laowai = foreigner

BEA IS AT MTU

I took Bea up to Michigan Tech this weekend so she could go to to a week long robotics camp. I'm home now and I'm just realizing what an emotion filled weekend it was. We drove up on Saturday morning. Bea drove part of the way - first time driving on the highway even! After we arrived we checked into the Super 8 hotel - the same hotel that I stayed in when Brian graduated from Tech. Then we walked around and I showed her Brian's old dorm and the rest of the campus.

Thimbleberries and Lupines:

Here's Bea looking at a big chunk of copper:

I think I forgot, or I didn't realize how pretty Houghton and the Keweenaw Peninsula are. I was flooded with memories of being at Tech with Brian and his parents. And I told Bea all about it. We had such a good day - lots of laughs. And then we watched a David Attenborough nature show and fell asleep. I woke up early the next morning and did some knitting outside along the Portage canal while Bea slept. I saw three sea planes take off right in front of me. Then we had breakfast at the Finish Cafe where Brian used to eat.

And then it was time to check her into her camp and find her dorm room. Why didn't I realize this would be like a trial run for all the emotions of leaving her at college? It hit me like a ton of bricks! After she got settled in her room and got all the essential info there were still several hours before the welcome orientation meeting. I felt funny leaving her for four hours and she felt kinda unsettled too. So we went for a drive to a beach on Lake Superior. It was extremely windy - so we crouched by some sun-warmed rocks and looked at little stones. It felt nice. A sweet moment.

So then it was time to leave her - after a quick hug I hit the road and I had six and a half hours to think about the weekend.

Now I'm home just hoping she gets enough to eat, sleeps well, enjoys her classes and hangs up her wet towel.

MISGUIDED MOTIVES

I made strawberry jam mostly so I could put it in my prized Waechtersbach jam pot.

Secondary to aesthetics - it also tastes good.

Please don't tell me that I could buy jam and put it into this container. 

CLAIRE LOVES COLOR

Claire found out that a new, fun spot was opening in Chicago and she made sure I got tickets ASAP. I'm so glad she did.

It's called Color Factory - the first one opened as a temporary exhibit in San Francisco and now we have a permanent one in the Willis (nee Sears) Tower. 

"Color Factory is a pop-up interactive art exhibition with brightly colored room-sized installations, each themed around the concept of color."

We took Claire's friend, Lily, along and we went on a Tuesday afternoon so it wasn't very busy at all. It's essentially all about taking selfies in an interesting space. A lot like the Wow Museum we visited in Zurich. Claire is clearly of the age and generation that is comfortable with this stuff. They had so much fun!

Here I am trying to not look uncomfortable taking a selfie (forgot to smile).

All the employees were really fun and they wore different colored overalls.

The gift shop was full of the most fun colorful stuff - even brightly colored sodas.

Claire was ready to go back immediately.

SURPRISE, IT'S SUMMER

Well, summer has truly arrived. I feel like we went from a chilly stretch of weather straight into a heat wave and the days are zooming by like a roller coaster - a fun roller coaster - not a scary one. 

A WINDOW AND A HEAT WAVE

This week we've had a heatwave and I finished another window restoration. This is a window from Claire's room and I started it in the middle of April. I'm feeling a bit more confident with the steps. I've been doing a bit less of that kind of procrastination that comes from fear of screwing it up. It's not flawless but I'm happy.

Here's are the before photos - a very sad little window:

Ready to get to work:

Glass removed:

Scraped and sanded:

Primer is on. I worked on glazing while our house painters were working too. I was nervous to work on my window in front of the pros but they were really nice and encouraging. I think they were surprised to see me doing that work - not the typical housewives of northshore Chicago hobby. Ha.

The house painting job was completed but my window glaze had to cure for a couple weeks. 

Time for a final coat of paint. I bought myself a new little brush for the most detailed and difficult part. It's the part where the paint has to overlap the glass by just a tiny bit. So hard to get it neat!

And here it is - it looks so much better and it opens and closes easily too. 

Cannot zoom out this photo because this is a teenager's* room and I don't want to frighten anyone.

And the next window is already in the works:

* a twelve-year-old teenager

WE FOUND A HILL

Last weekend we went for a drive - we do that lately because Bea wants to get her required driving practice hours in. We drove to Glacial Park in Northern Illinois and then went for a little hike. What a pleasant surprise to see a hill! A hill with green prairie all around it. Isn't it remarkable how a little elevation can change your whole outlook?

YARN SHOPPING

Last week I went yarn shopping with a couple friends. We went to an amazingly large yarn store that is about an hour's drive away. I got carried away taking photos of the beautiful bright yarns. I had the same feeling I get when I see beautiful flowers and I just must take a picture... or twenty. Even though these bright colors were drawing me in, I'm not sure if I would knit something with them. When the color changing yarn is knit up it sometimes looks too jumbled to me. I had some surprising restraint and bought only a few skeins for a couple small projects. 

This yarn looks like zopf.

I'm spoiled by this yarn store. So much selection! We lose our minds a little when we go - we wander around stroking all the yarns and chatting non-stop about all the projects on display. So fun!

TEN YEARS AGO

I came across this photo of my mom and Claire.

The photo was taken when my mom came to stay with our girls while Brian and I went off to Paris and Barcelona to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. That was not an easy task. She cared for two little scamps for several days in a foreign country! 

Thanks for coming to stay with the girls on our 20 year anniversary mom. I hope they were a bit easier this time (ha ha).

DONE

I've packed my last school lunch for a while - yay!

GARDEN DIARY

I've been feeling so thankful for my garden lately. I find myself putting aside all the things I should be doing in the house to wander outside and tend to my plant friends.

The rose petals have been falling onto the lambs ear and it looks so pretty.

In the past, my greatest joy in (summer) life was going to get a car load of free wood chips from our town. But since they stopped offering free wood chips I had to buy some. Four cubic yards were dropped off and I hauled them to the back yard. Then I couldn't lift my arms for a day and a half but it sure looks nice with a thick layer of wood chips under my maple tree.

Here's my vegetable garden. I've been harvesting some peas and I have tomatoes, green beans and herbs planted.

Something has been eating the little bean seedlings - I think I might have to replant some of them.

I must have a pot or two of nasturtiums every year. The are so unique and sweet.

After last year's success, I planted even more morning glories. They come up super fast but then half of them got eaten so I replanted with an improvised little fence. Crossing my fingers that the bunnies (or whoever eats them) stays away.

Here's one of my little Japanese Anemones. They are slow growers so I'm trying to protect them and keep track of them with some chicken wire. Oh and several blue sages that I grew from seed are in the background. This is their second year and I'm excited to see some blooms.

Here's one of the bee balm flowers that I grew from seed - this is the first time I've seen them bloom and I just noticed the pretty dots on the petals.

And when those petals fall off this different looking flower is left.

I thought the few meadow anemones that I planted last fall had died, but look - they're alive and well. Yay!

Here's my front garden - another work in progress but it's starting to have a nice variety of perennials.

I've been looking and looking for verbena bonariensis sprouts in my front bed - they are supposed to be good at reseeding. Finally, just today I saw some coming up and I'm so excited. Note to self - must memorize what they look like for next year - sort of like daisy leaves but more textured.

This is one of the 10 feverfew plants that I started inside in March. I planted them in my front bed today. I hope they do well and I hope they come back as perennials for me.

The other plants I started inside this spring were these baby Heuchera. I also planted these in the shady side of my front bed today. They are so little but I'm trying to be patient. Patience seems to be a theme when it comes to my garden. Things can be so expensive and that's discouraging. So I challenge myself to try starting things from seed or I buy small plants instead of big perennials. And I've been trying to divide and move plants around instead of just buying more. Maybe my garden looks a bit crazy but that's okay - it's thrilling to root for my tiny plants and wait for them to thrive. And it's so fun to be surprised at what is coming up differently each year.

Last but not least - I'm enjoying peonies on my windowsil.