Endarkenment

We were fortunate to experience a total eclipse in 2017 when we just happened to be in St Louis … but it wasn’t planned and we didn’t have the special glasses

We were much better prepared for the annular eclipse last October, which we experienced with our Austin grandkids

Two days later I was lucky enough to spot this little gem of a painting on Instagram, which I gifted to Don last Christmas …

It was painted en plein aire by local artist Gena Destri, who graciously offered to sell it to me after I sent her a DM …

And now, our third eclipse in seven years looks like it will be clouded, but we will still experience the endarkenment of the land … it should be awesome

About last week

I’m slowly but surely working on my Folkwear smock project …

while pondering the recent excision of my first basal cell skin cancer. It’s no big deal, but it feels like a milestone of sorts. As is the recommendation that I start on statins. And as always, consider annual immunizations. So it goes.

The good news is that we finally tried out Valentina’s, which is the newest restaurant in town (rated two thumbs up👍👍) …

and attended our local art gallery’s 6th anniversary party, where the owner cleverly requested 6” by 6” art works from the usual (wonderful) cast of artists. And if some of the artists didn’t exactly bring works at exactly the requested size, we were still delighted to bring two of them home with us …

We also had “Back to School Camp” with Griffin, Parker, and Ellis … complete with field trips, projects, and fun food …

Hmmm … I seem to be missing some activity pictures … I’ll have to check my co-counselor’s photo collection and include them in a future post.

Meantime, the first real day of school in Texas has come and gone (click to get full images … P’s shoes are worth a peek) …

and we continue to hide out from the Texas heatwave … which reached 110 degrees yesterday while we were hunkered down at the Alamo Drafthouse watching Oppenheimer … a sobering experience all around.

Happy World Embroidery Day

In a wonderful bit of synchronicity, I recently pulled out this family sampler

started in 2014 when we only had three grandkids …

I brought it with me on our recent family vacation at Folly Beach, but somehow I was too busy to do anything with it …

Anyway, I worked on the sampler this past week, trying to figure out how to fit three more grandkids into a much-too-small space …

And it’s almost done … except for the signing and framing (watch this space). However, when I learned today was World Embroidery Day, I just couldn’t wait to show you.

Of course, the painter in the family has already conceived and completed his most recent beach memento …

But hey, I love stretching a project out over nine years 😉