The Endless Summer

This has been one heck of a sunny, warm.. actually HOT summer.  Even this past weekend it was in the 90s!!  And it's 3/4s the way through September.  This is OREGON.. we're famous for clouds and rain.  So.. hubby and I were saying just yesterday.. ok.. we give up.. we are tired of this and we'd like some rain.  :-)  The weather girl, Sally Showman. just informed us that this was the hottest summer ever on record!  

There are forest fires in our state and the sunsets are very orange - I snapped this shot of a big Hawthorne tree on the top of our back pasture and it's loaded with red berries.

That's a lot of red berries, isn't it?

My sister picked up a pretty rock at the beach and I offered to crochet a cozy for it.. it's the new one on the bottom.  I will give it to her when we volunteer at Multnomah Falls this Thursday.  

My sister loves the pattern I used as she likes the little flower in the middle.  I actually found the free pattern on the Red Heart website - click HERE for the link.  I just do the doily pattern until it reaches the edge of the rock, then start decreasing until the back is closed up and tie off.

Do you see the heart in the pattern?  

I'm having way too much fun with these lace decorated rocks.  :-)

Just my attempt to decorate the world.  :-)  A nice memento of grandma someday in the future?  

Then, after finishing my sister's rock cozy I made up my own pattern to cover this long rock that my son and DIL found at the beach.  It reminds me of a feather.

Caleb brought in a pretty white long rock and my next one I'm going to use a colored thread, stay tuned.  :-)

Poor plants in our farmyard are dried up.. luckily for this hydrangea, Dayle has watered it a few times.

The only hardy fuchsia that survived the late freeze of last year.  It was in the ground, the others were in pots.

The gorgeous huge pot of Chrysanthemum that Dayle surprised me with is so pretty, the flowers open up deep rusty red-orange and then lighten in the sun to golden amber yellow.

My miniature variegated rose has struggled through the heat.. this is one of the last blooms.. it's the size of your thumbnail!!

Our massive Chestnut tree is LOADED with nuts!  

Prickly little buggers.

Kristi visited the craft store this morning and came home with a cute little chalkboard easel, she put our dinner menu on it, isn't that cute?

Yesterday we were supposed to have a big family dinner but it fell through.  Dayle caught a cold virus that Caleb brought home from school and he didn't want to give it to our daughters husband who is in town for business, nor our older son's family.  :-(  So, we went ahead with cooking a ham dinner anyway.  It was so hot that I suggested he bake the ham in the pellet BBQ outside and oh. my. goodness...  it was the most moist, tender and smokily delicious ham ever!  I boiled potatoes so as not to heat up the house with the oven and prepared homemade sausage cream gravy to ladle over the top of the mashed up potatoes (the boys liked that part) and buttered corn.  The boys love my gravy!  :-) Just like my mom's.  I will be swimming today.  What are you up to?  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)