I've been wanting to make this pattern for so long. I'm kicking myself for not doing it before because it's such a fun little pattern. It's the Woodland Stroll Cape from Liesl + Co. It has only three pattern pieces and it's not very big so you can afford to buy a fancy fabric.  We're…

Another window finished. A small step to helping this old house go on with its job of keeping us cozy.  Befores and then afters:

Here are a bunch of photos that I've taken in the last few weeks. Sometimes I wonder why I keep taking photos. Year after year I am drawn to the same things and I take similar photos. But since I enjoy it I just keep doing it. At this time of year the gardens are…

My morning glory is hugging the purple coneflowers.  The bed next to our patio is full of blooms right now. I'm particularly happy with my Japanese Anenomes and my blue sage.  Who needs fussy dahlias when you can grow big beautiful zinnias so easily. I ripped all the pachysandra out of the bed by our…

Brian went to Sydney this week. Here are a few pictures that he sent back to us. Back at home the girls started school. No pictures but they are off to a good start. Shadows are getting long. I went to the Chicago Botanic Garden. It's hard to decide which part I like best –…

We are well beyond the very top of summer but I read this quote in the first week of August and I can't stop thinking of it. The feeling you get when you are at the tippy top of a ferris wheel does indeed feel like the rush of the peak of summer. “The first…

The botanic garden has some gourd vines growing on an overhead trellis. I've been sort of obsessed with photographing them against the sky lately. I just love those curly reaching lines.

After Midland we were off to Tawas to spend some time with mom and Jennifer and Jenna. We rented a cute old cabin near Jennifer's yacht club. Jennifer and Jenna showed us a good time like they always do. We got to sail a little, we got to hunt for Petoskey stones, we bumped around…