Turning shavings

This is why I turn bowls. A dead silver maple tree in our yard is turned into gifts for friends and family. This bowl will be gifted to Claire's current host family in Belgium.

This is why bowl turners pull out our hair. The bowl is shaping up nicely, and suddenly I slide a gouge one degree too steep or I apply an ounce too much pressure and a couple hours of work becomes firewood. 

And this is what it looks like when a couple bowls go bad in the same day. I pull out a lot of hair.

Spring things

Thanks to this bush and her siblings, the sweet smell of lilacs is blessing our yard.

I went to PA for four days and came home to a yard full of iris blooms.


Suki and Lucy enjoy corn on the cob, while Rosie ponders climbing the fence so she can chase the chickens.

Pat pitches in on a landscaping project. Afterwards, she said to me, "You can cross that off your summer to do list." I just smiled. It wasn't on my list. Time to get out the hammock.

A Long Hike

Sunday, Pat, Rosie, Bojangles and I went for a hike on the Katy Trail, starting from the remarkably accessible Easley Access. This hike completed our Boonville to Jeff City access invasion. The plan was to take a leisurely Sunday hike. Three and a half hours later, we were half way to Memphis and my arthritic ankle had given up and gone home hours before. Below is a picture of the flooding by the Missouri River.

Little Roser found an old turtle with a damaged shell.

Just like every hike, the Roser over-heated and took an otter break. She was pretty much mud from ears to tail after this.

Bojangles spent half the day running perpendicular to the trail.

One awesome butterfly. Identify this critter and you could win a side-by-side refrigerator freezer. Well, maybe. Why not?

A tiny stream feeds a small creek which flows into a big river. 

Bojangles found a turtle, too. Much to his disappointment, the turtle would not come out and play.

 Check out this really long worm. 

The bluffs on the east side of the Missouri River are awesome. The Lewis and Clark expedition camped below this cliff on June 5, 1804, and they ate venison.

The creek was almost up to the bridge deck. Why would you call a creek a female servant?