Beautiful Days

Good Morning everyone! 

Do any of you remember the smoky skies I showed you last week?  Here was the view of Mt. Spokane off of our back deck last week.

Here is the view this morning, as of about 10 minutes ago.  Quite a huge difference and a very welcome one.  We had a bit of rain Sunday morning, just a little bit, but coupled with the wind, it was enough to blow most of the smoke away.  We still have some smoke, but much, much cooler temperatures... in the 80's and that is very welcome.  We broke all previous records for the number of days over 90F in a row.  85F feels like a cold snap and has people talking about fall!

My marigolds this morning.  They loved the heat and are doing a great job of brightening the yard.

I took this picture on my walk at the lake yesterday.  This little guy was sure I had some wonderful treat for him...I didn't have anything so he wandered away to join his friends.  I love that beautiful blue patch on his wing.  It turns from green to sapphire blue depending on how the sun strikes it.  Would you believe Dennis and I saw about 30 geese flying south Tuesday night?  Now THAT'S depressing.

Piper's blanket is growing.  The light pink came out, not without difficulty, since I'm using the "join as you go" method of putting the squares together.  It does look a lot better though with just these two colors.  I need more pink, but Michaels is out of stock.  I hope when they get more in that it matches.

Here are my two little hats for the Purple Hat Project.  They went in the mail yesterday to Seattle Children's Hospital.  I hope these little hats will help to be a reminder for parents and protect an innocent little one.  If you're curious about them, I wrote more on my last post and KathyB talked about it on her blog, Compassion Knits, on my sidebar.

The model is my little newborn sized doll that I found at the Union Gospel Mission thrift store a few years ago.  She's a great model for my baby makes and fits the average newborn size exactly.  It's a good way to know if I'm correct in my sizing when making things for charity.

I finished Kale's first sock last night.  A ten year old with feet as big as mine!  Here I am modeling it.  I began the second sock just before bed last night.  This is my "carry in my purse project since Pipers blanket is too big to carry around.

I've seen lots of different toes and heels around the internet but I love the wedge toe and regular heel flap.  The heels wear very well with the flap, unlike some others that I've heard about online.

Lori's flowers at the lake being guarded by the Seattle Seahawk garden gnome. (Did I spell that right?  It looks totally wrong. Ha!)

Larry finished restoring his 1926 Chevy truck last week and has now listed it for sale.  It is pretty!

Look at that blue trim!

He painstaking restored each board of the bed too. 

He loves this truck, but wants a new project to work on.  After all of the work he has done, I would have a difficult time selling it if it were mine.

Today is a busy one.  I went to the Spine clinic yesterday for a second opinion on my back.  I still had a referral until November from last year, so I just called them myself!  He was very frustrated that I wasn't referred back when I fractured my back.  Yes, the fracture is still there.  Now, because of the way I'm walking, my feet are also messed up. I went to acupuncture for them before, which helped immensely but because of my pacemaker, that's a no-no now.  So, today I'm being fitted for a back brace to help support the muscles that are trying to protect the bone.  They are also going to try a laser procedure to help get oxygen to the muscles.  This will be done on my back and my feet and I'll have the first one today.  I'm hopeful that something will help.  I've been trying to walk, yesterday I had almost 12,000 steps, but between my back and my feet, I'm still in a lot of pain.  Mind over matter, only takes you so far my friends!

We had planned to take the new camper out tomorrow for the weekend, but received an email from the campground that they were overbooked, (by the computer).  Apparently this eclipse is sending a lot of people into the wilderness.  I have a couple of other places to call today but we may have to postpone our maiden trip until Labor Day weekend.

I have to get moving.  Weight Watchers is in less than an hour and I'm sitting here with dripping hair!  And WW is another story.  I have stayed exactly the same, up 3 lbs., down 3 lbs., since the beginning of summer.  What's with that?! 

After WW, it's errand day.  The bank, Costco, Shopko, grocery store and then my doctors appointments.  I told you it was a busy day.  That's what I get for being at the lake all week.  I have to cram everything into one day.  Including blogging because blogger won't let me type from my Ipad or IPhone.  At least I can still read all of your blogs and comment.  I would be lost without my visits to all of you. :-)  I better get a move on and stop sitting at the computer!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the last few weeks of summer here in the upper hemisphere.  And for all of you "down under,"  enjoy your last few weeks of coolness.

And in these turbulent times, I pray this daily.

"Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.: Psalm 143:10

Blessings to you always,

Betsy