Backyard beauty

 I was supposed to go on a road trip today, but I postponed it because of the contacts I had earlier this week. Better to be safe as the last thing I want is to bring something unwanted to another person. 

In a way, that worked out just fine as I have a lot of prep work to get done today. I'm making great progress on the prepping for the classes this weekend. I also have writing assignments that are due so it's going to be another busy day. But I'm working my way through them. 

However, I plan to take an hour later this afternoon and sit in the backyard. Who knows how many more nice days we have this year and well, I need to enjoy that time outside. 

Speaking of the backyard, we had our "guy" in to do the fall clean-up and it looks awesome. 

The backyard all cleaned up for fall

I do love our backyard and it's so maintenance-free - it sure doesn't get any better than that. Of course, having that forest behind us makes for a nice ambiance as well. Yes, there are weeds to get rid of, but other than that, it doesn't really require much work. The pond will remain open for another month. The leaves are going to start falling and I'll be out there daily with my net to try and keep the majority of leaves out of the pond. 

The side garden

Murphy loves to play in the entire backyard and there are little dog speedways behind all the bushes. 

Speaking of bushes, the Rose of Sharon bushes that I got from Diane are planted. Thanks,  Diane. I had to laugh as Sergio planted them. He said, "you know these are weeds!"  I said I knew that I had to CUT the seed pods off them in the fall. Thanks to our Virtual Retreats for learning that information! 

Two Rose of Sharon bushes

We have tried to have indoor toys only, with balls allowed outside. However, Murphy has other ideas. This poor teddy bear gets dragged outside on most days. He's pretty much an outdoor toy now and she drags it around. Well, drag is not the word. She scoops it up and runs around with it in her mouth. We never know where we'll find it next. 

Now, where are the balls? I paid a lot of money for some of those balls and what has she done with them? 

Another Rose of Sharon

The trees in our neighborhood are starting to turn. Ack!! Are we ready for fall? 

The leaves are turning

But you have to admit that they are beautiful. 

I had to get out yesterday, just to get away from the computer so I decided to walk to the library to get my book that was on hold. Of course, the entrance closest to the library entrance wasn't open and I had to walk to the opposite side. I guess that's not such a big deal when you've walked there. 

There was a young girl at the desk who asked me the questions. I told her I was coming to the library and then I walked down the hall. The library was closed so why didn't she say that? It opened at 1:30 and I was there at 12:30. 

Well, I really wanted my book even though I don't have time to start it right now. So I went back. Same girl. She said, "the library is open now". Well, why didn't you say that the first time I was there? 

Anyway, I got more steps in so I'm not complaining. The second time, there was another lady outside the library, again asking me the same questions. She told me when I exited that I had to take the door behind her which meant a wee bit of a walk outside the building to the parking lot. Well, that wasn't a big deal since I had walked there. 

The library was DEAD!! But that's OK, although it was eery. I thought I had a couple of CDs that I want to transfer to USB. I can't remember what they were now. Embroidery designs for sure - just which ones?

Remember that house I mentioned about one week ago. Their front lawn had been tripped clean of grass and a bunch of pallets of stone had arrived? Well, they had the lawn resodded. While the new grass looks nice, I was hoping they were going to put something a bit more eco-friendly on it. And the palettes of stone were for the side of the house and probably the backyard. 

A new lawn in the neighborhood

At one point, I was in the backyard and I could hear my neighbor's pump in their pond and it was not a good sound. The water level had gotten so low that the pump was sucking air. Which is bad! I walked to their house to let them know. On my way, I saw this giant spider in his web. 

A giant spider

I took a wee detour to leave the spider alone. 

On a quilting note, I finally received the box of fabric that was shipped weeks ago. I don't remember when it was shipped, but let's just say that Priority Mail doesn't exist any longer! This is the box of fabric for the QUILTsocial quilt along and thankfully, I don't need to make the entire quilt immediately. I have to make one block and it needs to be made NOW. That just added a wee bit of work to the already jam-packed weekend. But it's one block. No big deal. 

Are you going to participate in the QUILTsocial quilt along? You can get yourself organized as the first block was posted earlier this week. There are three bloggers who will be posting the same block in different fabric collections. It's going to be fun!!!! I'm using a GORGEOUS blue and white collection from Riley Blake. I'll share more of it QUILTsocial next week and my take on sewing the first block together. 

Not sure if anyone watched the Emmy's, but have a watch of this acceptance speech. It's very moving and I almost cried. It's quilt related!!  If only everyone felt the way he does (NOW) about a quilt. 

On that note, it's time to get moving! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!