July Fourth Picnic, Patriotic Quilting Bee and a Prickly Hill Country Visitor!

 

Do you remember the Patriotic quilt? Here it is last Friday during the Independence Day celebration at my sister's house. She lives on a farm and has a beautiful yard shaded by large trees and carpeted with lush St. Augustine grass. There were over 100 people there that day! Here are some of the quilters busy on the quilt.

There were a couple of men who hovered nearby. I think they would have joined us if given more time! While we quilted, others played "washers" (similar to horseshoes), 

..went on pony rides...

...ate barbecue brisket along with great "fixins"...(baked potatoes, pinto beans, salad, watermelon, desserts)

Here's Doug with his bottle of water, and NO, the hula hoops were not part of his picnic activity!

Some just sat and relaxed! 

The quilters worked until it was too dark to see well. A couple pulled out their phones and used them for portable lamps so they could put in a few more stitches! (Oh, modern technology! What did our grandmothers do in this situation?)

The night ended with fireworks, of course! I failed to get a photo of the fireworks, but there were plenty! 

We left early the next morning for the hill country house where more electrical work was completed. We delivered a water softener to be installed by the plumber. The water there is extremely hard and a softener will save our new appliances from wearing out so soon. (Not to mention the lime that deposits around any faucet!) I pulled the carpet and pad out of the new laundry room in preparation for putting down a suitable floor. I also pulled up the tacking strips around the perimeter of the room. The plumber ended up putting the connections in a place that was different than we planned  (out of necessity, not a mistake), so I need to make a new laundry room plan. 

Oh, I saw my first porcupine! We were walking around outside just before nightfall and saw it "lumbering" down the hillside about 20 feet in front of us. He made his way to our peach tree and climbed up like an acrobat! (It seemed he was much more adept at climbing than walking!) It was too dark to get a good photo and all we had was an iPhone, but here is proof.

Well, I'll leave you with the knowledge that porcupines can climb trees! I will never feel safe under a tree again!