It took him a little longer than the others…

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But Rupert finally figured out the cat door.

Well…

All except the part of getting your tail through with the rest of you!

As work on the house is keeping us busy, we haven’t had a lot of time to explore our the area much. Strathroy is the closest city (about 25 minutes away) and we know that pretty well because it has all the big chain stores – Walmart, Canadian Tire, Rona, etc. To the north of us, there’s a tiny town called Watford – we like it because it’s the closest (seven minute drive), and has a very nice Home Hardware Building Centre where we can get drywall and paint and other fun things. To the south (12 minute drive) is another tiny town called Glencoe. It has No Frills, the cheapest place to get groceries, and a Godfather’s pizza to satisfy Dave’s panzarotti cravings.

But other than that, we haven’t checked out much more.

However, the other day, we ended up taking a little road trip to Lambton Shores, a township about 40 minutes to the north, so Dave could get a mitre saw off someone on Kijiji. (We are going to have A LOT of baseboard to cut at some point!)

We ended up in the area about 30 minutes before our agreed upon meeting time, so I told Dave we were going on a side quest. He couldn’t tell because there were houses in the way, but I knew where we were – and that on the other side of those houses was a big blue lake!

We drove down the road a little until we came to one of the inevitable little parks you always find along the big blue lakes in Ontario. When Dave realized where we were, he got very excited.

That, my friends, is Lake Huron – the second largest of the five Great Lakes. Both Dave and I have grown up on Lake Ontario. Dave’s family cottage is on Long Point on Lake Erie, and used to work in Port Colborne, which is also on Lake Erie. My brother and I spent many summer days swimming in Lake Huron (much further north from here). I even got to see Lake Michigan when work sent me to Chicago. (Though it was February, which is a very… unfortunate… time to see Lake Michigan.) The only one of the Great Lakes I’ve never seen is Lake Superior.

But back to our side quest…

Because Dave’s never lived more than a five minute drive from a Great Lake, he’s been feeling very weird about where we live now. The Syndeham River does meander on by the town, but otherwise, there’s not much water around. I knew he’d be happy to see a big lake.

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The little parkette we stopped at was actually at the top of a large, sandy cliff – I’m guessing about 200 feet high. Except for one spot (seen above in the last picture) we couldn’t even see the shoreline. In fact, we could only hear the water lapping the shore at that one spot too. The trees and shrubs on the cliff were just that dense. There’s no way we were able to get down to the water’s edge.

We didn’t stay very long – it was horribly hot (30C/87F) with crazy high humidity (felt like 40C/104F). Dave was melting in minutes. While he headed to the truck and its ice cold a/c, I skipped over to something that had caught my eye in the field across from the parkette.

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Some pretty yellow Coneflowers! One had an unidentified beetle on it, and another had a little periwinkle snail hiding out from the sun! The flowers were mostly done, so I snagged a few spent heads for the seeds. I don’t have yellow cone flowers for my garden yet!

In the end, I got back in the truck, and we headed back to get the saw. (We also got a drill press and both were a crazy good deal).

On the way home, we drove through the town of Petrolia looking for a drive-thru for some road sustenance. I have to say, that town has the prettiest little downtown. We agreed that we’d do a day trip this fall when the weather is much more tolerable. We’re going to walk the whole downtown, then stop at a little Chip Wagon and explore a park that was full of geese. So that’s something to look forward to soon!

Despite Rupert’s most excellent help…

I did not meet my self-imposed goal of eight new logs on the shawl this week.

I’m two logs short. I’m hoping I can finish them up tonight and get back on track. It’s growing, but I’ve still got a long way to go!

I know Relic… where the heck to did August go??? To be honest, the whole summer just flew by. But it certainly was a hot one. I’m definitely looking forward to some cooler temps and slower days in September. Maybe then, I’ll finally get a chance to give my “gardens” a little attention.

Even so, left to their own devices, things are doing okay out there. The plants continue to put down new roots, including the roses, which are starting to put up new leaves – a sure sign they are happy.

The Physostegia is still going strong

She’s a great bit of late-season of colour, and will be even prettier next year.

The sedum continues to bloom.

While I had several clumps of sedum at the townhouse, I only brought one. It will spread fairly quickly and is easy to break up . It’s also very easy to find at the garden centres if I decide I need more. (I wouldn’t mind a few different shades)

It looks like I will get some late-season strawberries.

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They have obviously taken well to their new home.

And my Hibiscus continues to give me a new bloom every day or so.

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I only got to enjoy the blooms on the butterfly bushes for a short while. Just Royal Red has a few left and they are almost done.

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And last, I couldn’t resist these $4 Chrysanthemums at the grocery store (Dave’s fault – he made me go to pick up something he’d run out of and didn’t put on the grocery list!)

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I did bring my white one and my burgundy one from the townhouse, but they won’t bloom for a little while yet. These new ones will be planted somewhere in the yard, I just haven’t quite decided where yet.

The past couple of weeks have been horribly hot and humid. We have a/c in the house, but just old window rattlers. They are strategically placed to the rooms we spend the most time in. Sadly, my sewing studio is not one of them.

Still, as long as the door is kept open, it’s reasonably comfortable in there. Until you turn the iron on.

I put a fan in the room, and it helps quite a bit. Unless you’re a cat at floor level…

He could easily go to any of the rooms that are cooler, or even lay in the hall between this room and the bedroom (which has an a/c unit), but no… he has to be right with me at all times.

I figure he can self regulate, so I just went about my sewing. And tried not to step on him, because of course, he’s directly in the path between the sewing machine and the cutting table.

With his “assistance” I finished up two more blocks for my Ahoy Matey quilt.

It’s a fun block that goes together pretty quick when you have all the pieces cut and ready to sew. I now have four blocks complete…

With plans for at least four more.

This one is gonna be cute!

It’s that time again…

…time for a puppy update!!!!

Since I couldn’t be there, Paisley took these awesome pictures.

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Does it get any cuter than this?????

It’s that time of the years when the girls invade Mom’s house again for the week.

Though I can’t really call them munchkins any more. Miss Rowan is 13 and taller than me already, and Miss Paisley got her driver’s license last month, and turns 18 at the end of the year! I suppose they are now the Madamoiselles!

This is the first years I haven’t been close enough to partake in the fun, and it feels weird.

Not only have they gotten to play with the puppies (more details on that tomorrow), on a daily basis, they’ve already ice-dyed t-shirts without me!

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The week was pretty much just a t-shirt dyeing factory from the looks of it. They did a new one almost every day.

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Pretty darn fabulous!

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As you read this, they are either on their way here, or already here. While it’s not exactly on their way home, they are taking a detour to make it so. I don’t know how long they will stay, but we’ll make the most of it!

This house has brought all kinds of new discoveries for the cats.

For Burton, apparently one is the microwave. We’ve always had a microwave. But apparently this one is better placed for his viewing pleasure. He now has an obsession with watching food go round and round every time I turn it on.

Cats are weird, man!

As you can imagine, there still hasn’t been a tonne of time for stitching. But the other afternoon, Burton not so subtly insisted I get my butt in the studio and do some sewing.

One must always obey Lord Burton, so I used it as an opportunity to get the August flower blocks out of the way. This month’s block gave me another chance to practice my quarter square triangles, and I’m definitely seeing an improvement.

They are a little fussy to make, but not too bad. And once they were together, the rest of the blocks went together pretty smoothly.

This pair fit in quite nicely with the rest of the garden so far.

There’s only two blocks left to make – but the pattern won’t be released until mid-September, so my next sewing session will have to focus on something else. Hopefully it’s sooner, rather than later.

I mentioned last week that Rupert has taken over the cat tree in one of the big front windows.

I used to wake up every morning with him tucked up behind my legs… but no more. Morning is prime birding time! As soon as dawn breaks, Rupert is on duty on the tree.

So, as planned I went out and got a big hook to hang a feeder out front for him.

I won’t get to landscaping the front yard until next spring, so the pole looks kind of silly just plunked there with nothing around it but whacked weeds (which I have to whack WEEKLY… I can’t wait to turn that to garden!).

And, as you can see, the pole holds two feeders. I had the wooden feeder sitting empty, but my other cage feeder is out back just outside the catio (Burton likes it when the finches come by). So while I was buying the paint for the studio, I grabbed another feeder.

A little camp kettle! Isn’t it cute? Rupert’s been loving it! In fact, he’s barely been in the bed all week.

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And though I’m supposed to be sticking to a budget, a couple other things jumped in the cart while I was there…

This cute little watermelon cushion was just $2!!!! I can’t make something for that! The rocker has become Dave’s spot on the sun porch. He likes to come out with me every now and again and enjoy a cigar there as the sun goes down.

And this little guy was more than $2, but he was too cute. He just followed me home… I swear.

I don’t have a plant for him yet, but I think he’s pretty happy to be here! Next grocery day, I’ll probably pick up something green and leafy at the grocery store.

It’s the little things that make me smile. What’s making you smile today?