Confessions of a Grandma

I had more grandson time this weekend. Friday night was spent on the bike path along the Lake Champlain waterfront. There was a music festival going on in the park so it was crowded with tourists and townies. A minor miracle was finding parking when a truck pulled out of a space right next to the bike path as I turned into the lot by the skate park -- no time wasted so the fun could begin. Saturday was a picture perfect July day. We headed out for the Burlington Farmers' Market. The market moved from downtown this year. The venue is much larger but also out in the blazing sun. Lots of people do not like the change but personally I was quite glad not to be stepping on someone's dog every time I turned around. Dane took advantage of a great variety of peppers -- sweet to hot. We used some of the fresh vegetables to make a pizza supper. He was wanting to see the Lake Monsters Baseball game on Saturday night. The theme was Star Wars. (Not Star Trek. Trust me, don't ...

A walk to see the whales' tails. I got out the sewing machine to make him an apron for his cooking lessons. The lake was very inviting on hot, humid days. Grandson Dane is 12 now and he has completed the sixth grade. All the time I was teaching I always marveled at how sixth graders would start off a school year is such an angelic mode and then switch to nascent middle schoolers by June. Probably I had just noticed a trend all those years and not ALL twelve year olds automatically lose their sweet innocence. My grandson is still sweet. He spent the past week with me and he still wanted to do all the grandma traditions. We spent a lot of time at the park and in the lake. It was hot and humid and he is a true water sign. He can swim around for hours at a time. Fortunately he no longer needs me in the water with him the whole time. I took him one day to the card making group I meet with and he was a trooper about that. Although he did mention on the way home, ...

I was looking forward to my grandson's visit this week. Well he will still arrive, just not until tomorrow. He was at camp all last week. My daughter said he needed to rest but I think she really needed more time to get laundry done. I remember the laundry after a boy's camping trip. So I spent the day making. I made two more shopping bags. I put a pocket inside this one and it's lined with a heavy muslin fabric. I made another blue one with a quilt square pocket on the outside, but Don said, "If you're giving them away, I'll take that one." Another convert to cloth shopping bags so that's a good thing. I have also been making some cards over the past week: I find myself getting simpler instead of more complex with cards, cutting back on the glitter and bling. One of my friends has a sign in her craft room:  **I craft so much I sweat glitter.** We have been having beautiful weather here.  I had a nearly perfect walk ...

I got an email from my bank warning of a scam. Apparently there is a fraudulent email designed to look like it actually comes from the bank and warning that there is concern about unauthorized use of accounts -- go to this link and give us your account number, username and password so we can fix it. I think I would really rather not be a suspicious person, but good grief . . . The bank did contact me once about a suspicious purchase. It was made someplace in California -- over $400 on make-up at some store. I thought  it was pretty astute of my bank to realize I had not spent that much on make-up in my life time up to that date of purchase. But they never asked for my account number, username or password because they know all that stuff already. By the way, I am really sick of the constant need for passwords. I have nostalgia for simpler times lately. I am getting old.

Summers used to feel like such endless, carefree times. Sigh, now the Fourth feels like summer is half over already. I am not big on holiday celebrations actually. We had the required hotdog in a bun and strawberry shortcake. I studiously avoided any news outlets so as to not taint the day with politics of any kind. It was a real summer day, hot and sunny, but I did not go anywhere. I will watch fireworks from my bedroom window and then probably just go to sleep. I felt like sewing today. I have a pile of fabric scraps. I recently read that fabric scraps were recyclable -- bundle them up and take them to Goodwill. Still, I was not quite ready to just get rid of the bits and pieces. And I do have substantial amounts of some fabrics. I made two small shopping or book bags today: They are reversible so if there is a need to have an inside pocket (the quilt squares) that can work. These will most likely be gifts. I made the pillow cover in the background a couple of years go out...