blueberries........

Well.....I am done making blueberry jam for this year! Now the anxious wait starts. I know the jam will set, cause it is way thicker than when I took out of hot bath but ya never know. The first batch yielded 7 1/2 pints (half of the berries for this batch came from our little patch in the back yard) and the second 3 pints. I am very pleased. :-)

Now I need to go upstairs and start quilting the sample for the WOW classes I will be teaching up in Marquette the last weekend of September. It is all pin basted and ready to go, so all I need to do is get up there and start quilting. I still need to cut out and do the bias binding. Then on Saturday we will drive up to Marquette, maybe take the long way around through Lanse, along Lake Superior. Have to see how I feel Saturday morning. I also need to put together the supply list for the class.

I got to talk to Victoria yesterday, so sweet. We always talk about what we will do when she comes this winter. We will be making raspberry jam this winter. I am hoping the township decides to flood the ice skating pond at the bottom of Ski Hill Road. Last year they didn't because they said it cost too much. Give me a break...my water bill is only $25/month and I am a water pig. Maybe have to start bugging them and get other people to do so also.

Well.....time to go upstairs. Boy! I sure do miss my camera! That is another thing I will be getting back on Saturday, my camera. I still cannot believe I left it up there. Duh....
Happy Trails

just another Sunday..........

Took the neatest class yesterday! A friend, Karen from Pembine; and myself drove up to Marquette and took a silk "paper" class. Why they call it paper I don't know since there is only 100% silk fibre used, diluted dish soap and Jones Sonja's...which holds it all together. It was so much fun and I have four beautiful pieces of silk to play with. As I was painting the sonja's on the last piece I was doing yesterday I thought how kool it would be to make a really beautiful piece for Libby (Mark's artist daughter) and sending it to her and seeing what she does with it.

The weather is cold as usual...barely 50 again! Friday night was absolutely miserable, I thought I could not breath it was so warm and stuffy...and then it is cold again, Mark doesn't like an open window above his head and he insists on sleeping on that side of the bed...something has to change :-)

I would of posted a photo but I left my camera at class. I will go back up on Tuesday...a long drive but I will drop off class sample for the Wheels of Mystery classes I will be giving at the end of September...two classes of 6. I made the sample with the 9" block...I decided the 6" might be a bit of a challenge for the first time. I have to quilt today/tomarrow. I also asked Kat if she would mind if I put together fabric pacs to make the top in my hand dyes...she said yes. Yipee! If both classes are full and I sell kits should give me some spending money on our trip to Texas, which we have had to postpone to October. When I get my camera back will post photo of 9" sampler and silk.

Better get back to work. I have lots to do. Hope everyone has a great day and upcoming week! Aloha nui loa............

flowers

These are the flowers Mark picked for me last week...arent they pretty? It seems more flowers bloom every week. It amazes me all the wild flowers around here and that Mark likes to pick them for me :-)

It's an 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, here it is ... Mark's first Thai pepper...when we bought at Wal-Mart there where red signs all over the pots and display that this was a very hot pepper. Okay.........

As you can see, it is quite small...but as it turns out, this one is not even fully ripe...there are some ripe ones on the bush and they are fire engine red!

He takes the bite and.............

Ah..........is it hot dear? Can you talk dear? Are you okay?

Still no comment, but some sounds are coming from his body. He did dance around a bit too.

Now he is trying to get air in the mix...doesnt oxygen promote fire?!! Needless to say, on the pepper scale of 1-10 (there is one ya know) Mark states this little Thai gem is a full 11! His eyes waters for quite awhile. He can't wait to harvest more the maniac :-)

Wooktick Jamboree and Rainbows too!

Our campsite at the Tick...couple really good bluegrass groups and some pretty terrible stuff too. This is my first time camping in da UP, or anywhere for that matter in a real long time. My little station wagon really can pull the load. We had a good time.

This was actually the biggest brightest rainbow since I've been in da UP. It was almost gone before most people noticed it. As Kauai rainbows go, this one was maybe a 7. It actually doubled! The night before, Friday, sever cloud to ground lightning and thunderstorm warnings and they had a tornado in Escanaba which was only about 20 miles away. It also rained but we kept quite dry in tent. Then it got really clear and very very cold...probably down to low 40s that night.

My Bobanjo and "tubaman". This guy was real cute, gotta be over 70. He would walk around asking to jam with people and then he'd say, okay, let me go to my truck and get my "tuba"?!! a different kind of "bass" instrument to say the least. We had a couple guitars plus this guy for awhile and got quite a crowd. We had a good time at the tick and will probably go next year but it was good to get home.

This week I will be sewing for Victoria. I have several outfits I want to make, of course I will take photos and post. I decided to freeze all the raspberries I harvested this year, and me and Victoria will make jam together this winter. Plus, it is kinda warm to make jam, well, not today but it makes the house pretty hot and humid. Can use both this winter.

Bobanjo and Tubaman at Woodtick

This old dude was walking around and came up to Mark when he was playing and asked if they could jam, well yeah...let me go get my "tuba" from my truck. Tuba?!! Well, Mark has never jammed with a guy playing a tuba before and it kinda works. They played together for an hour or so, it was great. He is getting a band together...the tuba and about 12 guitars...should be interesting if nothing else. :-) Sorry video is not so sharp but I was "inside" the tent. Enjoy!