Super Moon eclipse 9/27/15

Jim and I are having fun watching the eclipse tonight.

An hour before.

More before

At the start

Just about totality!

Coming out the other side

More

Wow.

Almost finished.

Finished and then the clouds came in.  What perfect timing!

Once the moon was in eclipse the stars were bright and the Milky Way was very visible. I tried to take pictures at totality but there was not enough light for my camera to pick up.

Visiting Missoula

Elliot and I received a visitor from North Dakota recently. 

 

The days were filled with treks to the local sites, interspersed with naps.  When you see how much we did, you will understand the naps.
1. 2 estate/yard sales, in which quilts, jars, and really cool Thriftmas presents were bought (remind me to get Neil to tell you about Thriftmas);

2. Two quilt stores, naturally.  Timeless Quilts and Vicki's Quilts Down Under;

3. The neighborhood thrift shop: The Bargain Corner;
4. Clark Fork Market where we did not buy huckleberries but saw many;

5. Missoula Public Library, and dog knows what else.
We also had the honor to be photographers at Neil & Christy's new house. Here they are with The Doogs at the 120-year-old house they now own on Cooper Street:

There was also time for a barbecue which featured Ruby and marshmallows. The marshmallow languished on the end of the stick while she was mesmerized by the flames and heat from the charcoal.

Ooh.  And note the wind chimes hanging above Nancy.  We enjoyed those as long as she was here.  I wonder if she's got them up at home yet? 

Love you, Nancy, and miss you.  Tell everyone how comfy the guest bedroom is, and maybe they'll come visit too.

 

Megan makes a bag.

Today was Megan's second sewing lesson.  She made a bag with the Paris themed material she bought with her.  We had some hot pink for the lining.  Great job Megan!
I gave her homework!

Megan and her bag in the quilt room.

Quilting again, finally

I spent the afternoon and the evening at Faye's Henhouse in Mayville doing a class yesterday.  Dee Dee taught it.  Karen and I had a lot of fun and stayed really late.  Thank dog I don't have to work in the mornings.

Here is what I have done so far.  I only have to choose a background, fuse the cat onto it and send it to the quilter.  Easy Peasy.

No sewing required until I put on the binding.

Keiko the floral Kitty.  With a friend.   Cute eh?

Boy it is great to be back home.

Fatty Tomato Jr.

Hey Mary and Jeni,
I was going to link this post to your post about Fatty Tomato Sr.
But I can't find it.     Here it is. 

The proud gardener.

This year we have 6 tomato plants in the garden. Jim's Early Girl is a non-starter for some reason. Maybe we have had too much rain.  But a new tomato for me, called Pruden's Purple, is causing shock and awe in the garden.  One point five pounds of tomato goodness!

The first tomato in the garden.

The garden is rather full this year.  Rain every three days will do that for a garden.  Now, in late July, we have only watered twice.  We might need to water again on Friday.  Wow, three times this summer!

The garden on July 29. 2014

So anyway Fatty Tomato Jr. was looking so big, fat, juicy and tempting that I was afraid he was going to be plundered by some lawless animal.  I worried over him for two days and then I brought him in yesterday thinking he could ripen on the kitchen counter.  After only one day on the counter he was sacrificed for the first ripe garden tomato sandwich of 2014.

The first sandwich.

My friend Beth Davies taught me her version of the tomato sandwich many years ago and it is still my favorite.  A ripe garden tomato, real Mayo and white bread.  This bread was Sicilian Bread from the Turtle bakery which is covered with sesame seeds.  YUM.  I added fresh lettuce from the garden because I could. I know, I know, white bread! It is a failing of mine.  I have tried to prefer wheat but it just doesn't do it for me and I will NOT apologize! 

After my lunch with big fat slices of tomato (almost 3/4 of an inch thick) in the (noB) LT sandwich we still had enough so we could both have our first BLT's of the season for supper.  And there is a glass jar in the fridge with about a cup of diced tomato in it for tomorrow's breakfast or dinner.  

Mission accomplished for this year.   Heh.  

Maybe next I will talk about the Roma II beans I have blanched and frozen for later.  

Hugs,

Nancy

Harmonic Convergence

Ta-Da!

The class project.

The proud teacher and the smart student.

This is Lindsey's first Harmonic Convergence quilt.  Most of the work was done at Faye's Henhouse.   We got it spray basted on the back deck last night in a rush because rain was forecast. Now all she has to do it quilt it.   Oh, and bind it.

Hugs,
Nancy

Gardening and Birding Spring 2014

Dear Jeni and Mary,

A nice sunset in May.

Jim and I have been working hard in the garden.  This is what we came home to in late April. The two raised beds were the only fairly clean spots. I always leave the trash in the garden because the birds can use it for food and shelter during the winter.

Garden on May 2nd 2014.

In the spring I love to watch the Orioles stripping the milkweed stalks for nesting materials.  Only milkweed as far as I can tell.  Luckily I usually have plenty of milkweed.

A female Baltimore Oriole with some of Alice M. Johnson's fur.

I also keep a stash of milkweed silk and cat fur for nesting material.  It is very popular.  This year I added a package of nesting cotton bought from Fleet farm on the recommendation of birder and photographer Sharon Watson.  

Could be an Eastern Wood-Pewee or a Least Flycatcher.
The tail is notched so I am leaning towards the Pewee.
She took the nesting cotton.

One morning as I was looking out of the upstairs window 'with a view' I saw 4 different birds getting nesting material.  The Oriole wanted milkweed floss,  The Yellow Warbler wanted the cotton.  The Catbird took the fur from Alice M. Johnson and the Robin seemed to prefer small sticks.  The garden provided quite a few of those.

My plan this spring was to add two more raised beds.  It was hard to decide where as the west side of the garden does get afternoon shade from the huge boxelder tree.  So only one bed is on the west side and it is hopefully far enough north to stop it being shaded too much.

The raised beds in place with mounds of dirt beside them.
Taken late one evening.

Our neighbor Joel Brandsted came over one day and helped Jim move the beds, from the quonset where we assembled them, to the garden.  I couldn't lift them.  The beds are 4 feet wide and 8 feet long and 14 inches tall and that lumber is heavy!  One 2x6 and one 2x8 tall on the sides.

Starting to put the dirt in the east bed.
We strain it through hardware cloth to remove the quack grass.

The east bed is finished and we are ready to work on the west one.
We finished up both beds on the same day.  Whew!

This is the way the garden looks today...

Garden 6/2/14

Hugs,
Nancy

Weekend Update for May 16-18, 2014

This is your weekend update for May 16th-18th (sorry, no pictures YET):

On this weekend in history: Maggie Drew was born on May 17th in 1919.  

Upcoming:

Tomorrow at the Library I am wearing the Curious George costume for the 10:30 a.m. storytime.  It is a hot heavy costume and I don't know why I volunteered to do it.  Plus, I'll dress up again on Saturday to visit the Storytime at the farmer's market.  Since I have to walk a few blocks to get there, Christy has volunteered to steer me around.  George is supposed to wander through the market for about 20 minutes before ending up at Storytime.

Visitors to Missoula:

Katie Blankenship and her Mom, Laura, are arriving in town Friday night because Katie is on an elite soccer team that is playing two games in Missoula on Saturday.  They'll stay in my extra bedroom.  it's a bummer that Curious George has to be at the market during Katie's first game, but we'll get to see the second game in the afternoon.

Gardening news:

I now have a garden plot at the Corso Community Gardens. It is plot # lucky 13 - at least that is what I am calling it.  However, it's pretty big (15' x 15') considering that I have no starts and that planting will begin a little late since Garden City Harvest (the nonprofit that sponsors the gardens) doesn't have the soil ready yet at this brand new garden.  So - calling all Missoula relatives & friends: if you want to grow something in particular that you can't at your own house, consider buying a start and I'll plant it in my plot and tend it.  At the end we can share the fruits of your pocketbook and my labor.  And that way if we get an eggplant and lots of eggplants grow, you won't have to eat them all in one weekend because I'll help!  Hey - and if you feel like coming and hanging out in my garden and watering stuff or pulling a weed or two - you're welcome to do so!

Inquiring Minds want to know: what was Jonny's experience in Calgary working on a television show like?  Please tell us some stories!

Signing off,
Your Correspondent from Montana,

Mary Drew Powers