In The Good Old Summertime

I love that old song "In the Good Old Summertime" - when I sing it in my head I see Victorian ladies all in white and lace strolling across a green where there are people playing croquet, sipping lemonade, and gentlemen in straw hats and bow ties (also wearing all white) laughing heartily.  Ah me.  A lovely dream.  When I was young we used to play croquet all the time. Maybe we should get a croquet set again.  Anyway, speaking of white, here is Robin in our little bug car - she now has her temporary driving permit.  Isn't she cute behind the wheel?! 
No rush, she can take her time with this!  We have so much fun in the car.  One of the things we like to do is make up new words to familiar song tunes.  One day we were driving past a lady walking her dog very near the road, and Robin comes up with "Grandma got run over by a bug car, walking to the mailbox Thursday morn..."  Of course that was only a joke!  I'll share more of our silly songs later...
Our car's name is Peace Dove Bob.  We name all our vehicles, of course.  In fact, we name pretty much everything.  It's fun that way.  I've always liked the way the English name their homes, so friendly and civilized.  Anyway, wherever I have lived, my bedroom has always been Pemberly.  Austen fans will understand.  Here is is little peek inside Pemberly.  This is my night table:

As you can see I have orchids here, they do surprisingly well.  I think it must be the East facing window, and the crocheted lace allows just enough filtered sun inside.  The lace is actually an antique hand crocheted  baby blanket I found on ebay for a song.  Each square is a different animal.  I think it is so sweet and lovely.  You may also see my little sheep collection.  The larger one I knitted.  It was a bit of a challenge, and a joy to knit.

Here is another quick glimpse of Pemberly, the top of my dresser.  Each of the things on top have special meaning or memories for me.  My favorites are the ones Robin has given me.  The little church she gave me for Christmas when she was in kindergarden.  She also gave me the little yellow box with a rose on it and the cover says "Mother you are the best Mom and I love you dearly".

This morning after church our friend Ginny gifted us with some lovley organic squash from her garden, so when we got home Robin did some mowing and yard work, and I made up this summer squash casserole:  sliced squashes with onion, garlic, cheese, and spaghetti sauce.  Yum.

We saw a couple more interesting movies this weekend too:  The Music Within and Stolen Summer. 
Also found some old Hitchcock movies, just right for sitting in the dark living room with the air conditioning on a hot afternoon. 
Here's Spuddie and Holly on the lookout deck checking out the world:

They only stay out for a few minutes at a time.
I also got a little sewing time in - this time making pillowcases for Robin.  I have always made our pillowcases, that way they are so much more fun, softer, and we can choose our fabrics.  We have pillowcases for various holidays or just because we like the fabric.  They are so simple to make, and a yard and a half of fabric will make two pillowcases. This fabric has sock monkeys all over
it - pretty cute, huh? 

When I set it up to take the photo, Spuddie and Holly had to see what was going on.  I've been really enjoying my cross stitch lately in a big way.  I have two projects going right now.  This one:

and this one I've just started.  It took awhile to do all the basting to mark rows since it will actually be twelve different charts all on one fabric from the Country Cottage Needlework's Cottage of the Month Series:

I am starting with the June cottage, which is a white one, so I had to change the floss color as I am stitching it on white fabric.  Robin helped me choose just the right shade of pink.  I'll show more later as I make some progress!  TTFA