I think I’ve spent as much time moving these blocks around as I spent making them. Not sure if this is the final arrangement or not but I’m ready to be done with this top so it’s time to decide and start assembling.

Can you stand another photo of Finn? He was groomed today – he’s really struggled with the heat this summer and I know it’s going to be worse in Tampa in a couple weeks so I had him shaved short. He’s so handsome!

I’m trying to teach Finn not to bark at the deer in the yard … he’s doing better and most of the time he just lets out a low growl…except the other day when he completely missed this one at the window of Keith’s office. I’m a little jealous because Keith sees more deer in the front yard from his office window than I do in the back yard from my sewing room!

With Keith home all the time, the days run together but we’re having a nice weekend. Some hiking, some games, picnicking, and a little piecing and crochet too! We did not do all 8 miles yesterday … the plan was to do 3-4 miles (there’s a LOT of climbing) but we decided to call it a day when the thunder started up. It never did anything more than drizzle a bit on the way home but I don’t like to risk getting caught out in the woods with lightning!

We also hung some new photos. Years ago I had a bunch of canvas type photos that we put on the wall going up the stairs but Keith hadn’t wanted to rehang them in years. I wanted to hang some of the recent photos here at Big Canoe without spending a fortune or even making it a big deal so I told him I was going to try Mixtiles. We hung them up today and both love them. It’s not fancy but I’m not a fancy kind of person!

I’m sure I’m not the only one realizing that we’re going to be wearing masks for a long time. I made some more today for Keith, Chris, Rae, and one for Mo to try on for size. For Keith, I tried a pleated one with elastic for the first time. He really likes the ease of just slipping the elastic over his ears and not having to tie anything. Chris got 2 camping and 2 baseball ones, and I made Mo’s a little smaller than Rae’s and I’m hoping it fits.

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It’s unbelievable to me that people refuse to wear them. I’m disgusted with the lack of leadership shown by Trump and the governors of Georgia and Florida during the pandemic, and I’m very fearful about the pressure for schools to open up with in-person classes in areas with surging cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

I plan to keep our circle small and restrict myself to activities like hiking, kayaking, quilting, reading, crochet, and maybe even some knitting. That sounds like plenty to keep me busy doesn’t it?!

We had a fun day with Rae.

Hiking, swimming, a picnic … and some added excitement … yes that bear photo was taken on our hike! Luckily, he was more interested in looking for food under rocks than in us.

4 years ago

Today!

Becky found and ordered new cushions for our porch furniture so we drove to Marietta to pick them up today and brought Rae back to spend a couple nights with us. We couldn’t fit all the cushions in the car but we got the ones for our chairs and they’ll bring the others when they come to pick Rae up Friday night. They didn’t have the matching ottoman cushions in the same stripe but I’m OK with the red. These look SOOO much better than the ones we had out there.

I ran into Jo Ann’s to get some more fabric for masks before we picked Rae up. She liked the puppy fabric I’d bought so I made one for her tonight. We’re going hiking tomorrow afternoon and don’t expect to run into many people but we’ll have masks just in case!

Kevin left this morning and I’m back in the sewing room today but we spent the day on the water yesterday. We rented a pontoon boat on Lake Allatoona and all had a wonderful time.

We’ve got company – it’s been early March since we’ve seen any family except for the boys and their families and my brother is here for a few days with his girlfriend. We’ve had lots of discussions about COVID 19 and the precautions we’re taking. We are not doing any group activities or dining out … we’re avoiding all crowds and are wearing masks when we do need to go out. I know there’s still some risk but we’re trying to find a balance. Doing the things that matter most and giving up all the rest.

We took Kevin and Hilary up to Amicalola Falls yesterday. I told you it was one of our favorite places!

Hilary and I did take the challenge to walk up the steps to the top of the falls while Keith and Kevin went back for the car and drove up to meet us.

It was definitely worth the climb!

If you remember in April we had a fireplace guy come out and look at both of our ventless gas fireplaces. The downstairs one didn’t work and the upstairs one stunk! I had done some research and wanted to change the upstairs one to a vented gas fireplace but the guy talked Keith into trying a new set of logs. It was MUCH better with the new logs but I’m very sensitive to odors and still noticed the odor and knew it was not going to work for me so we decided to go ahead and have it converted to a vented fireplace.

At the same time I had the bright idea to just put an electric log set with a heater in the downstairs fireplace. The kids stay down there when they’re visiting and I was never going to feel comfortable with it being functional if they were down there unsupervised BUT I spend a lot of my time downstairs and I wanted the extra heat a fire would provide for when I was sitting and knitting or binding. So we decided on an electric unit – which was much cheaper than converting it to a vented gas unit anyway.

So both units were installed today. We could only turn the upstairs unit on very briefly because the caulking has to set so I’ll show you more about that one in a couple days. I’m not 100% happy with the downstairs electric one because it does have a plexiglass fan for the projection and that does have a little reflection from the lights in the room … but I’m 98% happy with it! It seems like the heater portion is going to do a good job keeping the room warm and I like the look of the “flames”.

Here’s a still photo where you can see the reflection ….

And here’s a video with the lights off.

I’m going to live with it for a little while but I’m considering putting a decorative screen in front of the fireplace thinking that might make the reflection of the lights less noticeable but overall, I don’t think it’s going to really bother me and I’m thrilled to have a working fireplace downstairs!

And just in case anyone is curious what model we bought …

I’m puttering along … a few more blocks for the 16 patch quilt made, 5 more masks … but the highlight of my day was kayaking!

i did have some visitors while I was downstairs sewing. I keep my blinds open and pulled up out of the way so I can keep a watch on the yard.

Thanks for all the feedback on the new quilt – it’s growing on me as I make more blocks and I’m sure it will turn out just fine!