Socktoberfest

I'm not technically participating in the Socktoberfest happenings at Ravelry or anywhere else, but I finished a pair of very October-hued socks. Same old pattern I always use, but I thought I better ease back into knitting with something easy. (I rotated this photo once, not sure what happened here. . .)

Another photo from Fall Creek Falls. We stayed in the park hotel which was right on the lake. It was great to walk right out of your hotel room and fish and skip rocks. The girls went kayaking. We also biked -- there was a nice paved trail right by the hotel and of course the girls wanted to escape from us on the bikes.

The fall has been busy with lacrosse:

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It has been Indian summer around here, still in the 80s, but cool at night. Can't wait for it to get cold. I'm so tired of summer clothes.

My last day at the *real job* is Tuesday, so I am finally seeing some daylight. I gave them two months notice, which was WAY too long. As disillusioned as I was about working there, it felt like torture staying on. I had some deadline work to finish up and my clients were very passive aggressive about waiting until the last minute on everything. I tried to warn them, but no one listens to me. After one of them had to pay a huge fine for lateness, maybe they learned a lesson. Doubt it.

I had one last minute project turn up on Friday that is due at the end of this week and I'm trying to decide whether to go with my original plan to leave Tuesday and stranding a coworker with the beastly last-minute clients, or to stay and service them myself. Think I'll leave. . .

I hope to blog more and I have a few projects for the house I've been putting off. Dh painted the downstairs bathroom this summer and I need to make new curtains and buy new towels and rugs. I also want to sew some clothes for myself once it cools off a bit.

Fall Creek Falls

We took a nice long weekend vacation to Fall Creek Falls State Park in Pikeville, TN.

A beautiful Tennessee bird bath.

The trees were just starting to turn.

The day time temp was in the high 80s, so it was perfect for being out and about.

The falls were running a bit slow because of all the dry weather recently. It had been 30 years since my last trip, but the trail is just the way I remembered it. Hard. . .

Tomato Time

They'e coming in at last.

A Teeny Harvest

Last weekend I picked a bunch of zucchini, squash, and pumpkin blossoms and made cheese-stuffed, fried blossoms. Fantastic! I had these as an appetizer in Italy last year. There are tons of recipes on the internet if you want to try it. Great way to use the male blooms.

I'm growing some cherry tomatoes this year. Hoping they will mature and ripen faster than your average size tomato.

Green bean vines are producing about a handful a day. Maybe I'll have enough to cook a mess by the end of the week?

The first zucchini. I hope I can harvest a few more before the borers strike. Yesterday the local paper had a huge photo of borer damage on a squash vine and basically said it was a difficult problem to solve. I put some foil around the stems but now I'm worried that I won't be able to see what's happening under there.

Not much else going on except lots of time in the pool and keeping an eye on the garden.

June

I got to this point on doily about a month or so ago, when I realized that I was short one repeat, so I tried to add in an extra (where the pencil is pointing in the photo). I know I can't get away with it and I need to rip it out back to the starting row, but can't bring myself to do it. None of my crafty projects are going anywhere.

Mostly when I'm not working, I'm reading. It seems like it's all I have the energy for and yet I do feel bored often. Making an effort to have people over seems to help a bit.

I'm also watching the garden grow.

Butterfly Bush. Low maintenance, does its job of attracting butterflies.

Green beans on the fence, okra is the small plant in the foreground.

Dh's giant pumpkin experiment. So far it's responding well to the constant watering. I'm keeping an eye out for the dreaded stem borers.

Blue hydrangea. These are everywhere in the south, so I guess I shouldn't be so proud, but I planted 5 of these about 3 or 4 years ago and only this one survived. Last year it was tiny and only had one bloom on it, so it's nice to finally see it doing well. (Probably because we cut a tree down behind it.)

It's going to be a quiet summer. Not many trips planned, kids are doing a few short camps and volunteer projects. Dh's job ends at the end of the month, so we will be trying to figure all of that out. In a way it was good to finally get the bad news we were waiting for, but scary too. My job isn't as busy as it could be, but I'm hoping that business will pick up and I can get more hours. Working from home is wonderful compared to commuting. I have so much more time and can get all my chores done at once, even with kids in the house (late sleepers).

Garden

So dh is trying a new project. He's planted a pumpkin in this self-watering container. He found the instructions online somewhere. I admit I'm a bit sceptical because I've never had good luck with growing vegetables in containers. We actually have a big spot of ground he could have used, but he didn't want to water every day.

This is a summer squash plant. I am going to stay on top of it this year and not let the stem borers defeat me. You have to watch out for sawdust, which tells you that they are eating the stem. Then you cut them out and pile more soil around the stem and let it reroot itself.

The gardenias are just starting to bloom on one side of the porch. They start on the south side and go around. It seems early to me.

Strawberries are coming in like crazy. I made a batch of freezer jam yesterday and I hope to make at least two more batches before the season is over.

I made a set of curtains for my sewing room last weekend. I've only had the fabric since we moved in over five years ago. Embarrassing. Still haven't made cushion covers for the window seats. Maybe I'll get to it this summer.

I begin working from home this week. I have no idea how that will pan out. I'm afraid it will make me feel like I've always got something hanging over my head and I'll never be able to relax at home. On the other hand, not commuting will give me an extra 8 hours a week of time and I don't have any privacy or a phone when I'm working at the office. So far I've been sharing space with the boss, sitting at a desk in his office. It's hard to concentrate with meetings and conference calls in the background. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Parts of a Sewing Machine

I love this. It came from regretsy. (Not safe for work, y'all.) Just a quick drive-by post. Last day of commuting to the office, yay! I'll be working from home for the summer.