A Swimming Pool Kind of Day

Here in Iowa and most of the Midwest there is a severe heat advisory.
The heat index today is supposed to be 115 degrees.
The only place to be today is indoors in air conditioning.
If you have to be outside the place to be is at the pool.

We grew up in Minnesota just across the Iowa border.
The public beach of Big Spirit Lake was just two miles from our home.
Big Spirit Lake is the largest natural lake in Iowa at 5,684 acres of water.
Because the lake was so close you would think that as children we would go there often.
We did not.
We only went to the lake about once a year and it was such a big deal outing.
We did however have our own private swimming pool right in our backyard ...well kind of.

This was what we used for a swimming pool.

This is not actually a picture of use three girls but it certainly could be - although we never wore swim caps.
Yes believe it or not we used a dishpan for a swimming pool.
We were much more fortunate than the 3 girls in the picture.
We did not all 3 have to crowd in one tiny little "pool".
Each of us had our own private - dishpan.

My sister Linda has always been a sewer.
You can always count on her to have a sewing kit.

Deb needed her wedding dress tucked in a bit
on wedding day…
Not a problem - just one call to Linda and problem solved.

Linda does more clothing sewing than quilting.

However, since Santa Claus brought both her and her granddaughter
American Girl dolls she has been making clothes for the dolls
instead of clothes for herself.
She says their bodies are much easier to fit than
a 60 something post menopausal body.
She also is somewhat of a shoe addict.

She had the tell-tale signs of this addiction at the early age of 4.

She found a website with sooo many adorable doll shoes.
She wanted to buy them all.
But it would be silly to buy 106 pairs of doll shoes. And then of course she would have to make 106 outfits to go with each pair of shoes.

Linda is very creative.
She came up with a plan.

I sent her fabric...

she ordered the shoes…

she sewed many adorable outfits.
All with matching shoes.
(These are just a few of them.)

(I am supposed to tell you that she forgot to
change Lanie's shoes before she took the picture.
And her sewing room does not always look like this.)

One might ask, does a doll need 106 outfits with matching shoes???
No not really.
Her plan was to make the outfits and sell them.
She donates the money to local charities in her town of Montevideo, Minnesota.
Some of the money went to buy swimming pool passes for children who could not afford passes.

It's a win win situation.
Linda gets to buy shoes and sew clothes...

and some very lucky kids are finding heat relief
at the pool on this very hot day.

Let's all try to do a win win something today.

From my heart,
Sandy

What are the Odds?

What do you think the odds are of dropping your diamond wedding ring in a lake and finding it?
One in a million?

This past 4th of July holiday was spent at our cabin with family and friends.
The weather was beautiful and most of our time was spent on the lake, in the lake or sitting by the lake.

Anthony and Deb have two labs who LOVE coming to the lake.
The dogs also spent the whole weekend on the lake, in the lake or sitting by the lake.
This last trip to the lake Juno discovered a little ledge along the pier that she can stand on and just hang out in the water…

waiting for someone to play catch with her.
(She never has to wait long.)

Daughter-in-law Deb and her mother were heading out for a peddle boat ride. Abby and I had just finished a ride.
As they were pushing off the pier I remembered I had left my shirt in the boat.
I asked Deb to throw it to me.
She kindly obliged and as she did her ring come off of her finger and dropped into the lake - in chest deep water.
The boat ride was quickly abandoned and Abby and Deb started looking for the ring.
This time of the year the lake is not crystal clear.
They come up with nothing.
Deb declares that she needs a fifth grader.
A fifth grader?
Yes they can hold their breath forever and pick anything up out of the pool.
(I am thinking...but never said it out loud… yes in a crystal clear swimming pool with a smooth cement bottom.)
We had called the neighbor across the lake to bring his underwater camera.
He happened to bring along his son Jacob.
Jacob just finished fifth grade.
The camera battery was dead.
Deb did not want to waste time waiting for the camera to charge so it was decided that the fifth grader would look for the ring while the battery was charging.
3 dives later he came up with the ring.

The odds are probably one in a million...but somebody has to be the one in the one in a million.

It was Deb's day to be the one…

and Jacob's day to be a humble hero.

Hope you are having a "things are going your way" kind of day.

From my heart,
Sandy