Late I LIke Thursday Post #165

 Two days off in a row, gardening, cleaning gutters, readying for a trip to visit my family and Oregon, and I totally missed that it was Thursday, until I went to charity sew at church.  Oops!  

I liked these cute dog clothes I spied at work.

How about a cute little gingham dress? 

Happy Camper shirt.

Or I'm a Hot Mess.  

I love my coral bells plant.  The leaves are almost black.  Since the chickens are corralled this plant has really taken off.  

I finished all the blocks for my pineapple quilt and started sewing the rows together.

 I read a few books this week.  

An Artless Demise by Anna Lee Huber which is the 7th book in the Lady Darby series.  Kiera and Gage are in London and Kiera's return is anything but mundane, especially when there is a new gang of body snatchers, which reignites the rumors regarding her past exploits in Edinburgh.  When a couple of the bodies are of the gentry, Kiera ad Gage are determined to prove that there is something much more insidious going on.  

Apple Pie Die is the 1st book in the Apple Orchard Cozy Mystery Book by Chelsea Thomas.  When Chelsea Thomas is left at the altar her Aunt May retrieves her from her Jersey apartment and takes her back home to the small town where she grew up.  Chelsea works at the apple orchard decorating for events.  One of the first big events is Chelsea's cousin's wedding.  Chelsea is sent to locate the groom who is late for the rehearsal dinner.  Chelsea finds the groom, dead in the creek near the camping cabins. Aunt May, Chelsea, and Teeny (the owner of the local diner) are convinced they can find the killer before the local police.

Cooking the Books is the 2nd book in the Apple Orchard Cozy Mystery Series.  Teeny has convinced Chelsea to enter the sled race.  When Chelsea loses control and ends up in the trees, she discovers a body of the local financial advisor who has recently taken everyone's money and invested it without notifying anyone in advance.  There are too many suspects to count.  All of Aunt May's retirement money, as well as the money she uses to run the orchard  is gone, so it is imperative that they discover who the real killer is and hopefully recover all the money for the citizens of Pine Grove.

Murder in the North End is the 5th book in the Nell Sweeny mysteries.  When Nell's friend Detective Colin Cook is accused of killing a man in the North End of Boston (an area during that time which was very seedy), Nell is determined to clear his name. 

I want to thank everyone for their positive thoughts and prayers for my dad. After 3 weeks in the hospital he finally was released to a rehabilitation center.  He is working hard to get strong enough to use a walker.  

I will not be posting for the next couple of weeks.  Bobbin and I are tripping to California, the check on Jeff's grave, in the past 2 years two different forest fires have went through.  I am then hoping to make it to Oregon in time for my oldest grand daughter Lillian's graduation party.  Mighty proud of the girl who had a rough couple of years in the recent past, she managed to get her act together and graduate at the age of 16!

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts. 

I Like Thursday #164

 What a week!  A week full of pineapples, wisteria, pool prep, groundhogs, and honeysuckle!  Welcome to my 164th post for LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color, and I Like Thursday.  What is I Like Thursday?   It is a group of bloggers that share things they have found that they like/love during the week.  

I have been trying to grow a wisteria for several years now.  I had one that made it 3 years and after the chooks escaped, they made a quick meal of it last year, they took out my hydrangea too at that time.  I am told that wisteria is poisonous, but it didn't seem to affect them.  So I bought another, planted it and even put a trellis up.  I babied it all winter, and it was starting to show some growth at the end of April, when boom we had a couple of hard freezes.  Looking at it I was sure it was good and dead.  I hadn't pulled it up, but I did buy a new one (which I have yet to plant).  Imagine my surprise  when today, while I was outside working on the pool, I spied my old sad wisteria.

I am serious, a couple of days ago this was just a stick.  Now I need to figure out what I am going to do with my other one I just purchase.  Sigh. 

Every day I worked at getting the water and all the leaves off of the pool cover, and every day we would have rain late in the afternoon.  My day off it was raining and hot and humid.  It became a sew day.

I finished my green block.  

 The green row.  I actually used the black and white photo editor to arrange the blocks from light to dark.  

Then on to the blue blocks.

And the blocks all laid out. 

I started working on the purple blocks the other day, and have them all cut out, just need some time to sit and sew.

While prepping the pool yesterday I noticed a huge hole dug along my foundation.  A little further was another, and one more by the back porch! A big, deep hole!  A ground hog has been trying to create a new home, by infiltrating mine.  I think not!  So I put out the live trap, outside the biggest hole.  Imagine my surprise when I got home this afternoon.

I felt bad because it was so hot, even though it was in the shade, and it's toe was caught where the cage came together.  We managed to get the toe loose without harming the groundhog, and it was rehomed at the local nature area which is called a marsh about 5 miles away.  

I have been wanting to start on the knotty basket, but had a couple of challenges.  Thanks to Cheryl of Cheryl's Teapots and Quilts for suggesting Sallie Tomato.  This little shop has all sorts of notions for making purses, and bags, and they even had the Bosal that I needed sold by the linear inch!  My next challenge was the 3rd color which would be the bottom and the knots going around the basket.

I think this will be my choice.  The bright green on top will be the bottom of the basket and the knots. I am trying to be disciplined and finish the pineapple quilt top first before starting this project. 

Some other things that made my heart happy this week was this Lantana which is blooming.  I bought a pot at work with some pretty sad looking plants on closeout.  I planted them in a container and waited. 

I just loved the light pinks of this Lantana.  There is also a geranium, and some petunias in the pot.  

I had a couple of old galvanized buckets that I use on my steps, they are planted with more Lantana and petunias.

 One thing every year that makes me smile is my honeysuckle.  Once it starts to bloom my porch has the most wonderful scent all summer long!

Another thing that made me smile is this awesome cross stitch piece that I won during the It's a Wild Life blog hop a couple of weeks ago.

 I read a couple of books this week.

The Sleeping Goblin by April Fernsby.  This is the 4th book in the Brimstone Witch series. 

Cassia is a witch whose job is to protect the other enchanted beings of Brimstone.  A Goblin that works at a local hotel as a bedwarmer has been found dead.  The zombie in charge of the hotel causes lots of complications selling peeks to ghouls, causing Cassia's investigation no end of trouble, especially when the Goblin's body disappears.

Elementary, She Read by Vicki Delaney.  Gemma manages her great uncle's book emporium which specializes in all things Sherlock Holmes.  When a rare magazine is discovered in Gemma's shop, which she is positive is not part of the inventory,  Gemma  is determined to return the magazine to a woman she had noticed the prior day that had been carrying a grocery bag.  The problem is when Gemma locates the lady, she is dead.

The Snowdonia Killings by Simon McCleave.  DI Ruth Hunter arrives in rural North Wales hoping to escape the crime in London and start a new life.  Ruth arrives just as a murder of a prominent teacher at the local school has been reported.  Working with a difficult deputy Ruth hits the ground running.  

I also read A Brush With Death by Anna Lee Huber, the 6th in the Lady Darby series.  Kiera and Gage are summoned to his grandfather's estate, a place he has not visited since the death of his mother.  Langston Manor is dark, and foreboding, and the local women tell Kiera to take care and be careful of the darkness.  

 Quick update on my dad.  He is still in the hospital, the sepsis is getting better, but he is being pretty uncooperative.  Because he is being uncooperative, the doctor says they cannot send him to rehabilitation, but he can't go home either because my mom is not capable of caring for him physically. 

Now head over too LeeAnna's and check out the other I Like Thursday posts! 

163 I Like Thursday Posts

 Welcome to my 163rd I like Thursday post.  Thank you to LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find things we like/and or love and to share during the week.  Seem like the weeks are flying by lately.  Work, gardening, the cold weather, just trying to keep up with house keeping, laundry, cooking, the chickens, the cats and life is full. 

All the cats have been spayed or neutered so they are all outside now.  It is kind of funny that they have staked out their specific territories.  

Ashes likes the barn door.  She guards that territory to make sure that the Rogue Chicken doesn't go in and eat the cat food.  

Haze likes the area by the other barn and Roscoe the pigs pen.

You can see haze near the truck. 

Girl cat guards the back porch and stairs.  Bobbin is tentative to head down the steps because she never knows if girl cat is going to grab her from underneath.  

Then there is boy. He is a brute.  He is also the worst feral cat ever!  He loves to sit on your lap, even though he doesn't seen to understand that he should retract his claws.  

I decided I wanted to work on a different project so I went on a hunt for my black thread.  I found it.  Covered in Bobbin hair.  Seriously I wonder how my dog can have any hair left on her body with as much as she leaves behind.

I finally had a finish, of sorts.  I had a garbage bag full of 30's reproduction fabrics which was given to me by one of the ladies I sew with on Tuesdays.  We haven't been together for over a year now, I miss the old ladies.  I decided I wanted to do a Bonnie Hunter Scrappy Trips quilt from the fabric.  I finally got it all cut into 2 1/2 inch strips.

I would say that the garbage bag was a tall kitchen garbage bag and was 1/3-1/2 full. 

It is funny when you look at people's fabric choices.  Most of these are green, pink, or red.  I threw some solids in that match a bit.  I am wondering if I should add some 30's reproduction fabrics which are purple or just use these colors.  

I don't know about you, but do you have a surface in your house that everything lands on?  Mine is my kitchen island.  I try to keep it neat, but quickly it becomes piled with mail, batteries, pens, pencils, snacks, and other debris. I saw this 2 tier rack at Tractor Supply and thought it would work perfectly.

I will say that I can lay my hands on stuff much quicker now.  It would help if I didn't have such picky houseplants.  It gets too light and hot on the sun porch, so I have several plants that seem to like the light that comes through the tall thin window in the kitchen.   Sigh. 

Back to the reason why I needed my black thread.  I wanted to work on my pineapple quilt.  The last time I shared it I had finished the yellow row and had laid it out dark to light, in December.

In December I made a couple green blocks then set it aside.  Here are my green blocks so far.

Then I came to a screaming halt.  I didn't like the next fabric that was with the kit.

 

When inventorying the fabrics with the kit I new I didn't have enough of a couple so I went shopping (online) and I discovered this green I thought I would try instead.

I think it would be better.  I have one green block to make, and I have the blue, blocks all cut out and ready to sew, and the purple fabric prepped so that I can cut. 

I will need to take a picture with my cell phone so I can do it in gray shades to arrange the blocks light to dark.  

Saturday the 22nd of May my family had an 80th birthday party for my dad.  Unfortunately I could not attend since it was in Oregon, and my family home.  During the party my dad said he didn't feel well and actually went and climbed into bed.  My mom said in the middle of the night he started shivering like he was extremely cold.  She tried to get him to put his wool socks on but he refused.  He then started to get sick to his stomach.  He finally fell asleep in his recliner.  

I spoke to my mom, the next day, and she said he had only been up a couple of times, refused to eat or drink.  The next morning my sister questioned my mom about him still being in bed.  When she checked on him, he was unresponsive.  The ambulance came and took him to the hospital.  He was initially placed in an isolation ward until he was cleared of COVID. He was then put into ICU.  He has a kidney infection, infection in the tissue surrounding his kidneys, a blood infection, something going on with his heart, and a bunch of kidney stones.  He was in ICU until Saturday, they are trying to get his infections under control.  Once the infection is completely gone, he will have his kidney stones removed and then have to go to rehabilitation since him being ill so long, and his age he becomes a fall risk, and will need to build his strength and muscle while supervised.  It has been a stressful 12 days.  My parents were supposed to meet me in California at the end of the month, but that won't be happening.  I have been very fortunate that my parents are still alive, and know that sooner or later I will lose them.  I know that each time I see them the likelihood of me seeing them again becomes smaller and smaller.  I will be going to visit them at the end of the month. 

My books for the week....

A Study in Death by Anna Lee Huber which is the 4th book in the Lady Darby Mysteries.  

Kiera is commissioned to paint a picture of Lady Drummond who dies suddenly.  The doctor's diagnosis of apoplexy is not acceptable to Kiera, especially after recently witnessing Lady Drummond's abuse at the hands of her husband.  

As Death Draws Near is the 5th book in the Lady Darby Series.  Kiera and Sebastian are now married, their honeymoon cut short when sent to Ireland to investigate the death of a distant relative of the Duke of Wellington at an abbey.  Kiera and Sebastian are thrown into the middle of the dangerous religious and political intrigue of Ireland at the time.

House Party Murder Rap by Sonia Parin.  The book takes place in 1920's England.  Evie Parker the young widow of the Count of Woodbridge has been invited to the Duke of Hetherington's house party, but on her way, Evie's car is shot at.  Evie's new Chauffeur is more than he appears.  Who is trying to kill Evie and why?

Murder on Black Friday by PB Ryan is the 4th book in the Nell Sweeney series.  Black Friday in  1869 during the gold market crash, which was caused by speculation.  When one of Boston's and one of the up and coming, nouveau rich are both discovered dead by their own hands after the crash, Will Hewitt is curious after the post mortem.  Nell and Will begin to investigate and many secrets will be exposed.  

The Irish Inheritance by M J Lee is a Jayne Sinclair Genealogical Mystery.  Former DCI Jayne Sinclair is hired to look for the father of an 80 year old business man who is dying of cancer.  With only a picture of the man when he was adopted and brought to the US, and a book Jayne unravels the past during the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Irish War of Independence. 

Now head over to LeeAnna's and check out the other I Like Thursday posts.