Sometimes I draft a post and just don't get around to posting it. This is one from James, Lance and Michelle had a thrilling time while spending several days canoeing in Boundary Waters Canoe Area the last part of June and July. The first three days the weather was wonderful but then a terrible storm hit and they had trouble getting back to their car. They even swamped the canoe once during the trip. They had told Lance not to tell grandpa, so what does Lance do, he walks up to grandpa and says, "We swamped the canoe!"  Why do we tell them not to say something, knowing that they will be sure and say it!

Here we are one-third into the month of August, hoping for warm or hot weather to dry out our wet fields, we had ANOTHER 2.25 inches of rain the last part of last week plus hail! I couldn't stand the grass on Saturday so mowed the front yard on Saturday, driving through water puddles, with water splashing all over. Today is finish up day.

Today is a recheck with my physical therapist, Ross. I can't say I have been the best at exercising this past month. Too much company. Brian arrived on July 2nd, the next day we headed to Hoyt Lakes and spent the weekend at my brother's. Was a fun weekend, visited high school friends, Toots and Barb, went to the parades in both Biwabik and Aurora, which were both not as good as I had hoped. Michelle arrived July 15 and was gone the next Wednesday; definitely not here long enough. We had a wonderful time together. It is the first time the two of them have been here since our fiftieth anniversary in 2012.

Brian spent much of his time here working with his Makeover Workshop business. One can also visit his Facebook page. He was busy with classes in various areas of Minnesota, including some training for the students at the cosmology school in Park Rapids. We did have time for some fun in Roseau during the fair and while Michelle was here.

Quilting

About May 20, 2016
I love to quilt and over about twenty-five years have worked on several quilts. The first quilt I made was, without instructions to speak of, was a log cabin quilt for my mother which I made while she was in the Sheltering Oaks Care Center in Roseau. It was definitely not what I would do today but I felt good about it at that point in my life and my mother loved it. Thank you, mom!
After Ardmore a pinwheel patterned quilt which he picked out. I used the 2014 Minnesota Shop Hop fabric. Very enjoyable but challenging. I use the Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorials to gain a greater understanding of how to make pinwheels easier. Their website is the go-to-website for learning to quilt, even though there are many wonderful quilt learning sites on the computer, this is definitely my favorite site. They also have a Deal of the Day, where a person can purchase fabric quilting tools, strips, charms or cakes, about half off. About 3/4 of my quilting items have come from their website. They also have a YouTube site with their quilting tutorials.

I am very careful when I am quilting as it is so easy to make an error that will cause the quilt to meet at corner points. Here is one of the squares for his quilt with the instructions attached.

I was told that homemade quilts were just that, homemade and would never be perfect. Well, my points prove that this is definitely NOT going to be perfect!

I just finished Skyping with our grandson Lance in Hong Kong. He is such a cute four-year-old. We had the honor of having him stay with us for several days while James went to Yosemite to go hiking (our favorite place to visit). Ardmore and I had a great time, playing games, T-ball included, eating out, going swimming with friends.