Sunday, July 6, 2014

Fourth of July Weekend


Happy Fourth of July weekend! Doesn't our bunting look festive?

Thursday night Ben and I walked up to Chautauqua and heard part of a concert of patriotic music being performed in the Auditorium.  We didn't have tickets and didn't want to stay for the entire concert, but we could hear the music through the Auditorium doors and windows while we enjoyed the beautiful summer evening for a while. 

On the 4th we went to a late afternoon party across the street at a neighbor's where we met some interesting people and ate some great brats and caponata (eggplant and onion dip).  It was hard to drag ourselves away to walk up the hill to our friend's house to join their fireworks-watching party, but I was glad we did since that was a lot of fun also.  Inger and Bob have a big deck high enough up the hill so you could see fireworks from all the towns around here, as well as great views of Boulder's own fireworks set off from Folsom field, a mile or two away.  They had fabulous food, too, and fun people to talk with, but we did finally stagger down the hill to home. 

We've been doing so much more walking here you'd think we'd be losing weight, but we're also eating a lot of great food!  Last night we joined our friends Ray and Paula for dinner at their house where we had amazingly good turkey burgers and homemade blueberry cobbler.  I like to think that walking the six blocks up and back made up for the extra serving of cobbler I had, but that's probably wishful thinking.


We put up a hummingbird feeder and within a day we began getting visitors.  They are pretty but my, they are noisy, and not in the "songbird singing" way.  They make a kind of loud shrill trilling noise that I didn't expect but am starting to get used to!  (Ben took this great photo.)   



On Friday morning I decided that Spikey needed to be moved out of my studio and into the living room.  It took an hour or so of heroic effort, but by the end of the morning my studio was rearranged, sans Spikey.  I love how the new daybed fits in the room now and the arrangement is so great for my projects (sewing and computer) that I sat right down and made something!


The something I made was this little journal piece I titled "Welcome to Boulder, 6/6/14,"  a reminder of how the poppies were blooming when we arrived here.  I printed one of my poppy photos onto fabric and centered it on a white fabric that I had stamped using the dried poppy seed heads a few weeks ago.  

About ten years ago I got into making small journal pieces out of fabric to document things that happened and I found them the other day when I was organizing my studio.   It was so neat to see them again and remember the little moments that they recorded.   I may have to start making them again.  

.  

One of the reasons the room works now is that I was able to figure out how to make a "right return" work space so I could sew at my machine and then turn to the right to press seams, fuse fabric, or cut strips.  It took me a while to get the placement right, but it seems to work now.  My computer work can be done to the left of the machine or on the other side of the sewing table, or from the daybed. 


I'm typing this on the daybed and look who is keeping me company!  (Don't worry, he pooped a bit ago on the floor so I know the daybed is safe now.)


Spikey's habitat is now in the living room, but he seems to want to be out of it quite often.


How do we know?  For a guy who can't talk, he gets his message across! 


Usually when Spikey is out he walks all over the first floor, his nails tap-tap-tapping on the wood and tile floors.  Sometimes he runs into a wall or corner and needs help getting out, and sometimes he runs into Fetcher or Ben and just stops for a while until they leave, but usually he ends up by the patio screen door or a window catching the breeze.  


Paul just came in to hang out on the daybed with Spikey, then moved him up to the window and took these two photos.  Yes, sweetie, they are great photos!



1 comment:

I'd love to hear from you!