There has not been much to report on the fire repair front, but now some work is starting! Yesterday a big trench was created to house a new conduit. These bottles turned up in the ground. Old bottles are a personal favorite of mine, but old bottles that I can be fairly certain were used by my great grandparents are extra special. Worth the mess even. - Polly
We like other home gardeners around us are finding that this is a good tomato year. Better than last year. Different also this year is that we now have a wonderful tomato machine. It came to us from the friends that moved away. We thought of them as we processed tomatoes and ate the resulting soup. A silver lining. - Polly
This week some of our good friends moved away. Far away. The boys and I have spent a lot of time talking about what that means, and how we will try to stay friends.
As a going away present, we made writing folders with some blank postcards to color and some with our address already inscribed. I looked at this tutorial on Soulemama, and made something similar. I started with quilted thrift store place mats, so my measurements and edges are different.
I hope our friends write, and I hope they have a wonderful adventure. 
This is my rendition of a dahlia from the rookiepainter site. Don't be fooled by the name, there are some lovely non beginner paintings included. I am not thrilled with my finished painting, but it was good practice, and it is fascinating to me to see how other painters approached the same image. Art school was so much about fine art, and developing content, that I don't recall ever being asked to work from the same image as the other students. This was interesting. -Polly
