Pleasures of late summer

Sis and her husband have this week off from work.  Yesterday they went for a drive and ended up in Pendleton, Oregon.  Meanwhile, I have put off all sewing until the start of National Sewing Month.  Instead I've been canning.  I've never done this before and it's lots of fun.  So far I have made spiced peaches and pickled beets.

Spiced peaches

Peaches and beets

And today I'm canning pickled vegetable salad: green beans, yellow beans, red bell peppers, red onion, cauliflower and mushrooms.

Fresh veg!

Veg prepared

The canning supplies and equipment are ready, I just need to wait for the jars to sanitize in the dishwasher.  And for that huge pot to heat up.

Makes me feel like my greatgrandmothers!  Not my grandmothers, of course, both of whom were legendarily lazy.

Sewing in the blood

It all began so innocently.  I was just having a bit of a wheeze imagining this book cover being ripped open by a vampire.  Honestly!  It was just a joke.

Vogue's book of smart dressmaking

But something there is that does not love a joke.  Why oh why did I not realize there was something seriously wrong when the second book mysteriously arrived in the mail?  But no, I made fun of it too.

Vogue dressmaking book

But now I am very seriously worried, frightened even.  Because today a third sinister book arrived in the mail, and now she's looking right at me!

McCall's sewing book, dressmaking made easy

Think I'm over reacting?  Then explain what these two are doing, because it isn't sewing as I know it.  Why has the little girl just ripped off her mother's sleeve?  Or, since she is holding a pincushion, is she about to set the sleeve in the sleeve cap while her mother is wearing the blouse.  And look at the little girl's teeth.  Is it my imagination, or are those milk tooth fangs?  Look too at the way the mother is holding those scissors half hidden in her hand.  But here's the real give away, the thing that can't just be explained away -- one of the headings in the table of contents is for "slashed neck openings!"  I've sewn for 50 years and I've never encountered slashed neck openings, and I don't want to now.

I am sew frightened!  Who is sending me these books and why?

Maggie the Arctic fox in summer

Here's Maggie in her summer coat:

Sis's sewing woes

Sis (who is unable to blog at the moment) is working on her Quincy jacket, and she says "Oy, my nerves. I came home and did the zipper on Quincy. Remind me never to buy boucle ever again. The toes of the presser foot keep catching in the loose weave and it's shredding like .... something really shreddy. Shredded Wheat. I've soaked it in Fray Check and Im hoping for the best."  It will of course be beautiful, like everything Sis sews.

Hurricane Ridge

If there aren't wildflowers on Mount Rainier yet, there are certainly plenty on Hurricane Ridge.  Here are a few pictures David and I took yesterday.  We had a wonderful time, with deer, wildflowers, international visitors and a bear.

Oh, look!  There's Canada!

Little girl lost

This last week we lost Mali, our little girl tiger at Point Defiance Zoo.  I'm so sad, both for her loss and for how sad her keepers must feel.

But today we had another lovely day at the zoo with Pam and Hal.  We saw the Arctic foxes (Maggie and Scout).  This is a picture of one of them, but I don't know which.

And the polar bears had been given big bones to chew on.

And Mount Rainier was out!  At least partly.

And after a lovely picnic, we watched the show with Herald the dog!  If you get a chance, you really should see it.