Summer is Winding Down

  In spite of the fact that I no longer teach high school kids, I find myself measuring my life in semesters and summer vacation.  We just returned from a week on the North Shore of Lake Superior, and as I sorted through the pictures this morning, I started to wonder why we went when we did.  We don't have kids in school anymore.  I am not in school anymore.  We could have gone this fall when all of the fall colors are at their finest!  Oh well, we had a great time, and the weather was glorious!  After a brutally hot and dry summer, it was so refreshing to travel to Minnesota where everything is nice and green.  The average highs for the week were in the low 70's.  I got to wear blue jeans and a sweater!  It was fabulous!
  My other reason for traveling when we did was that Minnesota was having their annual statewide shop hop.  Every year during the Nebraska shop hop, I end up working at the quilt shop in Kearney, and never get to go hopping.  It was a lot of fun to stop at shops along the route to our trip.  My wonderful husband took me to 10 different quilt shops over the course of the week, and never complained once!  I bought a bunch of the Minnesota fabric to make a quilt as a momento of the trip.  It will be a lot of fun, once I get the chance to work on it, to have a quilt with lakes, moose, and loons on it.  It's not something that many people in Nebraska will have!
  Now that I am back, I am trying to get motivated to quilt for my customers.  My back is fairly fragile, and it is protesting all those miles in the car.  At one time, we were only about 30 miles from Canada, which is a LONG way from central Nebraska.  I am feeling it!  Slowly, and with several breaks a day to put ice on my back, I am finishing a queen-size quilt made out of flip flop fabric.  It is fun, and that helps motivate me to keep working.
  Summer's end is here.  Kids are back in school.  My life hasn't changed, but I look forward to fall football season, working on Christmas quilts, and cooler weather!