Barn Storming into Summer

Today couldn't have been a more perfect day, except for the rain in the early morning. I had to postpone our daily walk, but needed a bit more time getting going, another restless night spent switching off positions in the bed around Igor. He had a good night, I'm happy to report.

Later in the morning, DH and the next-door neighbor (my walking buddy) went on a road trip to Home Depot to get another gallon of Behr exterior deck stain. The first coat on our upper deck dried to a wonderful warm glow, and after the rain overnight, beaded up nicely. Consequently, I had to sweep the puddles off or they would never have evaporated by day's end. We moved the furniture up yesterday and spent our first evening of the summer enjoying the view from above. DH had not spent much time up there before, but after about an hour, he commented he now understands why I love it up there so much. The view overlooking our back yard and woods is about as close to Heaven as it gets.

This is a copy of the original realtor's pictures, much too small to appreciate the actual view from above; Note to Self: Get new pix of our back yard~

Later in the afternoon, we took a ride out past the lake, and drove down some country roads. A Photoshop cafe buddy of M's suggested we make a photo collage of barns, after seeing a photo of one we took last week. We drove around the area and must have captured over a dozen farms with vintage barns, all in wonderful condition. It is amazing how many farms are still in existence still and thriving these days.

This one caught my eye, with it's lovely picket fence. 

This old weathered barn is still quite a showpiece, without a single layer of paint.

We must've taken over 4 dozen pictures of  various barns;  many were shot simply by shooting out the window during a slow drive-by, or while pulled over. We were taken unawares by a cop once, and thought for sure he would pull us over and ask what we were up to. He turned off a side road, and was gone before we had a chance to recover from our initial shock at finding he had been following us.


For dinner, I made Stuffed Grape Leaves, one of our absolute favorite summer dishes. They are great hot out of the pot, and even better cold the next day, as an hors d'oeurvre.  After we ate, we languished in our lawn chairs out front and watched the neighborhood settle down for a quiet Friday evening.

Tomorrow promises more of the same, with a cold front moving in later. For now, the humidity is tolerable.

I'm working on a new project for the neighbor lady, as a gift following her up-coming foot surgery July 21. I've picked a pattern from Elizabeth Hiddelson's books, Vol. 11, page 17, "Rose Parade".  I'm naming it "Roses for Sharon", and am attempting to mimic the colors of one of her rose bushes, Blue Girl. It happens to be my favorite rose of all, as well.

The first rose motif; not sure if the colors are talking to me, but will work on the doily until something clicks.

We finally got our new mattress on order~ we can't WAIT for it to arrive next Tuesday!! In the meantime, we're going to take the old set out of the bedroom and clean the carpet. After 10 years, we may just have restful nights again.

Off to bed~ tomorrow comes early and if no rain, may get in another early morning 5-mile walk. Crosses fingers.