Summer Summary

 

Summer Summary

Well, it’s obvious that I dropped the ball … off the cliff ...this year with the blog.  Sorry.  I also use this as a summary of all the fun and how productive I am … okay.  Looking thru my daily journal I’m giving myself and you too – seasonal summaries.  Trying to start them today so they will have 2021 on them!!

 My son and his family were due back in July from 2 years in Panama.  They were out of the country when the Almeda fire swept thru and burned down their storage unit.  It seems it’s easy to get storage unit insurance if you own a home.  They didn’t – so no insurance.  Of the myriad things, precious things, they also lost almost all the quilts I had made for them and some that my mother had made.

My son got back in April to start a new (perfect) nursing job.  We were able to come over to the Valley and help get the new rental house ready for the fam.  Gathering donations and picking up essentials was a great scavenger hunt!  But the house was ready for their arrival the end of June.

 

Quilts needed to be replaced, so starting last winter, I got on the ball and started sewing up a storm.  Making twin size replacement quilts.  One for each family member – FIVE!!  A friend long-armed the first quilt but then it was all up to me.  Walking foot on a domestic machine.  But I “got ‘r dun”!

                       

My DIL received a Disappearing 9patch to replace her Masters graduation quilt.  It was all greens, this time she requested blue and greens.  She so regretted leaving quilts back in storage.  But it only got ‘down’ to 60 in Panama – didn’t need quilts!

I ‘remade’ my son’s Nursing School Graduation quilt.  He is color blind and poor thing usually gets scrappy quilts – they must look like a pile of worms!!  Luckily, I found the Nurse Quotes panel again at Forget Me Knots in Bandon Oregon.   Gotta love “It’s only poop!”  I created a 2 fabric quilt and scattered the quotes around the blocks.  Turned out great!

DGS (10 yrs old) received a “Stripe me lucky” quilt designed by Jen Kingwell’s group.  Sprinkled a few super heros and Micky mouse fabrics into the blocks. Fell in love with that and made enough blocks for almost TWO quilts.  You guessed it, the second one isn’t finished but it’s going to be mine!

DGS (8 yrs old), still into Super Heros, got a square in a square with super hero fabrics.  It turned out really graphic.  There was one fabric with words on it – after his first nap under it, he came out and told me there was a mistake – in the words!!  I think he thought I had written them and now wanted me to correct them!  But all’s well that end’s well!

DGD (3 yrs old) got a remake of a rainbow rail fence pattern.  Her oldest cousin (P) got it as her kindergarten quilt 10 years ago!!  I still had the pile of pink fabrics and the white dot neutral!! It turned out adorable and I put fish and sea life fabrics on the back.  After all, it is from “Beach Nana”!

 The rest of the summer we were lucky that the outdoor swimming pool was open.  Went almost every day.  Attendance was so good, they kept it open thru September!  And Tai Chi started up again in Azalea Park.  There is a lot of moles or voles there.  Quite challenging to Tai Chi on the grass! So we ended up in the Bandshell.  There is a canvas ‘shell’ that shades it.  Helps send the sound out, of course, but also sucks in the sound from anyone in the audience!!  That was unexpected – be careful what you say out there! 

We also enjoyed greeting all the dogs that walked in the park.  They have a schedule – we saw “Fluffy Butt” every class!!

P and I kept up our rigorous sewing schedule we’d started last year.  Fun and games and mountains of blocks helped us keep what was left of our sanity!

We were able to go up to Portland for a two day visit.  P (14) ran our butts all over the tennis court.  I think I may have graduated to “Spectator”!  We discovered that we did most of our time out in public, except this trip.  No movies, no shopping … I think the Grandkids discovered that we’re kind of boring without the outings!

We caught M’s (12) baseball game – each year it’s amazing how much they improve their skills.  He plays a myriad of positions.  Catcher, second, first and even pitcher!  They all do.  A good way to learn and also keep their interest.  I remember standing in outfield bored out of my mind – except when the ball finally came my way and then PANIC!!  If I catch it, I’ll have to throw it all the way back!  GULP!

AND the condo sold!  After being on sale on and off the last 3 years – we have to move!  Luckily, the agent that sold it owned apartments and one was coming up over the summer, did we want it?  You bet – sight unseen!  There is a real scarcity of rentals here and we didn’t want to leave the ocean just yet.

The trouble with local moves is the lack of respect!   C'mon People!!  You still have to handle and move every single item in the house!!  And there were a lot of items, believe you me!  I started packing in mid-June and we moved August 4!  But we are both 68 years old, even if DH doesn’t remember that.  I’m only good for a few hours every day packing.  No marathons at the end, please!  Well, of course, you think you are making great progress … but there is always a marathon at the end!!

We love the new place.  There are windows on all four sides!  Good for ventilation and view!  We overlook the Port and it’s always entertaining, if loud, down there. There's a dog training class.  Line dancing lessons on the boardwalk.  But, why, oh, why do they tend to hire the really bad bands for every festival??  We enjoy our lo-o-ong walks on the beach those days!!

           

And of course, there are still sunsets to keep track of!

  

The first week we were here, the Coast Guard reset a channel buoy!  6:45 am – helicopter started and flew all day long!!  Woke me up with a start!!

There were boats, Coast Guard personnel in the channel, cement trucks on the Jetty …  A husband with binoculars at the window for 11 hours keeping an eye on everything!!  Now that’s entertainment!  It ended for the day at 5:45 when high tide was up to the knees of personnel on the buoy. The CG does lots of training – and always interesting to watch. 

Stay tuned for "FALL" at the Harbor!!  I'm making all sort of plans to revitalize this blog in 2022 ... forgot how fun it is!!