I've been a bit under the weather but feeling fine now and back into the swing of things. Woke up to the sound of driving rain on my roof - love that! - and decided to spend another 20 minutes under the covers but Sophie was having none of that. Feed me, mommy!

We've been experiencing a severe drought this summer so the rain is most welcome and you can practically hear the trees and shrubs and plants and grass giving a big sigh of relief this morning.
So, just to catch you up, I had a visit from my friend, Stacy, a couple of weeks ago and Sophie was in heaven having her here.

 We had a low key visit and spent time in the usual haunts: Beth's farm market, Morse's Sauerkraut,

haha get it? haunts . . . ?

and why are these called Lunch Lady gourds I wonder?

Pemaquid Point with lobstah rolls at the Sea Gull,  shopping in Rockland and Damariscotta and more lobstah.

view of the Atlantic from the Sea Gull Shop

Then on Saturday, I hosted the girls from work to celebrate our friend, Ann, who is going on to bigger and better. We had fabulous BBQ from the Village Grill, Carole's Bob made coleslaw, had fresh buns from the farmer's market and a couple of yummy cakes.

My favorite goofball, Ann-  Congrats!

Ann and I watched Mama Mia after everybody left, my first time seeing it and her umpteenth, and it was great!

So, today is my last day of work for the season and I need to get moving but I am spending this rainy morning playing with my curvy log cabin squares. AT LAST I finished all 64 of them last night. Would have been done much sooner but I needed Jack (the ripper) when I started going too fast and making mistakes. Lots of ripping and now many orphan strips which no doubt will go to good use at some point. So here you see it coming together. Pretty cool! They are easy to do with the curvy ruler but you have to pay attention!

And you didn't think I'd let you go without another sunset picture, did you? This is from a few nights ago. Always changing, ever beautiful.

My take on Kentucky Clerk, Kim Davis

Woke up to a beauteous sight this morning, the fog lifting off the Lake ushering in a sunny day. 

Sophie and I took a walk and then went to the farm stand this morning for some lovely early pears, raspberries, peaches and red lettuce and I intend to spend the day sewing with some swimming thrown in and maybe a little sunset ride in Barbie Dreamboat. Ahhhh, the luxury of anticipating a lazy summer day.

My friend, Carole, and I got together to make this little Sew Together Bag by Sew Demented. And can I just say that demented is what we ended up after trying to figure out this pattern. Honestly, no pictures and the directions may as well have been in Swedish. Thank goodness for a tutorial online by Quilt Barn or we would have given up. And really, once we got into it (our second try and with much hilarity) it came together ok. I would suggest after turning the binding, to hand stitch it. Much nicer.

3 zip pockets on the inside.

Oh! And don't you just love this sloth fabric? How freaking adorable is that?! It's by Cotton and Steel - easy to tell because their gray is like no other. And speaking of their gray, I finished up my niece's quilt. I think you've seen the front, shown here with the binding all on now.

And here is the back. I ran out of that distinctive gray so bought the patterned piece you see below, also Cotton and Steel-had to be. I think it came out nicely. A modern quilt for a modern girl.

And here is Lu's quilt, all done but the binding. Kind of hard to see in the glare from the windows but the quilting is a little much, it is bubbles, lots of them. I think it will be okay but will take some getting used to. I've made up the gazillion yards of binding and now have to get stitching. But not today. Too much like work. 

Some good reminders here and I need to reread this often, perhaps daily. Enjoy.

Happy Sunday
Here is what is resonating with me this morning, a wonderful quote from Willa Cather, as seen on Brainpickings.

The earth was warm under me, and warm as I crumbled it through my fingers. Queer little red bugs came out and moved in slow squadrons around me. Their backs were polished vermilion, with black spots. I kept as still as I could. Nothing happened. I did not expect anything to happen. I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.

I've been revisiting Oprah and Depak's,  Expanding Your Happiness, meditation- on Day 19 today so this really caught my attention. Lovely, isn't it? 

Finally recovered from two weeks of bronchitis and I've been having a busy time here at the Lake. My mom was here for a week and we made a trip to Rockland and the Farnsworth Museum - always happy to visit the wonderful Wyeths - and visited with Mom's college roommate, Marty, who is a lovely and artistic sort of person whom I feel a kinship with every time I see her. (And how awkward was that sentence but you get the gist.) We had lunch at Archer's on the Pier and visited Clementine for a fabric fix. Here they are, cute girls.

And here is the view from Archer's. The forecast was for gray and rainy and look how beautiful it turned out.

I took this picture of rosa rugosa outside the restaurant. My phone takes such beautiful pictures, doesn't it? See the bee?

We also made a trip down the Friendship peninsula to a sweet little vacation house on Muscongus Bay to visit an old friend of my Mom and Dad so it was old home week for Mom. Mitch hadn't seen me since I was 15(!) and said how much I looked like my Dad which made me feel good. And I still can't really believe, deep down, that he is actually gone. But I digress.

Gloria is back. We had a fabulous breakfast at Morse's this morning and then paid Beth's farm stand a visit. Beth's is in full on fall mode and where may I ask did the summer go??  We bought a veritable cornucopia: berries and corn and mums and pumpkins. 

And I love this picture of Sophie. She is reminding me that we have not been out joyriding in Miss Barbie Dreamboat for way too long. Mom and me and Sophie took a little cruise the other night and that was blissful and today is looking to be just right for a repeat performance. Finest kind.

Greetings from hot hot hot Lexington, Mass, and can't wait to get back to Maine today! Visited with my wacky sister and family and saw my mom, safely back from Wales and more interested in checking her email than anything I had to say!

Leslie made a lovely dinner of smoked salmon, corn on the cob and salad and we caught a cool-ish breeze on their back deck. A short visit but sweet. Mom and I are headed north this morning.

My friend, Sue, sent this to me last night:

There comes a time in life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it.

You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad, and focus on the good.

So, love the people who treat you right.  Think good thoughts for the ones who don't.

Life is too short to be anything but happy.   Falling down is part of LIFE... Getting back up is LIVING.

I am so blessed with my wonderful friends. 

Well I was sick for 5 days and finally ditched my arsenal of holistic remedies and went to the doctor. Had a nebulizer treatment and got prescriptions for Prednisone (yuck) and an inhaler, and today I am much better. Yay for that. But listen, how crazy is this? So I'm waiting for the nebulizer treatment at the doc's and my phone chimes and I have this text:

Steady energy throughout the day

Great positive mood(s)

Freedom to breathe deeply and easily

Waking up clear headed and refreshed

A Clear mind and good memory

A strong vocal expression.

Deep Breathing should be a part of our everyday life. It not only can lengthen the years that we get to live, but can make us happier, more productive and energetic living them too. Breathing deeply is a well-known stress reliever and has a multitude of health benefits as well. However, in our high stress busy lives, we often breathe very shallowly most of the time. But with a little effort, deep breathing can become an easy and unconscious part of our daily life. By making a conscious decision to focus on our breath for a part of each day, we can make it so that we regularly breathe deeper without having to think about it at all.

I just love it when stuff like that happens!

Lousie Hay says problems with the lungs are due to grief or depression, of not being able to live life fully. I passed the 6th anniversary of the day my husband left a couple weeks back. And I admit, there is some part of me that holds on to the past. For instance, feeling so miserable and having to get up and take care of Sophie and myself when I was sick, I found myself thinking, he should be here for me. Silly moi!

It is hot and humid in Maine with cooler weather coming in a day or two, thankfully. Today Barbie Dreamboat is beckoning to me but I am on my way to Boston to see the fam and pick up my mum. And not a moment too soon.

hazy, hot and humid