Shawl Ta-Dah and Summer Picnic

I sewed in the last end this morning of my Sunday Shawl!  Is there anything better than finishing a big project?  I'm pretty pleased with the end result.  I can actually see how fun it would be to have more of these with different colors in them.  :-) But this one says summer to me.

What do you think?  I tried to take a photo outside but the sunshine washed all the color out of it.  Maybe on a cloudy day I'll try again.

If you made one what color would you use for the body and what range of colors for the lacy edging?  I may have not used so much of the yellow tones if I did this one again.

The flower baskets continue to flourish.. love them!

The other one with purple and orange.

We've got lilies in bloom all around the garden, this one just opened.

The purple Astilbe is opening up.. I love it's fuzzy flowers.  I do see some little holes in my lime colored hosta but on the whole they are faring well from chomping insects so far.

The Hydrangea flowers are turning purple!

Love!

The Limelight Hydrangea is opening.. it will be fun to see how it does when fully unfurled.

We dined al fresco last evening.  Dayle made BBQ country style pork ribs and I made the potato salad and Kristi cut up the watermelon.  My potato salad recipe - I cook my potatoes skin on and then let them cool before chopping - with Russet potatoes I peel them before chopping, with Yukon Golds I pretty much leave the skin on.  I boil and chop a dozen eggs, add chopped celery, chopped sweet pickles and put in a lot of mayonnaise, a squirt of yellow mustard, some sweet pickle juice and season with salt and pepper.

Aunt Berta's BBQ Ribs

1/2 c ketchup

1/2 c BBQ sauce

1 T brown sugar

Garlic Salt

1 t soy sauce

1 T Worcestershire sauce

Country style pork ribs (boneless)

Bake at 325 for 3 hours. 

And here we are.. and in the vein of authenticity this table is not staged in a glossy magazine style.. here you see plastic jugs of lemonade, mis-matched drink-ware, a hodgepodge of serving dishes.. LOL.. but look at those cute boys!

My Hibiscus had three blooms on it yesterday.. only once or twice did I have 3 at once.  Aren't these flowers something?

The bush itself is a bit scraggly.. I guess I should put it out on the deck for the summer.. 

Tomorrow is the 4th of July.  We'll watch the parade and celebrate our Independence.  I hope you have a wonderful day if you celebrate.. and for those who don't.. please think a good thought for our country.  It's in peril.  Our "leader" is more interested in tweeting angry tweets at our media than the fact that he and his party might take away health care from 22 million people.  People will begin dying if they are "successful".  For those of us who care about the less fortunate and our friends and family, this is a very stressful time.  

But tomorrow we will celebrate our country and hope for a better future. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)