Around Here

Around here we're looking forward to great week.  Rain last night brought with it some lovely cool weather ahead, without any days in the 90's.  That's a big and welcome change from the long string of hot days we've had recently. 

It's Paul's 18th birthday tomorrow!  When asked what he wants to do for the big day Paul says he "just wants to chill."  Well, in any case, he's getting a chocolate cake homemade by me.  Gotta have a cake for your birthday, don't you know.

Check out this photo taken by our neighbor who is a professional photographer.  She hired Paul to help with a shoot and snapped this as a test shot of the lighting before her client showed up.  I just love it, with his bleached hair and confident pose, wearing his regular "uniform" of a black summer-weight hoodie and Ecuadorian wrist bracelets.

He hasn't been working for Cocktail Punk the past week since his employer is out of town, but that's given him the time he wanted to work with a local theater group on the production of Cabaret.  He's doing "sound design," but also did quite a lot of work on set construction.   The show opened Saturday and runs through next weekend, and it is wonderful.  Good thing, since I'm going three times!   

Around here we're excited to have the last of the new ironwork installed on the front porch.  Look closely at these two photos and see if you spot the difference.

Around here I've been immersed in quilting activities that don't involve any actual sewing.  How can that be, you ask?  Going to exhibits, attending quilt meetings with their lectures and socials, planning a new quilt and, of course, shopping for new fabrics and supplies.  All perfect activities when it's just too hot to actually sew.  (We don't have air conditioning so we follow the old fashion ways of dealing with heat:  get up early when it's cool and get some things done, including exercise, and then relax in front of the fan in the heat of the afternoon.)

What do these four photos have in common?  Yes, they are all examples of "fiber art" shown at the Faces of Fiber exhibit up in Estes Park.  There was also examples of weaving, wool felting, and knitting, all in very modern styles.  It was such a great show that I went twice!

Here's some of what I bought at this month's Front Range Contemporary Quilters meeting which included some vendor's tables.

No, I didn't buy all these, but aren't they pretty?  Also from the meeting. 

Around here we delight every day in living in wonderful Boulder.   I snapped this picture yesterday when I was walking up the hill to take a little hike in Chautauqua.  The Flatirons and a pack of bikers; two Boulder icons.

Around here Ben has been a real hero, whipping our sprinkler system into shape by replacing several heads and digging others up out of there sunken pits, and finishing up the painting required by the new patio.

Around here we are tickled with this artwork we bought for our new patio.  You can't tell from this image but the pot is brick red, the stalks are green, and the tips are red.  The hummingbird is colored with beautiful variations of bronze.  It really dresses up the fence and we can see it easily from the dining room.  Should be particularly nice to view in the winter.

And around here, last but not least and with no photo to illustrate it, I am officially divested of my responsibilities as Chair of the Instrumental Music Parents Association at Boulder High School.  This week I moved a couple of boxes of "stuff" related to it out of the house, transferred all of my electronic files to the new Chair, and deleted the email account from my computer.  I really enjoyed working with this group AND I'm really glad that it's over.  If you've done similar volunteer work, you'll know what I mean!