Still Hot But Not Complaining...

It's still really hot here, in fact it's supposed to be well over 100F through next Tuesday, but I'm really not complaining.  So many people have it far worse.  We have wildfires burning all around us, but nothing like the absolute inferno's in California.  My heart goes out to the people around Redding, California who have lost absolutely everything.  And in Greece, where so many have died from the fires.  Meanwhile, people on the U.S. east coast have lots of rain.  I don't mean to make light of it, but I think I would take the rain right now.  We desperately need it.

On a bit of a lighter note, I have some crafting to show you.  These are the baby blankets I crocheted last week.  I snapped the picture before I washed and blocked them so they look a bit wrinkled.  I also always add the colored border once I know if the baby is a boy or girl or what color the nursery will be.  I always like to have a few in my gift closet ready to finish.

 I finished these socks last week.  Did I already post a photo?  I can't remember, I've had so many photo trials recently.  I do know that it is Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in the "Reindeer Heather" colorway.  I used the Hermione Pattern.

 Piper requested some rainbow wristwarmers in the same pattern I used for her Mommy's wristwarmers.  I adapted it a bit to make them smaller to fit her little hands.  I have plenty of yarn left to make her a matching hat.

 Then a pair of plain vanilla socks were finished on Friday, made with Knit Picks Felici in the "River Rock" colorway.

 These are my current socks on the needles that I began Friday night.  I'm using the Hermione Pattern again and the yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in the "Heather Thirst" colorway.

 As you can tell, I do both cuffs, then the legs, then turn the heels, the foot and finally the toes.  That way, both socks are done at the same time.  I love that!

We came home from the lake about noon today, (Saturday).  It was SO hot we couldn't stand it and figured we could sit in the AC at home as well as in the trailer. :-)  Plus we decided to go to Applebee's for dinner tonight with Larry & Nita and then we'll go take a swim in their pool at home!

So when I got home, I was going to take a picture of the socks in progress to show you and look who decided to make themselves comfy on my lap.  They do like to snuggle.  Frannie is on the arm of my chair and is 14 years old.  Amelia is by my feet and she's 16 years old.  Both are in amazing shape and act like much younger cats.

Nita bought a wading pool last weekend and this was us at the lake cooling off by dipping our feet in the water.  The beach itself is jam-packed with people so we haven't even been going down there.  I haven't even been in the lake this year.  Sophie is on my lap and I have no idea why I look like I'm 7 months pregnant in this picture.  I do have a belly, but I don't THINK it's that big. :-)

 Larry bought his dream car on Thurday.  He and Dennis have been looking at Corvettes for him for many years now.  This is what he got.  A 2002 Corvette Coupe.  Dennis took it for a spin last night on the highway toward Canada.  We won't say how fast he went!  (That's our gazebo, trailer and my car in the background.)

 Look at that smile!

Not a whole lot of other news.  It's been so hot and smokey that we've been staying inside most of the time.  Not unusual for July and the end of August.  We usually have about 3 weeks of pretty hot weather and then 80's, which is just perfect.  By next Thursday it's supposed to be 85F for the high which will be very welcome.  I really, really don't want to complain, because I would rather have the heat than 3 feet of snow, which I know will come in a few months.  That I REALLY detest.  The yellow jackets have been absolutely terrible and very aggressive this year which I was just told today means a severe winter.  I hope not.

How are all of you?  Although I've experienced technical difficulties with my blog, that still aren't figured out completely, I have been trying to keep up with all of you.  Do any of my readers have blogs that I don't know about?  If I don't comment on your blogs, it means I don't know about it.  Could you leave me a comment or a link in a comment?  I would love to visit you.  I have made so many friends with this blog and I am so grateful for it.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and are enjoying your summer.

"Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the sould and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24

Blessings always,
Betsy

HOT, HOT, HOT!

Happy Thursday morning to you all.  My few days at the lake were a failure.  It was so HOT!  It has been in the uppers 90'sF all week.  I decided that I could get more done by being home in the A/C than just sitting in the trailer in the A/C and I could be with Dennis in the evenings too.  I did enjoy my few hours out there, but then I packed up my flowers and brought them home so they wouldn't die in the extreme heat.  It is supposed to be "only" 93 today and in the 80's tomorrow so I will go back tomorrow afternoon.  Well.  That was probably more of a weather report than you desired. :-)

I'm having some issues with my photos, so the ones I took of the two rainbow blankets I crocheted this week and a pair of socks that I finished will have to wait.  I took the photos yesterday but for some reason they won't upload.  I'm done complaining about it though and will just have to make do with what I have. :-)

Have any of you heard of Wall Drug in South Dakota?  Well, although we have driven by it dozens of times, I think we just stopped once before, years ago.  We decided to have a late lunch/early dinner there on our way home from Nebraska.  They are famous for their free ice water...in fact it's what put them on the map for hot, weary travelers back in the day when Mt. Rushmore first opened.  Here's my handsome guy with his free ice water.  The cups are small so we refilled them several times.

 The Drug Store is still a working pharmacy but has tons of old west memorabilia and touristy "stuff."

 I did finish a baby blanket.  Here's a close up of the pattern.  It's one that Mandy gave me.

 The finished blanket before washing and blocking it.

One of the first glimpes of our beloved mountains on the way home.  These are the Grand Teton's in Wyoming.  The first view of the mountains of the west always make us feel as if we're almost home.

Brad, Mandy and Piper on the first flight last Sunday while we were driving home.  Flying over Eastern Nebraska.

 You can tell that Piper is a natural in the sky.  She has her own FAA approved headset and an official logbook.

Look at the goodies that Debra, "Araignee" on my sidebar sent to me.  She made the cutest card and the soap she makes smell wonderful.  Thank you so much for your generousity again Debra.

The fires are once again raging out here this summer.  The smoke is so thick in the air that I don't know how long we'll stay at the lake this weekend.  It makes it hard to breathe and we were put into the "unhealthy" air quality category this morning. (Friday.  Yes, I started this post on Thursday but technical difficulties prevailed!)  Ha!

In fact, our old neighborhood was evacuated earlier this week because of a wildfire.  And we lived in town!  Only one home actually burned before it was contained at around 130 acres but it is still not under control.  Many more fires are burning right now.  Please pray for relief from the heat and for the safety of the firefighters all over the western U.S. right now.  We need rain.  It's not unusual to go from mid-June to September without any rain, but everything is so dry from past droughts.

I hope you are all well and enjoying your summer, or winter down under, (Shaz).  Have a lovely weekend and be safe.

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you." Ephesians 4:32

Blessings,
Betsy

Finally Some Pictures!

Hello my friends.  Dennis was finally able to download some of my photos for me by me emailing them to myself and then he saved them into files for me.  I still have a few more, but this will give you a bit of an idea about our trip to Nebraska for Mike's Celebration of Life and some family time.

Here is my sister Melanie by the bus that Metro Area Transit, (MAT), sent to honor Mike.  He was a maintenance supervisor for MAT for over 40 years and a very valued and loved employee. I thought this was a wonderful thing for them to do.  The grandchildren and kids were able to ride the bus to and from the bus barn.

 This is me and my siblings.  We were all able to go out to dinner with our spouses and some of our kids while we were there.  We went to "The Cabin" and had a wonderful time.  We also all met there last year when Dennis and I were back home.  They have great food and never rush us.  We ended up having 21 family members at dinner this year.

Left to right, Lynn, Me, Melanie, Roger.  Roger is the oldest, then Lynn, Melanie and I'm the baby.  Roger is older than me by 14 years and received a pacemaker just three months before I got mine.

Melanie and I went to the UNMC, (University of Nebraska Medical Center) to visit our cousin before he received his liver transplant. He received his transplant a week ago last Friday, the day Dennis & I began our drive home.  He is doing very, very well and is out of ICU and in a regular room at the hospital now.

The following photos are in the cancer center at UNMC where Mike received his cancer treatments.  All are made of glass!  There are many more pieces of glass artwork and these don't even begin to do them justice.  Absolutely stunning.

 This is in the "Cathedral".

 These firework photos were taken as we sat on Brad & Mandy's deck on July 3.  Every night we were treated to displays like this while sitting comfortably on the deck.  Why go to a huge show and fight traffic and parking?  We had bathrooms, refreshments, etc., just stepping back inside the house! :-)  I would say the displays were every bit as good as most professional shows I have seen.  The photos are taken with my iPhone so not very good, but they give you an idea of the beauty in all directions around us.

 This was Piper's first time seeing fireworks and she loved them.  Just look at that face.  Her Papa sure does love her and we're going through Piper withdrawals.

We spent the day of the 4th with Brad's parents at their trailer at Fremont Lakes just north of Omaha.  Oh my goodness, it was HOT!!!!  We're just not used to the humidity anymore.  It's so dry here in the summer in the Pacific Northwest.  It was hard to get used to again.  There was a golf cart parade that happens every 4th of July.   Here Brad's dad, Dennis is on the four-wheeler with a flatbed trailer in tow.  He put a picnic table on the trailer and my Dennis, Mandy, Piper, Marilyn and another friend sat on the table and rode around for almost two hours.  Dennis said no to me going because of my back.  A wise decision on his part.

 Here are Dennis and Brad in the airplane getting ready to check the engine by practicing take-off without really taking off!

 The instrument panel.  I sure hope I'm not expected to ever fly.  I can't even download pictures on my own!  Ha!

Putting it back in the hanger.  Dennis sure enjoyed his time helping Brad work on the plane.  Maybe someday we'll live back there and it can be a regular thing.  As for me, I'm looking forward to a ride in the plane when I visit next.  (And I'm hoping to actually take-off!)

Miss Piper and I did some knitting together.  Actually she knitted and I crocheted a blanket for one of her baby dolls.  I always have fun when she wants to knit with me.

It's supposed to be in the upper 90's here for the next several days so I'm heading to the lake tomorrow morning.  I figure that I can sit in the A/C there just as well as at home, right?  I plan to crochet on a couple of rainbow baby blankets to keep on hand for gifts. 

I gave 12 baby blankets to Star yesterday.  She has begun a charity called "Babies of Homelessness" in Seattle, WA.  It is an official charity that is registered officially as a 501(C)(3) charity.  I think that is the IRS jargon.  Hopefully I got all of the numbers and letter right! :-)  She was working with the Union Gospel Mission passing out food to the homeless and was struck by how many babies were among the homeless and that there was no programs helping them.  Star is my best friend Jenny's daughter.  She is the mother of two boys and her Mommy's heart was broken for these children and started a charity, never expecting it to grow to what it has.  She was in Spokane this weekend for a family birthday party that we were also at and I surprised her with the blankets.  She was SO happy to get them.  There is a facebook group and several news interviews if you're interested in looking it up.

I hope you all have a wonderful week wherever you are and are staying cool.

"Truly I tell you, whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

Blessings,

Betsy

Where do I begin?

Hello my friends,
Where do I begin this post?  So much has happened since I last blogged.  I guess I'll just try to catch up a little at a time.  I had NO time to read blogs while I was gone, so I think I will probably just start today and not try to stress myself out because I missed so much.  Once again, the photo's aren't loading and I just do not have the energy today to figure out how to email them to myself, save them, and post from those.  Words will have to do.

Mikes memorial service was perfect.  He worked for the city bus company, (MAT) for over 40 years.  They sent a bus with fellow employees on it and let the kids and grandkids ride to and from the bus barn.  That was really special.  "In Memory of Mike Danahy" was on the top of the bus where the route usually is posted.  I have a photo of it that I wanted to share but....

The day before his service our cousin Alan was transferred from a hospital in southern Nebraska to the hospital in Omaha where Mike had all of his treatments and his liver transplant many years ago.  Would you believe that Alan was in liver failure?  There is no known cause and it happened quite suddenly.  He was put on the top of the national register for transplants because he had no lifestyle causes that caused the liver to fail.  He received a new liver on Thursday as we started our drive back home.  I think it was an 11 hour surgery.  It was a miracle that they found one so quickly.  Apparently the 4th of July holiday is good for transplants.  How sad.  Alan is doing well but still in ICU.  Most people have months to prepare for organ donation.  He only had a few days and it's hard to wrap your head around getting someone elses organ because of the fact that they are no longer living.  It causes survivors guilt and he had not time to prepare for this.  Please keep him in prayer.

Dennis was able to spend much of the week working on the airplane with Brad.  Although he was able to taxi and test the take-off "thrust" in the plane with Brad, the actual flight inspection wasn't done until the day we left, so we didn't get to fly this trip.  Mandy sent photos of them in the air on Sunday though and it looked as though they were all having a grand time flying around Eastern Nebraska.

We took Dennis' mom to lunch and visited her and Dennis' sister several times.  We had dinner with my siblings and some of their kids.  We saw lots of friends at the service and at church Sunday morning.  We went on a 4th of July picnic with Brad's family at their lake place.  It was HOT!  Well over 100F and very humid.  We're just not used to that.  Oh well. We survived and had a good time.

We visited the hospital to see Alan.   Oh, and Mike's sister went to pick up his Dad for the memorial service Saturday morning and had to call the fire department.  He had fallen the night before and broke his hip pretty badly.  So his Dad and sister missed the service because he was in surgery at the time.  He is now in a rehab center and doing well.

So you can see, it was a crazy, busy trip.  Lots of things happening.  Some good and some not so good.

I finished one baby blanket and began another.  Again, I have photos but...

Anyway.  I'm home and hoping to start catching up on blog posts.  We drove 3400 miles in a little over a week on top of all of the family stuff so we're both exhausted.

Take care my friends and I hope you're all doing well.

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another God lives in us and His love is made complete in us."  1 John 4:12-12

Blessings,

Betsy