Here's to the Red, White, and Blue

Honeysuckle growing through a blackberry bush Mountain wild flower misnamed "fire pink."
Monarda, also known as Bee Balm

Blue berries on cedar tree

Our national Independence Day is on Friday, and we are excited to head back to the mountains for the annual Float Down the New River. This event began years ago when the kids were younger. We would go swim in the river to cool off, and then someone started driving the boys up the dirt road to the cornfield and dropping them off for a leisurely fifteen-minute float. That looked like so much fun, that more and more people started floating farther every year. Now we are up to more than forty people floating several miles. If you think it is easy to get that many people up, dressed, fed, sun -screened, and waiting at the river with a big inflated tube, you have never seen a drill like this!

We have a large group at our end of the family compound: son Dave, his wife Emily, and four of their friends, as well as BIL Grady and three of his new family. Charlie and I are heading up tonight after he gets home. Can't wait! We hope the afternoon thunderstorms will hold off on float day.

I actually have been doing some "quilty" things:

1. 
   
   Finished machine-sewing the binding on the butterfly quilt. Now I have a nice hand-sewing project to hem the binding to the back.


2. 
   
   Almost finished machine-quilting the piano and guitar customer quilt. That was not too much fun. Writing all those words meant many stops and starts and lots of thread burying.


3. 
   
   Have been picking out fabrics and working on my drawing for the Grand Canyon art quilt.

Signing off now until sometime Sunday, as we do not have Internet access at our mountain cabin. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week! Happy Birthday, America!