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Girlfriend time in Austin, Texas!!! (the B & B is THE BEST!!!!)
:: we sewed
:: we shopped
:: we 'junked'
:: we ate too much
:: we cooked
:: I knit
:: did I say we ate too much?
:: we redecorated
:: we visited Yucca Do (and I had a photo-fest with the succulents and cacti and critters)
:: we met a blog friend in person
Hi, Tanna!!! (brickstreetbungalow)
:: we Christmas shopped
:: we road tripped
:: we had a brush with fame.....
yep....friend, Jody, and me with......Rachel Ashwell.
Jody sure knows how to show a girl a good time!!! Thanks buddy!
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:: a walk at National Seashore Park -- the whales off the coast were breaching and lobtailing --quite a show through the binoculars
:: a whale watch trip...beautiful day and we saw a few diving whales, but the real show was earlier, through the binoculars (humpbacks and minkes)
:: double breasted cormorants
:: the excitement on the "three hour tour" came from pleasure boats that refused to comply with the "rules for the whales"; three boats pretty much surrounded the whales and while they could have been totally taken out if one of the whales decided to flick its tale, their boating behavior was illegal. Our tour boat went into Greenpeace mode, photographed and documented the errant activities and supposedly reported them all. I'm waiting to hear all about it on NPR
:: more lobster rolls--Sesuit Harbor rolls once again voted best on the trip (they win every year---I really love those rolls!!!)
:: but the grand finale.....our special need lobsters (notice they are missing a claw or two, but make up for this by weighing in around 3 lbs)
Good to the last buttery bite.
Thanks Roomie and Hub for sharing this wonderful week with us.
Joining amanda for weekending.
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Three hours from home is one of the wonders of the natural world.... a constant 54 degrees....390+ miles of underground beauty; it was a perfect place to be on another dog day of summer.
Mammoth Caves is the longest cave system in the world. We saw about 2 miles of it, so I guess we have reason to return.
The grands did a bit of "mining" and sifted out all kinds of treasures.
We saw 2 of the 4 blue holes. We took a boat ride through a "young" cave that is still being formed by it's river. No walking tours for the next gazillion years here.
We played outlaw a bit. Then, strolled until the heat got us all.
We ended our little adventure here.
No cameras, no phones, no purses, no sandals....so I didn't get a picture of the car at the entrance to the plant.
$179,000.00 price tag-----seats only two, gets 17 miles per gallon, and as far as I can tell, still has to respect the highway speed limits. Could someone explain this to me. (I drive a Prius....I really don't get it.)
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sad, sad, sad....I couldn't connect at Squam. So here I sit, in a motel-- en route home....14 hours in the car to get us to Cleveland.....phew. Miss V is in the shower, attempting to wash away "camp"....she said she'll be soaking for hours, so let me catch you up!!!
yes, it was this beautiful....
yes, that is Stephanie Pearl McPhee (knitting for speed and efficiency--and I increased my speed by 5 stitches/minute.....she's GOOD!), Jill Draper (knitting geometry), and Franklin Habit (knitting vintage patterns)---three amazing teachers. (note the pineapple bag in the last picture---it's the famous knitty one and it's more gorgeous than you can possibly imagine!)
you would never know this was a camp from the food.....I was too busy gorging myself to take more pictures; I've been dreaming about this Maine blueberry cobbler, though, since I had it Friday. Gotta make one as soon as I get home.
other projects....
once I saw what was going on in other classes, I wanted to take every class. Such inspiration.
got lucky and saw a luna moth....isn't she beautiful?
The real wildlife encounter....Franklin awoke in the middle of the night to a bear "knocking" on his cabin door; both were bare (Franklin was wearing his vintage nightcap)--both escape being seen.
Saturday was not only my birthday (and the birthday of one of my cabin-mates!), but National Yarn Bombing Day. (I personally find this very appropriate....and am already planning next year's celebration.) Thirty-five lucky people found owls that I made (with the help of my friend, "J") and hid and tossed around all weekend.
oh, yes, there were opportunities to shop. I bought a couple skeins of yarn (we all spent a good deal of time in the dining hall "shopping with our eyes", too--so many fabulous FOs to pick from, so of course, I was inspired....), but what was with all the embroidery I bought????
I was quite smitten with Rebecca Ringquist's work. Wonder if I even remember how to embroider????
But, as wonderful as the scenery was....and the classes....and the food...and the shopping....the very best part of all was all our new friends. Montvert Cabin. BFF!!!
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:: Whirlpool aero car over the rapids
:: Butterfly Conservatory (over 2,000 free flying butterflies, many of which decided to land on us---fearless little critters)
:: Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens (breath-takingly beautiful)
:: Riverview winery (tasted ice wine for the first time....they harvest frozen grapes in the middle of winter; get about one drop of juice from each grape and then magically turn it into wine. It is a dessert wine....sweet, sweet, sweet.)
:: Niagara-on-the-Lake The flowers were beautiful, the bakeries yummy (yes, that was lunch), and the play (Noel Coward's Present Laughter) at the Shaw Festival could not have been cuter.
:: Ft. George from across Lake Ontario (I think)
:: a quick trip back to the US to see the falls from the American side
:: a drive-by rainbow-at-the-horseshoe-falls photo
Hope you had fun today on your virtual tour. It was a mighty fine day here!
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drive, drive, drive, drive.....
It's a long drive....I got bored, and decided to take some pictures. I love auto settings on the camera. (Miss V working on her Sothia shawl, some random building in Cincinnati, and the Reds ballpark.)
I got fired. I'm now relegated to navigator (me who gets lost in her backyard, but notice the triptik---did you know they still made those things????) and knitter. I can multitask.
Our 9 hour drive to Cleveland took 13 1/2 hours. Don't ask.
DAY 2
rain, rain, rain, rain....
and then we got to Niagara Falls, Ontario, and it quit.
and we saw it up-close and personal....
and then we took the aerial view....
and then we had dinner. Ta-Dah!!!
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I seems months and months ago that my friend, Miss V, and I signed up to go to Squam. We were pretty quick on the sign up--I knew it filled up fast--but we let less than 24 hours lapse before our registration was in the mail, and I'm pretty convinced that we were among the last people to sneak in under the wire (if not the very last two). Why do I think that? We're in the only cabin without a lake view. (I'm NOT complaining!!! I just think they filled the cabins on a first come/first serve basis; the last ones to make the cut, didn't get the view. I could be wrong, but I got my email confirmation and then another email about 2 seconds later announcing registration was closed. PHEW. That was a close one. If it went alphabetically at the end, I'm a "Y"--I might have been the very very last one to make it in.)
We looked into flying....and then looked at all the stuff we wanted to take....and then looked at the route....and decided it would be much more fun to have a whole car full of knitting and talking books and go to Niagara Falls on the way. Miss V has never been; it's been years since I've been there (we lived there over 30 years ago--the falls might not have changed but I bet everything else has!).
We're loaded to the gills packed. We leave first thing in the morning. I decided to throw in the computer---why not? I think the kitchen sink is in there somewhere. I thought I'd take you all along with us--virtually. Who wants to go to Squam????
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Oh, NO! I think they spotted me.
Bye, little elephants.
Pattern: Elephant by Sarah Glasson-Knitables
Yarn: bits of leftover goodies
Next summer (summer 2013) Papa Geek and I will be going with several other western Kentuckians to Kenya to install two water purification systems, one of which will be in an orphanage. The water project is already funded, but I was trying to think of some way to not only let our community know about this project, but to perhaps do something special for the orphanage. Perhaps an "adopt an elephant" fund-raiser? Maybe just making a bunch of toys for the children? I have a year to work out the details, right now, I'm in elephant-production mode!
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Road trip!!! And it was a really really really fun one!
#1 Daughter and Miss V and I headed to Atlanta Thursday. A six hour trip turned into about a nine hour ride...the lure of Target was too much to resist, and that put us just late enough to land right in the middle of Chattanooga's rush hour traffic. Oh, well.
Destination: Stitches South. We've all been to Stitches events before. Actually a lot of Stitches events, and have taken a load of classes over the years. This year...we decided to go for just the market---and needlepoint classes.
Friday morning, found us here.
We discovered Cast-On Cottage years ago and at least one owner ago....when #1 Daughter and I took a class there with Vivien Hoxbro. It is still one of my knitting highlights; a member of the Atlanta guild generously offered us a place to stay----and Vivien stayed there, too.
Fast forward...... a new owner--and a slight change when Teresa combined the yarn shop with a needlepoint shop. Two years ago when we last visited, we all bought needlepoint (#1 daughter still had the receipt in her bag, and her needlepoint pretty much hadn't been touched.)
I had put my piece on a frame. That was about it.
Miss V was the one who "organized" us, decided we all needed to take a lesson and get back into this, and what better weekend than Stitches???
They both really got into this. Our teacher was great--and fun. But, honestly, how could I concentrate on needlepoint when I was looking at this?????
Cast-On Cottage in Roswell, GA really is one of the nicest yarn shops I've ever been in. Comfy chairs all over--an available computer to check out ravelry patterns (and stuff in my queue), lots of samples made up, and THE BEST yarn selection ever. Just about everything I had on my "wish list" for the market, I found right here. (and remember, my list was rather long!!) I had a ball. We spent the better part of Friday here, and I left the better part of my allotted market $$$$, but by afternoon we decided we really did need to at least cruise the market before the fashion show (for which we had advance tickets).
Isn't he cute? He was the "greeter" in the market! Maybe not quite as many vendors as in years past, and some of the "big" ones (Kansas Yarn Barn and WEBS) weren't there, but that didn't keep us me from getting into major fiber trouble again...twice in one day. (You'll have to just keep checking back to see all that I bought--I can't bring myself to write it all down. )
The fashion show was fun. We probably did more knitting than watching, but, then, that's what we always do. Can you believe, though, I won a door prize???? A shawl kit!!! Right down my alley. I actually really liked that shawl, too. (It's going to be in the summer Knitter's Magazine, so I didn't get to bring it home.)
Some of the best parts of these kind of weekends, though, is reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.
Being inspired...and humbled...
This is Cee Cee, the 9 year old who is responsible for the Elephants for Joplin. She's been knitting since she was 4, has raised an amazing amount of $$$$ for the children of Joplin, and has big plans for expanding her mission work. Isn't she adorable?
And of course, learning new skills.
Help out a friend, and never stop knitting...is that great, or what???
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