In my blog I plan to chat about nature, crafts, baking, gardening, beekeeping, family, and whatever else seems appropriate at the time. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Summer Lovin'!

I know, right!  This summer has been going so fast and I have been doing so much that I can't even sit down at the computer.  And from what I've seen, many other Bloggers are in the same situation.   
Summer is my favorite.  I love everything about it.  
Except the humidity.  
But I love everything else. 
Well, 'cept the skeeters.  
Other than that though....
Here are some things I've been up to.
First off...who picks black raspberries?  
Besides me.  
You know, the ones that grow in the wild.
And here is what I wonder while I pick.....
Why do they have to have thorns?  They are the thorniest little sum' bit...I can't believe I started to say that!
And....
How do mosquitoes know that you have blood in you?  Do their parents teach them?
Why does poison ivy have to grow by berries, and why do I have to be allergic. 
Why do Daddy Long Leg spiders LOVE black raspberries?  They are everywhere on them.  And is it Daddy Long Legs, or Granddaddy Long Legs?  I don't remember.  
There is nothing romantic about picking black raspberries.  N.O.T.H.I.N.G I tell you.
I remember the Walton's picking them, and it looked fun.  It is not fun, but you know what.  I Love it.  I pick them almost every day while I can.  I clean them....and they are V.E.R.Y. dirty and buggy so it takes a lot of cleaning. Then I freeze them.
Then in the winter....I make pies out of them.
Black raspberry pies are my favorite.  Or favoUrite (depending on where you are from)
But Enough about berries....it's really all about summer Fun....

 
 So last summer I said "Shug, I just saw a HUGE bird by our pond and it had a white head.  But it flew into the woods so fast.....You don't think....do you?  Could it have been an eagle?"  Well, I never saw it again.
(Look in middle pic above)
 Then the other day....my Shug saw it.  Look in the above picture 2/3 of the way down in the center.  Yup peeps, We have an American bald eagle living on our property.  Very elusive.  And it better leave my Dixie alone.
Look how cute he is...sleeping on every crochet blanket I have made.  I put them in the chair to make up the bed and he took advantage! 

Here's another thing I have been doing this summer.
Moving hives.
It's a blog post in and of itself, so enough said about that for now.


I am having a birthday tomorrow.  I love having a birthday in the summer months.  I did not meet my goal of losing another 20 pounds by my birthday though....dammit.  I just now re-read my New Year's Resolutions.  sigh.....I should have read them sooner!
You know what I love about my birthday.....The fireworks!  I love the LOUD!  BAM!  BOOM!  thunderous fireworks noise going off in the distance at night!  I just do.  And I don't like a lot of noise. But that BOOMING noise of fireworks reminds me of the days gone by, and what it took for our country to be the country that it was....It seems romantic....and Patriotic...and I love Patriotic stuff.  I think July 4th is my favorite holiday.  It's easy.  And Summer fun!

Anyway....back to my birthday.....
Oh wait....First Back to summer Fun....I love all of the color in the summer.....I got these Rose Campion's from Patti Beck last year and look at them this year.....I went to her open house yesterday.  More on that later.  I'm tellin' ya, I will be posting summer stuff for a very long time.
So, the other night I get a call from my Mom.  She said, "are you home?"  "Yes" I reply.  I thought it odd that her and Dad were coming over because A) I just was at their house earlier that day and B) they were getting ready to go out of town for a couple of days.  I thought something was wrong. 
 But nothing was wrong.  They were bringing me a Birthday Gift! 
I LOVE HER!
My Shug and I vacationed in Savannah, Georgia a few years ago and if you vacation there...and if you watch the Movie, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" (read the book first though), and if you garden, well....you have to have a Savannah Bird Girl.  You just do.
Did I mention that I LOVE HER to pieces....I DO!

Speaking of Savannah....we've had very tropical like weather lately.  Clouds rise up out of nowhere....dump some rain....make it very humid out....then the sun comes out heats stuff up and everything grows.  Makes for some ominous looking skies.
Get on outta here cloud.  We don't need any more bad weather in our little town.

We had a family reunion the other day on my Mom's side of the family.
Luckily the weather was perfect...

Because, My second cousin, Stacie, volunteered to have it at her house.
What a LOT of work.
And I'm going to do a family reunion picture post later.....
Because, I think there was somewhere around 80 people at her place!
And that was NOT everyone.
So....reunion.... post of it's own coming later....

The day after the reunion these three came to visit.
My cousin's wife, Akemi, on the left.  
My cousin, Gloria (Akemi's MIL) in the middle, 
and Akemi's friend, Rene' on the right.
They came up from Tennessee for the reunion and I think they go home today or tomorrow.  I hope they have had a good visit.
It was hot and humid out that day.
And lastly, for now, because this is long as usual.   I was hanging out with my friend Marcia the other day.  We went to see "The Jersey Boys."  Great movie.  Go see it.  And afterwards we went to eat.  Thanks for lunch, Marcia.  While trying to decide what to do next, My Groovy yarn store owner/friend, Mandy, called and said to stop by, so we did.  And Kari, a friend and owner of Precious Poppies, made this bag for me!  How cute huh?  My Shug and I went up North for a couple of days (blog post later) and I put some crochet in it and took it with me.  Adorable!  She makes all kinds of bags and you can order them from her...look for her on facebook.  They make other stuff too....like dresses out of shirts....and baby clothes and such.
OK I'll stop now.  I have to go upstairs and insulate a kitchen wall.  Yup.....Still working on the house in between all of this other Summer Fun stuff.  I'll update the house blog someday.....sigh.....
See ya later!

Cindy Bee


Friday, June 20, 2014

Our Father's Day Celebration at Cool Creek Park

After picking up the car on Friday evening, several of our family met at Cool Creek Park to celebrate Father's Day and to watch the Polka Boys.  If you get a chance to go see the Polka Boys, you should go.  They are so..much...fun!  And Cool Creek Park is a great venue for concerts.  They only charge $5.00.  You can bring your own picnic dinner, snacks, wine/beer etc. or they have food there you can buy.
  We opted for finger foods.  Apparently Robert stuck the deviled egg dish under his arm to carry it in!!!  Poor Vickie.
 
  We all laughed about it.
And Theresa tried to put her wine glass in one of those fold-able seat cup holders.  She spilled her first entire glass of wine, right into her chair, before we even started eating!
  Then someone threw a beach ball and spilled her 2nd glass of wine!
So she held onto her third glass...which ended up being her first, and only, glass of wine! 
 And those beach balls......
 
  one of them knocked Vickie's little beef thingys off of the table onto the grass!! LOL!
   We didn't care!  We ate them anyway!
And Theresa made these cute little cupcakes for the guys and she put fishing poles with fish on them. 
(and she says she isn't crafty.)
Vickie's husband Robert, my Shug, our Dad.
One of My brother's four children in the back, and my sister's child in the front.
My sister, my brother, and me.

Sister Theresa, me, cousin Vickie, and Mom
Theresa and Cindy

FATHER CHILD PICS
My sister's husband, Trent, with their daughter.
 Our brother, Duke, with his daughter Sarah.
 Dad
My brother, me,and my sister, with our Dad

All the guys!
 
Before the night was over EVERYONE,
didn't matter if you were standing or sitting,
everyone....was doing the Chicken Dance! 
FUN TIMES...love the Polka boys!

Cindy Bee

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

FIAT!

So....last week my Shug and I went to a couple of home tours.  
One was in Indianapolis and one was in Westfield.  
One was really old, historic homes, and the other was brand new homes. 
 I'll tell you about those later....for now, I'm going to tell you what happened on our way to those home tours.  On Sunday, we drove by a FIAT dealership.  We stopped and looked.  The $13,990 sticker got our
 attention!
 But of course, they are closed on Sundays.  So on the home tour that we went to on Wednesday, we went back and drove three cars.  We had actually driven one last year, but it was a convertible and the roof was so low my Shug almost hit his head on it when he was sitting in it.  So, we decided to try a sunroof.  Same thing.  So we tried a hard top.  Perfect.  The hard top roofs are higher.

And when I got inside the red one my heart did a little leap!  It reminds me of a 57 chevy!
 Just like homes....I love the old ones with character, but I like the practicality and convenience of new.
We decided to go to lunch and talk it over.  I said I wanted to see it one more time.  So we went back.  Here it was 2:00 and we hadn't been on the home tour yet!  We went back and looked at it and my heart did a couple more leaps!!! 

 And living in the country now, we have been wanting something with better gas mileage. 
We decided to get it!  That was Wednesday.....and the thing was.....on Sunday of that week I woke up with swollen eye lids and below the eyes.  I had assumed it was from playing with my nieces eye shadows the day before.  This was Sunday.  I know....ugly.
On Monday it was much worse.  I didn't even get a pic Monday.....But I did go to the eye Dr.  He said they were EXTREMELY dry and I somehow damaged the left one.  He said he couldn't believe I wasn't in pain, that it should feel as though someone stuck a finger in my eye.  It didn't so I was fortunate.  I got two different kinds of perscription drops and couldn't wear contacts for a few days.  And I don't have updated glasses.  Therefore, I couldn't drive.  So, we told the car dealership that we would be back Friday to get it.  We were going to Carmel to a concert on Friday anyway.
TADAAAA!!!!! 
I love it!!!!
Cindy Bee

 PS - A little infomercial here, but I want to tell you in case you are interested.  FIAT is owned by Chrysler, which is where my Shug works.   He can get anyone a Friends and Family discount.  It is not a great discount but it is better than nothing.  These FIAT's at Butler are 2013's.  Still new though.  And if you go to Butler to buy one, we get $200.00!  If you tell them we sent you.  They are offering a great deal on them.  They are small gad-about cars that get great gas mileage, so if you are thinking of getting one let me know.  We'll get you a discount and you can get us $200!  The yellow one looks just like the red on inside, only yellow....I had a hard time deciding which one, but when I got excited looking at the red one, I just knew.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Friday and Saturday....of last week!

Thanks for all of the nice comments.  Mom is doing fine.  Not sure about the bees yet, but I plan on checking on them tomorrow..... if all goes as planned.

I'm remembering to take pictures again....is that good....or bad?
So LAST Friday, Mom and Dad were SUPPOSED to watch my Sister's child while my Sister and her husband went out of town for the night.  But that obviously didn't work out, so Vickie and I went.
We went downtown for their First Friday and they were having a "bed race!"
They decorate beds, dress up in characters, and race on a small made-up track.
Scooby Doo was there!

 
This is the winning team.
Then we went to Barnes & Noble.  I had to get a picture of this display as she is one of my favorite authors.
kind of Sad though....I find myself relating more to the older woman (the mom figure) more than the younger, romantic woman figure.  (I'm soon to be 56)
When we got back to my sister's house, I saw just enough port wine left over from the weekend before,
and I happen to know where she hides her dark chocolate!!!!  I sat down with my new crochet book/mag purchases, my wine, chocolate, my cousin Vickie, and HGTV!  I've hardly seen HGTV since we have moved because we have an antenna now.  Nice, relaxing evening!
I think I need to make this bag!
The next day, downtown, was the Old Mill Festival.  They cleaned up from the bed race pretty quickly!
I went to the old mill festival several years ago and I must say it has grown a LOT! 
There were venders lined up on both sides of two streets.  Probably around 50 vendors.


I wish this picture did the sky justice.  One time we looked up and saw several beautiful colors in the sky.
Everyone started trying to get pictures of it.
After having a great big ice cream cone, which I failed to get any pictures of, we went to Garden Thyme in Noblesville, (it's really in Clarksville, but I don't even know if that's on the map) on Highway 38.
My niece asked me if this was an old lawn mower!

If you've never been to Garden Thyme, you need to go.
She has great prices and fun plants.  I bought Robert Mitchum mint and a Chocolate scented geranium!

I also bough an orange mint, and I bought my niece a balloon plant, which she better have in the ground by now!



Oh yeah.....I thought my Sister and her husband must let their dog sleep with them since she climbed in bed like it was normal.  Apparently not!

Who knew?

Cindy Bee