Graduation

Does this bring back memories? Funny how time flies by. Enjoy the process of learning and reaching your goals. Just because you graduate doesn't mean the learning stops. Read, and think and then read some more. I am proud of all my graduates.

Now we are empty nesters. It will not sink in until fall. Enjoy your summer!

Barbeque

A toast to the first barbequed steak of the summer. It is one of the things I look forward to after a long winter. That is the farmen's home-grown wine in the glass. Beautiful color! I have been out weeding around the grapevines this morning. I try to help but the farmer does by far the most.

We are glad to have the college kids home. We had to laugh at the movie theater last night.

Another college friend told us, "This is the last summer I'm coming home. Its boring and my parents are always telling me what to do." (She just finished freshman year). I do appreciate family visiting the nest, even after they can fly.

Drama at the clinic when we found out this week that the government incentive for moving to the electronic medical record shifted the bonus ($44,000 per physician) to cover only the portion of medicare that we don't see. That means no financial support or benefit for all the investment and hard work. We did decide to move forward, but it was not a unanimous vote. Its the first time in forever that I can remember us counting the votes before knowing the outcome. I wonder if there will be rumblings down the road. I feel a fierce loyalty to the practice and I believe in the mission. I just don't have very much influence and insight to offer.

I want to share a sentence I found that struck me as very wise. I don't remember where I read it: "Make sure that your limited resources and income are used most effectivily to attain your highest priorities." It is my thought for the day.

Blooms

This is the finished quilt I made for a friend to be given to her granddaughter for her wedding. I really like how it turned out, simple and contemporary. I have extra fabric to play with for a second project if I can decide what to make.

The purple flowers are from bulbs that Mom gave me. They just look like the first day of spring. We got a good rain last night, and the dandelions exploded. Wow! I wish they were daffodills, they would be beautiful.

Today I worked on birthday and graduation and wedding stuff. The birthday and graduation are
Mike's, the wedding is for a childhood friend of Rachel's. I found something for a wedding gift. Now I need to find a box to mail it in. Nothing is easy on my day off "things to do" list. Sometimes the work days are the easy ones because they have a set structure and you just do what needs doing. At home, I have to choose priorities, and struggle to avoid getting off on a bunny trail.

I did decide to order a sewing table which will allow the work surface of the machine to sit flush with the surface of the table. It makes it easier to move the project around when I am trying to quilt it all together. I have a backlog of things I

want to do myself rather than pay a long arm quilter to do for me. The decision about buying the longarm machine is still on hold. Maybe, and then maybe not. We'll see.