MO Autumn

What can I say--we finally have a season break, from summer. But it was a relatively easy summer here in MO. Rain came at the right times, for our garden and flowers. We didn't have 90 plus temperatures days and days in a row, as we did last year. Now it is raining because of Hurricane Gustav. Yes, MO gets hurricane rains, blown all the way up north, and again it is coming at the right time.

Our new kitten is really bonding well with the family. Violet is a bundle of kitty laughs every day. And isn't that why we have pets? To keep us laughing! She loves her little neon mice, however, Molly dog has also discovered them. And after picking up 3 Miss Molly killed (pieces of foam and neon colored fur all over the carpet), I had to make an emergency run to WalMart for more today. Violet loves to go outside on the screened porch, and can climb all the way to the roof of the porch. I guess she thinks she is a bird. Or at least can catch the outside birds better. Vallee and she are playing together. It took awhile. Vallee usually hisses and bats at her, because well, Violet doesn't quit! She goes into her Halloween kitty mode, and prances around Vallee and just teases and teases her. She also is a spunky one around Molly dog. They now play. Finally. We have to keep an eye on them both, but it is so amazing to see the big black fierce Sheepdog playing with the little black kitty. Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoy our pets!

Summer Field Trips

As usual, when the boys come for a visit from California, we try to take them around the state of MO, to give them a feel for our Midwest life. We started off their vacation time with Puddle Jumper Days in Odessa. They found a car show and got to dream a little dream or two. Then we drove across the state, and up to Hannibal, home of Mark Twain. Jordon had read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and Kerry had heard of him, so we thought it would be interesting to them to see where Sam Clemens had lived. We drove there on the hottest day of the summer, walked around downtown, trying to cool off in the shade, in the stores, and finally caught the breezes on the trolley tour. We went from a heat index of 115 degrees to a cave tour at 51 degrees! What a difference being 200 feet below ground makes! The boys really liked the bats in the cave, rock formations, and seeing some real signatures from the 1800's on the cave walls. When the lights went out down there, it was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. We caught the trolley back to town, and embarked on the steamboat ride on the Mississippi River. It was still so hot that most everyone on board stayed in the air conditioned deck. That's quite a difference from what Mark Twain was accustomed to when he piloted on the river. We saw Jackson's Island, which is where Huck and Jim took refuge, and just being on the river was an interesting experience. Our boys were hoping that the riverboat would take them on down to St. Louis, but it was a short trip, so back we went to downtown Hannibal, and back to 98 degrees weather.

We then traveled on into Granite City, IL, to see family, and relax by a pool. When we returned home, we spent a day down at Powell Gardens to see the Butterfly Festival. A Blue Morpho graced my head while we were in the butterfly pavilion--you couldn't design a more beautiful hat! While we were there, Kerry morphed into a huge butterfly for us. Couldn't fit him into our car for the home trip, so he had to morph back into a teen.

Where did this summer go?

Can't believe it is the middle of August already. And schools around here are starting next Monday. We had company, great nephews from San Diego, visiting us the last two weeks, teen boys, who kept us hopping. Now we are setting around in an exhausted state, wondering how did we make it through those years with our kids? Got to be young to do that anymore.

Our new kitty Violet is charming us on a daily basis, BUT hubby wants to rename her Shredder. We bear her claw marks to prove it. But she is so cute, so we have to forgive her for not yet understanding that human skin is not jeans denim or the cedar post in the kitchen. We got her a new scratching post with a jingle toy at Costco the other day. Just like any other kid, the box the toy came in was more fascinating, but she got the hang of it, and now diligently works on it. If she doesn't attack the cedar post right next to it. Then hubby came home with another new toy yesterday. Those laser mice! Ohmygoodness, you should see her run through the house chasing it! Then there is that toy feather duster on an extended stick. You would think she was competing in the Olympic gymnastics this week, because of her back and front flips trying to get that toy!

Vallee cat is getting used to the kitten, but can't decide whether to steal her day-glo mice, or box her ears when she gets too pushy. They will work it out I think. The little one runs madly after big sis, so Vallee now has an admirer, even if she doesn't want one.

Summertime, and the livin' is busy...

Wouldn't think summer would be so busy but this year it certainly is. We have been walking down at Powell Gardens, which is way more fun than a treadmill. Garden is coming in quite well this summer, harvesting tomatoes, peppers, zucchini. Then there is keeping up with the weeds, I mean grass, as it grows. Last year we couldn't get enough rain. This year it is there regularly. Which is great. My flowers haven't looked so good. Things are coming up all around that I forgot I even planted last year.

Then there is the distraction of our new addition to the family, my birthday present, a kitten! She is the cutest little black kitty, and we named her Violet, because of two literary Violets. One is the cat in Jan Karon's books, and the other is the orphan girl in the family of Lemony Snicket books. My Violet was cast out of a truck window as the fool drove up the back roads. She was rescued by the Director of the Board of Sheltered Services. When I went to the board meeting, I told him I would think about adopting her because it was my birthday. So he brought her out to us and after all her Unfortunate Events, she has a new home. We have a bunch of new kitty toys all around the house now--jingle balls in different colors, little furry mice in dayglo shades, feathers on a stick, the bigger cat's tale, and on and on.. So here she is in her debut on the web.

July 4 Celebrations

We went to Powell Gardens to celebrate the 4th this year, and truly enjoyed ourselves once more. It has become our favorite walking site, with trails winding through flowerbeds and woods, past waterfalls and the lake. They had a "Booms and Blooms" weekend, with their daylilies all in bloom, a daylily sale, and a concert with fireworks on the 5th. We came home with a sack of daylilies in the morning, after walking the trails, and then returned in the evening with a sack picnic dinner from Subway, and our lawnchairs, along with about a million other celebrators. There was a blues/jazz singer concert first, then the Lee's Summit Symphony orchestra played, on into fireworks time. The weather was perfect, a beautiful summer evening, balmy breezes, temperature in the 70's, no mosquitoes to carry us off, and spectacular fireworks display over the lake.

Finding the car afterwards was interesting--I thought we had parked in the furthest field from the entrance to the gardens, and it was dark in the parking lots, except for our flashlight, car headlights, and some spots up on stands. So we walked way down to the furthest end, hitting our remote buttons, no response from any car around. Then we walked way back up to the entrance, and found a traffic director, who asked us when we had arrived. Thankfully he directed us to the right lot, and this time when we hit the alarm button, it went off! What was really funny was that you could hear the same thing happening all over the lot, others doing what we were doing. And as we reached the final turn out of the lot, another senior couple was also wandering back toward the entrance. He was saying to her, "well, if we just wait until they all leave, we should find our car!" I think we considered that a few times too. Senior moments on the Fourth(Fifth)!

Book pages

I don't know how many of you are planning to visit China, and particularly the Summer Olympics, but for most of us, we just plan to sit at home, and watch it via satellite. In anticipation of this event, I read a new book, by Matthew Polly, "American Shaolin", and decided it was well worth the read, and I certainly learned more insights about China and the Chinese than I would if I had made the trip. Since I do not speak Chinese, reading/traveling on the coattails of Mr. Polly was an excellent idea. And since I am not a martial arts expert, I truly enjoyed reading about his experiences, because he was the one getting beaten up in daily workouts with the Shaolin Monks, not I. He wrote about his year abroad at the Shaolin Temple, as the only American there. Luckily for him, he spoke "pretty good" Chinese-- "where, where where?" was his idiomatic reply when he received that compliment. And also lucky for him, he was able to master sanda, the Chinese form of kickboxing, to the extent that he could perform in competition with Chinese masters. There were some very interesting political observations, and one truly scary one, where he and a Shaolin monk compared countries and their ability to win in a full-out war. Can you spell "Korea"? Now I understand why the Chinese are so anxious to invite the world in, and show off their economic accomplishments while they compete in the Olympics. If you have seen the movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", you will enjoy this book. And if you haven't seen the movie, go rent it after you read "American Shaolin"--makes you appreciate the kicks without the pain!

A Little Crafty

Last week I was inspired by our trip to Sedalia. When we were in one of the flea markets, I stumbled on some beautiful quilted bags. That is the rage this year--travel and personal quilted bags. Of course I didn't like the prices, and remembered that I had some fabric set aside from my favorite quilt fabric store, The Quilter's Harvest, in Higgingsville. The ladies there had helped me put together a selection of fabrics, all nicely coordinated, starting with the Mary Engelbreit pre-quilted fabric, and on to fat quarters and eighths. So I was ready to sew!

Originally I had intended to just make a purse, but thankfully, those ladies at Quilter's Harvest can also read minds. I had enough to make a bigger tote! So got it put together in record time for me. To complete the bag, I used my beading skills to put together a beaded charm, with an angel pendant. Then, because I still had some leftover fabric, I sewed up one of those Wonder Wallets, having gotten the pattern from Miss Dixie, our Elderberry Leader. Now I am ready to travel in style!