The scale of a stack of round bales is tough to fathom so I left the front of Weenie Truck – Dad’s name for his small pick-up – in the frame when cropping the first picture to share for Frank’s stack challenge.
Here’s a different angle – two bales high and who knows how many bales long.
One last picture, showing my nephew – then about six feet tall – checking out the stacked bales.
Thinking about the photo challenge “Assemble” and with every good intention (and we know about that) to join the challenge, I took pictures while I made Valentine’s Day cookies for my neighbors. It’s past the deadline, but I thought I could still share my pictures of making sour cream sugar cookies!
Wishing I could send you each a plate of cookies!
I couldn’t resist sharing this picture of an iconic sculpture. It’s not the only LOVE sculpture done by Robert Indiana so I imagine it may not be the only featured in response to the All You Need Is Love! photo challenge by Dutch Goes the Photo!
I’m so excited that Frank of Dutch Goes the Photo! is back with his Tuesday Photo Challenge. This week’s theme is “puzzle.” He used the word “puzzlement” in his blog post, making me think of the statue in this first picture.
There’s nearly always a jigsaw puzzle in progress on the card table at my house. If you only look at the front of the pieces, this one is a challenge. But if you notice the back, putting it together is somewhat easier.
My father emails me most Sundays with a copy of “the fiver” – five intertwined Sudoku puzzles. He usually adds advice like “turn off the TV, get something to drink, and do the fiver.”
If a jigsaw puzzle or a Sudoku aren’t your thing, maybe you would enjoy a puzzle for your brain found in one of these books. (I’m a bit puzzled about the atlas being on this shelf!)
May you solve – or least come to terms with – every puzzle that comes your way this week.
My quilting friend across the street has two cats – Bonnie & Clyde. Clyde nearly always greets me at the door; the one time I had a camera with me he was much more interested in what I had in my hand than in having his picture taken (above). Bonnie typically ignores me but had just enough curiosity to sit up to see what was going on (below).
My sister’s family also has a Bonnie & Clyde. Not cats, though. Dogs.
All the dogs at that house are loved, but the favorite is clearly the English Bulldog. I was taking pictures of my nieces and nephews last fall when one of them insisted I take a picture of Gus.
So there you have it – a few pictures of animals that are keeping some of my favorite people company during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Posted in response to this week’s Tuesday Photo Challenge.
“Oh, they’re back,” I thought as one Canada goose stood at attention and honked at me to stay away. Another was floating in the run-off pound. A third was sitting on the nest. Canada Geese don’t seem to ever fully leave this area; my thought had to do with the nest.
It’s a sign of hope. The pond used to be an excellent place for a goose to raise a family. Four or five years ago there would be six or more goslings there. Occasionally the parental units would stop traffic to march the young ones across the street to the larger neighborhood pond.
But then a medical building went up just south of it. And now new condos are being built to the west. I saw the geese and their nest a year ago. But never did see any goslings. Hope springs eternal.
The nest was my first thought for the Tuesday Photo Challenge of HOPE. So I grabbed the camera when my best beloved and I headed out for a walk yesterday. One Canada goose was on the nest; a pair of mallard ducks was nearby.
The walk itself – with proper physical distancing from whoever else might be out – provides a bit of hope in this era of COVID-19 pandemic. Getting out of the house to enjoy sunshine and blue sky is as much for our mental health as it is for physical well-being.
An annual sign of hope are swelling leaf buds. I marvel at the variety. Here are a few pictures from our corner of the world on the last day of March.
There are so many ways to take the Tuesday Photo Challenge of connect this week! I finally settled on a piece of jewelry. Every time I wear it – or even just see it – I am reminded of love and laughter and relationships that persist across time and place.
We were all together for Thanksgiving about eight years ago. Tanya had an empty bracelet chain for each female in the clan. And dozens and dozens of beads.
One by one Tanya handed each of us two or three specially chosen beads that said something about our connection, our interests, our family. She then instructed us to choose as many additional beads as we wanted to fill out our bracelets.
I picked glass beads based on my favorite color and how they would match the PROSTATE CANCER RIBBON bead Tanya had given me to honor my husband.
Those who know me will easily guess the meanings of some beads.
The CAROLERS take me back to my childhood. We looked forward to Christmas caroling as a family every year. Dad would instigate it. Mom would have treats prepared (with help from the kids!). All five of us would go because it was a family thing. We would stop at friends’ homes, sing a carol or two, and invite them to join us. More often than not, they would drop what they’d been doing and go along. At the end of the evening everyone gathered around the fireplace at our house with mugs of hot chocolate and Christmas cookies in hand.
In this time of physical distancing, may you find ways to connect with others (a phone call? a text? an e-mail? a card?). And may you be reminded of love and laughter and relationships that persist across time and place.
“Spread” was the photo challenge word on Tuesday. As Frank put it “While the spread of a virus is not welcome, a nice dinner spread or bread spread or even bed spread might be appreciated!”
As a quilter I have plenty of bed spreads around the house. But I’d shown you stack of quilts not so long ago when the photo challenge word was “rest.” (You can see it here.)
Then I remembered these pictures of Grandma’s quilt. Actually, it’s my quilt made by Grandma Mary. The fabric came from left-over scraps from clothes Mom had sewn for me when I was a little girl. We cut the many triangles using cardboard patterns over Christmas break 1986.
When my beloved and I moved into our current home, there were no window coverings so Grandma’s quilt became the master bedroom curtain until we could get blinds hung. The only reason I have pictures is because of the reflection of the back-lit quilt on the glass of a framed doily!
A few numbers in the life of a quilter.
Measure twice; cut once. And hold the ruler firmly before making that cut! (Couldn’t take a picture with one hand AND hold the ruler AND use the rotary cutter.)
Posted in response to Tuesday Photo Challenge – Number by Dutch Goes the Photo!
Somehow I never got around to posting for the prior photo challenge, but I took some pictures!! So here’s just a bit of the action required for creating a quilt block using the pink square shown above.
SEW: Sewing machine needle at rest and and then in action. Note that the horizontal screw on the right holds the needle in place so it has go up and down and up and down with the needle.
PRESS: First with fingers, then with iron.
CUT: Stack two strip sets, cut into 2″ widths.
Sew some more. Press. Repeat as necessary.
Finished block! One of more than 100 I’ve made for the 2020 Stash Buster Challenge.
Rest: the silence in music that makes the music music.
Rest: asleep, safe and secure.
Rest: quilts made with love and a prayer for sweet dreams.
Rest: relaxing with feet up.
Rest: eternal peace.
Posted in Response to Tuesday Photo Challenge – Rest by Dutch Goes the Photo!
Another LQQK 