The dogs and me . . .

Two members of my family are on the way back from West Virginia where they spent 3 days whitewater rafting, horseback riding and playing golf. My daughter went to see Nancy Drew with her friends, and the cats are in hiding which leaves me with two large dogs who think everything I do is interesting. (Can you tell that they have pretty boring lives?)

My accomplishments for today include finishing Part 2 of the Chatelaine Elizabethan Sweetbag, doing most of the laundry and weeding the flower garden. I also cleaned out the refrigerator and am making dinner -- since both involve food, the dogs were very interested.

Instead of needlework photos that I have posted elsewhere, I am going to treat you to some pictures from my garden. The roses have not been taken over by black spot or baked in the sun yet.

We also went to see Garison Keilor last night at Ravinia. The girls got bored but I enjoyed the show -- I have listened to him on the radio for over 25 years. they did love Jon Troast, one of the guest performers. This is the second time I have seen Garison Live at Ravinia and the first time that we sat in the pavillion. The girls planned the picnic -- peanut butter and jelly or ham sandwhiches on white bread with grapes and potato chips. We went out for ice cream afterwards. So if you were listening to the live Prairie Home Companion show -- we were there!

Dreaming of Blue Turtles and Bad Dogs . . .

I finished a needlepoint piece today -- actually I stitched 3/4 of the background yesterday at the karate tournament. I am not sure what I will do with the dog now that it is completed. The dog doesn't look like either of my dogs. However, I am sure that Cain and Abel would be very happy to steal a string of sausages if one was available. Instead they have to be content with milk bones, rawhide chews, and the occasional child's sock.

I also worked on an African Folklore Embroidery kit that I bought at the International Quilt show last year. It is surface embroidery in bright, not necessarily realistic colors. Working on the blue turtle reminded me of Sting's album Dream of the Blue Turtles. I have purple sea-horses, bright colored jellyfish and pink fish to complete the underwater scene.

Dogs -- Yesterday we took pictures of Cain and Abel. They should be full grown now since they will be 2 years old in August. They are Sharpei/Lab mixes. Cain is our blond Sharbador. He is my 70 pound lap dog. Abel is our Labrapei, he is larger than Cain and more like a lab. He fetches and is obsessed with birds. They are brothers from the same litter.