Great Memories with Betty

 One of my very best friends, Betty, will soon be taking her final trip to heaven. She was one of the very first people I met when we moved here 57 years ago, and we quickly became friends. Here we are three years ago.



We have so much in common - gardening, sewing, handicrafts, faith. There were a few times in our lives when we didn't see each other very much, but in the past few years, we've been trying to fix that.

Here are a few memories of fun things. Of course there are a lot more where pictures were not taken. In 1983, we each had so many crafty projects we'd started that we decided it was The Year To Finish Things- TYTFT. We even made t-shirts, and believe it or not, we both worked at finishing things and didn't start a single new project all year. We did finish quite a few.

In 2001, we did two big projects together. She helped me clean out and sort my "potting shed," which had been a chicken coop.

We did get it all put away again. Betty said, "Joan, that was a LOT of stuff!"

Also that summer (maybe we agreed to each choose one big project to do together), she said, "I want to make a pocket quilt [technically a comforter]. Bring your sewing machine in. We'll work together and it won't take more than a couple of days."

Ha! We've joked about those "couple of days" ever since.

We cut up donzens of pairs of old jeans. I used pockets from each of our boys and some of the foster kids, and Omer, and me. The corners have flannel in them. We each traded a few pieces of fabric. She has 4 girls and I had 3 boys, so it's easy to remember who donated which pieces. Here's my first square, done.

Here is my quilt, almost done (with V-8 Kitty on it). I think I still had to put some of the edging on.

The finished quilt still lives in my car. It's very heavy- almost too heavy to sleep under, but it is great for extra padding. I just used it on the Sheltowee hike under my mat. And it is great for memories of all the boys.

Did we ever finish all the projects? Heck no. But sometimes just working on things is great fun, a learning experience, a social experience, or therepy. She did gorgeous hand embroidery.

In other news- Well, I went to say goodbye to Betty- she has gone downhill quickly and was not conscious. She has a large family with the 4 "girlsies," grands and great-grands. She's been with her husband Roger for 12 years, after Sam died in 2010. Both relationships have been wonderful. If you believe in prayer... say one for Roger and the family if you would.

I shopped, I voted, I went to bell practice.

See An Evening with Betty

Other 2026 Garden Endings

 There was a hard freeze at least once while I was in Kentucky. The gardening season is really over unless I manage to do a little weeding in the rock garden.

However, here are a few final bright spots. This is the 'Forbidden Fruit' hosta. I love how yellow it got.

I was really shocked to discover there is a 'Firefly' Heuchera still blooming!

And, not in any flower bed... one self-seeded marigold insisted on blooming. But in general, the marigolds just aren't working for me.

I'll close with a sort of report on the Moon Garden. I had hoped to bring in some of the annuals to propogate them. Well... the deer pulled the frosted Gazania right out of the ground and ate them. I put the new hosta and the dogwood in prison before I went hiking. They kicked off the fencing and chewed the dogwood, but I think it will be OK.

I didn't manage to get any of the white petunias in the house to root and propogate for next year. Not in the moon garden this year, but I was hopeful they might be next year.

However, the dusty miller were not dead. So I have split them, and we'll see how they do in the house over the winter.

Today was busy. I managed to edit a bit. Then I spent the afternoon doing errands, one of which was to choose a new Medicare plan. What a hassle! But I think I've done it. Then I had a Zoom meeting and a flurry of communication after that.

See It's All I've Got

Other Turtles from Kentucky

I've been working at getting the photos from the Sheltowee Trace Trail labeled. So many of them are just big rocks, that I need to do this soon before I forget why I took some of the pictures.

But I'm only up to day three so far, and I showed you one of the turtles that the city of Morehead, Kentucky, has adopted as the symbol of their city. But there were a lot of them. And I certainly didn't get pictures of them all. Here are the pictures I did take.

This one may be my favorite, although they all have very interesting decorating. This was in front of the library. I love the books painted on the shell, and the duck hitching a ride and reading is awesome.

I don't think there is a particular name for the painted animals that a city adopts. They are a kind of folk art or street art. Sometimes they are called public art trails. For example, Rochester NY has horses. I have pictures of painted moose from somewhere, but I don't recall where.

This one is more natural looking, but in nice colors.

I also really liked this one. It's not supposed to be a skeleton, just a black and white paint scheme.

Here's another very detailed one, with a garden scene on the shell.

Sometimes simple is very effective. Just red and pink.

The last one we saw was quite a ways out of town at the Cumberland Ranger Station.

I enjoyed seeing these a lot, but only put one in the blog post about the hiking day, so I decided to share them now.

I got my butt in gear and worked on several things today. Put away some more of the garden things.

See Sheltowee Day 3

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See True Blue Gumby II

Halloween Decor from the ADT

 You know I'm not a big fan of Halloween.

But there were a few fun things from the American Discovery Trail hike that I pictured and saved for today.

I like this the best. These are huge black Elephant Ears, probably in the Colocasia genus. I really liked how dark these are.

They were part of the outdoor displays at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati. They were not open when I walked by (first thing in the morning), and I wasn't willing to drive downtown later to visit. But I can put it on my list of places I'd like to see another time.

To go with the black, they also had orange.

In this one the early-morning light added orange tones to the landscape. Even the traffic cone contributed.

On the second day of the ADT, this rat (I think... ears seem big for a mouse) was guarding a stone wall. I liked that it was sort of spooky but understated.

I didn't manage to do very much today. Sigh.

See Best I'm Gonna Do