The deck renovation came to an end just as the not-the-end-of-summer holiday came around.

A little more of this….

And voila:

We had a nice, socially distant, cookout on Sunday with beautiful weather, yummy hotdogs with Michigan sauce and ribs.

There was garden puttering:

Feeding the koi:

And searching for the baby koi (which we saw but I couldn’t get a picture).

Much of the weekend involved a deep clean of the house. It is, without a doubt, my ABSOLUTE least favorite thing to do ever. I would even eat olives rather than clean the house. But now that it’s done we keep commenting on how clean the house looks and it feels great to have it done.

What? You Want to Know About My Pickling?…

Yes, there was also yet another round of pickles.

I’ve been using this OXO Good Grips mandolin slicer that my mom got me for Christmas a few years ago. It is a LIFE SAVER – gets pickles sliced up evenly and REALLY fast. The pickling is done now…. maybe.

How About a Good Book?

I’ve been following Tim Cotton on Facebook for several years. He started out managing the Bangor Maine Police Department’s Facebook page (which has become extremely popular because of his witty “Got Warrants” section and the Duck of Justice) and then established his own page. The stories he writes are funny and poignant and make you want to read more. Tim recently came out with his own book The Detective in the Dooryard: Reflections of a Maine Cop. I purchased it in Maine when we were on vacation and I’m loving it.

One review of the book said if you like Mike Rowe, you’ll like Tim. I agree. (I like Mike Rowe.)

And Now for Some Knitting…

The Blanket is (mostly) done!

I could not get one picture without Smudge. Those un-woven-in ends were just too enticing.

The knitting is done and now to deal with the aforementioned un-woven-in ends…

There are a lot. But, nothing a good run of Friday Night Lights episodes won’t take care of. E! had a marathon over the weekend and we taped all 60 episodes and are starting from the beginning. (Am I showing my age? I still say “taped” and not “DVR’d”.)

Hopefully I’ll get this on it’s way to my nephew within the next week. Hooray! GO HUSKIES!

Also, I have to tell you about my new favorite work-notes-but-also-pattern-notes tool, the Pilot Color Eno Violet Mechanical pencil:

Purple is my jam. In case you didn’t know.

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