Kransekakke

We had a first cousin's reunion in Des Moines, IA last weekend.

I made the traditional Danish wedding cake,  Kransekakke, for cousins Denis & Nancy who just celebrated 50 years of marriage. 

I also made the little congratulations  banner. 

Danish

I decided to make a little banner to take with to the cousins reunion as part of the kransekakke display celebrating cousins Denis and Nancy's 50th wedding anniversary.

I have been wanting to make this little Banner pattern for a long time so it was a good excuse to give it a try. 

As you can see from the picture to the right, my first attempt of pinning it together left me with something that looked like Danish but was actually the word spelled exactly backwards.

I'm happy with how this quick project turned out without, I think it will be cute.  I'm trying to come up with some kind of thing to make tomorrow quickly in the garage like a goal post for it to hang from.

There will be more pictures from the party.

Quilts for the garage

I found these fun quilt squares at Shopko on clearance and grabbed them.

I had originally thought I would put them over the garage door but getting up on a tall ladder turned out to be not my favorite thing, so I added them to the little sitting area that Dad & Ev used to called The Red Room. I think they're just as cute as can be and they set off and Ansgar's Barn Door nicely.

Off to cousin's reunion in the morning. 

NO days off

Sister in law Lois brought me this little sign when we met for lunch last Friday.

It's true, and it's a good thing.

I do take the occasional day to be a slacker, like yesterday.

I had a crown crack so spent yesterday morning in the dentist chair having the old crown jack-hammered out in preparation for a replacement.

For whatever reason, it wore me out and I took the rest of the day off.

I did take time to notice how pretty my red impatiens are though.

I found this garden spider in the same place as last year.

He never takes a day off, always working on his web and his latest catch.

The spider species Argiope aurantia is commonly known as the yellow garden spider, black and yellow garden spider, golden garden spider, writing spider, corn spider, or McKinley spider. Wikipedia

Female Argiope aurantia spiders tend to be somewhat local, often staying in one place throughout much of their lifetime according to Wikipedia, so I guess I'll start looking for her each year in this bed.

Planting

I planted flowering beans in this big tub.  They were off to a good start.  Dad always wanted to plant these beans, reminded him of his Mom.  So, in memory of Grandmother Frederikke, I planted.  But, the squirrels also planted.  Now, we have a big tub of sunflowers with beans as backdrop.

This gives me the idea that next year, I'll just plant this big tub full of sunflower bird seed.

They seem to grow so well and really are fun to see.

I spent the weekend enjoying the good weather. 

Saturday I made trip over to Luck to help Ryan with an app on his phone.

Sometimes I can fix things just because I am not afraid to try something.

This was one of those cases where once it was fixed, I wasn't exactly sure what I did to fix it.

That drives other people a little crazy I think.

But, I got some fresh cucumbers from their garden as my reward, so I was very happy.

Trouble

My sister in law gave me this little sign. 

It's very true. 

And I love it.

Goodbye July

July is gone, August means the day lily blooming is winding down.

I took a few photos today to remind myself how beautiful the blooms were this year.

Castor Bean Flower

Bees loaded up with pollen

I over planted.
Castor beans time 2, about 4 dozen gladiola bulbs, 3 packages of white morning glories.
The gladiola foliage is nice, have only seen one bloom.
The white morning glories are all purple.
A veritable jungle.

I have given up on this rose bush.
Just happened to glimpse the pretty bloom this morning.

The squirrels have had a successful planting year.

I'll still have lily blooms for a few more weeks.

I sure have enjoyed their greeting every morning.

But with August here, their days are numbered.