Three on Thursday this week.

Thing 1. 

This guy had a Golden Birthday on the 12th! We were all finally able to get together 10 days later, and it’s another week before I’m getting around to posting. Who cares? The kid who made me a grandma is a dozen years old!! Crazy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUNAH!! (They are only blue-light glasses, he just likes wearing them.)

Thing 2.

I had a vague recollection of someone taking my phone when they were over… Malina! I think she even flashed it in front of my face in order to unlock it. That explains the random photos I found alongside the birthday pics.

I have at least three versions of this print — Flower Girl in Holland (1887) by George Hitchcock — including one that isn’t cropped like this, as they so often are, which also crops out the artist’s signature. I first became aware of this print because my sister Sharon had one, which I inherited… but not before I already acquired one of my own (the uncropped version) and maybe another besides. Anyway, naturally, Sharon’s always the first to come to mind whenever I see one and, though I don’t always have to have it, there are times. This one is different. I don’t know if unframing it would give me more context, but it’s almost like it was a “coloring page” of sorts and someone interpreted it for themselves — but didn’t sign it themselves. It says “Flower Girl in Holland” on the bottom left and “Hitchcock” on the right. Anyway, for $10? Nicely matted & in a frame? Yes, please.

“Winter tableau.” Actually, all of these, except for the gnome candle, have resided year round, for many years (hence the dustiness), on the top of the doorway header between the living area & kitchen (living room side). They were displaced with the great artwork re-hang a while back. I’m not sure I’m ready to be rid of them yet.

Thing 3.

I bought a LEGO set… for myself.

I have been an Assistant LEGO Builder/Scrounger for years… it’s been ages since I took the lead.

Again, the need for color in my world, I guess. This was also last Sunday, so something to focus on for a few minutes other than the incomprehensible (still) murder of Alex Pretti that happened on Saturday in Minneapolis. Sunflowers were also my mom’s favorite flowers, and she’d have celebrated her 88th birthday this Saturday.

Three Things on Thursday — My NYT Year in Games!

Thing 1. The graphic.

Those aren’t even my favorite NYT Games!

Thing 2. I don’t know about you (if you even play these games), but there’s an order… I usually start with Spelling Bee, but don’t have the patience (or maybe the will) that I once had for that game, so I usually find a few words and then move on. Second on the list is the Mini Crossword (unless I already did it the night before). Third is either Connections or Wordle (I’ve been switching that up). Then Letter Boxed, then Strands, and finally Pips!

Thing 3. Those last three — Letter Boxed, Strands & Pips — are my favorites, and I’d love some stats on those! Maybe next year!

Three on Thursday this week!

Thing 1. My Alabama Chanin project can be overwhelming, what with the various fabrics, threads, embroidery floss, beads (seed, chop, bugle) & sequins… not to mention the tools, including various types of pins & needles, scissors, marking pens & chalk. I managed to put together a small project bundle to take up north on my jaunt with Maddy — limiting myself (not easy) to only needle & thread/floss. Well, I brought everything except the main thread/floss that I was using! There happened to be a small hank of Weeks Dye Works Pearl Cotton in Eggplant in the sewing tin that I grabbed — I have no idea where I got it, but it’s gorgeous & I’d been considering how/when to use it. If I wanted to sew, I had no choice but to use it, so I did — and I’ve since ordered more & other colors.

Sewing has been slow of late with everything else going on, but I got back to it last night. Here’s an update!

Front & back of one of the back panels, as of this morning.

Same panel two weeks ago. Spot the differences! haha.

And here’s a more detailed shot of the bottom third of the panel that I’ve been concentrating on.

Thing 2. After I did a little sewing last night, I pulled Addie’s throw onto the table & started going over that with a fine-tooth comb, tucking in ends & whatnot. While it looks amazing, I’m afraid it’s not going to wear very well, so I’ll have to offer ongoing maintenance services. haha. I’ve also been working on the border of the Family Temperature Blanket — whoa boy that baby is a lapful!

Turns out, I had one tooth to knit on my second Hitchhiker, so I finished that off the other night.

I’m not sure what I did on the edge at top/near right — some extra increases, I guess — to make that little bump. No one will know but you & me.

It still needs blocking, and that bump might not be so prominent.

Thing 3. I have tomorrow off, and it’s one of my long weekends — the first “normal” one since early May! I’ve had plenty of time off, so I’m not complaining at all, but it just goes to show that “summertime” & “routine” do not go together around here.

I can’t complain (too much) about the weekend weather, either — there’s rain everyday, but also sunshine! Maybe there’ll be a good thunderstorm to chase, or rainbows to spot.

_ _ _ _ _

I have a doctor appointment tomorrow morning. I saw her a couple of weeks ago (a week+ after a visit to urgent care) about a “bug bite” I got around the 4th of July that quickly turned into… who-knows-what?? Cellulitis? The doc at urgent care thought so & put me on an antibiotic. It was clearing up, but came raging back when the course of drugs was finished. My doc wasn’t so sure about cellulitis; she tested for Lyme (just to be safe – and it was negative, thank goodness), but thought maybe it was a bad allergic reaction, which I’ve had to bug bites before but never like this. More drugs. I finished one of them yesterday morning… and there’s still a big red/maroon (sometimes a little itchy) spot on my leg. So far it doesn’t seem to be getting worse. Geez, I hate this stuff. The good news is, they did all the labs when they drew blood for the Lyme test, so I don’t have to go in extra-early for that — and the results weren’t too bad. Tomorrow, it’s just mammo, physical, and follow-up on the bug bite. Wish me luck.

Thing 1.

Alison’s cake was gorgeous! Our friend & fabulous baker Kristin posted a Swiftie-inspired cake that she made a couple of months ago & I messaged her immediately to order a similar cake for Ali. Ali’s not a Swiftie, and neither am I, really — though, having traveled to Amsterdam to go to an Eras Tour concert (and ending up going to two), you may beg to differ. But last summer, while making friendship bracelets & becoming familiar with Taylor Swift’s music, I also saw a clip of her boyfriend’s podcast where he admitted that he was a grown-ass man before he realized that it’s Alice in Wonderland… not Alison Wonderland! Well, we really liked “Alison Wonderland” for a bunch of reasons, and Ali even made herself a bracelet!

Kate thought 38 candles would blur the message too much, so we used only one. haha. The cake was delicious!

We gave her a “homeowners’ tool kit” and a box full of picture-hanging supplies! She will make good use of both, I’m sure.

Thing 2.

There are flowers blooming outside!

And inside! That’s another of those irresistable MONDO craft kits from Target. Five dollars for a set of three + paint + paintbrushes. Waiting to see what happens with with those given the tariff on China… $10? $15?

Thing 3.

It feels good to have something on my United countdown ticker. I’m heading to Lima at the end of next month for Addison’s high school graduation! (!!!) I’ll be taking an empty suitcase with me so I can bring back some of their stuff (possibly a suitcase full of shoes), as it’ll be only a month later that they return to Wisconsin.

Thing 1.

Ali shared this pic of Davy with us a while back. “He’s going to miss this!”

My house has forced-air heat and I have the thermostat programmed to turn down the heat at night (pretty low, too, because I sleep better that way), so it warms up fast & quick in the morning… and Davy has found his favorite morning warm-up spot!

Their new house has a boiler & radiators, along with a couple of electric heaters in a “newer” part of the house — no hot air blowing around.

Thing 2.

When she sent that, I immediately thought of, but could not locate, this photo:

One of my favorites of Maddy & Ali, warming up their feet in our old kitchen (in their matching Hanna Andersson PJs)! Maddy’s probably about the same age as Davy in this pic. I found it today in my FB Memories because it’s national sibling day or something like that and one of the girls had posted in a few years ago.

Thing 3.

You may or may not already be aware of the imaginary island located in the Indian Ocean that my husband created, called New Island.

He’s drawn/painted/created many maps of the island over the years, along with many other creative things (paintings & other images, including the view from space, a guidebook, a coin, a flag, stamps, train tickets & other artifacts) and now he’s gone a step further, having found this old school map at our local antique mall.

Do you see it?

He recently wrote & self-published his first fictional YA story set on the island, called The Hum: An Extraordinary Journey of Awakening. (No, I haven’t read it yet.)