TB 12 Comes Home, Garden Notes, and a Possible Santa Sighting

Patriots Nation is abuzz!!! Tom Brady has come home. At today’s first game of the season, the greatest quarterback of all time will be honored at half time at Gillette Stadium, and I cannot wait to watch it. For twenty years he brought joy to the hearts of Patriot fans far and near along with six Super Bowl titles. He went on to bring a Super Bowl title to the Buccaneers in 2020. One of the statistics that I find most remarkable is that he is the only quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl in three separate decades.

School started here this past week and though I truly loved teaching, I’m also truly enjoying this endless summer known as retirement. Students and teachers must have been sweltering in classrooms with the 90 degree temperatures and high humidity we have been having. . . definitely not a fun way to start the new school year.

Yesterday I attended a meeting of the Herring Run Quilt Guild, and it was as if we were sitting in a sauna. There were, however, some pretty cool quilts shown!

Garden Notes:

There is so much to do before ending this gardening season, but with the rain and the heat I haven’t accomplished much. (This summer is now in the record books as being one of the wettest summers in this area ever.) I am looking ahead to next year.

I have never really liked red salvia. A neighbor gave me an extra flat of salvia and thinking that it might attract hummingbirds, I planted it in the wine barrel in the center of my hostas. I’m a convert. They have grown about two feet tall and have made quite an impressive display.

Orange is one of my least favorite colors, but I have to admit this hibiscus is gorgeous.

Final garden note . . . never toss old galvanized gardening cans that begin to leak or that have holes on the bottom as they make lovely planters. (On second thought, do toss old rusty, leaky watering cans . . . toss them my way, and I will give them a good home. :-)

For Emma fans . . . here she is after a trip to the groomers on Wednesday.

Finally, let me tell you about a possible Santa sighting and you be the judge. I was picking up a few craft items that I needed on Friday at our local Hobby Lobby. Then I decided to take a look at the autumn/ Thanksgiving seasonal decorations. The whole time I was browsing the aisles I kept repeating my mantra. . . “you don’t need any more decorations,” and it worked, I didn’t pick up any. Next came the forest of Christmas trees on display. Okay . . . here is where it gets interesting. I was in one of the main aisles and happened to glance down one of the side aisles displaying Christmas decorations . . . when whom should I spot but Santa or at least it might have been Santa . . . you be the judge. At the end of the aisle in the decoration section was an older gentleman wearing a bright red scally cap and a matching red polo shirt and, yes, he had a full white beard!!!!!! Truth to say, he was fairly trim, but that might not mean anything as Mrs. Clause probably doesn’t start her holiday baking until November. So, could it really have been Santa? I don’t know, but if he is around this early, I’m not taking any chances. I’m going to be a very, very, very good girl from now until Christmas! 

Have a fun week and be good just in case. . . 

Brrrrr . . . It's Cold Outside

 

Good Day! It's a wee bit too cold for me to take Emma for a walk, so I thought that I would pop in with a stitching update. Actually, I have been meaning to do this for a few days, but I have not gotten around to it. Each morning, I have a list of what I plan to accomplish for the day. How is that working for me? Not great . . . my intentions are good, but my follow through is weak :-) 

I did make this house-themed project bag for the monthly cottage cross stitch pieces I have lined up to work on throughout the year.

 

Back in August I had stitched a bit on this "Suffrage Act Proclaimed" piece in hope of finishing it for the one hundredth anniversary of the Suffrage Act. I had then put it aside instead to stitch some autumn and Halloween pieces. I pulled it out during the week of the election and completed the banner across the top, the flag, and the top half of the suffragette.  Again I then put it aside to work on Thanksgiving and Christmas pieces. It came out during the week of the Inauguration.

I've made significant progress and am keeping it out to work on it a bit each day. 

Normally, I stitch in hand, but this time I thought I would use a Q snap as I am using one on the "Temperature Tree" which is my Sunday stitch. Here you can see it with the grime guard that I made. Although your hands are clean, many stitchers place a grime guard around the Q snap to protect the edges from the oils in your hands. I am enjoying stitching with a Q snap.

I also have a Valentine's Day stitch finish, but I will show you that in my next post after it becomes an FFO = Fully Finished Object. It will be a tiny pillow for my tiered tray.

So, Tom Brady is headed to the Super Bowl for the tenth time!!! Incredible!!! The reaction of everyone in Patriots Nation has been wonderful. Folks know how fortunate we were to have him as our quarterback for twenty years and wish him well. As one fan being interviewed said, "We are now the New England Patriots Buccaneer fans." I couldn't agree more. Watching two games each week has provided more stitching time for me. :-) 

And speaking of champs, did you see that the First Dogs, Champ and Major Biden, have their own Twitter account? He who shall be nameless was the first President in a hundred years to not have a pet in the White House. Major, age two, is the first shelter dog to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and the Delaware Humane Association from whom he was adopted, had an "Indoguration Party" for Major to raise funds for that organization. If the names: Bo, Sonny, Socks, Miss Beasley, Barney, Buddy, Millie, etc., sound familiar you may want to check out a complete list of White House Pets (1953-Present.) 

Because I am a presidential biography nerd, I also know that Thomas Jefferson had a mockingbird and bear cubs in the White House, Calvin Coolidge had a racoon, and Teddy Roosevelt and his six children had undoubtedly the larges menagerie. [Note: no charge for all this superfluous information: I just have a mind that remembers all kinds of miscellaneous stuff. :-)

One last cute, cuddly suggestion . . . check out the panda cam from the National Zoo.  Scroll down the Zoo page to "Cub Watch Photos and Videos." Click on the blue, "View More" box to see still photos and view film clips of adorable little Xiao Ji taking his first steps and playing with his toys. A'www . . .

Stay safe. Stay well. Have hope.

St. Patrick's Day and Tom Brady Breaks Our Hearts

A message from Emma . . .

A short post this morning to wish you a Happy Saint Patrick's Day and to tell you about something Alex Anderson of The Quilt Show is doing. Quilters are fortunate that nearly all of us have large enough stashes and projects to keep us busy for the next few weeks. (Truthfully, we probably have enough to keep us busy for five years . . . make that ten years!  :-)

Alex Anderson is offering free mini quilt lessons online; you do not have to join The Quilt Show to view them. Yesterday's lesson on "Using Neutrals" was very interesting, and it will be posted in their newsletter and it is on their Facebook page. (I do not do Facebook, but I was able to watch the lesson.) Note: if you wish to view it on their Facebook page, scroll down to the video that say "neutrals," not the one where she is holding a phone. I believe there will be another LIVE lesson tomorrow, Wednesday @1:00 Eastern Standard Time.

And now, if things were not dismal enough, Tom Brady has announced that he is leaving the New England Patriots. It is hard to believe and even harder to accept, but I am sure that all of Patriots Nation will wish him the best wherever he goes. He has been a great quarterback and a truly class act. We have been blessed to have him for twenty years.

Stay strong. God bless the members of our medical profession, first responders, our leaders, and all  who are trying to deal with this devastating crisis.