Weekend work/fun

I started the weekend off going to the local farm market, Blooms and Berries. I wanted twelve peaches for a new recipe 'Grandma Witt's Peach Cake'. It was in Martha Stewart's magazine and looked similar to what my grandmother used to make. It has a yeast cake with the peaches sliced on top. I didn't get to bake it Saturday but I did make it Sunday and you can see the results. It made two 9 x 13 inch pans. While I was busy making the peach cake, my husband and two sons were in the backyard working on a screen protection for our blueberries. We have 9 big blueberry bushes and we don't get a handful of berries because of the birds. I don't think our neighbors would like a big air cannon going off randomly for 6 weeks and we've tried netting each bush, but it has issues. Rich came up with a plan to sink posts in the ground and then stretch netting from post to post and over the top. Like a big screen house. The netting isn't up yet but the screen door is attached. It's the door to no where right now. I promised the boys food for their time and muscle. Dana and her family came over and we had a nice picnic dinner with peach cake for dessert. It was good but still not like my grandma's.


These are the two fabric combinations I picked for the sewing bag/bucket swap. I started my class yesterday at Best Friends Quilt shop. I had a hard time getting up to speed and figuring out the cutting layout. The teacher gave me some guide lines to help me out and I finally got the outside and lining pieces for one bag cut out. Most of the fleece lining was cut but then it was time to pack up and come home so I could go to work. Work just gets in the way doesn't it?

New Camera!

A new camera deserves a new post, don't you think? I wanted something small and uncomplicated with good reviews. My first digital was an Olympus and it has been easy to use. I decided I would be a loyal customer and try another. A few years makes a big difference in pixels and camera size. I ordered an Olympus Stylus 840, Wed. evening and it was waiting on the porch for me this morning. I opened it up and started the process of reading manuals for a quick start. Of course, the battery had to charge, but that was ok. I worked from 3-6 and by the time I got home it was fully charged. After watering flowers, I took some photos. What happened to the old camera? My daughter's had broken a while ago so I gave her my old one. She came to the house right away (she really missed having a camera) to pick it up. She started using movie mode immediately - something I never used. So, we're both happy with our new/used cameras. I can now take photos of sewing and cross stitch projects and download them easily. A great day (except for the work part).

Summer Photos

I finally downloaded pictures from my slightly older camera to my laptop. I've been avoiding transfering pictures from our home computer to this computer but I really wanted some of these pictures up. The day lily pictures were taken at dusk. We had a brood of cicadas earlier this summer. The birds were so busy eating them they left my cherry tree alone. It was the first time in 20 years I was able to pick our own cherries. 4 pie's worth are now frozen and 3 batches of jam were made. It was a thrill.

Winner!

I won! I won! Tracey in CT had a give-away on her blog for her 200th posting and I won! She had kind words for my new blog. I'm a 'blogger in training' and have heard there is an actual book, Blogging for Idiots. I might see if the library has it. I can't seem to figure out Blogs I visit lists and showing Tracey as a link back to her blog. I'll get the hang of it yet.

It's a gorgeous day in Loveland. Our book club had lunch at the Veg Head, a local restaurant. It was my logical choice for the book we discussed Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. The book got some of us to start visiting our local farmer's markets and boosting the local economy and those hard working farmers. After our lunch, I visited Blooms and Berries farm stand and got new potatoes and green beans for our dinner tonight and fresh peaches, cherries, blueberries and a pot of chives for the garden. Isn't summer grand?!

weekend fun

We had a busy weekend here and it was very HOT! It was time for my husband's annual men's weekend party. Usually we travel to Erie, PA where he grew up and went to college (Gannon University). But this year, his friends decided to do a road trip and come to our house for the party. They arrived Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday morning. Friday evening we took them to a Cincinnati restaurant, Montgomery Inn, known for their ribs. From there we went to Graeter's for ice cream. Saturday was steamy hot. Rich, my husband, took the men on a whirlwind tour of the Queen City's sites. I got out of their way at 2:00 to go to work. When I got home at 11:30, the party was winding down. A few fireworks were set off and all was quiet by 2 a.m. It was a great visit with old friends and over much too quickly. I hope they all come back again.

I got my partner for the sewing bag swap. I'm excited to start sewing but that won't happen until next Tuesday. What a huge swap this turned out to be. I have been visiting the other swapper's blogs and they are all so pretty. I have quite a few more to visit. It's nice to see so many talented women.

My First Blog Post

This will be bare bones for a while until I figure out how it all works. I've been curious about starting a blog and while reading someone else's today the gaunlet was thrown. In order to be able to participate in a sewing bag swap, one MUST have a blog. Oh dear. I'm taking a class in a week to make a messenger bag that will be perfect as a take-along project bag. When I bought my supplies, I even bought material for two different bags so I could decide which I liked better and give the other one away. Well, I'm a firm believer in 'there are no coincidences', soooo, here we are!

Now. You may be wondering why my blog is named Everybody Loves Clark. My husband and I have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. His name is Clark (after Clark Kent). And yes, everybody loves Clark. He's very laid back, has big brown eyes and is the sweetest dog ever. We've been collecting pictures of Clark and his friends and that's the name of his scrapbook (when I finally get around to making it). His first picture is with a toy he got from Dana. He doesn't really play with it but he sure looks cute resting on it.

I hope you like my first post. It's a start. I'll try to make it more interesting as I go and learn to add links etc.