The Good, the Bad, the Ugly--and a Quilt

In reverse order:
"What mountains?"

Smoke from the huge, sad Arizona fires has nearly hidden our mountains.  We attended a concert in Albuquerque last night and walked out into choking smoke that had severely limited visibility and breathing.  Scary.  The smoke was kept low by the inversion, so I was able to sleep with our windows open (for which I am grateful).  But for the last week our sunshine has been severely diluted by the smoke.

More ugly:
A yard invaded by tumbleweeds.

The bad--slowly being transformed to good:

A week in pictures of our front yard tree.
And today:

Great progress, although quite a bit to go yet.
The good:

A few bluebells, at last.  (I've learned these *must* be deadheaded.  I'd be quite happy if I had a lot more in my yard!

More good:

Replaced the wreath above the fireplace with some summery giants.
Sweet Teen is thrilled to have her academic letter.

Yes, we ordered the very, very expensive jacket!

And I got a border on the music quilt (a project from last summer), got the backing pieced, and quilt layered and basted for quilting.  Changed the border a bit from my earlier plan.
Also managed to layer and baste the violet star quilt for my nephew.

I'm nearly overwhelmed with things that need to be done (and quickly), but know it's going to be hard to fit them in next week with 80 or more miles per day for Sweet Teen's music and drama "camp". The price of gas means I'm going to have to stay there while she participates because 160 miles per day will be unmanageable.--Maybe I can catch some morning "girl time" with friends who are out of school too--of course, I can also take along knitting or other handwork, and hope the smoke clears out so we can all breathe safely.

Happy quiltmaking!