A Graduation Present

My cousin Kristen graduated high school this May. Unfortunately, we weren't able to go down to NC for her ceremony like we had planned. That did give me more time to work on her present, though. I love to make things -- cross-stitch samplers, quilts, drawings-- and usually if I have a present to give, I like to make it. So I decided to make one of her presents from us. It took me a long time to decide which scene to use for the sampler, but I finally decided on this one. She has just redecorated her room in pink and other bright colors, so at least I know it will match. Choosing the mat-board was another challenge. There isn't any green in her room, but the framers assured me green was the best color for the background because it makes the other colors jump out of the picture. Now the scene is stitched, the stitchery is matted, and all of it is in a frame which I think will coordinate with her new bedroom suit. The question is.....will she like it?

me

A Great Book

I just finished another one of Charles Dickens's books, Bleak House. Even though I've never read one of his books that I did not like, I am convinced that this is one of the best. It took me a long time to get through it, since it is around 920 pages long, and it has all the twists, turns and complications that you can expect from a Dickens novel, making it more difficult to read. Still, the end was all worth it. There were so many good characters -- and just enough bad characters-- and the storyline was really interesting and full of suspense. As if the book wasn't good enough, Masterpiece Theater has eight hour movie of Bleak House that is outstanding. Definitely read the book and watch the movie, but don't do one without the other unless you have to.

July Fourth

Our July Fourth actually began the day before with a baseball game. We had been wanting to go see the Lexington Legends play for a few years now, but had never got around to it. Finally, last week, we decided to buy tickets and go see a game July third. I was mostly looking forward to it because there was going to be a big fireworks show after the game. I haven't been to see fireworks in years! We ended up with second row seats, which was pretty neat. The visiting team was warming up directly in front of us and came over to the stands and signed lots of autographs. Unfortunately, I hadn't even thought about bringing anything for signing. I also realized as the game began that I had forgotten just about everything I ever knew about scoring. It took a few innings and watching the scoreboard for it to come back to me. Things didn't really get exciting until it was dark enough for the stadium lights to come on. The crowd really got into it then. The Legends only needed two home-runs to win the game, so the cheering was pretty intense, but the other team wouldn't let them get a point and ended up winning. I didn't really mind, mostly because I thought the other team played better anyway. The best part was definitely the fireworks. It was such a great display -- stars, sparkles, rockets -- with patriotic music playing in the background. I tried (unsuccessfully) to get a good picture, but I was too busy watching them to focus the camera well. The only decent one I got is the one above and I promise they looked better than that! The next day, July Fourth, we were planning on grilling hamburgers. Daddy got them done just before it started pouring rain and storming. So the best celebration we had was the day before. We're planning on going back to a ballgame sometime this summer.