Our county fair starts tomorrow!
Today, I helped award ribbons to the junior needlework and household items.



This piece of indigo tie-dye was very nicely done! [Using a purchased pillow case.]

The junior building had several categories. Here, home canning is winning ribbons.

Junior baked goods being judged....with the hot afternoon sunshine coming in the door!

An area near us with any type of creative item....lots of tie-dye T-shirts and decorated bird houses.

There were a few entrants in traditional needlework. This is a piece of Swedish embroidery done by a 12 year-old. VERY NICE!

Most things were more basic, lots of simple throw pillows made in 4-H clubs.

And my least favorite "needlework"....the ubiquitous double sided fleece throws which are fringed and tied together. Still, they are cuddly and warm!

Cool foods for hot days!
I love quinoa, a little grain with a lot of protein!

It makes a lovely summer salad when cooked, cooled and combined with tasty ingredients!

Like Annie's Roasted Garlic Vinagrette Dressing. Organic of course! We found this quinoa salad in the deli department of Whole Foods and have enjoyed making our own variation....
Directions: Bring 11/4 c. water to boil. Add 1 cup quinoa (rinsed). Cover. Simmer 12-14 minutes until done. Fluff with a fork. Cool quinoa.

Add about 1/3 cup of dressing, bits of sun-dried tomato, and/or fresh tomato, bell pepper (red or green or yellow or orange), red onion, baby spinach leaves. Toss. Refridgerate until chilled, allowing flavors to blend.

Sometimes, I leave the baby spinach out and serve the quinoa on a bed of baby spinach which has been dressed with extra Annie's dressing.....yummm!

Now to find the roasted garlic vinegrette secret recipe...and save more $$$$.

I've been at Mom's house this week while the painters are sprucing it up. Nice. Except for the paint fumes!.... SO, I spent the afternoon at a bookstore. I found this wonderful gardening book.

It is full of watercolor illustrations and good instructions. Be sure to watch the video below for a look in her book and to hear Katherine Whiteside!

OH, and did I tell you that I now have 2 sets of bamboo wind chimes???!!! Yes! I can hardly wait to get them home and hang them in the Ozark breezes. [ wind chimes are on sale now...look around!]

More photos from Tracie's garden, where the breeze was playing wonderful sounds on the bamboo wind chimes!

French drain...

friendly ornamental owl

water feature

Wonderful patio

herringbone bricks

chiminea for lovely evenings out of doors!

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I was inspired to do more in my yard...still very hot outside though!

I like to stack elements...and camouflage a "Pop out" from the sewer line....lots of help from Mr. P on this one!!!!!

a stacked bird bath.

Glazed pot holding a terracotta pot with succulents.

More seashells and succulents.

A large blue pot made by my brother and a turquoise/ taupe glazed coffee cup [unfortunately chipped :-( ]
I love the blues!!!!!

It has been so hot that inspite of watering, the cucumbers are "cooking" on the vine instead of growing!

How is your garden this August???

I spent some time under this roof today.....(nice and shady with a breeze coming down the mountain!)

I was joined by this little fast moving fuzzy black and brown caterpillar.....

and my friends, Tracie and Paula, gardeners, both!

It has been a hot (100 degree +), dry, dusty week. We were visiting in Tracie's garden.

The breezes would sound the bamboo wind chime! I love the deep soothing soulful sound. I think I may need one soon!

Note: due to lots to show you, I am dividing this post. The next post (above) will have the rest of the scene!

A new author and series of books for these hot summer days!

My friend Paula told me about this series, which our library carries. I was not disappointed!

I think of it as a kind of "Nancy Drew" for grown ups. Like Nancy, Maisie is close to her father and is following clues and solving mysteries. The time period is a good decade after WWI, in Great Britain. Her journey is intellectual and spiritual as well as psychological. Above the first in the series, "Maisie Dobbs" and the last, just published, "The Mapping of Love and Death".

So far, I have only read the first one. But I am printing out this list, of the books in order, and heading to the library. Some are also available on Audio Books.

Winspear, Jacqueline. Maisie Dobbs. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2003.
Winspear, Jacqueline. Birds of a Feather. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2004.
Winspear, Jacqueline. Pardonable Lies. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2005.
Winspear, Jacqueline. Messenger of Truth. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006.
Winspear, Jacqueline. An Incomplete Revenge. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2008.
Winspear, Jacqueline. Among the Mad. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2009.
Winspear, Jacqueline. The Mapping of Love and Death. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2010.

Not only is it too hot these days to do very much, I have been taking Mom to various appointments. Having a book along is not a bad idea!

What books are you loving at the moment?

The new bed and different bedroom call for a new quilt!


This one with 8" blocks, turning horizontal and then vertical, has a peaceful, almost Zen-like feeling. Restful. I love the soft/bright pastels with the honeydew colored walls in the room.

Now, to make 30 more blocks and then get it quilted!

My friend Tracie has invited me to visit her fabric stash and see if I can find some that will work in this scrappy pastel quilt...so Friday I will be visiting and take a look. [May take my camera too....Tracie is and artist with an interesting home and garden!]

While at Mom's house, I've been painting as if I were in Italy or Provence...

Having the clean, cool (thanks to AC!) space and no one around, has given me time to do the small 5X5 canvases for a local art center benefit. I, personally, like the one with the figs...the lavender fields are amazing too!

Now, back at our home, we are expecting Mom to arrive today!

Bedrooms are being shifted around, and it is fun to see our furniture come into a new setting. I think "upsetting the apple cart" every couple of years is refreshing! Things get to be in such a rut. Change can be good.

I was blessed to have 2 wonderful friends, Lorene and Tracie, come over yesterday and help me move all these things around. It was quite a surprise for Mr. P when he came home from work, thinking he would have to do most of it. It was already done!

Now I am off to decide which of my quilts will be best on our new queen size bed.
I may come back with some photos of my decision later...

I'm soaking a basin full of antique linens, lace and doll clothes. They become yellowed with age.....

They clean up very nicely using this product called Vintage Soak!

You can order some here or find it at your local quilt shop, if you have some family treasures to enjoy!

Crafting and scrapbooking heritage....

This photo album belonged to my grandmother, Dora Schroeder. It is a beautiful album, made for photos which were rare and treasured items.

My grandmother and two of her brothers are in these photos. But what is the dark textile in the corner?

A pair of mittens knitted for my grandmother by her mother as a Christmas gift. The year was 1912. [Note: I had to lighten this in an attempt to make the decorative stitches around the cuff stand out. They are still hard to distinguish. The mittens are actually very black and probably seldom used...being saved for "best" and treasured as they were from her mother!]

Work in progress....a 5"X5" acrylic painting of figs and a landscape. I like this one which worked on in my spare time last week!

It is good to be home again....enjoying my garden and my friends here.

"Stop the words now, open the window in the middle of your chest and let the spirit move in and out."---Rumi

******************************************************************************I read the quote above on my friend Macrina's Facebook page this morning, right after opening as many windows in this house as I can. The morning air is cool and wonderful. Later we are expecting a heat wave..

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[Despite Rumi's advice, I shall have to resort to words for this post!]

I've been checking up and visiting friends from when I lived in Little Rock. A wonderful break from working on Mom's house!

My friend Sandra hosted me and the two blogging friends, Cindy and Vicki, who write "Stick Horse Cowgirls". What a lovely evening, enjoying conversation and food in the ambiance of artist Sandra's beautiful home! Thank-you ladies!

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Then I checked on a friend who had once given me a wonderful birthday party [think an evening with everyone we knew, her fabulous homemade Middle eastern food, music, dancing and "cake blindness" from all those candles!] .... my friend Sandy.

That is when I learned that life moves us on....or rather sometimes brings us "full circle". When I rang the doorbell where Sandy once lived, it was answered (this time, I had stopped by from time to time and no one was ever home....the phone # no longer reached them) by the husband, Joe, who had lived there with her. I could tell that things were different....(hmmm Joe is getting gray, aren't we all!!!)...

They are now divorced and each has remarried. They parted on friendly terms, the children are grown. Sandy is now married to her high school sweetheart from Panama. [He had been attending the Catholic boarding school in Arkansas, Subiaco. Sandy was a student, in those days, at Mount St. Mary's high school for girls here in Little Rock. They met at a Subiaco dance where the girls came by bus from Little Rock. ]

After graduation, he had returned to Panama, they lost contact, she married Joe....

Maybe I will hear from Sandy one day, and learn how she found her lost love...I left my e-mail....meanwhile I know she has a good life, being an open and adventurous spirit!

Our recent heat wave caused some sun scald on my tomatoes, especially the Ananas Noir, which after all are from Belguim where it is cooler than Arkansas. SO, I had to pick a few before they were ripe and cut off the scalded parts. Not wanting to waste the rest of each large tomato, I researched a legendary recipe, "Fried Green Tomatoes". The result was that I found this video on line!
How to Make Fried Green Tomatoes

I love the directions and demonstrations he gives. I can do this and enjoy the process to making a wonderful summer treat (and again in the fall when frost threatens the tomatoes!)!

So, off to the kitchen to try this!

Later--wow! these are over-the-top delicious. Maybe it is his method, the wonderful (easy)sauce or my just waiting so long for lunch! LOL!

Journaling amidst morning breezes!

It is so good to be home this morning, outside my studio door with coffee and my journal.

The smudge tool was fun to use to add the visual morning breezes! The day will heat up later, but a new cool morning will be there tomorrow! I hope all of you find a refreshing place just to BE for a moment today!

[Fashion note LOL!: the floral T-shirt I am wearing is by Jim Thompson, my daughter brought it to me from her honeymoon trip to Thailand!]