summer days

Hi!  I have some summertime pictures to share with you--

Last weekend I got to spend some time with my mom.  July 3rd was my dad's birthday, so it was good to be there for one of those "firsts" after his death last January.  We did some fun stuff and some work stuff.  There were some overgrown plants and weeds that we mostly worked on, so the yard is looking fine.

And we took a little excursion north into Minnesota to the little town of Round Lake.  It's maybe 10 miles (I'm guessing) and we found the Round Lake Vineyards and Winery.  I never knew this place existed before, but we think we would go back again.  We tasted some of their products, and enjoyed the beautifully landscaped area just off the lake shore.  And we brought a few souvenir bottles home, too!

We also went to see Barefoot in the Park at the Okoboji Summer Theater, and enjoyed a Sunday morning pancake breakfast Mini-Wakan State Park on Spirit Lake.

We needed to do some watering at my brother and sister-in-law's place while they were away, so we puttered around out there awhile, checking on the dog and cats, too.  The original old barn still stands, but is being overtaken by vegetation!

My mom's house looks westward over the lake, and this picture was taken in the evening before sunset.  It was much redder in person, due to the smoke from the large wildfires burning up in Alberta and a few in Manitoba.  Iowa is a long ways from either area, so this smoke really travels.

Back on the home front, check out these cute bicycle cookies!  

We went to a fundraiser for some friends who are doing the Red Ribbon Ride next week, and these cookies were part of the treats.  We wish them luck as they work to complete their fundraising and training.  If you have any inclination to make a donation, you can find Terry and Sue Robinson on the website and show your support.

And the upstairs renovation project is nearing completion, with some electrical work done to install some new lights and change some plug-ins.  These fixtures are from IKEA, and I like the sorta industrial look with all of the wood in the house.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time working on finishing woodwork.  I filled in nooks and crannies of the wood floor butting up to the logs with some wood filler, and that turned out well.  Then, I chipped out a lot of old nail hole filler that was originally done with a filler that was the wrong color, but has been ignored for years and years.  I decided this was as good a time as any to correct that problem, since we have sawdust and crap all over everything anyway!  So I chipped out the old stuff from 100 or more holes (seems like 1,000!) and sanded each to remove any traces of the old stuff.  Now I will dab on a little stain to cover the sanded area, and then polyurethane, and then refill the holes with a better color.

But aside from the woodwork stuff, I did put together this cute little pincushion.  It stands up on little legs, and looks like a tiny ottoman or Miss Muffet's Tuffet!  Read more about it on the Bear Blog.