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Hi

I had a great escape for a few days and was able to see my brother and SIL in northern PA.  It was so nice to be in the cool, lush mountains .  It has been like living on the sun here this summer!  It has been a few years since we wer able to spend time at the lake and I truly miss the trees .  The kids had a great time swimming and just being outside.

DH had to work for a few days so we let the kids do things that Mr. OSHA wouldn't normally allow.  Like drive the tractor

And build a huge bonfire.  My brother was even forced to endure his first S'more.  The horror of it all!  We also made several trips to the nearest town to the best ice cream stand.  It had locally made ice cream in my favorite flavor - Almond Joy.  Heavenly coconut ice cream with chunks of chocolate and almonds in it.  I wish I could have brought some home.  I did get dear hubby to smuggle 4 boxes of Funny Bones across the state lines for me.  I have tried to share but it has been really hard.  If you aren't from the North Eastern US, then you probably don't know what a Funny Bone is and you are really missing out.  It is like  a chocolate Twinkie - but chocolate cake with peanut butter filling and coated in chocolate shell stuff.  With a cup of coffee it is just the best!  I have two packages buried in the depth of the freezer.  Just waiting to rescue me from a bad day.

The best part of vacation was being pretty much unplugged from our daily lives.  No cell service, no computers, no traffic on our little dirt road, no salesmen calling and no street lights.  We played outside,  did jigsaw puzzles, and just sat around and talked.  I am always surprised at how many stars there are when you get away from the city lights.  I wish this was everyday life.  Maybe our parents and grand parents knew that slower is better.  Plus it was so nice and cool!  Even the Bella put on a sweatshirt one day.

On the stitching front, I did get stuck at Chicago O'Hare for a few hours and got a good start on the Hinzeit .  I managed to finish one of the two designs and will hopefully get the other one finished shortly.  Here is a snap of my progress on them.  The piece in the back is my progress/start on the second matching piece.  They need to be framed before I can attach the glass tile that belongs in the center.  I am going to try Aaron Brothers this weekend to see if they might have something that would fit.

I switched off a bit and started on an old pattern from Prairie Schooler - Autumn Sampler.  I have converted the DMC to HDF silk colors.  It's not much of  a start - but I will show you anyway.

I have one problem with this - DMC 3011.  It is the main green/olive color and I have not found a suitable silk conversion.  So the little voice in my head is saying - use the DMC and move forward, but the other crazy voice says - keep hunting for a silk color because the texture difference will be noticible.  What do you think?  Maybe I am Cybil and another voice will shout out the answer?

I do have a lot more changes, but that's it for now.  Will write some more at the end of the weekend and share my big news.

Well - I am going to get some more coffee!  Until next time

Kerri