wrapping it up . . .

The month, that is . . . wrapping up August!  It was a good week.  The Merkel girls went back to school this week!

I love Edith's face in this one . . .

They won't be able to call it the 'School for Girls' in a couple of years!  

Thursday I left work for a moment and skipped next door to Barb's Sewing.  Social media really does work for advertising.  They had posted some cute new fabrics on the Instagram, and don't you know I came back with yardage from several of those they advertised and some from those they didn't!

But check out those Halloween prints!  Aren't they darling??  Those two and the three on the bottom, right, were advertised.  It obviously, in my case, pays off. ;)

Friday we hit the lake.  Again, the forecast held rain, but it's so hit or miss in the summer, we hate to scrap a whole day because of it.

This time we did run into a little shower.  You know, just enough to make everything wet and have it feel more humid and stickier!  LOL!

But afternoon storms often bring . . .

Rainbows!  First we could only see half of it.  But then the clouds shifted and we got to see the whole glorious thing!

I mean — there's no other word for it — just glorious!!  Plus the stormy clouds heading out made for a most fantastic sunset:

I can't ever get enough of that sight, even though it's bittersweet (because it means we're headed back to the marina).  Todd and I talk about getting a houseboat some day.  Not sure what I'd do with my fabric stash, but otherwise, I can imagine it!

Saturday was a stitch-in with my stitcher's group.  We had a good turn out.  

I brought my machine (I brought it to retreat and to a stitch-in ... the gals thought the world was ending) and worked on the top-stitching of Ezra's pillow sham.

Today is our last day of service at Essential Church.  We've been there for a while; nearly three years.  I will miss worshiping and serving with this group.  We will take a furlough through the end of the year.  With Ezra on the way and both Todd's dad and my folks struggling health-wise, we need to have a little more flexibility.  It's all in God's perfect timing!

:)

lake day . . .

After that burst of creativity . . . I had a really non-productive week.  And when we hit the lake on Friday, I didn't even take a stitching project with me. 

I feel the need for speeeeeed!!! (Name that movie!)

I took my (boat) kindle . . .

And my new TeaTime Magazine (and a thermos of tea . . . with a teacup, of course)!

The forecast for the day had been iffy, with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms, but we made it to sunset without a drop.

I'm always tickled when I can capture a good shot of a blue heron!

Of course, this was on our heels as we bee-lined to the marina . . .

We made it JUST in time! Y'all, we sat on the boat (in our slip, under the cover of the marina) for about 15 minutes, and then it let up just enough for us to make it to the truck. Whew!  Totally worth it!

:)

happy busy . . .

This is going to be another photo-heavy post; I've had lots going on!  We can only carry over 40 hours of vacation time into the new year, and I realized here it was late in October, and I had over 80 hours--I needed to burn some time!  And since we get two weeks over the Christmas holiday, I don't need it for then.  So I took Monday and Tuesday and enjoyed another five day weekend.  Bliss!

I did so much I'm going to have to split it over a couple of posts.  Don't laugh. Sunday was our Fall Festival at church, and the Merkel family joined us for the festivities . . . 

It was a fun afternoon, and thankfully, the rain cleared out (though the grey skies didn't) and we stayed dry!  And speaking of grands, I know the kids get SO much candy this week, but I wanted to do something fun for grandkids near and far, so I made these cute little spooky 'hand' treats!

Aren't those fun?  Just a little bit of trick and a little bit of treat.  And they whipped up real quick! ♥

Sunday evening, checking my facebook before bed, I saw someone had posted a photo of wool acorns that they'd made.  Don't you know that the first thing I did when I woke up on Monday, was to gather acorn caps and get the wool and the hot glue gun out?

These things are so cute and so addictive!  I'll do a tutorial post later, because they're so easy and fun!

I also made two kinds of biscotti on Monday.  

Double Chocolate Biscotti and my ol' standby favorite, Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti. Yummy! And since I was making two different kinds, I only baked half of the dough from each. That means there's prepared dough for another dozen of each in my freezer.  That makes me smile!

I thought I was finished with autumn stitcheries, and even got a winter/Christmas stitchery traced out (more on that one later, too), but realized I'm not ready to be done with Autumn.  So I traced out this sweet Crabapple Hill Studio's design . . .

I love Meg's designs; she's another of my favorites!  But I wasn't happy with the white linen.  It was too . . . bright.  So I decided (of course, after I'd traced the pattern) to tea dye it.

I pulled it out this morning, rinsed it, let it soak in white vinegar (to set the dye) and rinsed it again.  It should be dry when I get home, but from what I saw with it wet, it's a much more fitting color!

Yesterday was originally supposed to be the sunniest, warmest day of the week and Todd and I were going to fun around on the pontoon.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with its forecast, but we decided to go ahead and go out. It was still foggy at noon!

Since it was a work day, all the barge-shipping industries were busy . . . 

Tug boats coming and going! I love the barge with the coal on it.  Coal is a big industry in Alabama. We were fishing around the banks near them, so we saw lots of activity! And I caught a nice stripe!

We were in new-to-us territory, too.  I spotted this old lighthouse that was fascinating . . .

We also spotted two clipper like ships, scooting down the river.  I mean they were booking!  

Earlier in September two replicas of Columbus's ships (the Nina and the Pinta) were in Guntersville, but I don't think these were them.  They were cool to watch, though.  I wish we could have gotten closer, but as I said, they were moving pretty fast.  It would have been cool to watch them go through the lock at the dam! I went back and looked at the schedule -- it could have been them traveling from Chattanooga to their next destination in Rogersville, Alabama.  That route would make sense.  So would their speed!

As Todd fished (and I read and stitched) our way back to the marina, we spotted some wildlife doing it's own fishing on the banks:

Isn't he cute?!  We saw four or five of these bandits fishing on the banks!

The grey skies made for a glorious setting for geese flying in formation . . . 

And for a colorful setting of the sun . . . 

I love watching the sun set over the water.  It may be my favorite thing!

Who am I kidding?  I have loads of favorites!

:)