New Year's Eve 2010

Happy New Year 2010 to one and all! We had visitors last night to bring in the New Year. The two younger ones are still asleep. They filled their time with games and videos.

Chex mix 2009

Every year Larry makes chex@ mix. Each year he improves upon the last year. Each year he plans and collects the ingredients. Then, come the days that my kitchen is his and I come home to baking and stirring and the smells of Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco. 'Super Larry' is faster than sound, more skill than Bobby Flay, more efficient than Rhoda the robot as the chex@ mix goes from box to roaster, to oven, to cool down, to bag. I tried to catch him in action. The best result is all a blur. Here is a photo log of the 2009 event.

Welcome Alexander David

My sister's family recently welcomed a new grandson, Alexander David. To celebrate this wonderful event I began working on this applique quilt. Cassie showed an interest and it became a mother/daughter project. The starting point was 15 cookie cutters and 15 pieces of washable knit fabrics. It always amazes me what a few simple shapes enhanced with basic stitches can describe; a scotty dog, a bat, an elephant or Wilbur the pig. The border is black fleece and the backing is green fleece.

3 sisters and 5 cousins

My wonderfully talented, beautiful, creative and generous niece invited us for a delicious and seasonal Halloween dinner. There were broomstick and ghost bread sticks along with a ghostly green dip for shrimp on a table scape of spiders. Dessert was a tray of hand made caramel apples decorated in a variety of candies and nuts. Every one a work of art and delicious.

For entertainment we were treated to a DVD of an Uncle and his ukalalie singing his rendition of a song I am unfamiliar with. It was 'delightful'.

Above are three of the aunts and 5 cousins well sated and full of Halloween happiness.

Parenting the neighbor part 2

The guy next door moved the river rocks from the fence-line and then pushed construction materials against the fence. I suppose talking to the police is the next step. Crud-o-la.

The top pic is the remaining crop of pumpkins after I harvested a monster of a pumpkin a few weeks earlier. The bottom pic is the 'vicious' miniature doberman dogs that patrol the yard next door day and night.

Parenting the neighbor

The people who live in the house next door have two dogs who like to dig. So, they paved their yard in black and white gravel a few years back. The gravel was brought up to the bottom of our fence ( a foot into our yard from our joint lot line). This year they decided to use river rock in their yard. It was piled against the fence in anticipation of putting in a water feature. I noticed this change in July and went over to ask them to pile the rocks in a way that did not push against the fence. This followed my request that they not lean their canoe and paddle craft against the fence, earlier in the Summer.
The woman of the house did what every person who has parented a preteen girl has witnessed. It was the tsk, eye roll and hair toss as she told me the rocks would be moved. Later in the week her husband informed me the rocks would be moved that weekend.


September 19, I talked with the husband who told me the rocks would be moved. I told him I would move them if he did not by October 4. We had an interesting conversation that ended with me calling him a liar and him admitting it. The pictures of this posting were taken October 3, 2009.
October 4th there was activity that ended in a 2 X 12 (?) board barrier put up on the other side of the fence. I have not had an opportunity to investigate this further because there are irises to be split and raspberries to be tended to. So... more to come.
This over the fence tussle has brought out some responses born out by frustration leading to soul searching and prayer. I do not understand how someone would think it OK to encroach on a neighbor's property. I do not understand how someone would delay correcting encroachment once pointed out. Civilized people do not interact this way. When I stopped trying to interact with the people next door as an adult to another adult and asked God for help, it came. The goal was re- established to have the rocks moved so they were not touching the fence. This did not necessarily need to involve the people next door. The school yard dust kicking was stopped and I began to see the rocks as abandoned and now belonging to me. I would just add the relocation of the rocks to my list of yard work to do. At present, there may, or may not be rocks to move. There is no need for us to have landscaping touching the bottom of the fence. One of the projects on my list of yard work to do is to remove dirt from beneath the fence so the ground is no longer touching it. Problem completely solved.

Finch

The coneflower patch attracts birds. Yesterday morning I noticed a yellow bird and grabbed the camera. I think this green bird is a finch. The yellow bird took off.