Getting deep into summer!!

"We have met the enemy and he is us!"  Pogo

Anybody remember Pogo...the little swamp 'possum philosopher?  I used to love that cartoon...we don't get it in our paper; I don't even know if he is still being created.  But how true...what mankind does to mankind!  I am watching the news as I write...the oil disaster in the Gulf...the wars...flooding and deaths in Arkansas (not a manmade disaster, I know) but continual news tragedies!!

On a happier note...a couple weeks ago, I went to my daughter's to help her do some "organizing" in her new house and she cooked dinner for me!!  Very tasty!!  She is learning to do healthy cooking and eating, making better choices, etc.  We had a great time...went to her gym on Sunday morning...I did a mini workout while she met with her trainer.  My hubby and I go to the local YMCA a couple times a week and walk every day, but it was refreshing to try a new place! ( Although we love the "Y", her gym is much fancier!!!)

And I have finally finished my Paula Nadelstern wall hanging...at least the piecing of it.  I had planned to put the large squares on point, but it all became way too frustrating trying to figure it out with the fabric I was using...I didn't want to get any more fabric so this what I ended up doing..I will have enough to make a couple of small quilts to donate to our guild silent auction.  The small picture is the back side of one of the large squares....these are from Paula's class on "Simple Symmetry".

We had our grandson for a couple of nights this past week...he is so much fun to have around..almost 13. He and I had a marathon viewing of the three "Lord of the Rings" movies; we also have an ongoing chess match we play every time he is here.  We took him to see "Sharks" at the Omni in Fort Worth...it was OK but could have been a little more "exciting"!

And lastly...we are having a real bumper crop of tomatoes!!  Although I hate the heat and humidity, tomatoe plants really love them so I guess that is a fair trade with Mother Nature to appease our discomfort!!

More trip pics...wildlife in Denali

Our bus tour was from 6:30 AM until we got back to our Denali River Cabin at nearly 7:00 PM. The trip took us up into the very end of the road into Denali National Park. At the end of the road where we turn around, there is a beautiful lodge which is on the site of the original roadhouse, Kantishna. They fed us a great lunch and had a display of a dogsled team.

No one can drive more than about 15 miles into the park without permission or an escort. They are really striving to keep the park pristine and natural and are doing a wonderful job! We saw so much wild life and our driver was great about stopping and letting us look. We were not allowed off the bus when we saw the wild life which was OK by me...especially when we spotted the grizzlies. These pics are just a few of the wonderful creatures we saw.

This red fox was on the side of the road; he ran off then just stopped and looked back at us...beautiful!

This was our first grizzly...he had a buddy on the other side of the road, couldn't decide what to do then he just rushed down the hill and ran right in front of the bus to get to his pal! We had at least a dozen different grizzly bear sightings. Several were mama bears with cubs...all the berries were ripe and the bears were eating, stocking up for the winter to come.

And this ol' boy was wandering down the side of the road as we were ending our tour and heading back to town. He was so close, we could almost reach out and touch him! We saw so many others...caribou, wolves, beavers, Dall sheep, and birds of every description! I'd do it all over again if I could!

Now, back to the present...I am working on and about to finish my summer quilt exchange...and have drawn up my ideas for my two "recipe" blocks. Daughter from CA is at Yosemite Park for the night, tour tomorrow, and heading out to meet her dad on Thursday.

Trip pics

More pics from the ferry Kennicott....because the weather was so cooperative, we were able to get down some narrow channels for some beautiful scenery-looking and because the ferries are somewhat smaller than the cruise ships, some of the areas we traveled were too narrow for the larger ships.

Beautiful sky and clouds going down the channel to Pelican...a small fishing village...one of many that can only be reached by boat or biplane.

Forty five years ago when we lived in Anchorage, we took a day trip into Prince William Sound from Whittier to see glaciers, etc. This is a rookery picture that we took then.

As we came into Whittier on the Kennicott, we passed the same rookery area! It looks pretty much the same....to think, some of those birds there are the descendants of the birds we saw 45 years ago!!

Talked to daughter in California who is moving back to Texas in a couple of weeks. She is shipping her belongings and driving back by herself so the dad decided to fly out and meet her half wayish in Las Vegas and drive the rest of the way back with her. They will have a great time...some intense bonding time!!! And...Saturday we will be helping our grandson celebrate his 12th birthday...growing up way too fast!! Our granddaughter is in her high school marching band, plays the French horn. Last Friday night we went to the football game to watch the band perform...brings back such memories when our girls were in their high school marching bands!