this is so tasty

or at least I think so.

I cook like an old woman. I just throw stuff together and it comes out edible. I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but feast your eyes on this

Farmer's Market Opener

and I made a grand total of $0.00!

maybe it was just too hot or maybe I just can't cater to the people around here.

I've thought about opening an etsy shop but I'm not sure yet. I'll have to figure out the cost to do that.

:(




please comment with ideas... what do you think I should make and try to sell?

miniature flowers

about two or three years ago I planted some cosmos in one of my flower beds. they just keep coming back each year. I've dug down and turn the soil each year and buried the top layer of dirt under another foot of soil but they still come back! but that's alright, I suppose, because they are bright and colorful and that is the reason I plant flowers.
but we have had a few cosmos come up that are interesting. they are miniature flowers and for a cosmos flower they are practically microscopic.

We have actually had a cosmos that was much smaller than this one. this one is about the size of a white clover. I had one last summer that was about half this size. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was so so small.
I'm not sure why they only grow to this tiny size. I suspect it may have something to do with the amount of clay that we have in the yard.
but how cute.

I finished the pig

and she's so cute!
side view so you can see the curly little tail

anxious

Another Harry Potter in the theater and I don't get to see it until it goes to DVD. mainly because I just can't justify spending that much money on ONE ticket !!! but I would for this movie - however, I won't have money for it for a few more weeks and it is likely to be out of the theater by then. (that just tends to be our luck).

so I think to pacify myself I will crochet some Harry Potter themed projects... I have a pattern for a golden snitch. it's really cute and I can make some for the sale.

I also have a totally adorable hat that I made. it is a baby hat. (not at all Harry Potter related, but cute)



I think it's adorable. The orange leaf is a bit bright in the picture but it is cute in person.
I just don't know how much I will ask for it yet. I guess I will probably go on etsy.com and compare a bit and go from there.

I am also making a couple of toys. there is a book called "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" I am making her and a pancake to go with. right now I am working on his little sweater. I think I will go one step further and embroider the flower on her sweater.


more to come.

a hat for Emma, (or anyone) and a new plan

so this hat is still a work in progress, but I am almost done with it.

it is inspired from a hat I saw on craftster.com and I fell in love with it right away.


so the plan is that for the rest of the summer, my sister and I will go to our local farmers' market (it really isn't much, more like a minute craft sale) and we are going to sell our wares.
I already have some more ideas for more cute hats and toys. we need some money and I stand to make a pretty good financial turn around on this kind of stuff, provided people buy it.
I really hope people will buy from us.

wish us luck

incredible - oh no.

I have lived in this house next to these train tracks for 9 years and 11 months. This is the first time in all these years that this has happened while my family has been here. I'm sure it has been even longer since there has been a train accident on our line this close to home.

As I was talking with my sister on the phone this afternoon and about 5 minutes before Tim came in the door from work this train went past our house.
it was only these three engines and they didn't go past our house at any kind of excessive speed. there have been several times when a couple of engines have gone by at top speed and it bothers me at how fast they zipped past our house. this was definitely Not one of those times.

So Tim walked in the door and said there was an accident down our line involving the train and a dump truck and that the town officer was just getting there as he drove past! We didn't hear a thing and so I figured the place he was talking about was a couple of miles down the line.
then we heard some sirens and some fire trucks and ambulance went past the house.

This is what happened to the front engine. not much, just a crinkled front end which you can only tell by looking at the steps.

this is what happened to the truck. (click the picture for a larger view) there is no hood on the truck and the cab is bent over sideways.

the truck bed is about 10 yards away from the rest of the truck and in the left bottom of this picture is the hood for the truck.



the blue helicopter (air ambulance) came and took away the truck driver (I assume it was him) we don't know if he is alive or the extent of any injuries that he might have suffered but we are hoping he's alive.

I snapped a few pictures of it as we drove past. I didn't want to get out of the car because of all the police around. I didn't think they would be too happy with me getting any closer.
Not that I was looking for anything gruesome. I just wanted to have some pictures to show our future driver. kind of a scare tactic to get her to make sure she is careful about driving.
the intersection where this happened is only about a half mile from the house and there were no major visual obstructions there so we think that they didn't even stop before the track.



addition: the news was just on. they said that there were two people in the truck when it was struck. no one dead (as of 6:00 news) wheew! one of them was air lifted to the hospital and the other was stable enough for the regular ambulance.


addition: (july 14) it was a fatal crash. That would have been sad enough, but today they released the names of the men in the truck. one of those men was a good friend of my sister's husband and their family.
I feel mournful for everyone effected by the lose of him. I feel sad for this man's family. I feel sad for my brother in law and my sister.
they have my empathy and my sympathies.

blah blah blah

I've been writing to this blog for just over a year.

I have a couple of readers and I'm really not doing this for any kind of popularity, but I feel like such a small fish when I look at a few people's blogs who have huge numbers of followers. one of my crochet blogs has almost 900 public readers.

I suppose those bloggers just have more confidence in themselves than what I have in myself. I guess that comes from living in the shadow of far more talented and praised siblings.

but I've been asked to keep going and I will try to. I've been slacking for the last few weeks but I just don't know what to talk about.

Erica is getting ready for camp for next week. she will be gone from the 14th to the 17th. I hope she has a fun time.

funny how this humidity works

it is not terribly hot but the humid air is really doing a number on my flowers.

at least they are easily fixed by giving them a cold drink of water. they perk up so fast. I guess that's the same for me. there really is nothing better than an ice cold drink of water.

oh my

check out this link...

doesn't it look like the best pound cake ever invented?

I went for a little drive today

there is a beautiful cemetery across the road and down a block from our house. It is the cemetery that my grand father and great grandmother are buried.
it's a bit of a peninsula so the lake surrounds most of it. it is very quiet there and very pretty.
every once in a while we will drive around out there and sometimes there will be geese wandering around up there. this time of year it great for them to be there with their babies. there is almost never anyone there to bother them.
as I was slowly making my way through I noticed a very young rabbit close to the side of the road. it was a little nervous but that didn't last long. I stopped and looked at him out the window and he just came closer and closer until he was almost under the van. rabbits have such adorable gangly legs.

I think that I am going to make a point to go for a walk out there at least 3 or 4 times a week if not more.