there's no place like gnome.

There is a lot going on in life right now.  A quick trip home at the end of last week.  Day camp this week.  The Agape Singers from western MN [including many, many of my favorite gnome friends!] are touring to Red Oak Grove this coming Thursday.  It’s mostly all good stuff in life.  But instead of a general overview post where I ramble on and on, I’m going to tell you about my new favorite thing.

Now, I know.  I know.  I have lots of favorite things.  Some people accuse me of applying the word too liberally.  But this is the real deal.  A real, true, magnificent favorite.

Traveling by bicycle.

It’s my new favorite.  I bought Mavis a few weeks ago now and she pretty much remains parked in a garage in Austin, next to her bike friend, Miles.  Mavis stays put in town because Miles’ rider and I have taken to running errands by bicycle.  And I love it.

We bike to the video store.  [Yes.  I have a membership to a video store.  How they are still profitable, I don’t know, but it’s cheaper than renting online.]  We bike to geocache.  We bike to supper.

That’s my favorite.  There is something super fun about biking to a restaurant, eating, and then biking home.  Or so I think anyways.  Last night was a double favorite: we biked downtown for supper [geocaching on the way – yes, we are dorks] AND ate outside.  It was the perfect evening weather-wise and we made the most of it.

We haven’t biked to the grocery store yet.  That will come.  Mavis needs a basket first.

It was a long Sunday. Worship – trick candles included – and an afternoon funeral – with a procession to the cemetery of John Deere tractors – I came home at 5:30 beat. Emotionally. Physically. All around beat.

Instead of sitting down and instantly falling asleep, I knew I needed to do something. I grabbed a sweet potato, cut it in half, and got to stamping. It was time to finish the polka dot wall.

And though I was initially unsure, I love it. Polka dots make me happy. Here’s hoping the prettiness energizes me to get the rest of the messy office in order …

I firmly believe that it is well and good and healthy to act like a child now and again. To skip, imagine, and play games.

Games like Mouse Trap.

We played Mouse Trap last night, except we played it as adults. Because how did you play Mouse Trap as a child? You didn’t actually play the game, did you? My brothers and I never did. We got out the box and set up the trap and that was about it.

As adults playing Mouse Trap, we played according to the rules. Which we had to read in detail because none of us had actually ever rolled the dice and moved mice around the board. I finally learned what those cheese pieces were for and how at the end, you just keep going around in a six-space loop. I had no idea.

I suppose you could say we engaged in child’s play in an adult way. Either way, it was pretty fun. Especially since my mouse emerged victorious.

(You’ll also notice a beer in the background of the picture. That’s not very child-like either.)

In so much of my life – my job, quilts, etc. – projects are constantly ongoing. There aren’t a whole lot of finishes on a daily basis. After a bit of a roller coaster week, with the up and down ride to continue in the coming days and weeks, I needed a finish. A final, competed project.

I felt compelled to spend time in my happy place this morning – my sewing room. However, I couldn’t quite get the energy to continue work on a project I knew I wouldn’t be able to finish today in the few hours I had available. What’s a girl who needs a finish to do?

Start another, smaller project, of course.

I made a pillow case. It will be my travel pillow for the summer. My camp pillow for when I spend a weekend at Camp Erin in July. The pillow I take to the cabin in a couple weeks and home next week. It even has French seams. (Oh la la. Please note I didn’t even know what those were before I began sewing.)

And so, Lindsay has a finish for the day. Something competed. Life is good.

We will see! It was tilled last Friday and yesterday was the day I finally got around to planting. Lovely Ardell, a woman in the congregation, came over to help me and give me some pointers. (I really was quite clueless!) It’s not too pretty and it’s filled a little too full, but I look forward to learning along the way.

Through the summer and fall, here’s hoping it yields yummy snap peas and carrots and lettuce and zucchini and tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers and butternut squash and melons! (I told you there was a lot in there! We will see how well they all become friends.)

Here is a before and after:

Hi friends.

I felt the need to say hi. It’s been awhile.

So hi. What do I have to tell you? you wonder.

Mabel and I went to our favorite closest state park on Saturday to go hiking. It’s there I learned that she really loves to roll in fish guts.

This past Thursday evening, I went to the cities to meet up with my dear friend Kate. We scored advanced screening tickets to see the movie The Fault in Our Stars. It’s the movie adaptation of a young adult book which we had both read and loved and sobbed. It comes out the first Friday in June – I recommend it. Go see it! Bring tissues!

I’m putting in an official garden tomorrow. Dear congregation members are coming over with their tiller and they are going to help me get started. I checked out books from the library last night; I have research to do before I buy seeds/plants tomorrow.

Marilyn brought me fresh eggs and rhubarb today. She’s like my own personal farmers market. I love it! The rhubarb will become this. (It will be ready by July 4th. Come over for a drink then!)

It’s a week of additional preaching for me. I gave the address at the cemetery on Memorial Day and am in charge of the sermon tonight at the community baccalaureate service. I’m taking a play from the creative Kendall playbook – we are going to read a children’s story. It should be fun; Lindsay is good at looking ridiculous in front of large groups of people.

These are my current favorite things: open windows that lead to chilly mornings; watching my flowers grow; day camp shopping; Frozen (I finally watched it!); dreaming of summer adventures; hugs; trips to the cities; and Mabel walks. What are your favorite things?

She is my new summer friend. She still needs a few accessories (um, basket and bell, please!) but we officially met this past week. I now know how to travel with her in my car’s backseat so the possibilities are endless. She and I together (along with another bike and a guy on that bike) will see the bike trails of Austin and maybe even some bike paths around southeastern Minnesota. We are going to be good friends, Mavis and I. Good friends.

Oh, Chaco flip flops.

Did you know that this is the beginning of the ninth summer we have spent together? I remember because you were a college graduation present to myself. (One doesn’t just spend $65 on a pair of flip flops all willy-nilly. These are special occasion purchase flip flops.) Nine summers. Can you believe it?

Before you, I was a firm believer in cheap $2 flip flops. In every color. I loved them. Until I met you.

You offer arch support and don’t get super slippery when wet. You are great for walking in for long distances and standing in for long periods of time. You are what so many flip flops are not.

And you have withstood the test of time. Eight summers of wearing you probably practically everyday. I’m enamored by you. A dirty, raggedy flip flop. And here comes summer number nine.

We’ve spent great times together. You’ve seen me to foreign countries and many states. Where will we go this summer? Adventures are yet to be told but I can nearly guarantee – we’ll go together.

Sadly, the weekend has to end at some point. It’s been highly productive here on Mower Freeborn Road. I have some completed projects and some in-progress projects to show for it. They include but are not limited to: four (finally) recovered dining room chairs; banana blueberry muffins; rhubarb cookies (oh, yes, you read that right); a marked wall grid with the beginning stages of polka dots (which I confess, after much pomp and circumstance and excitement, I’m not sure I like); flower pots planted; coasters for sister, Emma, made (I have now made tile coasters for every member of my immediate family; anyone else need some? Postcards work great.);
a new-to-me spray painted and seat-covered sewing chair; continued work on a hexagon quilted table runner; and matchbook shadow box frames complete and hung (my dad collected matchbooks in his younger days; I have them hanging on my wall now). My backyard also was planted: I take no credit for that but enjoyed watching it happen.

Phew. It’s been busy and good. Time to curl up with a movie and chill. I hope your weekend was joyful/productive/relaxing/delicious/whatever you needed it to be!

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The sermon is, well, half written. (That’s half more than usual!) The boyfriend is out of town. There is nothing significant on my calendar. It’s a throwback to those days and weeks and years when I had to entertain myself. Hello, projects. I’m so excited. (Though first I’m going to get my hair cut and sub for a music class for a whole two periods. I hear I’ll be pushing play on a DVD.) But then, after that and my first grade volunteer gig, PROJECTS!

Here are a few clues and a few beforehand shots: