Fireworks Viewing While Floating in Lake Huron

8:00 p.m. - Our viewing platform has arrived...

It will be over an hour before we board.

About 9:00 p.m. - DH is all settled in (me, my mom and sister are also sitting near him, but it's impossible to get a flattering picture of three women at one time :) )

Finally we're off ... this is "Sputnik" our city's unique red steel-framed lighthouse.  Its name comes from its resemblance to the Russian space satellite.   

As we get further out, the sun begins to set. It will be out an hour before the fireworks begin.

Finally it's dark enough...

I have never been on a boat when it was pitch black outside. We did not get home until just a few minutes before midnight.

What a unique  Independence Day I had this year!

I Am Having a Great July 4th!

This is the first time DH and I have been off work together for the week of July 4th.  We had a
fun-packed day beginning with our local small-town parade:

Immediately after the parade we headed to the rubber ducky race (we purchased three ducks - the winners get $1,000 or $500).  The 1,000 or so ducks were dropped from this bridge:

 Yeah-GO DUCKY GO!

 They have to make it down to the bridge in the distance which is already full of people waiting. It will take them about a half an hour.

We headed down there for the next event of the afternoon--

When you live on a Great Lake most activities relate to water.  DH is heading for that bridge where the rubber duckies raced to (we did not win).  The 3:00 p.m. event is  cardboard boat races...yes, cardboard!  I was amazed at how creative some of these boats were:

They could only use cardboard and duck tape for the  boat itself.  Some boats had just one paddler. The biggest boat had 14 people in it! 

 The majority of the boats made it across the river without sinking which surprised everyone.

We all thought they would sink right away...especially the big one on the right with 14 people in it.

 There were a few that did not fare as well. Like the poor guy in the middle above. The boat on his right  went down shortly after.  This little guy also took a dip (which probably felt good as it was in the high 80's).

DH proclaimed this one the most artistic of all:

This was the first year for the cardboard boat races and I think it was a huge success.

We are now home taking a short break before cooking a burger on the grill and then heading out to see the fireworks tonight.  We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go out on Lake Huron on this vessel to watch the fireworks!  Yeah, pinch me--I can't even believe it!

It is an 81-ft. research/training vessel for the Great Lakes manned by a crew of 25 US Naval Sea Cadets.

 I can hardly wait to board the boat at 8:30 p.m!

Tango lily 'Olina' made her Appearance on July 4th

Red with a near-black throat--gorgeous!

Just like almost everyone in the US this weekend, we have been busy with Independence Day celebrations. Last night we grilled and had my Mom & Dad over.

This afternoon we go to the inlaws.

I just finished my contributions:

A Tri-Pasta Italiano salad


and some blueberry/raspberry bites.
Yeah, I know the mini cheesecakes look a little bare. That was not the finished picture. I piped cheesecake filling in each shell, then topped it with a raspberry and more blueberries. If I were a good blogger, I would go take a pic of the finished product. They kept falling over on this tray so I put them back in their original holders and stuck them in the fridge until we get ready to go.

I hate toting food to potlucks--it's almost impossible to get to your destination and still have the food look good.

update: I just could not post without pulling them out of the refrigerator and getting a photo of the finished bites. The filling has lime juice in it, so I sprinkled a bit of lime zest over the top of them.

Earlier this morning I was working on a blue jean handbag for my mom. I was going along at a good pace until I got to the handle--ever try turning denim right side out? Trust me, it's impossible to get a nice thin strap when you have multiple seams. I wasted a couple of hours trying, then started over and decided to use seam binding. It's a tad too wide for my taste, but that is probably the way it's going to stay.

I have already put pockets in the lining

Now I need to make side gussets, sew the lining in and put a zipper on the top.

I hope you all enjoy your holiday! What is everybody doing? Is anyone just staying home like I wish I was today? :) It's already 85 degrees, so I opted out of going to the parade. What I would really like to do is stay home and eat leftovers from yesterday.

Overnight Trip and a Great Bargain--or Two

We took an overnight trip Friday to see my son and his girlfriend. We decided to meet and stay at a hotel in Birch Run, MI.....a three hour drive for us and the home of a large outlet mall.

The first store I went in was Pottery Barn. In my small hometown we have nothing like Pottery Barn. I must say I was a bit surprised to see the prices in this outlet store. I found them to be quite high. But I kept an open mind and I did end up finding something to purchase:
These wild purple salad plates were marked down from $6/plate to $3 a plate. They also had a 10% off special due to the holiday weekend. So I bought six of them. I think they will work nicely for a Safari-themed dinner table.

Long time readers know that this is my favorite clothing store.

I have pretty much given up all the local clothing stores and I order online almost weekly from CC. I was excited to get to go in and see and touch the clothing I have seen online. I saw a sweater/jacket that I ordered last Thursday and was happy to see that it was quite cute in real life. I saw quite a few jackets and necklaces that I already own.

I must say that the online prices I get in the outlet store are way better than the prices in this store (the sweather was 50% less online). I did not buy anything here, but I felt really good about the prices I have been paying online. I made sure to drag Dear Husband over to many of the items I own and point out how much less I have been paying!

My best purchase was this pan.

It's a Calphalon One Infused Anodized 4-1/2-Quart Saucepan. There are different grades of Calphalon. I have some pieces of Simply Calphalon, which is not as nice as Calphalon One. I looked up this pan on Amazon. The price is $179.99. This pan was marked down to $49.99 because it had no lid. Because it was the 4th of July, they had it marked down again --to $19.99 on the sidewalk sale!!!
I was pretty sure I had a Calphalon lid at home that would fit. Sure enough I did. Wow--what a good deal I got on that one!

We even found a P. Farm store with items priced half or less of retail.


It's been years since I have been to this outlet mall. I don't really like to shop, but I shopped until I wore the skin off my toes from my flip flops (which was nearly closing time). The we took the kids out to dinner, and went back to the hotel, where DH and son were thrilled to find an old Ms. Pacman machine. After getting a pocketful of quarters they launched an attempt to exceed the high point person indicated on the machine. After just a few tries sonny boy topped the high score.

After a great night sleeping on some very comfy beds, we had breakfast and left early this morning for home. It took us all day to get home because we stopped at a number of difference places--everything from a casino to a Walmart store. To top off the whole trip, I won enough at the casino to pay for the whole trip--including all of my purchases. So all those bargains, 2 hotel rooms, dinner for four--it really didn't cost us a cent!

Ah, Life is good today.

Roses are Red, Borders are Blue

Roses are Red, Borders are Blue
I can't tell you how happy I am
To be DONE quilting you!

I had a mental goal to finish the hand quilting on this king-sized quilt before July 4.
Here it is July 3 and I am ecstatic to say that I am finished!!! Whoo hooooooo....it feels so good.

Here is a close up of the back. Go ahead and click on it so you can see all of the thousands of hand stitches. I am not claiming that they are great stitches, but I am pleased as punch that I did all of them.
I started quilting this one in January '08 and I only worked on it now and then. Six months may sound like a long time, but when you consider that I often went weeks without doing any quilting, it's not so long. There is one little thing bothering me, though. That diamond shape near the top of this photo needs a bit more quilting. I will probably go back and quilt another diamond inside the first diamond. There is just too much unquilted space there.

Now I have to make a binding and sew it on and the quilt will be ready for my bed. I will show the front when it's all finished.

It should be done just in time to top the new mattress set I bought today. I am not even going to tell you how long I had the current set. Just believe me when I say it was a long overdue purchase!

I also bought a new stove today. My old stove is 32 years old and it refuses to die. We were only going to buy a mattress, but lucky for me, in this small town , the same man owns the major appliance store so it was all under one roof. It didn't take me, but two seconds to figure out that I had better get DH over to the stove department immediately or I would be stuck with that old GE for another 32 years. The man's favorite motto is "You don't get rid of something, just because it's old." Which, I must admit, does make me feel pretty good. :)

Early this morning after I finished scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom floors, I was full of energy and decided to clean the ??????? .... what do you call this thing that you walk over when you open the sliding doors? Anyway I took a bucket of bleach water and a toothbrush and in just a few minutes it was sparkling clean. Just look............

Is this not sparkling clean? I really need to get a life, don't I? Ha, ha. I can't help it, I do love clean!

Care for a Goose Egg Omlette?

This weekend, while walking along the beach, my boss (fondly referred to in this blog as the "Big Kahuna") came across this goose. At first he thought she was dead as she lay with her head completely down on the ground.

As he walked closer, she suddenly jumped up to see what danger lurked. Ah, she's sitting on three eggs.
She raised her head high and appeared to be squawking.
Then she spread those menacing wings and lunged toward the Big Kahuna.

The blurred image indicates that the Big K may have been just a tad scared as he quickly jumped out of mama's way!

I don't blame him, I would have been scared, too!

At work today we had a large patriotic-themed Luncheon banquet. I thought the room looked nice enough to take a picture.

The decorations were easy and inexpensive. I think if someone was having a 4th of July or an election day home party they could do very similar decorations. The flags were just stuck in a wine glass with mylar shreds. A few days prior, the flags were rolled around the stick and secured with rubber bands so when they were opened today, they stayed a bit rolled. Very nicely done, in my humble opinion.

Wonderful Relaxing 4th of July

I had a very nice 4th of July.

I didn't do anything in celebration of the holiday today. (Remember we had a party on Sunday.)

After a short time at work, I came home and rearranged containers on the deck. All of my planters have filled out enough so that I can now play with different arrangements.

After I had everything the way I wanted it, I brought out a book and read for awhile. Then I pulled out the wheelbarrow and went around cutting down the dead poppy foliage, cut back some fall asters, and cut back a few more of the pink mallow.



Then I came back and rearranged a few more planters that I thought I liked, but after looking at them a bit, decided to try something different. (for the next two months rearranging the deck will give me great pleasure!)
The glider is my favorite spot to sit.
I decided to move the birdhouse with the chickadee family so I could view it more easily from my favorite seat.

I was a litle worried that Mom and Dad Chickadee would not be able to find their home when I saw them fly in, land on the railing and look all around three times. I was almost ready to put it back when one of them zoomed in from above and landed right at home.

I just realized today that both Mom and Dad feed their young. I don't know how to tell them apart yet. I saw them both together, but they looked the same to me. Now that I have the perfect seat to watch them maybe I will figure it out.



DH hung one of my new feeders at the opposite end of the deck. So far no bird has found the feeder.


When I got home from work I did dig out the scaveola from the hibiscus tree planter below and I put it in the sled.

I think it will work nicely after a few weeks of filling out.



We also went to Walmart and Home Depot this afternoon. I found some plants marked down and couldn't resist a King Coleus for $2, another coleus and impatiens combo for $4 and two 'Dragon Wing' red begonias for $4 each.

Blogger won't let me add them to this post, so I will add another below.

I'm Going to a 4th of July Party this Afternoon

and all I have to bring are the brownies.
It worked out great because I bought this huge box of Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate brownies when I was in Costco Tuesday. There are 6 regular size boxes in it and I used three for this half sheet pan.

Since I had such a quick and easy contribution, I had lots of time to putter around deadheading the plants on the deck

I gave them all a good clip and shake so I could make a big mess, thus giving me the opportunity to rev up my new toy

Actually it's not new.
I bought it for DH about 10 years ago, but it has been sitting in the basement unopened all this time.
I finally decided if he didn't want to use it, I would.
It's one of those gas-powered blower things and it works great!
I just rev that baby up and it blows all the deck debris right off...I can't believe that all this time I have been using a straw broom while I had this bit of modern technology just waiting to be opened.

Happy 4th of July

I just got home from work. Don't work in a hotel if you want to have holidays off! I only had to work 3.5 hours, so it was not bad. I am now on vacation until next Monday. YIPPEE!!!! This afternoon we have a barbecue event to go to. I am making a strawberry cake.

I plan to use strawberries and blueberries on the top to look like a flag. It is raining here today with scattered thunderstorms predicted. My flowers are quite happy, but not so good for the outdoor festivities.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday. I am off to make frosting now.