Sunday, Puppy Sunday: Mochi's overbite

Waking up to this sight makes me smile every time. 

A new chapter begins.

My darling niece left for boot camp today.

No longer the sweet little elfling with a nimbus of fuzzy reddish hair atop her head, she is 18 and stands nearly a foot taller than her old auntie now. 

I'll always treasure the times we had our Girlie Days, when I babysat her and we'd make a list at breakfast of all the fun things we would do that day. We explored world cuisines and she achieved proficiency with chopsticks at the ripe old age of three. We fed a lot of ducks. A lot. 

Now she's off in the world to plan her own lists of grand adventures. I hope she has much health and happiness, and that the world shows her all the best it has to offer. After all, my family is now sharing with the world the very best we have to offer, and it should respond in kind. 

Be safe and happy, dearest Chloe. You'll always be my Little Lamb. <3

...and it's not even 9:00 AM yet. :)

I have 4 days until school starts, and they must be productive. One little nagging task I've been putting off is taking a puppy-shredded pillow case and cobbling together a smaller case from the remnants. I have a little barley hull pillow I sleep with that needs a smaller case, but I only have two. This project took less than 30 minutes, and I just used the tan thread in me bobbin. 

One of the rectangles was slightly larger, so I bloused in pleats at the center of the top, and also on one side so the ends met properly. This also accommodates some pouf to the pillow. 

I used the French seam technique so all raw edges are contained inside and none are exposed, which will hopefully result in enhanced longevity for the case. The rest of the fabric is for the scraps for future quilty/embellishment projects. This fabric is gorgeous. I sewed slowly to make edges stay in line, but I did not press or use pins, both of which would have resulted in cleaner, more knife-edge lines, but I'm happy- this feels nice, and is therefore good enough for sweet dreams. 

I took the final photo on a regular pillow for scale, and Chuy suggested the tableau would be more fetching with a bit of beefcake thrown in. 

Quite!

True:

I concur with these thoughts, as it is unproductive to reflect hurtful behaviors, but I would go one further: remove yourself from the presence of vicious people. You do them no service by being their whipping boy, and you are wasting your good humor on people who do not value your precious time and attention. 

Self portrait at Gage Hotel gardens in Marathon

I've had a grand time here. This trip has been most restorative. :)

Black and yellow velvet

A bumble bee on a Mexican Fire Bush at the gardens at the Gage Hotel. 

This summer's last hoo-rah.

I've come down to the Texas bootheel to visit my sister in her dream-house-in-progress. I wanted to spend time with her family before school starts, and especially before my darling niece goes to boot camp next week. 

The drive down was gorgeous, and as soon as I was 5 miles south of I-10, I could see why sis and her hubby were so drawn to this region. I know it's not to everyone's taste, but I agree with her that this is an extremely beautiful place to live. Wouldn't mind it, myself. 

Monday the five of us went to Big Bend National Park.  This is apparently one of the largest National Parks, and also the least-visited. It was great to have all this breath-taking majesty to ourselves. 99% of the day, we couldn't see so much as another vehicle in the distance. Definitely worth the drive. 

After the park, we went to the pool at Terlingua Ranch where they own property. It was great to splash in the pool, but i do wish I'd given wider berth to the two wasps that stung me. One of those was my fault, too. The climate there is perfect with its dry heat. There was an astonishing variety of birds, always fascinating to watch. 

We saw tons of jackrabbits, a cotton-tail, some pretty little deer including a fleet-footed fawn with its mama, javelina,  buzzards and a broad variety of roadkill. Fortunately, we saw no bears or mountain lions. 

I'm looking forward to exploring this place more in-depth in future. 

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: new frocks for pretty girls

I keep getting out and they keep pulling me back in.

Just when I've sworn off glitter polish, I found one that perfectly matched the opaque coat I was putting on. I love this stuff!

My ginger babies

After a couple nights away, it's so good to be home with my pups. Praline was in my lap, so that's why she's not in the picture. 

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: if you build a lap, they will come

This and this:

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: reunited

I just got home from a few days away, and the pups quickly settled to nap on my lap. Sweet.