The socks for my coworker’s Godmother are complete. Nothing fancy here – just vanilla. I let the yarn do all the work. The yarn is Dolce from Hobbii. The colour is Mint. I didn’t bother trying to make the gradient match. I love that they are fraternal twins. I think it makes them that much more whimsical.

The yarn, while not the softest yarn I’ve knit with, was nevertheless quite nice to work with. I don’t recall exactly what I paid for is, but it was around $12 a ball. One ball does a pair, so it’s quite an economical wool.

You may recall that I did a fairly large order from Hobbii back in the early spring. This is the first thing I’ve knit with yarn from that order and I’m definitely not disappointed. They have sales all the time too, and free shipping over a certain amount.

These will go in the mail tomorrow, and hopefully be bringing the recipient some comfort very soon. And I’ve got to get back to Dad’s Christmas sweater. Time is ticking! Lol

(No walkabout post this week – it’s been far too hot and humid for me to get out there. Walkabout will return next week)

While Dave’s car adventure took up most of Sunday, I did take some time on Saturday to get in the studio.

Burton felt it was long overdue, and made sure to make his displeasure known by getting in the way as much as possible.

Despite his “help” I got caught up again on the Blockheads quilt. We were two blocks behind and they are now complete.

And so our top continues to grow….

First, thank you all for the compliments on Dave’s first and true love. I’m sure we will have lots of fun with her from here on out

I did get in trouble for posting pictures of it “dirty”, lol. She’s since had a bath and he’s already made an appointment with the local mechanic to do a brake conversion (basically updating to better, stronger brakes) on her later this week. I can hear our bank account emptying as I type…

But that’s enough about Dave’s weekend.

I got some stuff done too. Some tiny stitches in fact.

Under Burton’s watchful eye, I spent a few hours each evening stitching away. I got a few more bits filled in and made a good start on the machine head.

I’m on vacation next week, and I hope to take a few extra days to make some really good headway on it then.

As I mentioned yesterday, this weekend, Dave and I had a mission.

We were up well before the crack of dawn and headed to the big city. Dave’s Mom has been staying at his Grandma’s house, getting it ready for sale. We had already cleaned out most of the garage, but there was still one big thing to get…

She’s a ’67 Dodge Charger. She was a birthday gift from his step-father when he was in his teens. She didn’t look like that when he got her – he spent the better part of his late-teens/early-twenties restoring her. I met Dave when he was 26, and the restoration was done by then.

But as it happens, life rolled on and there wasn’t much time to devote to it. He stored it at his grandma’s and drove it whenever he could. As the years wore on, that became less and less. With COVID, and our move and all the chaos of the last couple of years, she hasn’t moved an inch. He did start her up periodically, but that was it.

So we didn’t want to take the chance of driving her all the way back here. Instead we called in some “professionals”

Good ol’ Super Dad, and his buddy Ray. Dad rented a trailer, secured her, and towed her all those miles home.

She made the trip safe and sound with no issues.

It’s been a long road to get her here (physically, and metaphorically) but I’m so happy she’s finally properly reunited with the guy who loves her so much.

Dave and I are on a mission today to bring his ’67 Dodge Charger home. It’s been in storage at his Grandma’s for the last 20 years, so I’m so glad he will finally have it accessible any time he wants to drive it. It runs, but it hasn’t been driven properly for ages (not 20 years, but too long). Dad will be towing it for us on a trailer, and once it’s here, we’ll get the brakes adjusted and do whatever servicing it needs so he can have fun with it again.

While we are gone, here are a few more of the locals I’ve been meeting with day after day.

The other day I was waiting for much lunch to heat up in the microwave, so I stepped out onto the sunporch for a little fresh air. I noticed a butterfly struggling against one of the screens. We get a lot of moths and wasps that wander in (the door to the catio yard is always open), but it’s unusual to see butterflies in there.

Very gently, I caught him in my hand. There was enough room between my thumb and palm for him to creep out, and when he did, he just sat there. Naturally, I took pictures.

This is an Eastern Comma butterfly. He didn’t fly away until I walked out into the catio yard.

This little guy, however, did not want to be held at all.

It was hard to get pictures of him before he hopped out of my hand and disappeared into the garden.

This guy was also very tiny. He’s a Summer Azure butterfly, and he was about the size of my thumbnail. He was very interested in the snack he was getting from the Yarrow, making it pretty to get pictures.

This big beauty practically posed for photos atop this daylily bud. I’m note sure if it’s a 12-spotted skimmer dragonfly, or and orange meadowhawk.. Whatever it is, I think it’s beautiful!

And last, this gorgeous green Katydid was hanging out on my lawnmower the other day. Love that vibrant shade!!!

Everything continues to be wonderful in the garden. Even I can’t believe how much I’ve accomplished in such a short time since moving in. But really, it’s not me. I just put things in the ground. They just do their thing and it’s amazing.

It doesn’t get any more low-maintenance than daylilies. These are pretty much no-maintenance. Just give them a mostly sunny spot, and they do their thing. If I could only ever have one type of plant, it would probably be the daylily.

Of course I’m glad I can have more than just one type because… ROSES!!! Our hot, humid summers are a little hard on the roses, but the yellow mini-rose is doing AMAZING. So much so I bought a couple of half-dead clearance mini roses at the grocery store the other day. I know I can bring them back to life in the garden. The red one, Chrysler Imperial, has not stopped blooming since it started in June. And it smells AMAZING. Good as Gold took a brief break, but is busting out nice dark golden flowers. The other roses I bought aren’t blooming, but they are putting on some good new growth. Since they were in a sad state when I bought them, this is not surprising.

It’s Coneflower Season!!!! Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like my Strawberry Mango Smoothie coneflower made the move. I’m pretty sure old neighbour Krista still has some in her garden, so I’m going to see if it’s big enough to snag a piece of root this fall. Otherwise, I’m loving the ones I do have (some from the townhouse, some new). You can never have enough coneflowers as far as I’m concerned. The finches agree, and I’ve already seen them nosing around the seed heads.

The Liatris is coming into bloom. This is a native plant and so pretty. The purple one is so striking against the yellow of those susans.

Speaking of…. they are doing amazing. But on Thursday, I came out and half of the darker ones had flopped over.

There was no storm, and they had been fine that morning. Not sure what happened – maybe just the weight of them? Regardless, I made lemonade out of lemons and created a bouquet for the house.

They will definitely need to be divided this fall and moved around.

The pink yarrow will probably be split too. I love how the flowers start out a vibrant dark pink, and fade to cream. Makes for a pretty wild show.

The honeysuckle bloomed again, which surprised me. And there’s more buds coming. Pretty good for such a young plant.

The regular Black-Eyed Susans have bloomed, which really tells me we are headed into the downside of summer. I only brought a small clump of these from the townhouse, as they were VERY hard to dig out of the clay soil there. In a year or two, they should be big enough to divide and I can have Susans all over the yard. The blooms go right until the first frost.

This Harebell (one of the new native plants) has just gone INSANE!!! It’s hard to get a picture because there are so many little flowers, the camera doesn’t know where to focus. I love that there are also two different shades on the same plant.

The big showy pink foxglove out front ate done, but I’ve got this smaller, more subtle one out back and it’s just getting started.

This Shasta Daisy is new. I grabbed it on a trip to the hardware store in early summer. The flowers are extra frilly and start out bright yelllow, fading to light. I still need some regular daisies, but these ones are making me smile for now.

The cherry tomatoes are also starting to ripen. I harvested the first two on Thursday, and there’s plenty more to follow.

“Are you done working YET?????”

I know I keep saying how busy work has been lately. Well this week has been INSANE! So much so that I’m also working evenings, on top of all day.

Now I can’t really complain. I work from home so I can just get up form my desk and chill in the garden with the cats whenever I need a break. And when my work is slow, my superiors don’t expect me to find busy work to fill my time. I am welcome to kick back and relax, because they know when we get slammed like this, I put my nose to the grindstone and do what it takes to get things out on time.

But it means right now, there’s even less time than normal for crafting in the evenings.

Happily, I took the latest socks with me to Sam’s birthday party on the weekend.

Because sitting and knitting and chatting is my idea of a good party! I got the leg done while there, and the scant few minutes I’ve had in the evenings since, I’ve managed to complete the heel, and I’m just getting started on the gusset.

Work should be lighter by Monday, so I expect to have my evenings back again. And maybe even have these off the needles and in the mail by the end of the month.

One of the tricky things about WW, is getting good pictures without trespassing, or freaking people out by obviously taking pictures of their property.

So this week, I decided to share pics of things REALLY close to the sidewalk!

Remember the butterfly house I shared back in the spring? Will the butterfly bush beside it hasn’t bloomed yet. (The cold spring has all the butterfly bushes a few weeks behind), but they also have this pretty bunch of Phlox beside it. And it’s real Phlox too – not the fake Phlox I posted about in a previous walkabout post.

On the subject of flowers, there are quite a few sunflowers around town. Both of these were nice and close to the sidewalk. The first at the welding shop down the street from us, and the second at a house around the corner.

Not one of my sunflower seedlings made it (Thank to Foxy squirrel, I’m pretty sure), but I have a few that the birds supplied. They are a few weeks off from blooming I’m afraid.

Not far from the post office, there’s a duplex that was once some sort of commercial building. It was sold late last year, and they turned it into two residential units. It’s quite close to the road, so doesn’t have much of a front yard, but some clever person has lined the front walk with what appears to be pieces of old clay pipe (maybe from inside the building?), and filled them with Hens and Chicks. So cute.

As a side note, did you know that in the UK, they call these houseleeks? Isn’t that an adorable name? I learned that watching Gardener’s World.

This particular houseleek/hens and chick is at a house just around the corner from me (the house with the maple I want to hug). It was right at the sidewalk and as you can see, it’s in bloom. Sadly, that means this particular plant is going to die, but the flowers are amazing. I’ve never seen one with so many blooms.

I guess it’s not a suprise that I mostly took pictures of flowers close to the sidewalk… but this particular garden is actualy between the sidewalk and the road on a little verge! I’d love to do something similar, but the verge on our street is used for extra parking. This particular street is wide enough to park on without having to put a tire on the grass.

And last, there’s a new addition at the library. There’s an identical one out in front of the legion too.

That’s all for this week… Hope you enjoyed getting close! Lol!

It was a very busy weekend, and I feel like I barely had a moment to sit still. I must have though, because I did manage some stitching on the sewing cat.

Not a lot, but I got some of the background beige filled in, added a little more black work, and got started on the last drawer. I’ve completed all the dark brown bits for the piece, and once the drawer is finished, there’s only a little decorative work on the machine head for the light brown. That makes me feel like I’ve made progress more than anything else.