Blue Skies, smiling at me. Nothin but blue skies, do I see...

...at least for one more day before the rain starts. We've had lots of cloudy, cool days this spring which is just fine with me, but many of our friends at the lake want to go swimming.  I think the next week has great swimming weather predicted, that is if you ignore Friday's blip on the radar!  :-)

Last Saturday it was really cool and rainy.  Dennis and Larry took a drive to the tiny, tiny town of Loon Lake and bought ice cream at the cutest log cabin ice cream parlor.  Two quarts of Huckleberry Cheesecake and Moosetrack ice cream were brought back and we all sat around under the awnings of the two trailers and ate ice cream in the rain.  Don't let Paul's swim trucks fool you.  It was cold and he went and put sweat pants and a coat on right after I took this picture.  Notice the cushions are off the loveseat because it was raining.

Mandy told me about this book she bought last week and I found one on Amazon for $2.00!  Really!  Just $2.00.  It has over 850 pages and is a how-to guide to keep a home.  Not a cookbook, not a cleaning book, but an actual manual for keeping a house properly.  How to choose linens, mattresses, etc.  I've only read about 20 pages and I think it's a great book.  

I finished the Christmas gift shawl.  Sorry about this picture.  I have it blocking on the guest room bed and the colors clash A LOT.  This thing is huge and stretches across an entire queen size bed.  I love it.

A close look at the lacework.  I really want to make myself one of these maybe in silver, purple and I don't know what to choose for the third color.

Teresa (over on my sidebar), recently rewrote her baby hat and bootie patterns.  I made one bootie last night and the other one and the hat in just an hour or two tonight.  Aren't they cute?  The color isn't great because I just took the photo and it's completely dark outside.

A better picture that shows the color more accurately.  This was the first one I made yesterday.  If you crochet and like to make baby things, I highly recommend Teresa's patterns.  She has generously provided them on her blog for free for us all to use.

Our neighbor had this little wishing well by the side of their house for a couple of years now.  It was on it's side and in really bad shape.  We asked them if they wanted to get rid of it and they couldn't say yes fast enough.  They didn't want to pay to take it to the dump.  Dennis carried it home for me and sweet man that he is, spent hours sanding and repairing every board before painting it to match the shed and the house.  He put it in the backyard for me tonight.  Isn't it sweet?  I love it.

The marigolds that I planted in the bed that something ate all the green bean plants in this spring are flourishing.  Whatever ate the green beans aren't a bit interested in the marigolds, thank goodness.  These are the flowers I was buying when I hit my head and gave myself a concussion.  It's a good thing they're doing well after all of that don't you think?  Ha!

The rhubarb is still producing too and it isn't woody or fibrous at all.  Probably because of the nice cool spring and summer we've had so far.

The big news here is we bought a new bed last week.  Ours is at least 17 years old, probably older but we can't remember exactly when we bought it.  The new one is a sleep number bed and is supposed to be delivered on Saturday.  We need a new one desperately as there is definitely a dip in the middle of our bed that we both end up rolling into during the night!  It's gotten quite uncomfortable to sleep in and we often wake up with backaches.  We joke that the cheap mattress in the camper is much more comfortable than the nice one we have at home so hopefully the new one will be better.

I ended up in the ER on Monday morning and after many tests have an appointment at the cardiologists tomorrow.  Next Thursday I have to do yet another nuclear stress test.  No idea what's happening yet, but I do know they are planning to lower the threshold for recording the tachycardia events on my pacemaker so they can get a more accurate reading.  Just have to say, I'm VERY tired of all of this.  I just want to go to the lake and be comfortable and able to walk and play in the water like I used to.  I know compared to many, I have absolutely nothing to complain about so please excuse my whining.

I hope you're all enjoying your summer and having picnics and special times with family and friends.  The world is becoming an increasingly scary place and our homes are our havens of peace.  At least mine is.  I'm finding myself not wanting to leave and go into the world much these days.  But, I remind myself that we can't let this horribleness win.  I'm avoiding the news as much as possible these days and surround myself with music, books and yarn.  Some of my favorite things.  I hope you have things that bring you comfort in these days of uncertainty too.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lod your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

I'll talk to you all again soon.  Happy summer!

Blessings always,

Betsy