AUGUST????

Happy August everyone!!  It's hard to imagine!  Our summer has been, well, foggy and cool, so cool that it's hard to imagine it's summer at all, let alone August!  I haven't accomplished ANYTHING that I thought I would over the summer.  Of course, my list was pretty much 'pie in the sky' to begin with!  Does anyone else do that??  Of course, you do!!

And, my birthday is this week ... I usually don't have any problems with birthdays ... beats the alternative!?!  But this is a really BIG number and I have little twinges of feelings about it.  But, if this is as bad as they get ... no problem!  I'll survive!

We'll be up in Portland for the big day.  What fun to spend it with 2 of our grandkids.  We haven't seen them for 6 weeks, so we've got lots to get caught up on.  Miss P (almost 6) taught Mr M (almost 4) to write his name and he thought that Beach Papa and Nana would be so-o proud of him.  Of course, always!!  We may need a special dessert to celebrate!  And Miss P thought that maybe Beach Papa could help her learn to ride her bike.  The last time she fell on it - clear to the ground, she got up and kicked it saying she'd never to ride it again unless 'Teacher L' told her she should!!!!  And Miss P and I may go see "Brave" if it's still around.  The bears are pretty scary in it so she said she might wait and go with me!!  We both do love movies and since I've seen it(!) I can warn her when the scary bits are coming up!

For Christmas last year DH gave me tickets to Cirque [last April] and Jersey Boys [next Wednesday], I love musicals. He's babysitting the grandkids while DD and I go - what a guy!  It will so much fun! -girls' night out!

We had a fun-filled and ice cream filled two weeks when our friends were here. C&L were neighbors in Lincoln.  When they come out, they rent the condo next door - it's like being neighbors again!!  We're not admitting how many cartons of Tillamook Ice Cream we went thru ... but I may need a 'methadone' program to break the addiction!!  Sure was fun though!!

We all went to "Trees of Mystery" when L&K were here too.  It wasn't as 'hokie' as we feared and we really enjoyed riding the tram to the top of the mountain over the trees and ferns.  The young kids decided to walk down so us 'old folks' rode the tram again!!  There was no line when we came down and we wanted to sit the opposite way of our first trip!  We got the full experience, laughing all the way.

Between eating ice cream, watching the Olympics and laughing ... well the time went fast.  We filled it with a little of this - finding rock sculptures on the beach and

A LOT of this - finding the perfect 'perch' while walking the beach and

And even some of this - traveling the viewpoints, just to be sure they are still g-r-e-a-t!!



C liked Miss P's quilt pattern so well, that she made a smaller one for her granddaughter. I finished Miss P's quilt top while we sewed away the foggy parts of our days - and wouldn't you know it.  Held it up when it was totally done and right there - smack-dab in the center - two blocks were in the wrong place!!!  Arrrrgh!  10 hours of Olympics on DVR and a picky little quilt pattern do not work together!!  I put it in 'time-out' over night and decided I couldn't live with it ...

Years and years [and years] of experience ripping came to the rescue!  I ripped out the offending 3 blocks - doughnut style.  Carefully repinned, triple checked it was right and resewed it in a morning.  We were surprised how quickly it went.  And now that mistake won't hound me for years every time I see it on Miss P's bed!!!  The back is almost pieced - 2 more seams and then I just have to decide if I'm machine quilting it on my DSM or Longarm it at the shop.  Still mulling over that question.  Hope to have it done for the big birthday in September - Miss P will be SIX!

So long for now. Remember it's August - the perfect time to sit back and relax before the rest of the year zooms by us!!! [tee hee]