Shoes, brownies

As I mentioned in the previous post, I decided to go hiking.  When I arrived at the park to join the group, my shoes felt weird.  The soles came off of both of them. Don't know if it was just dry rot or the glue fatigued.  I finished the hike without the soles, but it was quite slippery on wet surfaces.  The shoes fit so well, that I am going to take them to a shoe repair shop to see if they can be repaired.  

That being said, it was a lovely hike in one of our local County Parks.  Next time I will bring my camera.  And hike alone.  You cannot stop to take pictures when with a group.

My garden is producing zucchini at this time, so I am looking for recipes to use them.  I really hate throwing extra into the compost.

The results are two loaves of zucchini bread and zucchini brownies.  Yes, brownies.  They have no eggs so are more gooey that cake like. The flavor is a bit different, but I am planning to frost them with chocolate frosting, which should cover up any unusual flavor.  Am invited to a pot luck Monday with the m/c group.  I won't tell them what is in the brownies until they taste it.  :)   Unless they read my blog.

GOOGLE told me Happy Birthday

OK, this is just spooky! This morning when I went to the home page of my gmail, there were several cakes with candles in the GOOGLE shape. When I put the cursor over them, it said,  "Happy Birthday, Bernice".

Hubby is in Colorado riding his motorcycle in the mountains.  He called this morning and put the phone on speaker and all of his buddies sang Happy Birthday to me.  I  have had several phone calls with birthday wishes and my book club members sang to me to.  So it has been a great day.

I usually go to a Senior Stretch exercise class every Monday and Wednesday.  Today I tried a water exercise class in a pool at a motel.  I found that doing the exercises in the water was actually easier and not as challenging.  Our county park offers hiking, which I am going to try.  It may be a well rounded exercise regime in the end.  Guess I am on an exercise kick now.

City Girl in the Country

We had the brilliant idea of not mowing a large part of our lawn this year.  It was nice in that it took much less time to mow, but at the end of the summer it needed a cut.  The question then is what to do with the cut long grass.  Part of it was baled by a neighbor, and part was picked up by "cheap labor" from California.  That is truly manual labor.  She did get room and board for her work.  

K was visiting for two days when her Dad came for a Gaming Weekend with friends.  It short but wonderful.

Dumpster Diving at MidOhio

We had guests over for dinner and asked them what they thought this was.  One guessed "a giant Lego set".  I think it looks like some huge Praying Mantis have invaded.  Anyone who knows Gerry, is not surprised to see unusual things on our property  He attended a big motorcycle show at MidOhio, which is a race track.  They have races and a lot of vendors.  At the end of the show (when it had been quite windy) he saw these awning frames in the trash. Two had canvas tops, the others did not.  One was missing a leg, others had broken parts.  He plans to make three that are functional out of these.  He has an old tent that he wants me to use for making a top for one.  The projects continue.  

Here are a couple of pictures of things he saw at the event.

This is a little trailer he built the day before he left.  There is a huge swap meet, which is a long walk from where the car is.  So he built a trailer that he could use to bring his "finds" back to the car. Also he rides the bike around instead of walking.

 It was rainy and camper were stuck and had to be pulled out with a tractor.  I must say I am happy to have stayed at home!

Enjoying sewing

One of our guest bedrooms has my sewing machine in it.  Along with this is a box of clothing that needs alteration or mending. Since it is in a guest bedroom, it seems that it is "out of sight, out of mind".  Today turned out to be a productive day as I tried on each item in the box.  A couple no longer fit - so to the thrift shop they go.  Some just needed a seam fixed which again was a rather quick fix.  And then there were several pairs of pants the needed hemming.  Who knows how long these items have been waiting for my attention.  One pair  of beautiful white jeans has flared or wide legs.  So I had to do research to see if they are still in style.  Seems that they are, which is great because they fit fine on the top, just are much too long. Of course in googling that I am learning what to wear with the jeans so they look their best.  It just makes me happy to make progress on this.

Another great project of DH

 We have talked about getting an entertainment center for one wall of our living room.

G has had a plan for one in his head for a long time  It would be made of a variety of woods and be adjustable.  Recently he was able to pick up two from the side of the road, took them apart and made this prototype.  

I am sure all of you have pictures of children sitting in boxes and loving it.  He still is doing that!

This is how it looks after we put it together and raised it up.  We will now put are special items on the shelves to learn if the boxes and shelves are placed correctly.  So stay tuned.

Fireworks on the 4th

On the 4th of July our next door neighbors had a party, complete with fireworks.  Their sons bought $3,000 worth of fireworks.  One son did a lot of research to learn how to tie them together to have several go off in a row.  It was impressive.  I was more taken by the camp fire.  Some type of powder (sulfur, I think) was thrown on the fire, resulting in a beautiful blue flame.  

I am embarrassed that I have not posted for nearly two months.  During this time we have taken two long trips. The first was to Minnesota where Gerry attended his 50th class reunion.  We also saw family and then flew to San Francisco where we visited son and family.  The second was to Omaha Nebraska for G's cousin reunion.  It was three days long.  We then drove to Minnesota to say hi to my family and especially Mom, who now is in a nursing home.  She seems to have adjusted well to being there.  Is not in any pain, mind is still good. She just cannot walk.