Several months back I shared about the genetic disease that recently raised its ugly head in my family. Amyloidosis is an ugly and unforgiving genetic mutation that strikes hard. In the testing, 3 of the 8 siblings came out positive, with one of my brothers bearing the major brunt of the disease. My sisters planned a get together at our parents house to commemorate mother’s birthday and just be together. It was lovely as all the sibs showed up and we had a great time remembering our childhood on the farm and crazy shenanigans. It was so nice to spend time together and such a blessing that everyone could be there. But, oh my, we are getting so very grey! It is so hard to believe so much time has passed and we are now the elders. Lots of laughs, lots of good food, and lots of wonderful memories!

I arrived home to extreme temperatures and my AC deciding to go kaput! Oh dear, 90 degrees with no AC has shown me just what a whimp I have become. Thankfully, the PNW is not long with heat and after a few days it dipped back down into the low 70s. The nights are always cool also, so that helps considerably when the heat does strike. I did get a repairman out a week later for repairs. But it has not been needed as we have remained below 75 degrees with occasional rain showers.  Oh how I love this type of weather.  I just cannot cannot do extreme temps, either hot or cold.

Well, I have been busy, I got the bug to do some deep cleaning and clearing out. Of course for the majority of the work, I picked the second hottest day when the AC was down…good grief. But I am really liking the changes and the paring down of stuff. I moved all the artwork around and left a space above the TV as the bigger TV takes up so much space so need to see where to place a pic… These are for the most part all original water colors or pen and ink pieces that I have found at yard and estate sales. I just love them! I have added a few more plants in the corner since the picture, I like them grouped in that manner. I really love how much cozier this room now appears. It seems to be my new favorite room to hang out in.

I took some bits and pieces of clutter out of the breakfast nook and threw this awesome quilt (that I recently grabbed at a yard sale for $1!!!) on the table. I just started to repaint the chairs a nice chippy ivory. The black was just too much. Notice the pictures of Christ. The large one in the garden of Gethsemane hung on the wall in our hall when I was growing up. I just love it. The small one is an amazing exquisite cross stitch done for me by Christina. It is beyond lovely. All these hung in the hallway, but I wanted them out to be seen and enjoyed!

I love this little shelf. It holds what I refer to as my Auntie Lena collection and the little model stove she passed on to me. I love this water color as well.

I did a bit in the front room as well, but since I am still working on that I will add those pictures to another blog. But I will share a gorgeous afghan I got for $4 at a yard sale. It is esquisite. I just cannot pass up beautifly hand crafted items! BTW the dog cover on my couch is the best. I got them off Amazon for the two loveseats as boxers are absolute slobber machines! I have already washed them and they are indestructable!

I don’t know about you, but I get such joy from moving things around and discovering new ways to display my collections. I am working toward slowly downsizing. I honestly do not need one more thing…. 

Well except plants…all the plants all the time. I do haunt the Walmart for the discounted plants (it is the only time I will ever shop there if I can help it….). I found my Foxgloves there, oh how I love Foxgloves! I chanced upon a close out of shrubs and ornamental trees and got gorgeous several beauties. I did not get a picture of the Spirea or Gardenia yet. All these beauties were $10 and under. It is so exciting to see everything growing and I have already been harvesting greens, peas, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. So exciting. Growing things just makes my heart sing!

My goal is to gradually turn this area into a cottage garden.  I am acquiring plants to do so bit by bit.  I have to always remember the importance of placement with height and size factors considered.  I just want it full of my favorites; hollyhocks (I have some in pots still doing great but not yet transplanted, foxglove, bee balm, daisy varieties, lupines, nasturtiums, gosh just so many I can’t think of them all right now.  But the old-fashion flowers that would be found in my grandmothers gardens.

The new bed we developed out back is doing great.  The dogs did break the top of the cute bird bath though….sigh… But I had the top from a cement one and I am using that so that works just fine.  I just added the broken bits of the other one to my stone border to give a splash of color.  

Classes finally ended for summer term and the break is always nice. But I really enjoyed this course and had a great deal of personal spiritual growth during those 8 weeks. One of the things I love about Saybrook is that it focuses on personal growth along with intellectual growth. Of course one would expect that in Mind Body Medicine and Psychology, but sadly other universities don’t follow this practice. We delved into so many areas; radical transmissions, near death experiences, consciousness and the connection to health and spirituality…just on and on. I will be taking the next course from this professor in the fall and look forward to that! I did drop to part time studies as they extended the semesters and taking two courses simultaneously is just not where I want to be right now. It put out my graduation date by a year 2022. But that’s doable. To me this is all about savouring the learning process while growing, stretching, reaching new heights in my intellectual, spiritual, physical, and emotional growth….you know mind, body, spirit!

While busy engaging in so many other projects and business, my knitting has rather taken a bit of a vacation. However, I am on the last border of my crocheted afghan. I am not happy with how the last border is looking so keep ripping it out….irritating.. It does not show in this picture but is a picot edging in that dark rose color. I am still not sure I am sold on this color scheme and will pass this along to one of my girls or grands.

And now it is time to head out for my daily doggie walk. I am not sure who enjoys this more, the doggies or myself. So my dears, I close and I wish peace and joy during this crazy upside down time.

Patricia