One of the lovely things about a garden, is bringing the favorite colors, textures and scents indoors to enjoy. Pot pourri is lovely. When we go into quaint gift shops, my kids love to spend their time smelling the various pot pourris and candles. Summer is like that for me. Done with school for a season, I can approach new learning curves for my poor brain! And I seem to have more time than normal for that, because all the rain around here is keeping us indoors.

I’ve started a blog…now how to spruce it up? I’ve been to the forum. I’ve searched ideas and fear I may make a mistake and destroy my template. A lovely sage green background appeals to me. Perhaps a picture of a garden bistro table with tea cups? How to list items in the side bar? How to post pictures? I think through PhotoBucket. I recently got an account there. Perhaps a rain gauge for my blog? Is there such a thing? And why? Well, we’ve had daily rain this summer….a rarity in these parts. I thought it would be neat to have a rain meter. We’ve been averaging 2" or more of rain per week! In fact, it has interfered with attempts to meet with friends on the other side of town. About the time the dinner is scheduled, afternoon heating makes those cumulus clouds tower and grow and become dark grey…and before long we’ve got another 2" in the rain gauge!

We have a cozy rainy morning, so looks as though we’ll forego our weekly Wed outing. I’ve been trying to clear out my fabric closet. I not only collect flowers, I also collect scrumptious fabrics! I sew clothes not so much because I love it, but I enjoy the results. I can’t always find what I like in the stores. When I do, I think to myself, "I could sew that for so much cheaper!" One of these projects was to sew a duffel bag for each of my kids. I had seen a project that seemed perfect on the Carol Duvall show. I bought the fabric last Nov to sew for Christmas gifts. For 11yods I got heavy duty navy blue fabric. I painted baseballs all over the fabric. For 14yodd I got hot pink, purple and yellow fabric with huge florals and swirls (truly lovelier than it sounds). But that’s as far as I got. I gift wrapped the fabric and told them on Christmas Day they would one day become duffel bags for our summer vacation. Well yesterday I realized our vacation was near and I had forgotten about the bags. So I got out my Carol Duvall tape, watched how to make the bag…and did it their way, until I realized it didn’t work the way I wanted it to. So I ripped it apart and redid it my way…and the kids love it. I think it will be fun, practical, roomy, durable, and easy to stuff in the van. Now I need to figure out how to post a picture of them. I got a digital camera for Mother’s Day, I’ve learned how to use it, and this week I learned how to download pictures onto my pc….now how to post a picture?