Jackie's Quilting

Jackie and I have been friends since we were 18 years old. Thank goodness she has stuck with me throughout the years. There have been a lot of ups and downs. Jackie and her family moved out of state when our children were young, but some of my children's youngest, fondest memories are with her kids. We would race those little 2 year olda through the zoo (back when it was free) and then take them home for their naps! Jackie and I even tried to make some money all those years ago having craft sales (I wish I could find those photos...) in her mom's basement. We surely never made much. We certainly lost money if you counted in the time we took to make our treasures. But we never did, we just wanted to sell our homemade things. For me it was mostly plastic canvas things. Jackie sewed. I remember the clowns! They were so fun and she made them for all kinds of people.

Jackie has continued her passion of making things with her quilting. She does such beautiful work. And she appreciates quilting done by others. I love to hear about a special treasure she has found at a rummage or estate sale!

Many years ago Jackie made this quilt top for a table runner for me.I was telling her how I still use it and she didn't seem to remember it. So, here it is! A couple more goodies are this counted cross stitch pillow. The colors are faded on the fabric, but it is as beautiful now as it was back then. Jackie was doing counted cross stitching and wanted to teach me. I remember telling her there was no way I could do it. She taught me and I loved it. I did a lot of counted cross stitch pieces until my eyes made it too difficult! I am sure there are some projects out there that never did get done! Oh, and the crocheting! We made tons of towels for the kitchen by crocheting the tops of them that would hang them from a handle.

This is a little quilted bag that she made for me. I use it as a cosmetic bag, or for jewelry for travels!

Thank you Jackie for all the great things you taught me! And for being a friend to me for all these years!

Road trip to see Gina and Ben

Gina and Ben moved to Terre Haute, Indiana last month. Gina is doing her graduate studies now to become a psychologist. Dave helped them move in August, but I wasn't able to go so I needed to go down for a visit. The dogs wanted to see Auntie Gina and Ben too. For the beginning of the 6 hour drive the dogs were pretty perky. Zeus took the seat and Gunner the floor.
But it was a 6 hour drive so they both took naps....
Dave was so happy to see his girl....
Saturday morning we got an early start, heading for the farmer's market, which this weekend had turned into a chili cook off for charities. We found some political booths....
They have a beautiful fenced in back yard. The dogs got to chase red squirrels up the neighbor's trees. The cicada bugs were so loud at dusk it was hard to talk.
Gina and Ben in the kitchen.
Dave and I brought the fixins for dinner on Friday. Dave cut up the zucchini and onions for the vegetables.

The local Children's Hospital was having a fund raiser and Dave loves to support a charity for children. He bought the rainbow version of cotton candy. They said it was awesome....flavors of cherry, grape, banana.
We took a walking tour of Indiana State University on Saturday morning. This water fountain was outside of the union.
Dave had to play...

Saturday afternoon we went to an wonderful place for lunch that Ben and Gina thought we would love...and we did. Cheeseburger in Paradise. We had great burgers and sunny cocktails.
Gina and Ben thought they might like to have bicycles for traveling around their new city. They are so close to her school it seemed like a great idea. Here we are at Wal Mart trying on bikes and helmets!
Make sure it is a good fit Ben!


Both bikes and all 4 of us fit in the Jetta...

We always have a special toast for a safe return of Clint. Zeus joined in...
Special attention from Auntie Gina.
We have a guard dog to guard the grill.
Saturday night we had corn and shiskabobs. They were so delicious! I never had grilled pineapple. It was the best. For dessert Gina made grilled peaches and pineapple. We also had a bottle of honey wine made in Indiana. It was wonderful!

Sunday morning we got up and went over to Gina and Ben's for breakfast. We had scrambled eggs with cream cheese and sausages. Wonderful.

We miss not having them close by, but we are happy to see that they have settled nicely into their new lives for the next few years. They rent a beautiful little house that they have made a nice home for themselves. We hope the time goes by quickly and they return to Wisconsin to live.

The Monster in the Yard

Remember my morning glory that I was so excited about and all the neighbors thought was so nice??? It is overtaking the lightpost. There is a light under there.... Still no flowers. We don't let the dogs get too close, we are afraid the plant may grab them!!!

Dave's high school sweetheart!

Here are our admission tickets to the party. The photo doesn't do them justice...they are very sharp.
Walking into Summerfest grounds...
This bike is featured all over the TV. There are 105 flags on the bike. Very cool.
Dave is a guy who has a list of favorite songs from throughout his life. Top on that list is I Love Rock n Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Well, finally, 30 some years after high school, Dave gets to see her in person. Joanie (as he calls her) has aged very well! This photo she is her doing her soundcheck.
My anxious husband!!!!!
Finally she is out on stage to sing!

Dave took this next photo. Awesome! He said she is looking right at him!!! I think he did an awesome job. She had ripped the white shirt off and now was down to her bikini top. Dave missed that as he was looking around the crowd!

On our way home we stopped at our local Harley dealer for a burger and some good music. Dave tried out a bike he would like to have. As you can see, there is no room on it for me.

Start of a 3 day weekend!

This weekend is the beginning of the 105th anniversary of Harley Davidson. Motorcycles and bikers from all across the world are here. Thursday night we went to the HOG ralley at Miller Park. The most incredible sight was driving into Miller Park and seeing the sea of motorycles.
Unbelieveable!
The crowds were huge so the food and beverage areas had long, long lines. Dave and I hadn't eaten dinner yet and were hungry so we chose to leave there and go to our favorite Tosa eatery, Balistreri's for pizza. There were plenty of bikes parked in front of the restaurant too so we weren't the only one with that idea. On our way out there were two young boys getting ready to get into their side car of the motorcycle all garbed up in Harley clothes. I started talking to them, and they looked at me like I was crazy... Their Dad then came over and said they were from Quebec, Canada. They drove down here for the weekend events. The boys only spoke french. Dad barely spoke English, but good enough so I could understand! Wow, that seems like a long ride in a side car.

Port Washington

Port Washington has childhood memories for me. My mom and dad would load us kids into the car once or twice a year and take the hour long drive up to Port Washington to Smith Brothers to buy a box of smoked chubs! That was such a treat. As I have gotten older I have tried them again, while tasty, they are a bit oily for my taste. The buildings are not the same, but there is still a charm about going to places that you have childhood memories of.

This weekend was a Nautical Festival in Port Washington. There were 5 tall ships in port. They were available for tour. It was such a nice day for a motorcycle drive up there and back. We did treat ourselves to some ice cream before we made our trek back to Oconomowoc.

I love summer....

This has been an incredible summer for growing....Well, everything but the flowers I have in planters. My cosmos are so large and beautiful! They are so easy to grow they are definitely a keeper for next year!

I wanted something to climb our lamp post out front of the house. I love Morning Glories so early this spring Dave and I bought 4 little stems, 2 would be red flowers and 2 white. Now we have this huge climbing growth, it is really quite striking, but not one flower. I don't really know if there is something that is needed in the soil out there....but in the meantime we have greenery. The neighbors all comment how beautiful it is. Wonder how pretty it would look with flowers??? It is growing so fast I sometimes think if I sat outside for awhile I could watch it grow.
On to my tomatoes. I love a home grown tomato. This year I planted 6 plants, 5 different varieties. They are growing like crazy too! They are so loaded with tomatoes that the plants are knocking down the cages. The best variety is the grape tomatoes, we have had scores of beautiful large grape tomatoes. They are very sweet. They are large enough to chop up for dishes!

Today Dave went to the hardware store and got some 2 x 2's and pounded them in the ground to hold up our precious plants... Well mine anyway, his favorite are the cucumbers. We have had an abundance of those as well. I told Missy to get ready, we are going to have to can tomatoes this year!