Turkey Tracks: June 8, 2022

It’s a Rainy Day!

I needed a rainy day!

All my indoor weekly cleaning/laundry tasks are done.

I’ve completed catching up with my garment projects—until fall when I’d like to make a tunic pattern I have—maybe in flannel to wear over pants or leggings.

There are actually 4 tops if you count the first one I did where the neckline was too big and the sewing was crappy until I used a walking foot for ALL the sewing.

These tops fit, can layer over t-shirts, and are so, so cute!

The outdoor tasks will wait for the rain to pass, and now I have time to sew the big Bear Paw blocks using the 3-inch strips I cut for the Churn Dash blocks out of the Cotton+Steel stash. Pics later as the blocks on the design wall grow.

Monday I walked with friend Jan Corson. We did a circle that runs along the harbor and bay where there are some challenging grades.

Here’s a view of Curtis Island and the iconic lighthouse that sits looking out to the bay:

The rhododendrons are spectacular this year. Here is a whole gorgeous hedge of them we passed as we walked on the high side of the circle.

I have two rhodos here in the yard. The deer ate them back to their stems this winter. One of them, on the north side of the house toward the woods, was protected with burlap and stakes. The deer ripped off the burlap and destroyed the rhodo—even though there was a very deer-savvy dog in the house.

And they also found and ate the rhodo that sits in a protected spot in the back of the house.

So, I have rhodo envy for all the beautiful rhodos that escaped the deer predators.

And I think I’m going to have to give up and take these 2 rhodos out and replant with shrubs that deer don’t like.

I may try spraying them with the smelly spray next early winter.

But…

I think it is a losing battle.

Turkey Tracks: June 5, 2022

Rocking Out

I usually mow on Fridays as that is when the grass has had a week to grow. But Friday this past week was a rainy day.

The morning here yesterday, Saturday, was murky, but dry.  But after lunch, the sun came out, and I went for a walk.  I took my little ipod touch and ear buds and played music rather than my current book—I used to walk with music a lot back in Virginia, where I had a recorded tape of “walking music” that kept the pace strong.  I found myself singing with the music quietly so as not to freak anyone passing by and just moving pretty fast.  It was so much fun!  And that would not have happened if I were walking with AC doggie as I would have been walking WITH him.

When I got home, the sun had dried most of the grass—it was only wet in some shady spots—so I put on boots, got out the mower, and sang at the top of my lungs to the music and just rocked out the mowing and weed whacking.  I came into the house full of joy and satisfaction.

After a shower, I made a coffee and returned to the almost-finished knit top I was making—where I was trying a pattern hack to take out extra fabric around the neck.  It worked beautifully.  The shirt fits perfectly.  And today I will likely walk again and will cut out and start to sew the other two shirts—which are less flamboyant than this one. There was a scarce printed knit selection at Fiddlehead Artisan Supply on Friday—due to supply chain problems. But this print seemed so cheerful.

Today, Sunday, is cool and sunny—my kind of sunny day. I’m going to grill a flank steak at noon—and will use some of the meat for a salad supper, which I’ll make at noon too. Thus dinner will be all ready when I stop sewing. I’ll roast a cauliflower and will pan sauté some Bok Choy to go with the flank steak.

I bought some Granny Smith apples at the Belfast Co-op. Maybe I’ll bake some of them for a dessert for tonight. I’ve just been adding a bit of my raw fresh cream to dress the warm apples—after dishing up one with all its lovely juice. Vanilla ice cream is very…sweet. The raw cream is just right.