The Road to a Friend's House

I stopped off at the Homestead Cabin Retreat on Friday to drop off an order to one of Patsy's guests, Amy, who I met at the retreat last December. It turned out the rest of Patsy's guests were women I had met at an earlier retreat from the Life's a Stitch Quilt Shoppe. It was great to see everyone again. I had been lamenting that I wouldn't be able to attend the next meeting of the Piecemaker's Quilt Guild which meets at the retreat monthly. The entire drive to Patsy's place is blazing with wildflowers in July. I was very glad to have an excuse to stop in. Thanks Amy! Patsy has created a wonderful setting to come relax and create. Oh, and the food! I can't wait for my next stay at her Homestead. This photo was taken enroute to the retreat. It features a mix of Black Eyed Susans and Daisies.

I also had a stop at my friend Susan's house. This is the first time I have been to her house in the summer time. What a treat. She has flower gardens everywhere, each garden is it's own "room". Her husband purchased a train caboose a few years ago. As far as I knew it was filled with junk. Much to my surprise She and her husband had cleaned things up and made it into a wonderful guest cabin for their kids. TOO COOL! I wish I had taken pictures. She had couple old iron beds with lovely quilts on them and all the furnishings were early antiques. Susan had been hand dyeing silk scarves and they were all strung out to dry in the windows. Susan has an amazing spirit and is always wonderful to be around.

I took my time driving home and stopped to take pictures along the way. I found a teepee tucked away in a little island of mowed grass.

The sun was obscured by clouds on and off all evening. I love seeing the rays of light from filtered sunlight.

The shot below was taken on the road to my house. The yellow flowers are a small wild relative of the sunflower. They grow on many roadsides throughout the Midwestern US.