Work week almost ended...

~ simple beauty ~

This week has been full of work, work and more work. It's summer, officially, so what else do I expect, eh? Not complaining though because most of the work has been done in the garden and that means food! Eventually, anyway. The above flower arrangement of wild sweet peas, Queen Anne's lace and a few fern leaves was made earlier in the week; it's still beautiful though and deserving of a better photo.

~ hand knitted hat ~

Karen, This Old House, is working on a Bid and Bark Sale for Dog Days Adoption. Since three of our four dogs are adopted foundlings, the Bid and Bark Sale is near and dear to my heart. The above hat is a wool acrylic blend (easy keeping) and hand knitted in my own design. Ahem. Big words for saying I just knit up the hat as I went along but it turned out fairly well and will be very warm when snowballs fly. The size is large and may be rolled up for extra warmth around the ears. There are some lovely things, please visit her blog and look around, perhaps bid on something that catches your fancy; it's for a good cause.

~ perky yellow ~

Since I'm on a knitted hat kick...I'm knitting and buying hats to send to a feller who works with homeless folks living in...are you ready for this?...our National Forests! Yes, can you imagine? In many National Forests, there are people living in their vehicles or in tents or, the "more fortunate", in campers, year round, with their children and, sometimes, pets. The stories are enough to break your heart...one woman was a kindergarten teacher and her husband, I seem to remember, worked for a contractor in the District of Columbia area. Both were downsized (nice way of saying "let go"), couldn't find new jobs and, after a time, lost everything. According on one article, "Since the beginning of 2007, when the current recession first began, over 10 million American households have lost their homes." !!! Exclamation points, mine.

There is no federal policy regarding the homeless. I suppose this is because the homeless don't vote and a politician, imo, doesn't much care for someone who can't vote for him or her. Way to go, public servants and, yes, the term is used Very Loosely. There are other websites that speak to this horrible  problem...but I'm saying this...I'm knitting and buying hats so someone will be a tad bit warmer this coming winter. If you'd like to help out, let me know. You don't have to make hats; yesterday, I bought cute hats at WM that were on sale for 70 cents.

Garden photos coming up on Monday, God willing. Daniel, Morgan, his daughter, and Shawn, her boyfriend, have been helping me this week...God bless 'em all!...and the garden looks fabulous! We have a few tomato plants left to sucker and stake, Daniel wants to plant more corn and there's room so why not?, the last fifteen pounds of fingerling potatoes need to go in the ground and JoEllen brought a few more tomatoes to plant, perhaps another row of beans and weeding to be finished. I'm not sure but I think I'll be able to feed more than a few families plus have produce to can, dry and freeze. Aren't we all so blessed to have a roof over our heads, clean beds to sleep in and food a-plenty on the table?! Thank You, God!

Blessings ~ Daniel ~ Morgan ~ Shawn ~ JoEllen ~ food ~ garden ~ hats ~ dogs, mine make my life better! ~