Summer Sunday

I tried to warn you when the summer started. Life has no schedule or structure...which can be good, and it can be frustrating. I find I'm not getting a lot of some things done (I'm LONGING for time at my sewing machine), but I'm spending a lot of time with Roger and Caroline. So, that's good.

I woke up to cool, slightly foggy weather this morning, and as I sat outside and sipped my coffee and threw the tennis ball for Gemma, I figured that it'd be good weather to fill in some of the perennials that have died. We have a very young garden, and I'm still filling in spaces. I'd really like a crowded English cottage garden, blowsy with flowers and bumble bees and butterflies...I'm about 1/2 way there, I'd say, maybe a bit less.

Well, by the time I got breakfast stuff cleaned up (our dishwasher is acting strange, so I had to -- gasp -- wash dishes by hand!!!) and went to the local hardware store for plants, it was sunny and warm...and by the time I was outside on my knees, trowel in hand, it was HOT. REALLY hot. I got stuff planted (all except for one little black-eyed susan that I set in place but forgot to actually plant) and then I couldn't wait to get inside and take a cold shower.

I have to say that it was pretty amusing that every time I dug a hole, Gemma was right there to stick her nose in there. Canine companionship is a delightful thing, but geez, there's such a thing as TOO CLOSE.

Inspired by the foggy morning, I'd put country-style pork ribs in the crock pot with a favorite asian-style sauce. So the house smelled yummy all day, and when it came time to have dinner, and I was too tired to cook, I didn't have to. I do love that crockpot, as utterly suburban house-wifey as that sounds.

I was going to write the other night about the grand, productive time I was having printing out the foundations for my Cinco de Mayo paper-pieced quilt. A while back, I ordered a ream of unlined newsprint on line (really cheap, from a school-supply place...ask me if you want to know where I got it and I'll hunt it down). So, I loaded up the printer, popped in the CD-rom I'd gotten with all of Karen Stone's quilts on it from the EQ5 people, and away I went. I was so thrilled that I was making my own foundations on easily-tearable paper... When my printer started making this horrid, screeching sound. After much experimenting and online research, I determined that the motor has burned out. This is, actually, no huge surprise as it's a very old printer and I've churned out massive quantities of paper on it. Goodbye, HP 4L...you've been a good little printer. (And I managed to print out enough foundations to keep me sewing for a while!)

Still, that launched me into more research into what printer to buy next. I do tons of text stuff, but want to do some color occasionally so I'm shopping for low-end color laser printers. I've read so many reviews and opinions that NONE of them sound good any more.

Ah well. Does Bermina make printers?