Ahhhhh….sweet tea! Nectar of the gods. Southern house wine. There is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than a mason jar (or in this case, a Kerr jar) of southern sweet tea. The way the light shines through the amber richness. The way the sweat drips down the jar. The way the ice tinkles against the glass. I have to admit, there are indeed a zillion true souther ladies rolling in their graves when I say this, but…I don’t use sugar. I do like it sweet though, so I use stevia. Yesterday morning, I mixed up a batch of hummingbird juice for the feeder. I use a quart jar, put in one cup of granulated sugar and fill it to within a half inch or so from the top with water. I stir it with one of my wooden spoon so I don’t chip the rim. When I fill the feeder, I always have about a cup or so of the sugar water. So, I added ice and filled it the rest of the way with tea. It wasn’t quite sweet enough so I added on packet of stevia and it was perfect.

When I was a little girl, my mom would take us to my Aunt Dixie’s house. She made the BEST iced tea. She started by putting a couple heaping spoonfuls of sugar in a heavy glass. She always used an iced tea spoon…you know, the long handled ones? She put in a Lipton tea bag and poured boiling water over the spoon to “cut the shock” so it wouldn’t break the glass. She only filled the glass about half full You stirred to dissolve the sugar and wished for it to cool faster. Then you filled the glass with ice cubes. The kind you cracked out of an aluminum ice cube tray. Now THAT…that was the very best iced tea I ever tasted and I’m sure it’s because it was made with love. I clearly remember the last time I sat at her table and asked her to make me a glass. I had just returned from England and was about to embark on my life out West. I never got the opportunity to ask for that tea again.

As I sipped this ambrosia, i got to work and…the sweater is finished! It took me seventeen days. I would have had it done sooner, but there was mowing to be done and getting ready for this trip. And, it was a new pattern. I’ve never made a cardigan sweater before so there was a learning curve for me. I have to say, I really love this pattern and I’ll make more cardigans in the future. I did learn some things along the way. Bulky yarns and big needles make quick work but the ends are particularly hard to weave in and hide. There’s a lot less yarn per skein so you definitely need to buy more than you think. I was really happy the extra yarn I bought matched. And, while this yarn feels soft to the skin, the sweater is REALLY heavy. And I had to go over every join and woven end with a needle and thread to keep the yarn ends from working out. I’m worried that the yarn will pick easy so I need to show Big how to tuck in any loose ends. See that little white button on the backside of the sweater button? That anchors the button so it doesn’t pull out your yarn. those six little bone buttons came from my grandma’s (Big’s great great grandmother’s) button box. So, Big will be carrying a little piece of her ancestry with her. Overall it’s a beautiful Bippity Boppity Blue and I’m sure she’ll love it.

The other big chore yesterday was changing out the actuator on the new camper. It’s not hard at all, but it was a two person job. The actuator is the motorized lift that helps raise the camper top. Unfortunately, the actuator broke when the roof was in the raised position. It took me a while to visualize what I needed to do to fix it. I unplugged the old one and removed it. Then I plugged the new one in and Mr. FixIt held the switch that extended the rod to match the same length of the broken one. That way, I was able to just slip the new one into place and fasten two nuts. Easy peasy! It went down like it was supposed to. There is a design flaw that makes the motor prone to catching rainwater in it. So I put silicone around the seams. Hopefully that will keep the water out.

We’ll have a big day today driving nearly five hundred miles. Then we have a whirlwind thirty-six hours with the family. Therefore, I’m not going to write a post the next two nights. I’ll schedule something easy ahead of time and I’ll be back Sunday morning. 

Prayers for travel mercies!

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“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”

Isaiah 30:21 ESV