Friday Smiles, week 79: a trip to Kathy's

I know it seems like I  crawled in a hole and didn't really know how to get out, but I've had massive computer problems, and very few smiles these past two weeks.  Yesterday was different though, because I visited my friend Kathy, who lives in a town about 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) away.  So, today I'm once again joining Annie at A Stitch in Time for Friday Smiles.

When I got to Kathy's, I gave her a gift. 

I had finally finished the poppy scrappy journal.  I'll show the entire journal next week.

For now, at least, you can see the front cover.  The entire journal cover was dyed in some way or another.

I also reworked a cuff I gave Kathy for her birthday in April that was too big for her wrist.  I HATE rework, but I was finally able to finish it Wednesday.

Here, she's trying it on, but she has it on backwards, so I didn't get a shot of it on her wrist right side up.

Then Kathy looked through the scrappy journal I made for her.   There are 98 pages, so it took me awhile to scan them, let alone make them.

Kathy made this floral candle arrangement in time for me to see it.  I think she's giving it to a sick friend sometime next week.  She even glitzed the flowers with bling.

I had a couple of places I wanted to go, and she also suggested we look for garage sales.  Unfortunately, there were none in the newspaper that were on Thursday.  Ironic, since most start on Thursday in Wichita, but not so in her town.  Kathy's "baby" Watson watched us intently from his bed in the laundry room.

First it was off to eat at a Chinese buffet, since we both love Chinese food.

It was my treat, so I told her to pick where she wanted to eat.

The food was actually quite yummy, and being a vegetarian didn't affect my appetite, either.

As we sat and talked after we ate, Kathy showed me what her latest project is.  She's been making these fobs.  Hers goes on her purse, and is filled with things that have meaning to her, including the soldered gift I gave her for Christmas.

After we ate, and before we went to the museum we both wanted to see, she asked me to show her where I lived when I lived in her town.   I tell people it was all downhill from here (grin), because this was the very first place I ever purchased.

The house has six bedrooms, three car detached garage with a working bath, four fireplaces, a maid's quarters, 4 1/2 baths, and a complete room sized closet made of cedar that was next to the laundry room, which was upstairs (the ideal place for a laundry room, in my opinion).  After all, it's a whole lot easier to take a couple of guest towels and a few dish cloths and towels to the second floor than it is to take loads of clothes and bed linens downstairs, then have to cart them back upstairs when they were clean.  That's why I'll NEVER buy a house with a laundry room in the basement.  But I digress.

When I owned the house, the windows in the turret were original and curved.  There were stained glass windows that overlooked the open staircase and front door side windows.  The porch wraps around the entire right side of the house.

I was a bit saddened by the look of the house, because all the yard work I had done and all the plants and flowers I had planted were gone.  And it had a bit of a disheveled look to it, even though the bones were still solid.  At least I got to see it, and reminisce a bit.  I was silly to have sold it when I moved, but I had no choice, since I didn't have much capital at that time in my life.  Some things come back to haunt us never change (grin).

Before we visited the museum, we also drove through the park.

I had always loved this place, because there is a water feature that lights up at night,

and the fountains usually run all the time, although it appears a city worker was cleaning the wading pool when we were there.

I won't take up any more of your time, although we also visited several other places, including the museum. We also did a bit of shopping.  I'll save those photos for another day.  Back at Kathy's, we went through her fabric and lace and she shared her abundance of fabric she assured me she would NEVER use.  I felt SO honored.  Now I must sew a few scrappy journal covers!

I hope your Friday begins with a smile, because mine has, with the memory of a fun day with my dear friend Kathy.  And please visit Annie for more smiles that are probably shorter than mine this week.