


If you were a kitty contemplating a move to the catio, this is what you would see.


I spent the rest of my afternoon getting ready to work on the scrub jay quilt. I first color-coded the regular size image. It looks a little funny because I decided to color in the background pieces adjacent to the bird. Some parts of the bird were colored gray or even white, and so I wanted to make it obvious where the bird ends and the background begins.


Then I taped the blown up image to the window with the freezer paper and drew in the seam lines.


Then I flipped the whole thing over and labeled it for piecing order.


That's where it stands. Next, I'll highlight the outer edges, larger sections, and then smaller sections with different colors of highlighter. After that, I'll be ready to cut the larger sections apart and get on with fabric selection. I know now why I've been dragging my feet about this. The process I just described is pain-staking and tedious. It's my least favorite part when it comes to making these quilts. Now that I've reached the fun part, it'll go a lot faster.

This morning I moved my embroidery hoop for the last time on the Hocuspocusville block.


I've already stitched some of what remains in the hoop. This one should be finished by tomorrow.


The weather has suddenly turned much warmer. Possibly summer has arrived. Probably I just needed to finish up the last Solstice block to bring it on. Now that it's here, there's no keeping Smitty inside. He was out for a little while this morning, but he got too warm and had to cool himself off on the tummy air-conditioning of the wood floor.


After we walk with Matthew this morning, I need to take Sadie to the vet. Hopefully, I'll have some time for sewing this afternoon, but possibly not. The third of the Monday Mini blocks has been released, and I'd like to catch up on those next.

10 comments:

Cathy Smith said...

Pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for buying the hanging baskets. You shopped local and helped a small business! Plus, instant gratification!

Shirley said...

Love your blog and takes of the cats and the Blooming things you show us. The pink one from Mae are called Astilbe, in dry periode they love some water. The other pink flowers are Spirae Japonicum, also very easy to maintain.

Sandra W said...

Erik really looks like Mike--I guess it's the fair hair (blonde and gray).
I like the cat photos--especially of Clementine. The ginger cat--I would like to see his mouth a bit more.
Smitty actually is similar to my late cat, Chester, although Chester weighed 20 lbs. We had him on a diet for about 5 years--he eventually lost 8 oz. When he got older and a bit frail we decided we'd let him enjoy life--so no diet. I guestimate that two Smitty's would be about the size of Chester.
The catio looks great. What cat wouldn't like to snuggle in that.
I see in the background your new haircut. It looks quite nice from what I can see.
I bought the cat portrait book that you mentioned some time ago--but have had trouble finding a suitable photo of my furry boy. It's on my project list.
Mae's garden is lovely. Great colors.
Sometime, if you're ever stuck for a blog topic (is that likely?) I'd like to hear your views on hand embroidery and using (or not) a hoop. I know you always use a hoop but I find a hoop very awkward as it means you mostly stab the fabric, rather than working it on the needle. And some people only use a small hoop (4 inches) while others use a larger one. Thanks.

gpc said...

By golly, Erik and Mae's garden looks exactly like mine appears in my mind's eye. If only wishing could make it so. The kittens aren't kittens anymore, but they are lovely and I look forward to your immortalization of them. I have hearts in my purse but haven't left any yet since it's been storming lately -- I'd like to give them a few hours head start. I'm excited to start , though!

DeeDee said...

I love Erik and Mae's yard. It's absolutely gorgeous. It's what my husband and I dream of having once we no longer live in HOA subdivision land. Our lot is so small that we don't have much room for something like that. But someday we will!

I was curious as to whether or not that was actually a Dogwood tree, and it is! It's called a Japanese Kousa Dogwood. I live in North Carolina, land of the Dogwoods and I had never seen a flower like that until now. Thanks for sharing it!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

That might have been a watch tower at some point in it's life - our farm was one of the 'safety' zones when they raided thru the valley and families couldn't get to the main fort. I miss having breakfast with the gang - was one of our pleasures as life got busy. We have been on flood and tornado warnings all day, thru the night and into tomorrow. The furkids have been hiding out in the back guest bedroom for safety.

Brown Family said...

Cricket and Clementine are beautiful! I live Cricket's face markings!

I am sure both kitties will enjoy the truck catio!

You really did get started on the scrub jay! It is going to be a fun project.

Dana Gaffney said...

It looks like you all had a nice father's day. The grandcats are beautiful, I love Cricket's nose markings, so distinctive. I make my own baskets too, I don't trust the dirt they put in them since everything dries out so fast here with the constant heat and breeze. They look so pretty and tempting though.

piecefulwendy said...

So many fun things to read in this post. I enjoyed seeing the picture of the cooks in the kitchen. I agree that the garden relaxation spot is lovely. I'm afraid that here in MN we would get eaten alive if we had a spot like that, but it sure looks inviting! The grandcats are handsome, beautiful cats indeed. Looks like Smitty keeps that toy within paws reach. Max does that, acting like he just can't make it far enough to play with it. Silly cats.

quiltzyx said...

Sounds like y'all had a grand Dad's Day! Erik & Mae's gardens are fabulous! I love looking at lovely gardens & that does look like a wonderfully relaxing seating area. Too bad that I DO NOT like gardening...but I have been doing pretty good with the 2 hanging plants I have on my steps at the driveway. A Pothos and a Spider Plant. Even in this 100+ heat this week they held up well. Since they are just in the cheapy pots they came in, the water runs right through, so I have been putting them one at a time into a bucket of water to soak it up from the bottom. Seems to last them about a week. Plus I have the 2 plants on my desk at work - the little Mum is up to 5 flowers now!
Your grandcats are full of personality! Cricket looks a bit smug, doesn't she? Clementine reminds me a bit of Marmalade (YouTube's Cole & Marmalade), and you know I am partial to orange cats. :)
Smitty would really have not liked the heat down here the last week! OY! Glad that he & Sadie have comfy & cool lounging spots.