Enjoying summer with Lily

I can't express how much I'm enjoying my time with granddaughter, Lily, age 11, this summer. She has changed so much--from a child to a young lady--in the 8.5 months since she moved to Maine. She is so much fun to be with! Sadly, I realized the other day that we'll only have her 6 more weeks before her mom flies home the week before the wedding. And Lily will fly back to Maine with her mother the day after the wedding. Believe me, that will be a sad day for Don and me.  

I have a lot of things planned to do with her this summer beginning with the Heart of the North Rodeo in Spooner, WI where Don and I lived for 7 years, raising the kids.  The picture below is taken from here if you want to know more about it.  I'm not a rodeo fan at all but we took each of the kids in turn and since Lily is interested in horses these days, we decided to take her too. We went Sat night and we both enjoyed it very much, Lily--the ladies and girls on horseback and me--the people watching.  In a nutshell, it seemed as though everyone was having a very good time!  The most memorable thing about the entire evening was in a vendor's booth, Lily spotted a bikini made of the Confederate flag! You know, the one that was just taken down from the So Carolina state house.  It didn't look as though too many girls were interested in getting it, but somewhere out there is someone who will just love it!  Go figure!

The next things I have to get arranged for Lily is to have a couple of riding lessons and to get her to the local archery club so she can get some bow shooting practice.  When she got her bow, we tried having her shoot in the back yard but it occurred to me that there probably is a city regulation against that. Whoops!  I guess I have to learn to play by the rules after nearly 30 years of living in the country where the rules are minimal and loosely enforced!

Yesterday she and I met my best friend in Minneapolis for lunch and shopping at the Mall of America for a dress for me to wear to my son's wedding in late August.  I had arranged for a stylist to have some things ready for me to try on and she did a great job of selecting things that I might like.  I decided in the end to get the first dress I tried on, of course.  But let me tell you, it's really hard to find something a little dressy without all the beading and glitz which I don't really care for.  I'd rather get my glitz from my jewelry than have it attached to the dress.  So the one I chose has a little beading but it can easily be covered if I want to wear the dress for something less dressy, like my anniversary dinner.  

Lily and I also shopped for shoes and she found a pair for herself (she's in the wedding party as a jr. bridesmaid) but no luck with me.  Tomorrow I'm going to check out my favorite shoe store in Eau Claire to find something for my feet.

While we were in the Cities, I picked up my sewing machine from the cleaning it needed. Now to find time to actually use it!  I haven't done any sewing or quilting since the middle of June when we drove to Maine to get Lily.  I'm of the mind that the quilting can wait, but a growing girl needs my attention now.  As I said above, we only have her for a few weeks more.  :(

I've also been working like a dog in the garden, while Don plays golf. Is there something wrong with that picture?????  When he returns from his current golfing week, I'll turn it over to him to care for. Maybe then I can get some stitching done. For once, the garden looks pretty good and nearly all the weeding has been done and about half of the mulching.  I've been generous with spreading the composted cow shit manure so hopefully we'll get a nice harvest. The other day I cooked the first of the garden peas--oh, my, they were so good! I have high hopes for this garden.

So, that's what I've been up to these days.  If I get back to finishing the quilting on the zebra butts quilt (I really should find a different name for that) I'll let you know.  Enjoy your day!