Smokey Mountain Autumn early this morning. I just love this daylily.

Today's daylilies once were mine but have been freed from their original shady home to a place in the sun and more fertile soil. This is my daughter's front sidewalk. Most of these were only planted in the last 3 years. 😲

Some happy daylilies before the heat wave, and a few coneflowers showing off.

Good morning sunshine! Daylily "Buttered popcorn" will wake up your eyes. 🌞

Today's showstopper is called "Black Stockings". It likes the weather better when it's cool and cloudy so I'm glad it got a start before the impending heat wave.

Years ago when I was redoing a bed, I found a daylily I didn't remember. I moved it several times trying to get it to bloom more than a few distorted flowers. I named it the red mutant. It finally bloomed & the flowers are small but poly with extra petals! I think it must have come up from seed.

It's a drizzly, gray day here but that makes the daylily colors look even brighter. All the plants are happy for whatever moisture comes their way.

I met a lively, fit, fun woman through friends in the running club and we got to be casual friends. Her grandkids called her "Bubble" - a perfect match to her personality! I liked her art and bought 2 of her paintings. Sadly, 2 weeks ago, she collapsed and died with no warning. Seize the day!

It's daylily time! The daylilies are starting to put on enough of a show to override my neglect, and I am starting to catch up a bit. Three scoops of mulch delivered today, only about half of my usual, but I decided I needed to be kind to myself right now. 😄

Shift drink: Reflecting Pool 1oz rum 1oz mezcal .75oz lime .75oz honey barspoon matcha muddled mint

My bathroom cactus is blooming again. It's been throwing flowers often over the last few months. It has a certain "Dr. Suess" vibe.

Today was the Lancaster Art walk. We stopped in to see the Rocky Springs Carousel animals from the early 1900's on display in their temporary home. In 1981 they were moved from their original spot to Michigan, then to Dollywood, then a $1.2 million fundraising effort brought them back to Lancaster.

The white peacock went up on the perch and the blue one came down and fanned, but he couldn't quite get by the white feathers. 😄

The caverns has a petting zoo with a white peacock.

We visited Indian Echo Caverns in Hummelstown PA today, probably for the first time since elementary school. Coincidentally, there were groups of kids there from the school I went to. 😄

Mom was complaining that her iris didn't have very many buds. 🙄😂

Garden work today. More little maple trees have met their maker and the deck back garden is cleaned. I heard unusual birdsong so I quickly started Merlin and the song immediately stopped. 🙄 Still a lot of musical action in the warm weather. The goldfinch won "The Voice" this afternoon.

So I did a thing. Now the learning curve begins.

I did not replant tulips last fall and the squirrels have eaten most of the old bulbs, but I still have a few pretties! The ancient cherry tree is at its best now.

I love my Canadian friends but I hate those little maple leaves! I pulled well over a thousand maple seedlings from my raised beds today. 🤣 And I'm not even close to being done. 😭

Went to see Jenny Lawson's launch today and it was wonderful. I caught my husband leaking some eye water. 😄 Normally I don't post pictures of myself but I thought I'd make an exception in this case, I'm the one with the white shirt on.

Four separate march routes meeting in Reservoir Park for the No Kings rally in Lancaster. A good crowd.

Went to the quilt show today with @vagabondwynn.bsky.social. We saw lots of wonderful fabric & beautiful quilts, spent money, and had a great time. I bought a pack of hand dyed fabric, thread, and a couple of small rulers. I didn't think about the news even once. 🤩

The black & white & gray quilt is becoming an obsession. Ready to assemble the last block. The parts box is empty!

I had zero dinner inspiration tonight so I asked Claude AI what I could make that would use up a list of stuff in my fridge. It asked if I had a few additional items and staples, and then gave me a few recipes. I made the concept (not exact recipe) of one of those and it was pretty tasty!

I made an excellent cooking mistake tonight. Waffling about how much rice to make, I accidentally put double butter in once i decided. After you've dumped a chunk of butter in boiling water there's really no fix. However, I think I will make double butter rice from now on. 🥰

I can never just work on one thing at a time, I get too sick of looking at it. Sometimes for fun I design quilts I'll never make. I was playing with this "slip knot" block, but didn't like any of the color combos I tried so I gave B&W a shot and... Now I have to make it. Finished block examples:

I just realized I haven't posted in almost 3 weeks. What the heck have I been doing? Helping mom. We transferred her car to my brother. Whew. Her doctor, who she really likes, encouraged her to accept the helpers coming in and she has stopping complaining to me. Whew! And I finished my quilt!

@bajaarizona.bsky.social, I saw a post from "Wobbly Black Cat" who said she had been blocked by you and didn't know why. I thought maybe it happened when you got caught up in that block list mess and lost some people. Just thought I would pass this on in case you didn't know.

Happy Valentine's Caturday. Pepper is waiting for Pops' lap to return.

The blue border is done and the game of "thread chicken" is won!

The "feathers" are coming along, although they turned out not to look much like feathers. To me they look like a cross between a garden and a coral reef. 😂 Plus a few extra hearts. I'm OK with it.

I was lazy last night, so I loaded the dishwasher this morning, dumping water out of dishes and pots as I went. After a while I realized the water I was dumping was still in the sink. Grrrr. Old house, old galvanized drain pipes, 3 years since the last clog, yep, it's time.

Started quilting the blue border today with a chain of hearts that will be the "spine" of the feathers to follow. Up one side and down the other, whole hearted!

Just got home from the local Democratic club meeting. Post-analysis of the Nov election. I won't call it post mortem and here's why - We turned out well over 90% of Dem voters in our top 3 precincts, and about 60% in the toughest precinct. In an off-year election. Not dead yet!

What a terrible thing to go through. 💔

Still plugging away on the Metro rings quilt. I finally finished the center and got the first white border done. Next I have to design the quilting for the wide blue border. Deadline to finish in one month.

My cousin sent me this. 😂

We got ourselves shoveled out yesterday, and when I looked out today a squirrel was digging away into the edge of the snow pile to get himself a snack. 😄 Makes me happy, he's eating maple seeds. One less tree I have to pull out this Spring.

Morning bud report: We're not just buds any more!

Bud report. Morning buds, evening buds, other buds .

It's 40 degrees and windy here. A dark cloud went over and we are being pelted with ice balls. I need to clean up those maple "helicopters" that have blown of the roof out I will end up pulling out a million little trees next Spring.

A friend and I went to see Josh Johnson yesterday in York, which is in Scott Perry's red district. He was very funny but also did his usual topical humor and of course this week's topic had nothing funny to offer. He didn't shy away from the Ice murder, and what he had to say was very moving.

The earliest 2 orchid flowers have been open for 3 weeks and are starting to fade a bit, but are still hanging in for now. Five new buds are coming. Turns out the last one was triplets!

This quilt is a wedding gift, and I wanted to quilt with hearts. I did not want to quilt too densely, for reasons of softness and project deadline. I dug in my template history box and found a set of hearts I made for hand quilting my daughter's quilt about 40 years ago. 😲 Here's where I ended up.

The metro rings quilt is slowly coming along. Today I finished the stitch in the ditch around all the curved pieces, to emphasize the blue sections. Next - on to the fun quilting.

Ready for 2026!

Happy New Year!!

Heading for our friends' afternoon old people's New Year's Eve party. Starting in the afternoon so everyone can leave in the evening and be in bed by 9. 🤣🥳

A couple of years ago I repotted and divided the orchid I posted earlier, and gave the extra plants to a couple of friends. One of them sent me a picture this afternoon. Her orchid is blooming too! Two buds opening, the first time it bloomed for her. 🥰