July 19, 2026

Summer is ticking off quickly. I will say it again...I am loving it! I think the past few have robbed me of the down time I needed so I am enjoying this one. There is a disturbance out in the Gulf right now. I hope it decides to fizzle out and disappoint all the weather personalities. 

I am going to make this a quick post with not a lot of details, but just record a few things. Hopefully, I will be back for more a newsy one with thoughts again.

I finished the bunny. "Maggie Mae" by Stacy Nash. I used 28 count linen which made it larger than the pattern called for. I think I would not do that again. I think they are meant to be smaller.

I think Aida would be a good choice too since they are full coverage. Just get you some 18 or 20 count and stitch away.

I pulled out the cabbage plate to display her for a photo.  Currently though she is just sitting in my sewing room.

A grouping of them would be cute. I purchased the goose, but I am not planning to stitch it anytime too soon.

This week's children's activities included a park visit and a gym visit. One of the gymnastics gyms in town has an open gym for an hour and a half for preschoolers. Tucker was gone to baseball camp so Katie and I  took the other 3 to gymnastics. It seemed to be a hit. Everyone entertained themselves with all the equipment. Valerie saw the boys turning flips so she found a bar she could hang from.

Valerie is the most chilled child. She is so easily entertained and handles those 3 boys well. 

Tucker's baseball camp was a dud. Not at all what Lindsay thought. No go for that one next year. I think he liked the golf camp last year much better even though was so hot. He has one more thing this summer and I think that is fine. Not everything has to be scheduled.

Jeff and I made it to our event in Pensacola last week. We enjoyed our evening out by ourselves. Here is our selfie.

The family made it to the Blue Angels home show on Saturday. There were tired children and some tired old folks too. We had a lot of fun. I realized it had been since 2022 that we had gone. '23 was the year Mama fell and I spent the summer getting her back on her feet and the last 2 have been tough years for Jeff. A diagnosis for Parkinson on one and bladder cancer the other, but hey- this summer is giving us a break. I am going to pass on all the pictures from the day except this one of Valerie taking her nap. 

The bean bag has been a wonderful thing for boat rides. All four grandchildren have been on a boat since infancy and they love it. Miles was seeing the Blues for the first time and he loved them. I worried he would think they were too loud, but he didn't flinch. 

The F-35's here at Eglin fly over our house 3 times a day. At 11:00ish they fly directly over. Yes, it is loud. The other 2 times they are a little left and right of our house, so people around here are used to the noise. I thought she might sleep through but she woke up in time to watch. Thankfully for me:) BECAUSE I love airplanes. 

I will log off for this week and pray that the storm only produces rain but not too much and no wind. In fact, right outside our cul-de-sac is a tree that is leaning. It has not always been leaning. We have had a ton of rain lately and I think the tree is diseased. Jeff called the power company. They said they were putting a work order to get it down, but they have not arrived yet. Power lines will be down if it falls. I don't think it will take much wind. Things that make you go hmmmm.

Fortunately no houses will be in its path, just the road the power lines.

 

Grateful for Summer Days

 Another week has flown by. I had a very nice Fourth of July in Auburn. It was quiet, but restful and fun all at the same time. I stitched and read and watched more TV than normal for me.

Gus says the hot is making him sleepy.

This summer has been so good for me. It is hot, but I am enjoying the lazier schedule. I still have to fit in some things, but the days are longer and I am letting my hair down to speak.

Katie, daughter-in-law is keeping Daughter, Lindsay's kids for July. Jeff and I have done some things to shorten the days in the morning for her. We have gone to the park, to the library, to the Armament Museum to name a few. We help haul the kiddos since they need car seats to places around town. Jeff and I get to come home and rest while Katie takes them back to her house and keeps them for the remainder of the day.

A few highlights...

Katie let them make chocolate for dipping strawberries.

Snack time 

and 

coming out of the library.

All four standing in front of a C130 like Uncle Al flew.

And all four sitting on a bomb.

Miles and Palmer have learned to ride their bikes without training wheels. Big things! Tucker has baseball camp next week, so Katie gets a bit of a break, but I think they are having fun.

Katie has kept them busy but has also made them play without everything being scheduled which is hard for children today. They do NOT know how to entertain themselves at all.

We had a discussion while at our beach vacation about how teens today don't get out and do things. Our bayou in the summer when my children were teens was full of teenagers wakeboarding or swimming. They all went to the beach to play volleyball. They were busy and active. Mine even had summer jobs.

I Never see teens out and about anymore. I am not sure what happened. I have some thoughts, but it makes me sad that don't get out and interact anymore. I have digressed....

One of the days the 3 boys were being all boys and Katie sent a video of Valerie at the table eating (looks like ice cream) and the 3 boys were making quite a bit of noise and were involved in play. She was just staring them down but not breaking with her eating. Jeff freeze framed this shot of her. She is looking at them and back at her mom with a look to say, "They are nuts. Are you seeing this?"

I have been reading a newer release of books called The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. There are 8 published but more on the way. They are set in the 1880's (again another book in that period that I am loving). I am on Volume 3. Thus far, I have been able to check them out from the library. Highly recommend them!!!

I make visits every 2 weeks to check out books for Tucker and Palmer. Lindsay has zero time to check out books to read to the boys. Katie does this every 2 weeks which led me to do it for Lindsay. It has been a win win. I am helping Lindsay and the boys are getting good books read to them each night. Our county has the entire library system connected, so you can check out at one location and check back in at another. It makes it very convenient. I also go to another location to check out large print books for Mama. The Mary Esther location seems to have great clean books with a simple story that a 91 year old can follow. Bless the buyer at that library.

Jeff and I are headed to Pensacola tomorrow night to see an author but newsy personality. I have read all of his books which are about history. I am very excited to go to this. Going to Pensacola is a doable trip for us. I do hold ALL plans we make loosely with Mom being 91 though.

Something I didn't think would happen again is the Blue Angels. Normally, the Blue Angels do their home show in Pensacola on the second Saturday of July, but it is not until next weekend. I am guessing all the America 250 stuff knocked it back a week. Lindsay and family are going in their boat and Paul Allen is going to drive our boat. Valerie is finally old enough to make the trip so we will all be going to see the Blue Angels. As always there are friends going so we will all tie up over there in the water to watch the show. I have written about visits there before. It is a big deal in our part of the world. They say it will be bigger and better than usual to celebrate 80 years of the Blue Angels and America 250. Can't wait. Praying it will all work out to go.

I promise this is my last picture of the treasure boxes. 

The final boxes have inside them:

a 1976 half dollar

a 2026 half dollar 

both in a holder to make them even look fancier..

an Apollo 11 patch

an Artemis 1 patch

an Artemis 2 patch

an Artemis 2 lapel pin from a friend who works at NASA.

A little bit of old and new from the 2 things Mimi and Paw Paw collect. Me patches (you wouldn't believe how many I have) and Paw Paw coins.

Palmer, grandson #2 and the one on the far left of the picture seemed to like the gift the most. Now, I must say they all seemed to get our idea and liked them, but Palmer is just more crafty and really understood the idea of a box to put treasures in.

While I was in Auburn I got back to stitching on the Pledge of Allegiance stitch. It is a big one and the pattern is divided into 6 pages. I am close to having 2 pages done, so when 

I get there I will share it again. No need to do it every week. I will be working on it for a while.

I did stop this week and pull the bunny back out to finish. I think its yellow sweater will make it cute to have out for fall. I am in no way ready for fall, but I do think ahead.

I have the backing fabric picked out. I did it on 28 count so it is much bigger than the pattern called for. I think I would like the smaller count too. I do however think since they are full coverage I would do them on Aida if I choose to do more of them.

Well that is another week in the books. I feel like the post was all over the place, but I feel that way about me too. I feel my age so much more these days. Thankful for Katie helping out this summer.

Blessed,

Sandy

Happy Birthday, America!

250 years! I still remember 1976 and the excitement for the 200th birthday, so I am in full celebration mode.

 I finished up my America 250 stitches and treasure boxes.

I only have 3 photographed, but I finished the 4th one.

I shared the patterns in a previous post, so I will share the boxes this time.

I purchased my acrylic paints because I read that was best for paper mache boxes and then good paint brushes because a good brush is essential for any painting job. Then I fretted over actually painting them. I was in there measuring and thinking about how to take to get a good stripe when Jeff convinced me to just freehand them so that they would actually look handcrafted and not something I might have purchased.

I finally got started and agreed that he was correct. I painted them and then also sprayed them with an acrylic varnish spray. I did the finishing spray twice and let them dry really good.

I laced the stitches over craft chipboard and layered a piece of batting in between the stitch and the chipboard. I then glued them with Alene’s craft glue to the lid and laid a heavy box over them to dry.

I used Lady Dots Creates chenille trim in navy although it looks like federal blue. I chose that trim rather than cording out of fear I could not make them as neat as I would like.

I am really pleased with the treasure boxes as we are calling them. I am giving them to each of the 4 grandchildren. Jeff is adding some 1976 coins to them to start them off on collecting treasures. 

Hopefully, they will survive until they are old enough to remember Mimi made these!

I am in Auburn and typing this all of my iPad so I am cutting it short. I will be back to check in with everyone next week.

Happy 4th mt American friends,

Sandy