Stephanie Stitches: May 2011

Monday, May 30, 2011

Staycation 2011 - Day 1 & 2

We opted for another staycation this year. I thought I would share a few pics.

We took a trip to the Bonnet Carre' Spillway this weekend, the Spillway structure is 1 1/2 miles wide and the flow of water through the bays is amazing.

Angelo Brocato's

We brought along a picnic lunch, but made a quick stop at Angelo Brocato's for dessert. We all opted for gelato - St. Joseph Chocolate Almond for me, Pralines and Cream for DH and Sweet Cream for DS.

The Greek Festival

Another quick stop at Whole Foods

Crossing Lake Ponchatrain on the way home.

The north shore of the lake much bluer,
but you can still see the effect of the river water.

The south shore of the lake - muddy from Mississippi river
water from the Bonnet Carre' Spillway

A quick dinner of grilled pizza -
lots of veggies for DH and me
and pepperoni and cheese for DS.

Oh, did I mention another quick stop at the LNS Acadian Corner

to pick up a little fabric and my first silk threads for a new project?

Day 2 was spent attending church, lunching at Olive Garden, a quick trip to the Home Depot, adding to our vegetable garden, watching DS run through the sprinkler and having burgers with grilled garden veggies for dinner.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Rain

We finally got some much needed rain.

I heard thunder this morning, so I immediately turned on the sprinkler

and considered washing my car to make sure it did not pass us by.

The early A.M. thunder left us high and dry, but we finally received

a little over one inch of rain in about an hour with an afternoon thunderstorm.

Unfortunately, this cloud did not have a silver lining, the storm spawned some tornadoes

about an hour north of us. At least 12 homes were destroyed and 4 people were injured.

We have more rain in the forecast . . .

for a week from Saturday.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Summer Vacation Has Begun!

We are in our first week of summer vacation and while our summer plans are very low-key, we are very much looking forward to enjoying this summer.

I am working on a special stitching project as a gift, so I cannot post any photos of my progress, but I will be picking up a couple of WIPs later this week and will post my progress, meager though it may be.

Hurricane season starts June 1st, and we are praying for a very quiet season and that the recent devastating tornadoes are not an indicator of the season.

I have been grateful for the unusually cool Spring we have had this year, just a few weeks ago, we were dipping down into the 40s at night and experiencing highs in the upper 70s to mid 80s. The last two weeks have seen more 90 degree temps and an increase in humidity.

How ironic that we are in the middle of a drought, having received only 30% of our usual rainfall for this time of year, while, the diversion of the Mississippi River at the Bonnet Carre' and Morganza spillways are flooding some communities just hours away with up to 15 feet of water.

The opening of the Bonnet Carre' spillway has inundated Lake Ponchatrain with river water. The lake is now almost completely filled with river water, this is no small task. I think this will ruin our plans to go fishing and crabbing this summer, it will also cause an algae blooms later in the summer.

Our garden is really coming along, we will be planting our second wave of tomatoes, eggplant and squashes to stretch out our harvest. Since my first planting of chives, thyme, parsley and cilantro were a bust, I will give it another try.