L.O.V.E.

This floor quilt says it all.

L.O.V.E.

Loved being in Denver for Katie's baby shower this weekend.

Love that Katie's Aunt Jossie made this charming quilt for Paddington.

Love that I got to spend time with both my daughters together.

Love that Paddington is almost fully cooked and should arrive in just 5 weeks!!

(Sorta) love that my 5 1/2 year old grandson loves to tease me about frogs, lizards and snakes. Love that I will see him and his mommy again in just 2 weeks.

Love that I got home safe and sound.

inside looking out

This was the view from the inside looking out today.

Numerous worker bees. Miles of yellow caution tape. Large cement truck. Orange cones blocking off every single parking spot on our block. What a mess!

For several weeks, downtown has been a full-fledged disaster area. FEMA should have been called. First all the Main Street trees were removed. Then the old gas line was dug up and replaced. Next, new laterals were installed to the individual business meters. Then the sidewalk was repaired. But not permanently. Parts of it will be dug up again next year, to replace the trees and hopefully make it look more attractive.

And the customers? Hiding, for the most part. Who wants to deal with no parking and the mess of torn up sidewalks?

But once the concrete dries (and that shouldn't take too long, since it was in the 90's today), it will be easy navigating again. Not too pretty, but walkable.

Come visit. We've missed you!

caught on the trail cam

My husband has been hoping to spot a bear on our property. He looks. And he looks. And he keeps looking.

In the hopes that the bear would be lurking around at times when least expected, my always-hopeful husband ordered a trail camera online. Now located on a tree down the hill from our house, the camera's aimed at a path that's used by the many white-tailed deer in the area. They're constantly crossing our property from north to south and then back again. The trail cam has taken hundreds of images of the deer coming and going.

This Eastern coyote, however, was an unexpected catch. He's heading north along the property line, staying near the high grass. We hear the coyotes in the night, howling at the joy of their kills, but it's rare to see one in the daytime.

Next time - bear!

three generations

Three generations of friendship - how wonderful. My good friend Lee moved in across the street when we were 7. Off we went to second grade together and we're still the best of friends, just a few short years later, celebrating all of life's big moments together.

This past weekend Lee generously hosted a baby shower for my youngest daughter (on the right), who is expecting her first child (a BOY!) at the end of July. Lee's daughter, who is expecting her second child (a GIRL!) at the beginning of July, was in attendance. Lee and I are thrilled to see three generations of friendship resulting from those early days at Twelve Corners Elementary School. And now we're both on full alert, waiting for the exciting phone calls that will tell us the babies are here.

JOOLZ online store is now open

HUGE NEWS! The JOOLZ online store is now open!

You may remember that we had an online store several years ago. The store disappeared when the server company bailed in the middle of the night without notifying its hosting customers, and all their data was lost. It had taken us (my web guy and me) hours and hours to put it up in the first place...and then it was gone. Neither one of us had the time or the energy to go through that process again, so it sat empty and closed.

Several weeks ago I made it a priority to get the store up and running again. I've measured pieces of inventory, taken pics and written descriptions. And while we have many hundreds of pieces in our Main Street store inventory, there is no way we can include them all online. We've started out with 40+ joolz and invite you to take a look. Hopefully, you'll like what you see, and if you're not able to come to the store in person, shopping online is the next best thing.

Have fun and let me know what you think.

country living with a genius

We live in the country. Three acres, water from a well up the hill, septic system down the hill (good planning!), lots of natural springs in the ground, lots of wildlife running through the yard, steep driveway to the nearby county road. We get some help now with the yard spring and fall cleanups, but my husband enjoys taking care of the property, plowing in the winter and mowing in the summer.

He is, in fact, somewhat of a genius when it comes to fixings things and keeping them running. And something that has needed fixing due to its running is the connection where the well water pipe enters the foundation in the basement. Due to almost continuous rain since we returned from Florida at the end of March, the lake is at dangerously high levels and the water saturation in our already-wet yard is at 100%. The ground can't hold the water and it is seeping into the basement around the well water pipe. What to do?

The genius husband worried about it, thought about it, dreamed about it (and he claims he doesn't dream) and came up with another of his Rube Goldberg solutions:



The water comes in and drips into the first of 4 giant pails, filling pail after pail until it drips into the condensation collector from our dehumidifier. It then flows into the hose that runs across the entire length of the house to the other end of the basement, where our gravity sump pump is located. It empties out into the lower yard somewhere, far away from the house. As I said - genius!

No more trips to the basement in the middle of the night to check on the water levels. No more flooding the basement floor. No more lugging the full pails of water over to the sump pump.

Genius!

back to business

I'm finally coming down after all the excitement of the glorious royal wedding and now it's time to get back to business. As promised, I am working steadily to get the online store open after a lapse of several years. Today I spent some time photographing images of some of our lovely joolz:

Colorful, fun button bracelet by Joan Sample

Sterling silver Flower pendant by Lisa Ridout


Clear resin nugget collar with "gold" wire by Abra Gorby