Too Busy for Quilting!

Lately it seems I have had too many irons in the fire to maintain any sewing and quilting momentum. Here's a run-down of the past week:

Friday - the fabric shop road trip with the Frankfort Girls. I've already shared this in the last post.

Saturday - Buckskin Community Yard Sale in South Salem. I joined forces with my neighbor Dorothy, and we had a relatively successful day. We set up in the parking lot of Buckskin Elementary, and it was hotter than blazes, but we had a good, steady stream of customers. The picture below was taken at the end of our day.

Saturday night - dinner at La Cascada. DH and I have been enjoying a weekly visit to this Mexican restaurant in Hillsboro for years now. We don't make it every single week, but we do go often. On this particular visit, we were joined by my niece Abby and her husband Stephen. It was a fun impromptu family dinner.

I spent Sunday catching up on laundry, unpacking the remains of the yard sale, and preparing to go on a quick overnight trip with my mother to Put-In-Bay.

Monday - Travel to Port Clinton, Ohio, and board the ferry to South Bass Island in Lake Erie where Put-In-Bay is located. We booked an Airbnb called The Dellwood for our accomodations, and all was lovely.

A ferry on Lake Erie waiting to dock. The water looks relatively calm here, but when we came out around noon on Monday, the waves were quite choppy; our ride was not smooth. At least one passenger got seasick and threw up. (None of our party, thankfully.)

Tuesday - leave PIB, and drive over to Marblehead to see the lighthouse.

More clouds and breezy conditions. We did not take the time to go up into the lighthouse, but for a small fee, visitors can do this. We did go through the historical museum and learned about the lighthouse, its keepers, and general history of the area.

Wednesday - today - I'm back home, I have driven for our Mennonite neighbors, walked 2 miles, and am getting ready to go to a friend's for a couple of hours of pool time (it's so chilly, it'll be more sun time than water time!). I hope to sew a quick project yet, and deliver it to Hillsboro later tonight.

I did take some stitching with me on the trip to the lake, and I even managed to sew while DH drove; I will provide details and progress soon.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Mini-Vacation Fun

When DH and I decided we would try to do several mini-vacations this summer, we had no idea they'd be as enjoyable as our first two have been. In May, you may recall, we drove to South Carolina for a 4-day jaunt to Charleston, Georgetown, and Murrell's Inlet with a stop on the way home in Mt. Airy, NC, and a 100-mile drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a wonderful trip that is briefly summarized here.

We returned late Saturday from a second, shorter get-away much closer to home. We left Thursday morning for Lake Erie to stay at Put-In-Bay. We'd booked a room at a bed and breakfast through Airbnb - our first ever such venture. It worked out so perfectly that we are sure to do it again.

Our room was one of several available in a home called The Dellwood, a lovely Victorian built in 1897. We shared the home with a few other guests, but you'd have thought we had the place to ourselves - that is how quiet and peaceful it was. The wrap-around porch was a perfect place for listening to the evening rain shower that blew in just at dusk. Our daughter and her husband have used Airbnb several times, and recommended that we try it. Now we will be recommending it, too.

Because it had been a misty, cloudy day, we did not get to do as much touring around the island as we normally do. We did, however, make it out to try a new (to us) restaurant - The Keys. I had a delicious Cuban sandwich with fries and a cocktail. DH had a seafood reuben and a cocktail. The open-air dining area provided us with the view of Perry Monument, shown in the photo above. As I said, the day had been overcast, but during dinner, the sun popped through the clouds and illuminated the monument which reflected so beautifully off the water.

After dinner, we hopped our golf cart - the preferred mode of travel on the island - and took in all the sights. Because we'd never stayed overnight on the island, we'd never before had the luxury of enjoying a sunset there; Mother Nature gave us a spectacular show through those pesky clouds.

On Friday morning - or I should say around noon, we left Put-In-Bay for the hour-long drive to Cleveland. We had a room reserved at the downtown Westin Hotel, and tickets for Friday night to see the Indians and Twins. The Indians lost, but we still had a great evening with Erin and Jeff, our daughter and son-in-law, who were also booked at the Westin. After dinner at Great Lakes Brewing Company, we hopped aboard the restaurant's shuttle to the stadium, a very nice bonus. After the game, we power-walked just over a mile back to our hotel.

Great Lakes Brewing Co.

Above is our group selfie taken at the ballpark - Jeff, Kevin, Jayne and Erin. We had great seats just off the third-base line. You notice that Jeff is wearing a Twins cap - he hails from Minnesota, and so we allow such traitorous apparel - plus, we really love him. 

On Saturday, after a leisurely cup of coffee with the kids at the hotel, the two of us headed south toward home with a stop on the way to see Kevin's dad. And that concluded our second of the short, summer getaways.

I mentioned in yesterday's post that we did have some negatives to deal with. On Thursday, we had a flat tire near Bucyrus, which set us back about two and a half hours and chunk of change. Then when we got to our bed and breakfast, we were informed that a "bug bloom" was expected at dusk. Curious? Well, an enormous cloud of mayflies descends on the lake and goes to any well-lit space. Now you know why we sat in the dark on the wrap-around porch listening to the rain. Besides the tire and the bugs, we had rain! Our trip could have been disastrous, but we found ways to be optimistic which worked wonders for us. The people who helped us in Bucyrus were the best mankind has to offer - so giving, helpful, genuine and kind. The bugs - well, we were very little affected as long as we followed advice and stayed out of well-lit areas. As for the rain, had we not had those clouds, our great sunset vista and monument view would have been ordinary. 

On a sewing note, I did get that little hexie flower stitched last night. I have yet to take the picture, however. Come on back tomorrow to see it!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Ohio's North Shore

We are back from our quick 2-day trip to Lake Erie, where we saw the sights of Port Clinton, Catawba, Marblehead, Put-In-Bay Island, and Kelley's Island. What a beautiful area of the great state of Ohio - one that I was not familiar with at all being a southern Ohio girl; I have had little opportunity to visit or sight-see in that area.

From the ferry taking us across Lake Erie to Put-In-Bay.

Put-In-Bay's downtown park with Lake Erie in the distance.

Monument honoring Cmdr. Perry on PIB Island.

View from Marblehead of Lake Erie.

Marblehead Lighthouse, world's oldest in continuous use.

Marblehead Lighthouse Museum; closed at the time; but I'd like to visit again.

The main attraction on Kelley's Island is this impressive limestone formation.

Glacial Grooves are formed in the limestone; the area is cared for by ODNR.

We had a leisurely, relaxing couple of days away. Much needed after preparing for the Fraternity Bash. We are glad to have had the chance for a little getaway, and also very glad to be back home.

More on my stitching tomorrow!
Happy Quilting, Friends!