Saturday (9/29) went by in a blur.  Michael left for golf (coming home with an 83, and a birdie J) and I spent the morning and early afternoon volunteering at the Indian Land Fall Festival.  I came home and said good-bye to my honey (who with Phil headed back to Longview where he has been scoring the golf tournament.  This time, the 2 of them were just golf groupies!)  I got to relax for 1/2 an hour before getting cleaned up and gathering my music before the guys picked me up before 4 PM.  We were playing and singing at Winthrop as they were celebrating 100 years of classes.  It was a fun gig, but by the time they dropped me off around 9 PM, I was beat and just sat on the couch until bedtime.

beef enchiladas, yoghurt, measuring for ice cream, hand cream, coffee cake

Friday morning (9/28) was a very productive morning in the kitchen.  Michael left early for his last round of scoring at a golf tournament and I got 3 pans of beef enchiladas put together:

 

yoghurt started in the crockpot:

 

 the base for lactose free Chocolate Decadence ice cream:

 

and a bunch of hand cream for the craft fair in 3 weeks (the top one is a re-fill, that’s why the label is smudged...I certainly don't want you to think I put out anything less than....perfection J):

 

It was 11:30 by the time I finally finished cleaning up, so I headed downstairs for a marathon of knitting.  I finished one necklace and got another one strung with beads.  I went upstairs around 4 to bake 2 coffee cakes, and while they were baking, got to sit out on the porch and visit with Susan (neighbor) for awhile: 

 

 

Michael came home from his second day of scoring totally exhausted….so he took a quick nap and an even quicker shower and we packed up one of the coffee cakes while still warm (and a pan of enchiladas) and headed off for a visit with Sally and Jimmy.  Jimmy’s first week of chemo/radiation is over and he is still doing wonderfully well.  After our visit, we sped up to Nancy’s to pick up a quilt she had quilted for me (pictures next week) and then beat the rain home for grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and knitting in the evening while watching TV.

Thursday morning (9/27) Jan picked me up for quilting.  We decided to bite the bullet and rip out sections of our ‘flip and sew’ table runner, since we started to go a little off course when we were sewing it last time.  I also got a necklace knitted…just have to put the clasps on it.  I usually finish a bunch of necklaces and then do all of the clasps at once.  In the afternoon I worked  a bit on the back of the 4-patch, and did a little knitting in the evening while Michael was at rehearsal.

Wednesday morning (9/26) Michael left at 7 for the golf tournament.  Beth and I walked, then I headed up to the last farmer’s market for this year.  I picked up a watermelon for Jan and Walt, and some very late butter & sugar corn…..we had it for dinner and Michael thought it was AWESOME!  Especially for late September, and especially down here when the growing season for corn should be long past.  I spent the rest of the day working in the studio.  The daughter of a friend has a website and she is featuring artists that she knows.  I spent a lot of time getting pictures taken and write ups done for a lot of my items.  I’ll let you know when she starts displaying.  As I mentioned, we had the corn for dinner, then Michael left for rehearsal and I went back to the studio and back to the disappearing 4 patch.  Contrary to my belief…you actually CAN sew it together incorrectly….so I spent 2 hours ripping out a row  L.

Dorothy, sticky buns, me & mpd, hair, hot pink snowflakes

We were both up at 6 AM on Saturday (9/22) morning.

Michael had to leave at 8 to get trained for a golf tournament where he is scoring, and I had to bake a cake for Dorothy’s birthday.  Barrie came over at 9 to give me some tips on frosting it (and brought her adorable 3 year old son Cooper) and of course…her cake looked much better than any I have done in the past.  I got the kitchen cleaned up, my lunch packed, and a good head start on Killer Pecan Sticky buns before leaving to pick up a borrowed car, and then to pick of Gladys (another friend of Dorothy’s) and heading off to her assisted living place.  There were 13 – 14 guests there and Dorothy seemed very surprised and happy to see everyone.  

 

 

We all brought our own lunches, then had the chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert.  She opened presents, and then there was a little skit done by the Performing Arts Club (of which Dorothy was a member).  Gladys and I got home around 2 and I put together the dough for sticky buns.  By the time Michael came home from golf, I was baking my last loaf of Artisan bread and rolling out the sticky buns.  The minute the bread was done, we packed it up, along with one pan of sticky buns and headed over to Sally and Jimmy’s.  We had a really nice visit with them, and I collected a bunch of my dishes before heading back home to a quiet dinner.  I spent the evening in the studio, working on my latest project….hopefully pictures within the next few weeks.

Sunday morning (9/23) I baked our pan of sticky buns: 

 

then it was back to the salt mines…slaving over a hot sewing machine until it was time to get cleaned up and head out to the awards ceremony.  Michael was nominated for his stint playing about 35 different characters in ’39 steps’….I won’t keep you in suspense….he didn’t win L (although he absolutely should have).  He still looked FABULOUS in his tux:

 

 

 

and he loved how my hair for the evening turned out (for those of you who continue to wonder why I grow my hair so long):

 

 

We got home at 11 and fell into bed.

Monday morning (9/24) Michael was up early to go golfing and I headed down to the studio.  I got my quilt top all sewn together and pressed (be patient, I will have pictures after the quilt is given as a gift).  Jan picked me up at 10 and we went to Stallings to pick up our machines (in for repair).  We were home by 1 and I got the backing for the quilt pieced, sewn and pressed.  I will be taking it to Nancy’s tomorrow…she offered to quilt it.  While it is gone, I’ll be making the binding and a label so that when I get it back, it will hopefully just a day or two until completely finished and given.

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening (Michael had rehearsal ) working on the disappearing 4 patch we learned last week in quilting.

 

Tuesday morning (9/25) I spent with Nancy and Tuesday afternoon I spent at Stitch and Chat.  Michael left for rehearsal around 6 and I spent the evening working on the disappearing 4 patch.  And somewhere over the last 5 days….I completed a second set of the hot pink snowflakes:

 

disappearing 4 patch, Halloween table topper

Thursday morning (9/20) Michael and Larry left for the second day of the SCCL golf tournament, and I picked up Nancy and we headed off to quilting.  We had a class on the ‘disappearing 4 patch’ and it was terrific.  With a few simple steps, we were able to create a very complicated looking block.  I did mine with just 2 colors, but Nancy worked on creating an Amish type quilt with black tone-on-tone fabric and many colors of fabric paired to the black.  All of the colors she used were previously handed dyed by her and her daughter, and they were stunning.  You start with this: 

 

then move to this: 

 

then it’s a quick hop, skip and jump (actually just one more step) to this:

 It was really VERY easy!  I got to work on it a bit when I got home, but didn’t get finished before Joanne picked me up at 4 (the guys were having dinner at the club after the tournament).  We are supposedly getting a Red Bowl near us, and Joanne wanted to go to the one a couple of towns over to see what it was all about.  It is a lot of fun to have dinner with her…she’s a very witty person and kept making funny comments about her food as it came out of the kitchen.  We were home by 6, and she went home to get her knitting before coming back to drink and craft.  The guys finally got back around 8:30 and Larry and Joanne took off for home.

Friday morning I got to walk with Beth before my hair appointment at 9 AM.  I got home in time to grab my knitting, along with 1/2 a bagel before heading out to Michael’s appointment to check up on his hearing aids.  When we were finished, he took me out to lunch at Donatos (score!) where he had a very unusual pizza.  He does like Hawaiian pizza (which is ham and pineapple) and they had that flavor, but it also had almonds and cinnamon on it.  He decided to try it and really liked it. 

 

We finally went sofa shopping on the way home.  Our love seat in the media room really needs to be replaced….all of the springs/stuffing on Michael’s side are gone and it is really hurting his back.  So….we went to La-Z-Boy on the way home to look at a few loveseats.  We found one Michael really liked, and we brought home a color swatch to make sure it wouldn’t clash with the walls.  We both loved it….so we will go back on Sunday to order it.  We had Sloppy Joes for dinner and I knit and we watched TV in the evening.

 

An exciting update!! Several months ago qt quilting, Floy taught a table topper class. I did one in Christmas fabrics...but it is not yet quilted…sigh.  Two weeks ago, a group of ladies brought in Halloween ones they had finished…and they were in a mini-size…..so cute!  Jan and I immediately decided we HAD to do them…and that is what I’ve been working on.  I mailed them out Wednesday (although I DO have 2 more tops to finish quilting) to Ginny and Leila (2 friends who are simply MAD about Halloween ) and they both got them on Friday….what a surprise…I’m glad I can now post the picture in the blog:

Michael got up at 5:30 AM on Wednesday (9/19) to get ready for the first day of his golf tournament.  I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up at 6…..got a lot done before I picked up Jan at 10.  We stopped at WALMART to buy irons, dropped off our machines in Stallings, went quilt fabric shopping at the shop located just next door  J, had lunch at Chili’s and finally made it back home around 2.  I worked on the snowflakes a bit in the afternoon and got my strips cut for class on Thursday morning.  We invited Bryce over for dinner (since Ann is out of town) and I made sloppy joes and sweet potato fries (seasoned with rosemary and orange peel).  I was very tired in the evening and knit a bit before reading a bit of my book and heading to bed.

ruffle-y scarves

Tuesday morning (9/18) Nancy came over and I finally sat down and sewed in the ends on a bunch of scarves I have finished over the past several weeks.  You know I take my knitting everywhere with me and try to get it done a little at a time?  Well, it is surprising how much those little bits of time add up.  I went back to knitting on the ruffle-y scarves about 5 weeks ago…and Tuesday morning I sewed in the ends on 11 new ones! 

 

I also tried to work on my Halloween stuff again….changed my thread, changed my bobbin and put in a new needle, but no dice…it’s still skipping stitches…my timing is off…it needs to be fixed  L.  In the afternoon Joanne picked me up for Stitch ‘n’ Chat and I got a bit of knitting done on a new scarf.  When I got home I worked on my new snowflakes, and after Michael left for rehearsal, I had a long talk with my friend Janice and then settled down with a book until he got home.

Michael left for golf Monday morning (9/17) shortly before I left for a walk with Beth…and we both got home within 1/2 an hour of each other as the rains poured in!  I spent a lot of time in the studio working on various items (but mostly my Halloween stuff) until my sewing machine started acting up  L.  I need to get it into the shop for a tune-up and I’m hoping that can happen on Wednesday.  I had a visit from one of my quilting buddies and she bought a snowflake.  She thought all of them were beautiful and also thought people would be crazy not to buy them….hope she’s right!  I got another set of snowflakes fused and cut out before the end of the evening.  Michel left for rehearsal around 6 and I knit for most of the evening until he got home.

dough in bowl, dough in bread pan, pizza

The weather has been much better lately…not as hot during the day and cooling off quite a bit at night, so our bike ride Sunday morning (9/16) was very nice.  We had breakfast on the deck afterwards, then I headed to the studio to keep working on Halloween and Michael spent time working on his lines.  He made a sandwich for us to share at lunch, and mentioned that we were almost out of bread, so when he left for rehearsal around 2, I headed upstairs to make sandwich bread.  Isn’t this a great picture: 

 

 Every time I make bread I think of my mom…even though she worked, we had homemade bread often.  This reminds me of her bread bowl, only hers was blue.  Several people have asked about my baking 2 small loaves in the same pan, so I thought I’d take a picture after I shaped and put the dough into my bread pan:

 

 Once it baked, I shared a mini-loaf with our neighbor, whose wife is out of town for a week.  While the bread was rising, I got a peach cobbler put together and delivered to Jimmy and Sally’s house.  I called earlier and they said they were baking their dinner tonight, so I thought they could slide it in the over right as dinner came out.  I like to share both the dessert AND the smell of it baking…that’s at least 1/2 of the pleasure!

Luckily, I still had dough left over from artisan bread making, so I didn’t have to make a separate dough for our dinner pizza:

 

 

We watched a bit of TV in the evening, and I worked on my knitting.

caprese on toothpicks, parmesan crisps

We had a quick breakfast Friday (9/14) morning and headed to the grocery store.  I’ve recently gotten back into couponing, partially because we live in a very poor area of South Carolina plus, there’s a food bank conveniently located a short distance away.  I had a GREAT score Friday, my bill was originally $104.26, but I ended up paying just $34.62….WHOO HOO!!!  Most of the stuff we bought will be donated…so I feel really good about that.  A lot of the shelves at the store were empty because they were doing inventory, but Martha (everyone’s favorite check-out clerk, including mine!) told me they would re-stock tonight, so hopefully I’ll try again tomorrow morning.  I spent the afternoon working on Halloween stuff and at 3 PM went up to shower and make ‘caprese salad’ (mozzarella/basil/tomato) on a toothpick:

 

and we took these along with Michael’s Parmesan Crisps over to Jerry and Deana’s for a lovely, extended happy hour.  So, on the way over, I asked Michael what he thinks they will have to drink…and he says “I would imagine they have everything”…so I kind of get my tongue set for a CC and ginger (what can I say, I’m from PGH…I still remember my parents, once a month, having the Holtzapfels over for cards and drinking highballs…and I was always excited because I got to have  pop (ginger ale) when that happened….so CC and ginger is just a high class high ball  J, ‘cause in my parent’s house it was Seagram’s 7 and ginger ale) and we get there…and they have wine L, and that’s it.   So, I have a glass of wine…sigh.   On the way home I am still thinking about a highball…and I can’t have one Saturday night because we are going to the symphony and I usually drive…and it just doesn’t seem like a Sunday night kind of drink (I don’t know…when you’re retired somehow the weekends are still the weekends)…so when we eventually get home….I am thrilled to discover that we actually HAVE some ginger ale (we don’t keep a lot of soda in the house)…and I make my high class high ball.   PLEASE don’t ask me about my sewing after that…because YES….I do go to my studio and continue to sew on my Halloween stuff, all the while watching THE UNIVERSE.  Have you seen this show on the history channel?…it is fascinating.

 

Saturday morning Michael left early for golf, coming home later with an 83….(of course, as any of you who are married to golfers know, it COULD have been in the 70’s if he hadn’t put one in the lake, and had completed 3 other ‘really make-able’ putts J), and I cleaned a bit and had a nice long phone chat with my friend Ginny, before Barrie arrived at 11.  We had a wonderful 2 hours of knitting and talking, and when she left, I headed down to the studio and worked the rest of the afternoon on my Halloween stuff.  Michael made a great dinner of potato/cheese pierogis after which we headed over to pick up Jan and Walt.  We were headed into Charlotte for our first symphony pops concert of this season.  It was supposed to be the music of Billy Joel, with a guest appearance by Michael Cavanaugh.  The concert was electrifying!  Michael was a wizard on the piano, sax, guitar and harmonica.  He sang many of the songs and sounded tremendous.  He brought along with 5 piece band, and with the orchestra back-up it was incredible.  He played mostly Billy Joel, but also threw in some Elton John and Jerry Lee Lewis.  We were singing, standing, dancing, clapping….it was much more like a rock concert than a symphony and it was a great kickoff to our season.  We were home by 11 and sat up for a bit reading (with a little nightcap)before toddling off to bed.

Thursday morning (9/13) I was up early to get all of the fabric cut for Jan’s and my Halloween project.  A friend of Michael’s called him for golf and he headed out just after I left for quilting.  Jan got her entire project done….I decided I needed to change one of the colors in mine, so I worked on it in the afternoon.  Michael came home with an 84 in golf, and we talked for a bit in the afternoon before having a quick dinner, taking Cookie over to Grammy Jan’s, picking up Phil and Gale and heading into Charlotte for the theatre.  We saw a production of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, where a friend of Michael’s played the part he played last year at Fort Mill.  Yes…I KNOW I’m prejudiced….but I truly believe the Fort Mill production was much better  J.  We picked up Cookie at 11 PM, and went home and fell into bed.

roses, burger, hot pink snowflakes

Jan picked me up early on Wednesday (9/12) and we headed off to theVerizon store to get her phone fixed.  Now, the Verizon store just happens to be right next to the new Krispy Kreme donut shop…so we just HAD to stop in….right?  One donut (apiece!) later, we went to the store, got her phone fixed and headed to the farmer’s market.  I got some peaches, tomatoes, eggplant and some smoked pulled pork.  I’ve always wanted to try the BBQ from the one vendor, but normally I’m on my bike and this guy’s stuff doesn’t fit in my milk crate….but since Jan was driving we had plenty of room.  Jan dropped me off and I put some lentil and split pea and barley together in my crockpot for soup.  I have a friend who just had surgery and can’t have any bread or meat for several weeks…and she likes beans, so I thought she’d like this soup.  I told her I would DEFINITELY make homemade bread for her when she can finally have it again…I didn’t want her to break her bread fast with skucky store bought stuff  J.  I spent an hour downstairs going through my stash for Halloween fabric for a new project…and I have NONE!!!  So, I put in a quick call to Jan and we headed to Joann’s to get something to sew at quilting tomorrow.  We also made a quick stop at BB&B (bed, bath and beyond) before heading home again.  By the time I got there, Michael was home from golf (with a nice 85, even though he said the course was in poor shape) and he sat out on the porch going over his lines (have I mentioned that he is in another play?  It comes up mid to late October and is called THE SENATOR WORE PANTYHOSE).  I saw these gorgeous flowers in the living room….from our rose bushes that are on the side of the house: 

 

I got a loaf of artisan bread baked, and we dropped it off at Sally and Jimmy’s on the way to Nancy’s to drop off the soup.  We got home around 6 to make our own dinner.  We grilled burgers for the FIRST time this summer (I truly don’t know where the time goes).  The burgers were MASSIVE (part of the problem was that I was just too busy to make buns for us, and the ones we got were larger than the ones I generally make)….so I didn’t make any macaroni sides to go with them:

 

 I worked a little on the snowflakes in the evening and finally finished the next set:

 

 

I had a LOT of trouble with these, and I think it is because I’ve just discovered my iron is not heating up the way it used to (maybe it needs to go through menopause….I’m sure it would heat right up!)  Anyway, I finally got them finished.

Monday (9/10) seemed to go by in a blur.  Michael left for golfing (coming home later with an 84, not too shabby!) and in the morning, Jan and I went to an estate sale.  The woman was a caterer and a quilter…I kept saying ‘this is what my house is going to look like when I go J’.  I purposely went on the last day of the sale so as not to be tempted by all of the stuff in the pictures….I picked up a few custard cups and a cookbook…spent $5.50 and loved what I got.  In the afternoon I had to report for jury duty.  I drove 30 minutes, sat for an hour, and then drove 30 minutes home.  After that I went up to the golf club with Michael and I knit while he attended a meeting.  We hit the grocery store afterwards, and by the time I got home at 5, I just wanted to put on my jammies and sit…unfortunately, we had a square dance, so I had to go up to the Lake House for an hour to collect $$$.  When I came home, I just SAT!

 

Tuesday (9/11) was another whirlwind day.  I spent the morning with Nancy (she made her first 2 loaves of artisan bread and they were FABULOUS…well, of course we had to try them….we had to make sure they were good for everyone else….right?)  Tuesday afternoon I spent a couple of hours at Stitch ‘n’ Chat and Tuesday evening, Jan and Walt and Michael and I went to see a movie….HOPE SPRINGS….it was great.

charity quilt

Sunday (9/9) was a very relaxing day…I made 2 loaves of cinnamon bread (and gave one to Jan and Walt) and Michael cooked up potatoes/onions to go with our eggs.  We had a lot of drop in company in the afternoon and finally at 3:30 I got back to sewing on the charity quilt.  Finally around 8 I got all of the rows sewed together:

 

 

After that, I just relaxed and watched TV with my honey.

mpd painting

Michael left Saturday (9/8) morning for his art class and eventually returned home with this:

 

 

  The instructor brought along her picture of pumpkins, and the class was supposed to re-create it (of course Michael changed it a bit).  He said it was a very interesting class; he enjoyed it, but is not sure he is ready to take up acrylic painting just yet!  I cleaned up the house and putzed a bit until a couple people came over to visit. I gave away some of the peanut brittle I made again on Thursday, so that I won’t feel compelled to eat all of it myself!  I also got raspberry squares made and 3 loaves of artisan bread.  One loaf went over to Jimmy & Sally, and the other 2 loaves went over to Ann and Bryce’s house for our neighborhood dinner.  And what a FABULOUS dinner it was: BBQ boneless ribs, mashed potatoes, salad (with caramelized walnuts), broccoli casserole and a light and creamy lemon dessert….YUM!!!  It was a very nice evening sharing dinner and talking with all of our immediate neighbors.

rose

Since Michael won’t be golfing on Saturday (taking an acrylic painting class instead) he decided to hook up with some guys and go on Friday.  He came home with a SCORTCHING 78!!!  He was very pleased.  I spent the entire day in the studio, working on knitting and the new snowflakes and the charity quilt.  I made a new stir fry SESAME CHICKEN for dinner that Michael pronounced excellent and we snuggled on the couch and watched some of our special shows in the evening.

I forgot to tell you that when I came down to my desk earlier this week…this is what I found: 

 

My honey surprised me with another beautiful bloom from my sadly neglected bushes.

Thursday morning (9/6) Nancy picked up Jan and then me and we headed off for a ladies day out at quilting.  We got to sit together and talk and talk while we were sewing.  Since it was the first Thursday of the month, everyone brought in food and it was INCREDIBLE!!!  We rolled out to the car around 1 Pm and headed for home.  I spent the afternoon getting back to my new snowflakes, and continuing to work on the charity quilt that is still on the design wall.  Michael and I had a HUGE but calorie friendly dinner (we’ve both decided to lose a few pounds!)  I had thawed out some pesto (and I make it with fat free Italian dressing) and I heated it up along with 2 huge, diced fresh tomatoes.  We each had 2 ounces of spaghetti, spread out on the plate and covered with the sauce.  We were both stuffed after dinner, for very few calories, so that was good!  Michael watched some blow-up-something-every-five-minutes movie upstairs, while I continued to sew downstairs in the evening.

Wednesday (9/5) morning I headed up to the farmer’s market and got a few peaches, some tomatoes, another melon (they have been SO GOOD!) and some baby butternut squashes that were so cute I couldn’t resist them!  I spent the rest of the day in the studio and as of bedtime…I was finished making the 72 blocks that I need for my new project (YAY!!!!!).  I am setting them aside because now other people need to do some work on them, and am going back to sewing together the charity quilt that is still partially on the design wall.

Cookie

Tuesday morning (9/4) Nancy came over for a visit and both of us were VERY productive…I continued to sew on quilt squares, while she knitted on a new lace shawl.  She left around NOON and I continued to sew for a bit before heading up to Stitch ‘n’ Chat.  I only stayed for an hour, hit the grocery store, and then headed home again.  I spent the afternoon sewing, until Jan and Walt showed up after dinner.  Walt and Michael and Larry took off to see THE BOURNE something-or-other, while Jan and I were productive in the studio downstairs (along with our ‘baby).

what do you want to do now gramma?

ooooo - Jeopardy is on!!

BORING!!!  I saw this one before.

chairs

Monday (9/3) was a very relaxing day…I spent most of it in the studio, working on my new project….I just kept pushing myself to keep working and by the time I went to bed, I had 33 blocks done  J.  Michael spent a lot of the day putting together this:

 

 

 

and this:

 and my back can already feel the diff!

Michael & Cookie

We were up early Sunday to get bacon started for our pancake and bacon breakfast.  We left around 9:30 to hit Joann’s and Best Buy, (with an unexpected stop at Office Depot) and did not get home until 1 PM.  Ellen and Terry stopped by to buy one of my small purses, and after a quick lunch, I put together pasta dough.  It rested for 30 minutes, then Michael and I made the noodles and again…it was a very fast and very enjoyable experience.    I cleaned up the kitchen a little and as I was heading to the studio again, I couldn’t resist showing you what Michael and Cookie spent most of the afternoon doing: 

come on mom, we're trying to watch golf here!

ooo, that was a good shot!

 

Cookie thinks she is a cat and has taken to walking along (and relaxing on) the backs of the sofas. 

I had another 1/2 hour to sew, then it was back to the kitchen to pull the rest of dinner together.  I made blitz bread (kind of like focaccia), peach cobbler, and the sage butter sauce for the pasta.  Our friends showed up around 6 and loved the dinner, and the playing of cards afterwards!  It was a very enjoyable evening.

bread

Saturday morning (9/1) Michael left early for golfing on our course, and I got sandwich bread put together before heading down to the studio.  Finally by 1 PM I finished up the next set of purses….I have 11 breast cancer purses ready to be embroidered when someone orders them.  I’m going to set aside my other craft fair sewing in order to pull together a secret project.  It’s going to be a big one, but I am going to work on it furiously and hopefully pull it together in a month or less…so you won’t have to wait that long to see it.  I can’t write about it because some people in SCCL are reading the blog and I don’t want the word to get out…I really want it to be a surprise for the recipient.  Michael came home from golf and again, said the temps and humidity were brutal….he was very upset about a triple bogey on a par 3….but he still shot 81!!!!!  I think he should be very happy with that.  He timed his homecoming perfectly, the bread came out of the oven about 15 minutes before he got here.   

I took 1/2 a loaf down to a neighbor to thank her for helping with our dogs (you can see how I make one loaf into 2 small loaves right in the pan)…and Michael and I worked on demolishing the other 1/2 .  He made rigatoni for dinner and I continued to work on secret until around 8, when I went upstairs to knit and watch TV together.

I felt like Friday (8/31) flew by, with not a lot to show for it!  Michael had special golf coupons that the 8 of them (his golfing group) and was excited to use them, but they couldn’t get a tee time until 1 PM.  When I finally got to see him again at 8 PM, he said it was BRUTAL.  The temps were in the 90’s and they all suffered to some extent with the drain in energy that produces.  I spent the morning in the studio, trying to finish the next set of breast cancer purses.  Connie came over around 12:30 and we talked knitting and visited for a bit.  I cleaned up the house a bit and took off for the airport at 3 to pick up Jan and Walt, home from Salt Lake City visiting their son.  Traffic was brutal on the way home…it took us over 1-1/2 hours to get home, when it should normally take about 40 minutes.  I dumped them out at their house, ran home to feed and take out the dog, then jumped back in the car for a trip to Matthews for a band rehearsal.  I asked Mark if we could do my songs first, so luckily I got to leave early and was  home by 8.  Michael and I just relaxed for the rest of the evening.