Tink Tank

Ketchup!

2012-01-27T14:18:00.002-05:00

A family of tomatoes were out walking one day and the little boy tomato kept falling behind. After admonishing him over and over, his father finally just got fed up, walked back to where the boy was lagging behind, stomped on him and shouted: "Ketchup!"

yeah - lame - I know, but there it is, and that's what today's post is about - catching up.

First, we haven't been anywhere or done anything in a while, so no exciting trips to report. Finances are a bit tight right now so we're keeping a low profile. But, that does give me an opportunity to knit and sew more than I usually would - oh, and improve my crochet skills.

So, first, I made this messenger bag that I love so much I can't figure out what to use it for:

As you can see, I used a log cabin pattern to make the flap

I used my indigo's to create the outer portion of the bag - even the browns are indigos - well, except that little pocket on top of the larger pocket - that's batik.

And, I used batik's to line the bag and create the inner pockets. I love all the pockets on this thing. You can see there's an outer zippered pocket in the front - well, there's another in the back. Then, there's an inner zippered pocket (the yellow one), not to mention all the pockets on the front, right inside the flap. There are also two side pockets that you can barely make out in the second picture. This is what I spent my New Years weekend making, and seriously - I love it...now what to do with it?

The whole thing was created because of one of my favorite Ravelry groups, called Tiny Owl Knits (TOK). We're on a year long "quest" and this is my quest bag. But, of course - it's all virtual, so having made the bag for this notion, I now want to use it for something real.

I was originally thinking of using it for all my knitting notions - needles, etc. But that seems like a waste - it would hardly ever leave the house. It's definitely big enough for a laptop, but I associate my laptop with work, and I don't want to use this for anything work related. So, right now, I'm still mulling it over. Open for suggestions.

Speaking of my TOK group, I've also been doing a few swaps, which has helped me increase my skill set. One of my swap partners had this little gem in her queue, and I thought it would be fun to try. In the end, I had to meet up with someone who teaches crochet and have her help me, but I'm fine with that. I remember when the only patterns available for crochet were those hideous afghan's. Now, there are lots of really cute things out there, and let's face it, crochet eats up a lot more of my stash than knitting does, so that's a good thing, right?

Finally, the winter weather has been SO boring this year - in fact it's over 60 degrees outside right now - you'd think I lived in TX again. However, we did get a dusting of snow this one day, and I got this picture - I wish someone could dye yarn to look like these colors together - it's just incredible!

So, that's it. Not much to report, especially considering how long it's been, but what can I say. Times are tough.

You've Got to be Effin' Kidding Me!!

2011-10-04T15:16:00.000-04:00

Yes! We really did go White Water Rafting on the Gauley!
And Yes!! It really was snowing!
And yes. We had a great time.
I have to admit, what with 40 degree temps, rain mixed with snow and our "pep talk" on the way down to the river, the SigO and I seriously considered bailing for the weekend. It was more of "well, we're here now" and "we'd just kick ourselves if we bailed out" that kept us from staying on the bus. I'm not sure either one of us was very gung ho about the trip until we saw who our guide was going to be.
Thank all that is holy for John! He's been a guide on the Gauley for 34 years now and I think he knows every single rock in the river. When one of our crew asked about the experience level of another guide, John said "Yeah, he's pretty new. He's only been doing this for 8 years." Ha! That's my kind of river guide. John had been our guide on a previous trip, so as soon as I saw him, all my fears evaporated and I was ready for a fun day.
I've placed YouTube links on each of the biggies. None of them are our video, but they'll give you an idea of what we did. I have to say though, the river was a little bigger than average due to all the rain we've had this year. According to the guides, the average is 2500 cfs (cubic feet per second) and we were at 3200 cfs. So, some of these videos aren't accurate representations of what we rafted.
So, with that intro...
As soon as you put in on the river, you shoot a Class III rapid. Nothing huge, but still, the fact that you haven't been in the boat for a full minute and you're already really paddling should give you an idea of what's in store.
Most of the rapids on the Upper Gauley are Class IV - V. Of course, there's not a rating for anything bigger than a V, but still, what do you do when you say "This is a Class V" and then, a little way down the river, there's something bigger? Well, I'll tell you. You call it a "Class V+"
However, to quote Wikipedia: There are dozens of rapids on the Upper Gauley; the most notable are the "Big Five":
The first Class V rapid encountered is called Insignificant. According to the story John told, the first person to shoot these rapids after the first ever dam release was a kayaker who reported there was nothing significant before Pillow Rock. Apparently, he forgot all about the first Class V that was well worth some notation. But, because he forgot about it, guides today call this set of rapids "Insignificant". It's not. And you hit it really soon after launching your boat.
Mostly what I remember about this, and every other Class V (or V+ rapid) is John screaming "Go Go Go!" Honestly. I don't remember him raising his voice a single time when we rode the New River with him. I don't have any pictures of Insignificant (or really, any other Class V, other than Pillow Rock and Sweet's Falls), but I do have Video. I can't embed it here, so you'll just have to come to my house and watch it.
That said, here's Pillow Rock. This is the first Class V+ rapid encountered on the Upper Gauley.
I love the guy almost falling out. His name is Mike. The guy opposite him is Dan. Note the look of terror on his face.

Check out the look on SigO's face here. "Grrrr!!! Argh! I will not let us flip! I am Man! Hear me Roar!!"

None of us fell out on this, or any other Class IVor higher rapid. That's the irony. The only time anyone fell out at all was on a Class III. We hit a rock, and that tossed the two in front of me. (I'm in the back, right in front of John, our guide. He's the one with the gold helmet and green PFD [Personal Flotation Device]). The girl in front of the SigO (who's across from me) completely freaked out when her brother and friend fell out of the boat and abadoned paddling altogether. No big surprise, she ended up in the drink shortly after them. That was the only time anyone fell out during our trip. And really, if you're gonna fall out, I'd much rather do it during a Class III than a Class V or V+. I'm just sayin'.

There are some III's, and IV's after Pillow Rock, but the next biggie is "Lost Paddle". This class V is 0.25 miles long and has five drops. Just about the time you think you're safe, wham, there's another drop. I rather enjoyed it to be honest with you as most of the other Class V's or higher were over so fast, you didn't even know what happened.

After more III's and IV's, comes Iron Ring. Another Class V+. Scary. To me, more scary than Pillow Rock, although I guess Pillow Rock is more notorious. Iron Ring is so named because it used to be a set of falls. However, when trying to float logs down the river (for coal mining, etc, back in the day), the logs kept breaking up over the falls, so they put iron rings in the rocks on either side of the river, lowered a bosun's chair, and then placed some dynamite in the rock of the river and blew out the falls. The iron rings were there for a long time (hence the name) until some bone head stole them. People. They're the worst!

More III's and IV's ensue, and then, Sweet's Falls.

There are a few funny things about these pictures. First, look at the look on my face here. It's "OH HOLY HELL!" Meanwhile, look at the look on John's face. It's "Yo. Hey. What's up? Oh, me? Not much. Just kinda chillin'. Hangin' Out. Cold out here though, huh?"

Then, check out the SigO in this shot. Other than John, he's the only one with a paddle in the water. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we would've all been screwed without him along. And NO, I am NOT biased. I don't know what you're talking about.

After Sweet's Falls comes lunch. Which, I swear is just a way to extend the day, because before lunch, I'm pretty sure my heart rate never dropped below 200 bpm, but after lunch, until the very end, I don't think it ever got higher than 60 bpm. After lunch, you're no longer on the Upper Gauley. Now you're on the Middle Gauley, and it's pretty calm until the very end when there is one last rapid right before you pull out for the day.

It's not a Class V, but it does have this big a$$ rock right at the end that will clear your sinuses if you hit it, and I was pretty sure we were going to until the very last second when we got clear of it.

It's called Woods Ferry. Julie's Juicer is what they call the hole behind the rock and I'm glad John kept us out of that as well.

So that was the trip. Check that one off the list. No more big adventures planned for 2011 other than climbing Old Rag in a few weeks. Don't worry though. I'm sure we'll ad lib something.

For anyone who needs some calming after this blog, check out the cool swag I got on the way down to the river:

Yummy squishy Malabrigo.

Some fun sock yarn - you knit the leg and foot in the blue and gold and the heel and toe in the black. Kewl, huh?

Some yarn for my Secret Santa Recipient's present. I'm making her Fairy Castle's to store her Double Pointed Needles (DPN's) and Crochet Hooks.

Here's what the Fairy Castles look like. What you can't see is you can store needles and hooks in them. They're way cool.

and, last, but never least, some loverly stitch markers. I can never have too many. Hint Hint.

And for those of you who have gone too long without a shot of a hot man...

Until next time.

Steeler Nation

2011-09-20T10:05:00.000-04:00

Well, SigO and I went to see the Steelers play at their first home game this year. The Steelers shut out the Seahawks 24-0. Our seats were outstanding. The weather was perfect. The city was lovely. The food was...well, memorable.
We arrived around 3PM Saturday. I got plenty of knitting done on the way as SigO did all the driving - as usual. Ain't he great? The hotel recommended we try out Pirmanti Bros for lunch.

I've had sandwiches served with coleslaw on top, but that's the first time I've ever had one with both cole slaw and french fries. Even though we picked our fries out of the sandwich, the grease was already well entrenched. Definitely a new experience. And the SigO let me fall for the waiter's recommendation for beer: Iron City Light. Blech. Pure Swill. I'm glad we got to try out this Pittsburgh staple, but I think I'll pick somewhere else next time.

After lunch, we walked around the city for a while, heading over to see the stadium from the water's edge.

The stadium may not be good at keeping in noise due to the construction, but it really is a beautiful stadium. I'm doing my part, helping out the Steelers with what I'm sure would have been a stellar pass had I had a football.

After that, we went to Carnegie Science Museum and played on all the exhibits. The second floor is the best as it has this incredible train set as well as a Robot Hall of Fame. We took our own pictures with our favorite robots,

and then had them taken for us as well.

We went over to the sports center section, but it was still pretty crowded, and I wasn't really dressed for climbing the wall. LOML and I did race, but he's a complete cheater and started before the bell. On our walk back to the hotel, we were treated to this spectacular sunset.

The sky got more and more beautiful as we stood and watched.

Dinner was much nicer than lunch - at Lidia's. We split an Insalate Caprese salad that had four different types of tomatoes, all tasting as if they'd been grown in someone's personal garden. Then we had ravioli stuffed with boars meat that had been prepared with oranges. The ravioli had a rosemary butter sauce drizzled on top. Very yummy, especially paired with a Sauvignon Blanc. Our waiter's suggestion. I would have never thought to pair a white wine with boars meat, but it was a really nice pick and overall a great dinner.

And then, the next day, on to the game with our fabulous seats.

I really enjoyed getting to watch the entire game from my own perspective instead of being forced to watch it from the camera-man's perspective. For example, what on earth is Emmanuel Sanders doing here?

Also the game seems to fly by much faster in person. I was somewhat surprised when it was already over before 4PM. I even got a terrible towel while I was there.

SigO had such a fun time, we may make a tradition of this. My only disappointment? We didn't have time to visit a yarn shop.
Oh well, I bet I get it next time.

Postscript

2011-09-06T10:20:00.001-04:00

Forgot to mention that after our harrowing climb, we went for a swim in this great little swimming hole.

Then we went home and soaked in the jacuzzi while the rain poured down on us. A perfect ending to a great weekend.

Seneca Rocks

2011-09-06T08:02:00.003-04:00

Not a place for the faint of heart.
Need I say more?
Yes?
Fine.
Here's where we climbed up.
Here's where our guide thought he was going to take us next.
I don't think so.
Here's where we went right back down.And here's where we went the rest of the way down.Nuff said?
Good.

Acadia 2011

2011-08-31T08:17:00.014-04:00

A quick and dirty post about the entire vacation. Lots of pictures.
1. We flew instead of driving! Hooray!!! Boy, what a difference that made. Plus found a new tradition - first morning in Maine - breakfast at Dysarts Truck Stop. REALLY good breakfast!
2. Looking for an easy, but new hike on Saturday, we hiked around Eagle Lake.

Well, not all the way around - that would be a long, long hike. But partway around and then back via the Carriage Trail. It was really less a hike and more an exploration

with stops to play in the water

or stare at things in the water.

3. Sunday, we finally did a trail SigO has wanted to do for a very long time - up to the top of Pemetic

and down around Jordan pond.

Met a really fun family on that hike. Those parents had their hands full with those four kids - three boys and one girl, but only one handful - Matthew with the long curly hair. By the end of the hike, Doug, Matthew's dad, was holding him high above his head in what he termed "the dead man's carry" - Matthew squirming the whole way. No pics of the family - to spare the innocent - and not so innocent.
4. Monday we hiked Jordan cliffs

- a new favorite after last year

with me convinced the heavens were going to open up and we were going to plummet to our deaths on slippery rocks. We never got more than a mild sprinkle. This year, instead of heading back via Jordan Pond, we climbed up higher

and came back over the top of the Penobscot mountain ridge.

Much prettier. Found this secluded little marsh at the top of the mountain.

A marsh at the top of a mountain! Weird, huh - but pretty - and zen.

H-boo picked so many blueberries her lips turned blue. I had planned on sending this to her Mom with a note saying "breathe! breathe!"

But kinder, gentler me prevailed - a rarity, I assure you.
5. Tuesday it rained like we had thought it would on Monday. So, we took on another easy hike

up and over the Gorham Mountain and back along the shoreline. Then we hunkered down in Bar Harbor to stay dry.
6. Wednesday --- duhn duhn duhn!! The Precipice.

All three of us took this on. Me with my messed up hamstring. LOML with his inner-ear problems

and H-Boo with her all too keen awareness of mortality

(I learned to dismiss that silly nagging "you're gonna die, you're gonna die, you're gonna die" voice years ago). Note to self: Never hike the precipice the day after a rain storm - lots of wet, slippery life-threatening sections, way more life-threatening than when it's dry. Still - as always - the sense of accomplishment at the top is worth the climb.

For me, anyway - not sure H-Boo would agree with that statement. But I know she was happy to be at the top - especially with these views.

My favorite line when we came to a particularly difficult and treacherous path: "Oh! Touché mountain!"
7. Thursday we got to hike with our Maine friend - Michelle

up the Beehive

which H-Boo used to think was scarey - until the Precipice. Michelle scampered up and over like a billy goat - you can tell she's hiked that mountain about 1,000 times. Thursday afternoon we tried another new hike - on the Quiet Side of the Island. We walked for a very long time with me mumbling and moaning bout the "boredom" of the hike (boy do you get spoiled in Maine, let me tell you!) when we finally came out on some beautiful views.

Plus, the views lasted for a while longer as we came back around the other side of the mountain.

8. Friday we hiked Great Head (get your mind out of the gutter - it's the name of the mountain), which we've done every year for three years now - easy hike - beautiful views

and you get to play on the rocks next to the surf without all the crowds.

That afternoon, we went to the Northeast side of the island to check out Asticou Gardens. they had a sand garden,

some really crazy plants,

and very pretty views,

but the gardens weren't quite big enough to fill the rest of our day, so Friday was another easy day - spent hanging out on the veranda of our B&B - with its great views.
We met a lot of great people out there - late at night. We also got to spend more time with Michelle and Dan. It's never long enough, because...
9. All good things must come to an end. Saturday: Last Day. We hiked Jordan Stream

a nice little hike where I went ballistic taking pictures of all sorts of mushrooms - I'll spare you the enormity of it, but here's a small sampling.

It was sad when it was over, but, another week of good memories.

Update

2011-08-03T12:12:00.004-04:00

Wanna see something cool?! This is what happens when you try to keep from falling. Sometimes, it's probably better to just hit the dirt. Just to be clear, I never hit the back of my leg where all these bruises are. As you can see from the last post, I fell on my shin, not my butt (where there's way more padding!). The bruising is from whatever I did to the muscle. One doc said the muscle is torn. Another said it was just badly strained. I don't know how all that bruising happened from a "bad strain", but then, I'm healing up way too fast for a tear too, so who knows. I have done just about everything you can do to repair the damage, including acupuncture, therapeutic massages, and PT replete with ultrasound. I'd like to imagine it was a tear and I really do heal that quickly, but with my alcohol intake, I have to seriously doubt it. So, for now, I'll just describe it as a "blow out" to my hamstring.
But don't you think the colors are awesome? Seriously, if I dyed yarn, I'd definitely use these colors to create a new colorway and then call it Graceful - as it was my undeniable lack of gracefulness that led to these spectacular colors.
In other news, I've finished another holiday gift. I'll be very curious to see if the recipient of this gift actually ever gets to wear it, or if it will be the "temporary" property of his mate. Heaven knows I'm gonna have a hard time giving it up

On to more gifts. Also still working on the never ending bolero - who would have ever thought such a small little thing would take so long - not to mention so much yarn - had to send off for more, so it's on hold until that arrives.

I also picked up the cardigan I hibernated several years back and started it over again. I'm still trying to learn to pick instead of throw, so I'm trying that technique again (P.S. The scarf above was knit entirely picking - but then, you can't see the guage variations in the picture like you can in real life - hopefully the great colors will detract from that). I reduced two needle sizes, so hopefully this time the cardigan will fit someone other than Hagrid. My goal is to have the cardie ready to steek by Veteran's Day when I go to Georgia and have my friend help me overcome that scary hurdle. Once done, this cardie will have helped me learn three new techniques:

1. Picking

2. Colorwork

3. Steeking

that's a lot to live up to for one little cardigan.

Failure

2011-07-18T11:50:00.004-04:00

I don't get to do much backcountry camping. It's one of those romantic notions I love fulfilling from time to time. You put everything you need on your back, and march off into the woods to conquer nature. You spend the evening in a very quiet, very secluded spot with no light noise obstructing the stars and tell ghost stories - or whatever other stories float your boat. So, around Tuesday last week, I began planning and preparing for a weekend of just such fun. Went to REI and bought new sleeping mats, a pillow, an insulated lunch sack, and a tiny little portable speaker unit for the ipod. Then I froze some chicken sausages, squeezed mustard into a baggie, packed some crackers, cheese, corn on the cob, salt, pepper and froze some butter. I was prepared! We started packing Wednesday night and were completely ready to go Thursday evening. I woke up early Saturday, eager and excited for a weekend away from the crowds and out in the woods.
It took us some driving around to find the campsite. I thought it was a wonderful omen, when, in driving around we found a yarn shop I'd never been to before: Hunt Country Yarns in The Plains, VA. It's out there a bit, but it's a really nice yarn shop, with a nice variety, including Hannah Falkenberg, Jane Slicer-Smith and Vivian Hoxbro. I bought the Net Scarf kit by Vivian Hoxbro and some Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend. A great start to what promised to be a great weekend!
Finally, after a few false starts, we found our parking lot, threw our packs on our backs and hit the trail.
For 0.5 miles. Then, little Miss Graceful (that would be me), stepped on a loose rock and went down like a sack of potatoes. I scraped up my leg a bit, but the true damage was done before I ever hit the ground. Here's the SigO marking the scene of the crime.

My hamstring stretched out like a pair of old stockings that have lost all elasticity. I didn't walk anymore - I wobbled. After rolling around on the ground in agony for a while, I ditched the pack and limped around for several minutes, practically falling over a few times as my hamstring kept giving out. SigO was all prepared to hump both packs out as well as help me limp out, but there's a time to call it a day, and there's a time to cowgirl up - and this was the latter. So, after a few more minutes of "walking it off" and some first aid, we slung our packs on again, and began the hike again.

Unfortunately, now I was really wobbly, and hesitant about every step I took. I felt I needed my poles, which I had left in the car thinking I wouldn't be needing them. Foolish. Had I had them, I doubt I'd ever have fallen in the first place. Call that lesson learned #1. We were now one mile from the car, and my ever gallant SigO unslung his pack, and left me to watch it as he literally ran (or walked fast whenever there were too many rocks on the trail) to the car and back to retrieve my poles.

I'll pause here for all you guys to sigh in jealousy. He's a sweetie. And he's hot - as mentioned in previous posts, but I digress.

According to the guide I was using to plan this little outing, we would pass 4 deep creek beds on our trail. The guide listed them as unreliable water sources - meaning if it hadn't been raining lately, they'd be dried up. Well, we've gotten loads of rain lately, so no worries, right? Wrong. Every single one of them was dry as a bone. Here's poor little toad no doubt wishing for a sip of water with no luck.

Lesson learned #2 - no less than one gallon of water per person for each 10 miles, and if there are no water sources within 10 miles - skip that hike. In this case, I think I would have needed more than 1 gallon of water though. I suppose it was from the injury, but I felt I couldn't get enough to drink all day long. So, after 3 miles, and the full realization that we weren't going to find any water, we bagged it and turned around. The bitter taste of defeat on top of dehydration - not tasty, let me tell you.

Two highlights:

The mushroomsthis is just one sample - my favorite - there were actually a lot more.
And SigO found an authentic fossil!

Don't believe me?

Check it out!I know, you're not supposed to take things home from the trail, but I think you'll agree, this is an exception.

So, we came home and I drugged myself adequately and stuck a ton of ice on the injury, and we took the rest of the weekend easy. Sad ending, huh?
Some days you get the bear, some days, the bear gets you. Maybe next time.

First Annual Festivus Insolidus

2011-07-06T10:20:00.005-04:00

A little while back, the SigO came up with a good idea to celebrate a Festival of the Weird, or, extremely loosely translated: Festivus Insolidus. We've decided to kidnap H-Boo each 4th of July weekend and celebrate our goofy-ness.
This being our first year, we don't have many traditions established yet, so all we did was go smash crabs and drink beer (well - rootbeer in H-Boo's case).

Also made the SigO try fried pickles

- I mean, if you're celebrating weird, you gotta try at least one new weird thing, right? H-Boo tried Hush Puppies for the first time. You may not think that's weird, but think about it - frying corn bread? Doesn't seem like you could make corn bread any yummier than it already is, but then you fry it, and voila - twice the yum. Weird.
And of course, the SigO did some puppet shows for us. That's always weird. And fun.

The heat was oppresive, the music was weak, and the crowds were crazy, but we still enjoyed ourselves and look forward to expanding our experience in the future. We're open for suggestions for new "traditions".

Otherwise a slow weekend. I finally cast on - again - for the Enid Cardigan.

I attempted this once and lost a lot of yarn. First, I am trying to do the entire thing picking instead of throwing, and my picking is much looser than my throwing, so the guage was ever so slightly off. Unless you're knitting for Hagrid, and then, it was dead on. So, this time, I'm using needles two sizes smaller than what is called for. I'll take a measurement tonight to see if I'm on track.

Also, last time I tried this pattern, I twisted the stitches when joining in the round. I didn't realize this until I'd knit a fair amount, and since the pattern calls for steeking anyway, I figured I'd steek to untwist. Boy did that not work out so well, and hence - a lot of lost yarn. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I still have enough - I'm counting on the loose knitting to help out. Or, I may just order more and alternate to disguise the different dye lot.

So, a quiet fourth. But we have a whole year to think of wacky ideas for the Second Annual Festivus Insolidus.

Mary's Rock

2011-06-29T09:49:00.003-04:00

After our wonderfully decadent Saturday, we decided to be a tad more virtuous Sunday and go for a hike. We've hiked this before, but the last time our heads felt like they were going to explode from allergies, the flu, or some such malady. So, it was a lot nicer this time, although I'm pretty sure who ever wrote the book and says it's only 1.9miles to the top was smoking an illegal substance cuz it took us nearly an hour each way - going up and coming down - and I don't buy for a second that we need an hour to go up or come down 2 miles. Just sayin.
Distance dysfunction aside, it was a nice hike, and a nice way to burn off some of the calories of the night before.
There were many beautiful spots along the path,
and some sexy ones as well.

The view from the top, was natually, spectacular...

oh, and there was this one as well - also nice.
and just one artistic touch before I close this post.

Good Wine, Spectacular Food

2011-06-27T12:20:00.017-04:00

I started blogging to talk about knitting, primarily, and as you've no doubt noticed, my knitting has been mentioned more as an after thought than a main topic in most of my posts. I would feel negligent, except no - and should you wonder why, check out The Rainey Sisters for a true knitting blog. I'm almost embarrassed to post pictures of my projects with knitting like this in the world. And really, read on, and you'll see, it's not like I'm moping around, bemoaning my lack of knitting expertise.

Saturday, we celebrated my birthday. Whoa, you may say - your birthday is in May! Too true, but May was booked. As was January through April. Hence the celebration in June. Trust me, well worth the wait.

We started the day winery hopping. Always fun. My goal was to find a few we'd never been to before, without having to drive too far out of our way. Our first was Phillip Carter.

Nice wine. Nice setting. Odd atmosphere. The young boy pouring our wine never once provided a description. The woman "helping" him was off in her own little world, coming back to reality for the briefest snippets of time. The tasting counter was a tiny corner in a large, echoing room. They had just released a chardonnay that very day and, as I said - the wine was very nice. When I asked for "two", both the man-child and the space-cadet looked stunned and said "two bottles?!" I think maybe the owner of said winery might want to clue them in on the fact that selling wine is, in fact, the point of providing tastings. Just a thought.

So, on we went to the next winery - only open since April 2011 - the Desert Rose. Ah! Home Sweet Home. Bob,

the owner of this winery, is an old cowboy, transplanted here from Oregon. He spent his life traveling the world, first in the service of the United States Navy, and then for the C.I.A. Not a pretentious bone in this man's body, trust me. He refuses to describe his wines as "Refined in its unctuousness" or any other such label. His philosophy is "You taste what you taste." Instead, he tells stories about each wine. For example, he has a semi-sweet white table wine that he calls Old Moo Moo, in honor of his one remaining cow. Such a wonderful story behind that one - Poor Old Moo Moo had her honor besmirched by the local Bull during which time he also broke her hips. Everyone assumed poor Old Moo Moo had gone on to happier pastures, or, to continue the cliché, bought the farm. But no, long after having given her up for dead, she strolls out of the nearby woods with barely a hitch in her giddy-up. So, despite the fact that they had already sold all the other cows, they kept Old Moo Moo, as a pet of sorts. And, just in case there were any doubts at all about her tenacious hold on life, during a recent snow storm, known around here as snow-mageddon, when Old Moo Moo couldn't be found after the snows finally abated, yet again, everyone assumed the worst. Especially when they found a huge snow drift with nothing more showing than a velvety nose. But, no surprise to you, after digging her out and bringing her down to the winery for food, she perked right up and is now the local celebrity. While Old Moo Moo didn't do it for me - me not liking sweet wine - I did like Hitch Hollow Chardonnay, R.E.D., and Starboard. The Chardonnay is named after a piece of the property the winery sits on. R.E.D. is an abbreviation for Retired and Extremely Dangerous. The picture accompanying this wine is of Bob's red truck on the lawn of the C.I.A. - apparently it was his last request on the day he retired and they bent the rules a bit. And, just to put a cap on what a great sense of humor he has, the reason the Starboard is named such is because it's a wine in the style of a Port - but, of course, you can't call it Port, because that's a trademarked name - and, as any retired Navy guy can tell you - if it ain't Port - it must be Starboard. LOL! Loved this guy. And loved, loved, loved his decorating style. I have to wonder if the request on the bathroom door is because of something he would do, given the chance.

The message on the toilet seat is good advice to anyone. Paraphernalia from his life was scattered around, including this saddle, and the car he still obviously drives.

We hung out on his deck - enjoy the gratuitous shot of the SigO's triceps - and had a glass of his Sparky Rosé - named thus in honor of the piece of land commandeered by the VA Electric Company. As we were leaving, his horses picked the lock on their corral and made a break for it. This was, by far, the most entertaining winery I've been to in quite some time.

Finally, we finished our hopping at Rappahannock Cellars - the one and only winery for which we're club members - and if you're going to be one, this is the one. The member lounge (doesn't that sound snooty as all hell?) has nice cush chairs and someone brings the wine to you for tasting. Not to mention, I really like their wine. Duh.

And so, we wrapped it up and headed to the Middletown Inn where we would spend the night. This inn is actually on the cover of a book about American B&B's. Didn't know that when we made the reservations - I just liked that it was within walking distance of our restaurant, and had a nice two story cottage. Our dinner reservations weren't until 9PM, so we had plenty of time to chill and watch the sunset.

And then, finally, dinner.

At the Inn at Little Washington.

There just aren't words to describe the food, so I'll just post the menu.

Black Truffle Dusted Popcorn

A Shot of Chilled Watermelon and Tequila Soup

Our Caviar "Caterpillar" of Avocado and Peekytoe Crab

All Three paired with Boizel, Brut Reserve, Epernay, Champagne (N.V.)

Chilled Maine Lobster with Braised Celery Hearts, Root Vegetables and Citrus Vinaigrette

Paired with i Greco, Filù, Greco Bianco, Ciró, Calabria, Italy (2000)

Miniature Filet of Black Cod Sauté with Lemon Vodka Sauce and lilliputian Shrimp Dumplings

Paired with Ballot Millot, Genevrières, Chardonnay, Meursault 1er Cru, Burgundy, France (2005)

Maine Day Boat Scallop Sautéed with Capers, Brown Butter and Lemon with Tiny Tomato Gnocchi

Paired with DeMorgenzon, Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch, South Africa (2009)

Potato Wrapped Tuna Wellington with Caponata-Filled Ravioloi and Sauce Béarnaise

Paired with Evening Land, Pinot Noir, Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley, Oregon (2009)

Braised Veal Cheek on a Salad of Summer Vegetables from the Inn's Garden of Eatin'

Paired with Condado de Haza, Tempranillo, Ribera del Duero, Spain (2007)

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Black Raspberry Sorbet

A Chocolate Ménage à Trois: A Miniature Black Forest Mousse Bombe, Chocolate Crème Brûlée and Bittersweet Chocolate Soufflé

Paired with Toro Albalá, Don Pedro Ximenez, Gran Reserva, Montilles Morilles, Spain (1982)

Obviously, we were very happy.

Shortly after dessert,

we sat out in the garden. I had the 100 year old Grand Marnier. SigO had the Irish Coffee. All was well with my world.
and we lived happily ever after.

Pampered

2011-06-20T13:51:00.003-04:00

Not many pictures to post from this past weekend, but it was quite enjoyable.
We kicked it off with massages for all three of us at Alternative Health Associates in Old Town. And of course, you know there's no chance of us going to Old Town without me going to Fibre Space. This time, I picked up yarn for a specific, if un-named project - just in case the recipient is reading this. Also picked up some yarn called Acadia - yes - I bought it primarily because of the name, given the fact that we go there every year - but it really is very pretty yarn, and I have a gift in mind for it as well. I had a really hard time picking one color, and I might not have picked the one I did had I known the colorway is Bog. Bog? Really?

Anyway, after Old Town, we went to Nordstroms for the Mens Sale where I got to watch my hottie get all decked out in Hugo Boss. The best part was when he was having a black suit fitted. He was wearing a dark purple striped shirt, and hadn't bothered to button it up very far, as he was only wearing it to fit the suit better. The combo of the black suit and shirt buttoned down to the middle of his chest had the awesome effect of making him look like a Columbian Drug Lord. The only missing element was a gold chain. Got some good giggles out of that one. Afterwards, he got his hair cut while H-Boo and I got mani/pedi's. So, a very pampered day, followed by Paella and Sangria for dinner. Very nice.

Sunday was the Manassas Wine and Jazz fest. Very small venue, which is a nice change of pace from the hectic hustle and bustle of larger fests like Vintage Virginia. Very relaxed and easy Sunday. Got lots of knitting done - I'd complain about SigO letting me knit drunk, but really, even when he tries to stop me, my usual response is: "I'm not that drunk." Famous last words - typically succeeded by lots of frogging.

Wrong Fork

2011-06-13T13:36:00.003-04:00

So, I'm walking back to work from Whole Foods today and I'm walking past all these people in business clothes:

suits

ties

pumps

shoulder pads

having their power lunches. And it hits me: What the H*#L am I doing here? How did I get here? Me? And corporate America? That doesn't sound right. Does it?

This is what happens when you get to a fork in the road - one paved with yellow bricks, the other paved with greenbacks and you choose the WRONG FORK!

Dazy Lays

2011-06-13T09:30:00.003-04:00

We were supposed to go camping, and bike riding this weekend, but with the storms, and the mosquitoes, and pure out-and-out laziness, we just never left the local area.

Just as well. For one thing, we had all sorts of errands we've been putting off in favor of adventures. So, we did finally get out and get a new dishwasher. In all honesty, I haven't minded washing my dishes the "old fashioned" way, but these days to sell a house, you have to have a dishwasher and I'll be damned if I'm gonna buy it just to sell the house. I'm gonna at least have it around a few years.

It's also a good thing we stayed home as SigO got a 24hr bug or something. While he spent the day puking his guts up, I took the opportunity to empty the closets a little more. I now have all my stuff in my two little closets - not counting the yucky old business suits. I won't miss those when we retire. Getting ever closer to the RV life.

Anyway, the only other thing I did this weekend was finish up Micro's tank

and Natalie's scarf.I cast on for Scott's scarf, but I need to go down a needle size, so, will frog that tonight and start again.

So, a lazy weekend.

Oh, and just an FYI - not a single pound lost after a solid week of "sticking to it". What's it gonna take? I ask you!

Hic'

2011-06-06T12:09:00.005-04:00

Well, it was a wine-filled weekend.

Saturday, we started off the day with brunch at Jackson 20 in Old Town, Alexandria. My idea. Really just an excuse to get to go to Fibre Space down the street so I could sample the Techno I talked about in a recent blog. No great surprise I bought some. I bought some of the aquarius

and some of the atomic green,

which I intend to stripe - fat stripes aquarius, skinny stripes atomic green to make the Mango Moon shrug.

I also bought some of the rogue,

which I intend to use on the boho blouse.

As a result of my purchases, I now qualify for a private shopping party at Fibre Space. Here's the problem: None of my knitting friends live here in town. How bad does that suck? So, you all have to come to DC for a weekend so we can throw this party right!

So, obviously, the weekend was already off to a great start, and it just kept getting better. After Fibre Space, we headed to Sperryville for the Spring Fling Festival at Sharp Rock winery. Such a beautiful setting. It took us a while, and SigO a lot of cigarettes, to get away from the gnats, unfortunately, but it was still a nice setting. We bought a case of the Sauvignon Blanc, which, I swear, has a hint of pineapple. The best part of the fest was, as usual whenever H-Boo is around, ganging up on poor SigO.

Here's the scenery from our chairs.

Here he is lecturing his daughter.

And here he is after she saw a good looking guy and said "Yeah, I'd tap that!"

Good times. It doesn't get much better.
Oh, and of course, what weekend is complete without a beautiful barn?Sunday was Vintage Virginia. And boy did we time that right. Hardly any crowds, and nice and overcast so not oppresively hot as in previous years. As usual, we bought plenty of Valhalla wine, but also picked up some Octagon from Barboursville.

Purchases besides wine:

We found a b-day present for Mom.

H-Boo found some awesome clothes and a cool bracelet.

SigO bought me this beautiful jewelry.

A good haul for both of us. Thanks, LOML!

Next weekend: Camping and biking.

Til then...

Almost Forgot

2011-06-03T08:00:00.003-04:00

to mention - we're going back to Canaan in September to learn Rock Climbing - and to climb this:

Seneca Rocks.

Hooah.

Last Day

2011-06-02T10:03:00.009-04:00

For any Logan's Run fans out there - "Last Day, Capricorn 29's. Year of the City: 2274. Carousel begins."

And I think the SigO would swear he was on a carousel - a really, really fast one - similar to the spin cycle in a washing machine.

It couldn't have begun any more idyllic. The weather was gorgeous. The river was beautiful,

and once again, we got the guide we both wanted: Bruno.

Bruno promised a great ride, and to make it even better, the only people who would be on the river would be our little excursion company. That probably doesn't resonate that strongly for anyone who has never done the New River, or the American River, at the height of season - basically, pick your favorite traffic jam and apply it to white water rafting and you have these rivers. The Cheat River isn't nearly as commercial. The rapids on the Cheat are II - IV (with the IV being closer to a III), but they come one right after the other, as opposed to long stretches of flat water. Don't get me wrong, I still love the New River, but the Cheat is just as fun, and much closer.

To top things off, the SigO and I had Bruno all to ourselves in a small little raft.

Pro: We got along great and laughed all the way down the river.

Con: We rode very high in the water as we were so few. Result:

That's my head and Bruno's head next to the raft. The SigO was in the spin cycle under the raft, trying desperately to get out. When he finally did, he looks around and can't see me anywhere. Naturally, he assumes I'm going thru the same craziness he just survived and immediately begins to fear for the worst. The river guides are probably still poking fun at the guy who kept screaming out "Jo! Jo!! Jo!!!" Poor guy. Little did he know I was floating along on the other side of the raft, enjoying the cold water (felt great on the knee), waiting for Bruno to flip the raft over. Not a care in the world. I knew the SigO was big and strong and would fare fine. I admit to a moment's worry when Bruno got the raft flipped and I was pulled in and still no sign of my honey. Of course, he was hanging out, waiting his turn to be pulled on. So, see, I was right. Big. Strong. Hunky. But I digress.

The rest of the river was still a fun ride,

but nothing as crazy as "Calamity Rock", where we got to go for our little swim.

Another great part of that excursion was one of the ladies in the other group - who was "Very Scared". So scared, she had a few tears in her eyes prior to taking off. You can barely see her in this picture, she's in the back, on the right side of the boat,but trust me, at the end of the trip, she was smiling big.

You'd think we'd be hard pressed to find entertainment to match that incredible morning, but this is Canaan Valley - there's never a shortage of fun and beauty. So, after luch, we went on an adventure, trying to find a trail Bruno recommended for a nice hike. Otter Creek National Forest. In all honesty, the hike was beautiful, what with the suspension bridge,

and winding river,but really, the drive along River Road was beyond compare. The mountains in the background.

The hilltops that look right out of Scotland,

and the water sparkling off the river.

Not to mention the barns!!!

Can't be beat!

Finally, since this blog is supposed to be at least a little bit about knitting - I finished my MaggiKnits jacket.

Love, Love, Love it!! I need to start knitting with wool a LOT more.

Sharp Rock Spring Fest this Saturday.

Vintage Virginia this Sunday.

Oh, and I plan to squeeze in a trip to Fiber Space on Saturday to check out the new "techno" yarn from Blue Sky Alpaca. Baby Alpaca, Merino, and Silk. It looks way yummy. Plus: "baby alpaca is blown into a mesh tube of silk for really fast knitting with virtually no splitting." Doesn't that sound awesome? And I love the neon colors. No idea whatsoever what I'm going to do with it, but that's beyond the point, right?

Spectacular Weekend - Day Two

2011-06-01T09:08:00.004-04:00

We woke up with the sun streaming in through our windows. Let's be clear - waking up to the sunrise...not something we would normally elect to do. But the entire front of the cabin consists of windows and faces east - there is no sleeping in when we stay there. Just as well. There's too much to see and do in Canaan to sleep in.

After a nice leisurely breakfast, we hit the road and headed to Spruce Knob Lake. You drive up and up and up to get to this lake which is surrounded by hiking trails and nice wide dirt roads. I still don't like highly technical bike rides - I want to bump around on dirt with the option to ride over rocks and roots, but I don't want to take my life in my hands when I'm on a bicycle. I do that enough in rush hour traffic every day. The ride was billed as "easy" and only 10 miles. We were talking about possibly doing it twice, as it was a loop, but as soon as we headed out, it immediately headed downhill. And we all know, what goes down, must come back up. So, doing it twice lost its appeal from that moment, and instead, we decided to just ride around, where ever - which naturally means we got a little lost - nothing we couldn't back track from and boy was it great that we did. The scenery on this ride was breath taking.

Rivers

Surrounded by mountains

Vistas from on high

and hot boyfriends bumping along beside me (yeah - really behind me - I was being kind).

After lunch, we headed to Blackwater Falls State Park, where we always go play around the smaller falls of Elakala. You may remember seeing us peeking from behind a wall of ice last year. SigO is standing in the same spot where we were peeking thru in that blog.Only one disappointment of the weekend: We were trying to see the forests in bloom with rhododendrons - which are just everywhere. I can only imagine what these trails look like when they're in bloom --- yes --- I can only imagine - as even though it was almost June, they still weren't blooming yet.

dirty rotten bastards.

more tomorrow.

Too good for one post

2011-05-31T10:10:00.005-04:00

This was definitely one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. Too good to document in just one post. So, instead, I'll do a post for each day.

Day one was really just arriving in Canaan Valley. We made very good time, and arrived by 1800. Plenty of time to unwind and enjoy a nice, quiet evening.

We stayed in the Royale Cabin,

which, I think, is laid out nicer than the other cabins.

We made ourselves at home right away - you gotta love a cabin that has a wine rack all ready for me to stash my wine.
Even the yarn enjoyed the cabin. It had to move around a bit to decide which position it liked best. In the end, it decided it liked the pedestal - a place of honor it felt was well deserved.

Plus, it has a great view of the barn right outside the window. You know how we love barns.

After settling in, we sat out on the porch in the rockers,

chatting for a bit before retiring out to the jacuzzi, and eventually topping off the evening with a yummy steak dinner, some sparkling wine, and desserts somewhat smooshed from the trip down, but still 'lishy (SigO talk for delicious). A nice peaceful start to an exciting weekend.

More tomorrow.

Field Trip

2011-05-23T08:18:00.007-04:00

Friday, one of my coworkers suggested we spend lunch strolling the grounds of Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. An excellent suggestion as the day was beautiful and it's always nice to get out of the office for a minute.

Here are some pictures of the gardens.

The bell of Peace and Harmony donated by the Koreans:

From Afar
Really, really close

Dragon head on top.

There were some incredible peonies in bloom - and we all know I have a soft spot for peonies.

For a while, we stood out on a deck in the middle of the lake and watched the turtles and koi swim around. This is the view from the deck.

Then we headed over to the kiddie garden - that I couldn't play in, cuz I had to go back to poopy old work and I would have gotten all dirty. Poo.

On the way out, and back to the grind, we passed this miniature garden. Way cool.

We've all sworn we're going to do this again soon, but I suspect it will take Dario to get us out there again. Go, Dario, Go!!

New River

2011-05-17T11:18:00.004-04:00

Well, we got to go White Water Rafting again this year. I didn't sit in the front like I did last time, and it's not nearly as breathtaking.

Next time, I'm definitely back up front.
Once again, we managed to stay in the boat the entire time, although SigO did his best to go for a swim. The boat tipped up on the side we were sitting on and I was sure we were going over. SigO had a special little moment with the guy sitting next to him at the front of the boat. After they were done making out, SigO pulled him back into the boat and we were back on our way.

After we were finished braving Class III - V rapids, we rushed back to the cabin and jumped in the jacuzzi with an ice-cold Stella. It really doesn't get much better than that.

And now, to the irony. After surviving the "dangerous" rapids, we went to Pies & Pints on a recommendation for dinner. We had planned on eating there, but there was a girl at a nearby table who could have shattered glass with the shrillness of her voice. We were both ready for some peace and quiet, so we took our pizza to go and headed back to the cabin. By this time, it had been raining for about 30 minutes, and it was coming down pretty steady. Naturally, not only did I not want to get wet, but I didn't want the pizza to get wet either, so we rushed up to the door as quickly as I could hobble on this knee, and sure enough, my feet slid out from underneath me on the slick wood of the deck. My right leg went flailing out and I came crashing down on my left knee. Fun times. Isn't it just the way that I survive Class V rapids, but can't survive a trip across a 10foot deck.

The knee is fine. Never fear. It stung pretty good for a while there though.

We came home the next day and started cleaning up the house that we had left messy in our haste to get outta Dodge. And wouldn't you know it, first the dishwasher refused to drain and started leaking into our newly refurbished kitchen. Then our washing machine overflowed the sink drain and water went rushing all over the laundry room. Nothing like home sweet home huh?

I think SigO summed it up best when he pointed out that "Logistics Of Life" has the same acronym as "Laughing Out Loud".

Appropriately so.

Spoils of MS&W

2011-05-09T09:23:00.004-04:00

What a great weekend!
First, Anya and I were both a bit trepidatious about our knees holding up for an 18 mile bike ride, but not only did we both hold up just fine, we both decided we needed to do more of it, because our knees felt better afterwards. And it couldn't have been a better day for a ride. Beautiful weather, beautiful friends, sexy boyfriend...oops, sorry - back on topic. I guess I haven't even mentioned where we rode - we wanted to do the Mt. Vernon trail, but not an out and back. So, we parked one car in DC, and the other in Mt. Vernon and off we went. As I say, it couldn't have been a prettier day for it.

But, we got a late start. And by the time we were finished, chances of us making our dinner reservations were slim to none. So, on the way back to the car parked at Mt. Vernon, we started brainstorming where to eat. We were cruising down Washington St., just past King street in Old Town when we remembered this great little Italian restaurant SigO and I had eaten at before. Both of us immediately went heads down to our iPhone to try to remember where it was and what it was called when Jim (Anya's squeeze) pipes up: "Is this it?" Purely random. He just noticed a restaurant up ahead a little ways. We look up from our iPhone, and in stereo: "YES!!" You probably had to be there to appreciate how surreal it was, especially after hearing how often Jim and Anya had been lost in the surrounding area for the past two days. The restaurant is called Trattoria da Franco and has some of the most authentic Italian food I've eaten here in the U.S. Needless to say, the four of us had a wonderful meal with wonderful conversation.
Sunday, I finally went to Maryland Sheep and Wool (MS&W) fest. I've never gone before - to me, it's like being an alcoholic in a bar - and I'm just not as strong as Sam Malone. But, Anya was here, and I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, so I took one for the team (yeah, right). Even better, I managed to convince the SigO to come along - ladies, here's the trick: Wait until morning, when he's moving out of heavy sleep and into almost ready to wake up. Then go down, kiss him sweetly and say "Are you sure you don't want to come with me today?" He'll be so befuddled, he'll pretty much agree before really knowing what he's agreeing to. Worked for me, anyway.

At the fest, we found lots of great vendors, looked at lambs ranging from newborn to almost grown, watched the border collies do their thing herding up the sheep, oh, and bought a little bit of yarn. Hardly worth mentioning.... yeah - I'm gonna need another storage bin.
So, as I said, a wonderful weekend. Here's to more like it - but cheaper.

Jo Weekend

2011-04-19T13:06:00.007-04:00

It started out with a little free time on Friday --- did you know there was a DC Metro Yarn crawl last week?? Well, I didn't find out about it until Friday afternoon and it was a whirlwind from there.

The original plan for the weekend was to spend it in St. Michaels, riding our bikes and luxuriating at the Harbour Inn, but then the forecast called for Thunderstorms and rain all day Saturday. So, we first figured we'd goof around going to brunch at Jackson 20, then do some yarn crawl.

You know - I should get the sequence of events straight.

Friday:

1. Went to Uniquities between Doctors appts 1 and 2. I've been "fasting" for a year, so there was a bit of a yarn binge here, buying up the bulk of their Manos Del Uraguay Silky Blend, some Fiesta Ballet, and Schaefer Elizabeth.

2. Swung by Aylin's on the way home - mostly because I wanted to check it off the list. But still found some Latitude by Berroco there - good for a sweet looking pullover.

Saturday:

3. Drove to In Stitches before the SigO woke up to get my third stamp and pick up some framing that had been completed. Surprise, surprise - found some yarn there too - Sublime's Tussah Silk

4. Drove back home in hideous "escape for Spring Break" traffic to pick up the LOML and go to brunch. Had a yummy breakfast and chatted it up, softening him up for a trip to two more yarn shops.

5. Walked to Fiber Space - in Old Town, Alexandria - a great LYS. Bought so much yarn I graduated to Space Commander, which apparently qualifies me for a private shopping trip when I fill up that card.

6. Took the metro into town to go to Looped Yarn Works - newest metro yarn shop in Dupont Circle. This was a nice adventure as the weather was rainy and overcast so we had the streets of DC largely to ourselves. DC is very pretty when you don't have to share with hordes of people.

7. Finally headed out to St. Michaels. Had a grand time smashing crabs before heading back to the room for a romantic evening and a playful morning.

8. The winds were still kicking Sunday, so the SigO decided to make the entire weekend about me --- I didn't object. So, we headed back toward home and stopped at two more yarn shops:

9. The Yarn Spot in Wheaton, MD where I bought Grass (yarn, not illegal substances).

10. Knit & Stitch = Bliss in Bethesda, MD where I bought enough Rowan Wool Cotton to make Juno.

Because the SigO was such a great sport, I made seven shops, which qualifies me for the raffle drawing. Even if I don't win, it was a great experience and a nice way to break my yarn fast.

On the way home, we stopped at Jos A. Banks and I got to dress him up a little more - look at these great shoes with that outfit!

That night, we went back to the house, had a great bottle of red wine while I cataloged all my new purchases, updated my Ravelry queue and caught one more surreptitious picture of my cutie.

Now that's what I call a Jo Weekend!

Ahhh

2011-04-11T11:05:00.010-04:00

I can finally breathe - and catch up on...well, living my life again. Not that it's been all nose to the grind. The SigO and I have had some fun times here and there.

1. February(yeah - I'm that far behind): Once again, bad weather prevented us from celebrating our anniversary on the actual date, so we had to postpone. And as usual, we went to Foti's and had a great time. We discovered a new place to stay with two very comfy king-sized beds so Gooberous Maximus (GM - otherwise known as LOML, or SigO) can get up and down and watch TV until he's ready to really come to bed. The place is called Suites at 249 and is in Culpeper, VA. Not a B&B, but inall honesty, so many B&B's are so focused on being "quaint" they forget comfort. And then, you wake up the next morning to a breakfast of all carbs - not a gram of protein in sight. So, I'm rapidly falling out of love with B&B's over all and am looking for more places like Suites at 249 - not some big Hotel chain, but cozy and comfy. Anyway, we had a great dinner at Foti's, as usual, and bumped into some people we had just met the previous weekend - small world. The next day, we tried to go for a hike in Shenandoah, but there was still so much ice on the trail we were unable to get very far. So we went to Luray Caverns instead. I've been wanting to go practically since I moved here, so it was great to finally get the chance. At first, we stayed with the group like good little tourists, but the group was so large, and it was taking so long we decided to sneak on up ahead and enjoy the caverns on our own. I know - for shame - rule breakers! But it was much nicer once we got away from the unwashed masses.

2. March - I had knee surgery. It's called Makoplasty - basically it's a partial knee replacement. The surgeon uses robotic equipment to put remove the bad and insert shiny new metal. I'm still trying to figure out how the metal goes in...is it molten and then cools? Because of the knee, we didn't do a whole lot of what we normally like doing until it recovers, although we did try for a few bike rides - both of which got "postponed due to inclement weather", and that catches you up to the blog I posted last.

For the record, I started this blog several months ago and never got the chance to finish it...until today.

This weekend Anya is coming up from GA and we're riding the Mt. Vernon trail on Saturday, then Maryland Sheep and Wool on Sunday. I'll try to get good pics and post about it next week.

Until then...

Tejas and Nostalgia Lane

2011-01-20T12:53:00.004-05:00

Went home for the holidays this year. It was my turn, as they've come to me the last two times.

Had a really fun time visiting some old haunts.

1. Thu: Drove home from Houston. Stopped for gas on the way home. This is a Texas gas station.

yes - those are cow hides. and yes - these are kitchen utensils made from antlers.

I was thinking of taking a picture of the bathroom - which is bigger than a lot of department stores around here - but I was afraid someone would have me arrested for something - and in Texas, the death penalty is very popular.
When we got to San Antonio, we went to Mi Tierra to get pralines.

They still had it decorated for the holidays. I couldn't get a very clear shot - this is the best I could do. Oh, yeah - and I bought a lot of pralines - ergh. Then we went shopping at North Star Mall - I like that place a lot better when my stomach isn't bulging out from Mexican food and pralines.

2. Fri: Met Mom's friend Jim for lunch (more Mexican food - yummy - El Toro rocks!), then went to the zoo. They've added a whole new section called Africa Live or something like that and we got to see them feeding the hippos. Then we went to the Witte Museum where I proceeded to ride the sky bike and climb the rock wall - and fall off said rock wall - thank heavens for those squooshy floor mat things. We had dinner reservations and needed to kill some time, so I took the Domster to a honky tonk - Bombay Bicycle Club and proceeded to lube her up....

yeah - with virgin daquiri's - we're talking about the worlds biggest tea-totler here. The band started setting up right next to our table - tried to get Doms to pinch the drummer's butt, but we couldn't find it. Back in the day, I'd call a guy like that Nat - No a** a'tall. Then we went and had dinner at Fredericks - a nice little French restaurant (had to take a break from Mexican food).

3. Sat: Went to Landa Park - another nostalgia thing. We used to climb this tree when I was a kid -they have it fenced off now. And we always tried to have our picnics in this pavilion. I used to swim in the springs at this park - largest springs in - heck, i don't know - a really large area - very pretty, crystal clear water. Pretty durn cold too. (Still got a little Texas in me right now - give me a few more weeks over here on the East Coast and I'll be swearing normally again). After Landa, we drove all the way out to some sports store that was reputed to have a good shoe selection. They had a huge wall full of shoes - 80% of which were for men...20% for women. Blech. Figured the trip wouldn't be a waste if I could find a nice shirt for the SigO - but nothing smaller than XXL - guess you're not allowed to live in TX unless you're either naturally large, or you've had enough beer (sitting up in those deer blinds) to get large - hey! it's my home state - i can trash talk it if i want!! Anyway - it wasn't a lost cause - we stopped at an RV superstore on the way home and found an awesome fifth wheel that I could totally live in for a much more reasonable price than an RV would run. So, that made me happy. That night we went home and watched the Jets beat the Colts. And I'd just like to say, that's who I was rooting for, cuz I believed, as division opponents, the Jets had a better chance of beating the Pats. The SigO disagreed - and poor baby - has had to admit i was right later. How'd those words taste coming out of your mouth, baby?

4. Sun: Went to Uncle Russ' new house/mansion - the back yard is going to be off the hook when it's done - can't wait to go back and sit out there with a margarita or two. The rest of the house is very nice, but I'm in love with the back. Then we had lunch at La Fogata - still great Mexican food. Then we went home and watched the Packers beat the Eagles (yay) and the Ravens beat the Chiefs (boo).

5. Mon: Went to Houston to hang with my brother and sister-in-law, nephew and his wife - very fun day watching Disney movies, going to Cheesecake Factory, and just chillin' out that night and getting beat at Wii by the nephew. brat.

6. Tue - had to come home - as is always the case. good to see the LOML again tho.

so, that's the scoop.

The entire rest of the year in 1,000 words or less

2010-12-17T08:05:00.004-05:00

Yeah - I've been a tad bit busy. I feel like my life is being spent in front of, not one, not two, but three computers, and to come home and sit in front of a fourth to blog is just not high on the list. So, I'm just gonna sum it all up in one more blog for the year.

1. First Day in Maine (remember- going backwards - so this is the last day to tell you about) - Hiked up the gorge in the AM - which we hadn't done since the first trip, and we all liked a lot. Hiked Great Head (yeah, yeah, yeah - like we haven't all heard that joke a thousand times) in the afternoon, and dinner at McRay's.

2. I went to Spain on business. Saw Madrid, Toledo and Seville. The gardens at Seville were incredible, and the highlight of my trip, but Toledo overall was the nicer city - just not as crowded and dusty, and more old world feeling than Seville. The bulk of the trip was in Madrid, but working, so didn't actually see Madrid til our last day when we went to the Palace, and wondered around. Highlight of Madrid - this fountain, where my wonderfully blonde friend says "Wow! There's another side!!"

3. Went to the Poconos with the SigO. Color was almost there - not quite in full form. We didn't take warm enough clothes, and I left my hiking shoes at home, so adventures were limited, but it was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle for a weekend.

4. Spent a weekend in a cozy little B&B called the Lost Dog in Berryville, VA. Went for a nice 26mile loop bike ride. Toured a mill which has been active for over 200 years. Went to dinner at a nice French restaurant. Went hiking at Sky Meadows. Generally enjoyed getting away from it all - again - and not enough.

So, that's it. That's all the free time we've had this year. Pretty sad when compared to previous years. We've got to just stop letting the jobs, crowds, and traffic keep us prisoner and just barrel our ways out.

One last goal for me this winter: Go camping in the snow. SigO thinks I'm "outside yo mind". But, he's done it (forced to in the Army), and I've always had this romantic notion of snowshoeing to my campsite, pack on my back. I'm sure the romance will be dead when I wake up sore from head to toe from shivering all night! But you know us bulls - we gotta live it to believe it.

To all two of my faithful readers: Have a happy holiday. See you next year.

Time Travel - the real work begins

2010-09-28T16:40:00.004-04:00

See, we worked so hard on these remaining days in Acadia, I didn't even have the energy to blog about them!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So, as I recall, I was about to tell you about Tuesday when I so unceremoniously just dropped you in the middle of the story.

So, first, I should tell you about the very first time I ever went to Acadia. I went with the SigO, his Mom, his sister, his brother-in-law, his daughter, and her friend. I had only been with him for a little shy of 6 months, and this was my first exposure to "the fam". Needless to say, I was a tad reticent. OK - reticent for me. Get real - we're talking about Ms Speaks Her Mind here, I can only be reticent to an certain extent. Still, I saw something that lit a fire in me that took until this year to extinguish.

Simply put (I know - too late), that first trip, we drove to a parking lot for "The Bubbles",and proceeded to hike to the top of the Bubbles. Now, this is all of a 0.5mile hike. Yawneroo. But when I got to the top, I saw there's a path that takes you down to the Jordan Pond House. And, there's a path that goes all around Jordan Pond. How cool would it be, thinks I, to start at Jordan Pond House, hike up and over the Bubbles, and back down around to end at the Pond House. Cool, right?! Right. And it was. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip this year.

So, that was the morning hike. Along the way, we met a fellow hiker who was by himself, so we adopted him on the way back down the Bubbles. We also met a family with a woman absolutely terrified of the steepness of the rocks - so, of course, gallant SigO went along to help her get over the scary part, and then rejoined us. Which didn't take long, since, of course, I was limping along - going down hill and all - and little Miss Bouncy Feet was being magnanimous and staying somewhat close by.

That afternoon, we did another "old faithful favorites": The Beehive. I swear, I remember the first time H-Boo did that one. She was practically trembling, and forcing herself to overcome her fear of heights. She's either come a long way and is no longer afraid of heights, or she has become a spectacular actress, because she bounded right up that mountain.

So, those were our two hikes for Tuesday. That night, we ate at Rupununi's - one of my favorite places, just because the menu is a bit different. Still, there are so many great places to eat that we still haven't tried, we might have to change our dining venues next time around.

So, that's Tuesday.

I won't do a whole new blog for Monday, since it was a slow day due to the weather. In the AM, we tried to catch Thunder Hole at the right time, but totally missed out. No real action there. So, we went to Otter Point and hung out on the rocks for a while, watching the waves crash.

That afternoon, we did a new hike: Acadia Mountain. So, first, let me post a strongly worded letter to the SigO's Mom who told us what an easy hike it is, and how we should definitely do it when we want something easy to do. Did I mention the word easy?

Yeah.

Nuh-nuh!!

We looked it up after - it's classified as strenuous. Streeeeeeeeeeennnnuuuuuuuous!!! So, word of advice - ignore little Miss Jazzercise Queen when she tells you something will be easy.

That said, it did offer some pretty spectacular views, and it really was a very fun hike. We found the loop that took us alongside the mountain face, so the views were practically unending.

So, next blog (notice how I'm no longer saying when I'll post the next blog), I'll finish up about Acadia, then it's on to Spain.

Time Travel - Day Five - Wednesday in Acadia

2010-09-09T17:11:00.002-04:00

See, going back in time, you're going to be thinking: "I thought you said you guys hiked twice a day every day?!" Where's the evidence?!
Give me a sec, for pete's sake. It's not like we were lounging around, after all.
But, Wednesday wasn't the day for dual hikes either.
Wednesday was the bike the carriage trail day. Definitely a favorite.
We did the same trail we did last year, but backwards. Oddly enough, I think it's more scenic going the other way. For one thing, while you're riding past Jordan Pond, you're not going uphill when you go the other way...and trust me, you do not want to lose momentum, so there ain't a whole lot o' stoppin' going up that hill.
I wish I had some pictures to share, but I guess I left that up to the SigO this year. I'll have to look through his stuff and come back and edit this.
After the ride, we went back into town and got cleaned up and met friends for dinner. We met Michelle the first year I went to Acadia. We were hanging out in the Thirsty Whale, as it was the only place the SigO could smoke and drink beer at the same time, and Michelle was the bartender. We liked her immediately, and the fact that she's a fellow knitter and on ravelry is just that much more reason to like her.
She now no longer works at the Thirsty Whale. Now she owns her own place, called the Spruce and Gussy. A WAY cool place where I spent lots of cash, and could have spent much more.
Anyway, Wed night we all had dinner at the Dog and Pony pub - our new favorite hang out spot in Bar Harbor. Quiet. Off the main road. Locals mostly. We spent most of the night laughing. Especially with Michelle's SigO - that dry, quiet humor that takes you off guard. I was on one of my favorite rants -
In the late 70's/early 80's - I don't exactly remember - the Dallas Cowboys announced themselves "America's Team". No one voted for them. There were no polls. They just made the declaration, and for reasons passing all understanding, it stuck.
In 2000, Bush declared himself President of the United States. Now, however you want to look at that, the simple truth is, again - it stuck.
So, apparently, if you're from Texas, you can simply declare yourself something, and it sticks.
So, I declared myself Miss Universe that night over drinks.
Dan, in his quiet, understated way replied: "Well, I can't wait to tell the guys at the Town Sewer (where he works) that I spent the evening having drinks with Miss Universe."
Clever.
Tomorrow the real blogs begin - with double hikes per day. See you then.

Time Travel - Day Four - Thursday in Acadia

2010-09-08T11:37:00.004-04:00

This year was my fourth trip to Acadia. Every year, we all climb up to the top of the Bubbles,and every year, the SigO says the same thing as he gazes at the mountain to our right: "I wonder if you can hike that mountain?" Followed by: "There's got to be a way to hike that mountain." and then: "One of these days, we're going to find the path on that mountain and hike up there!" The first year, I responded enthusiastically to each one of these: "Surely there is!", then "We should find it next year", and "Oh, yes! Absolutley! We should plan on it for next year!!" The second year I simply responded in the affirmative to each statement. The third year I used my standard refrain: "You say that every year." This year, there was no need, for yes, can I get a witness, we finally found the path and hiked the elusive (not really - we just never actually looked any of the other years) path up to (drum roll please) Jordan Cliffs.

This was, in my opinion, the best hike of the year. We got cheated out of the precipice this year (damn those slow-learning falcons anyway - how hard can it be to learn to fly?!), but Jordan Cliffs if very precipice-like in that you are using iron rungs, and scooching across a cliff face during much of the hike. It's not quite as "hanging on for dear life" as the precipice - as evidenced by the sign at the beginning of the path. It doesn't mention death at all. Unlike the sign for the precipice. We went backwards of what I believe they intended us to do. In some ways, this was a disadvantage - like when your butt is hanging over a sheer drop and you're trying to find your footing - and it would have been much easier going up that particular section as opposed to down. But in other ways, I liked it much better as the down-part of the hike was this nice, long, smooth rock face that wasn't hard on the ole knees at all.

Naturally the views along the climb were awesome.

The views of the landscape were pretty great too.

I was obsessed with this mushroom.I blame H-Boo. She bought this book on Fairy Homes with pictures of these eensy houses people build for fairies, and as soon as I saw this mushroom, I had this whole big fantasy going on about fairies living there. And then I was the fairy. And I could fly. And do magic. And...

whoops, there I go again.

Anyway, that's all the hiking we did on Thursday. The rest of the day was spent shopping, hanging out at our new favorite local bar (*sigh* Beer. *sigh*), and then finally the traditional trip to Stewman's - The Lobster Shack. Where the SigO did the traditional puppet show with the lobster carcass while H-Boo freaked out - especially when he practically flung it in her bucket when she was least expecting it. Oh, and when he named it Bob. That was special. I should probably warn her that he's been planning on finding some lobster antennae to use during one of their future skype sessions.

Tune in tomorrow for the annual Carriage Trail Bike Ride.

Time Travel - Day 3 - Last day in Maine

2010-09-07T14:17:00.005-04:00

By this point in the vacation, we were pretty whooped. As you'll soon discover, we hiked an average of two good hikes a day, and our legs were mostly rubber by Friday. Which isn't to say we vegged, or even rested really, but Friday was more an attack on Acadia, as opposed to the more typical conquering Acadia.

We started out on Dorr mountain.

This was my first time on this climb. It is most notable for the gajillions of blueberries.

You already know that blueberries grow wild all over Acadia, but they're typically somewhat picked clean by everyone who has preceded us. I don't know if Dorr mountain just isn't as popular a climb, or if the berries are simply more prolific on the path, but we could have baked a pie each just on what we ate, not to mention all we left behind. The views on the hike are, naturally, beautiful, as is every hike in Acadia.

And it was your typical Acadia hike - i.e., "where the blankety blank blank is the top of this blankin' mountain!?" As long as the climb felt, it had many stunning moments, especially considering how incredibly blue the sky was that day.

It felt like we could see for miles in some places - much better visibility than usual.

Despite the height, the hike was a lot of fun...going up.

Coming down sucked. With a capital SUCK. We started down the wrong way and instead of back-tracking, we took a different route that, I'm pretty positive, was one degree shy of tucking up into a ball and simply rolling down the effin' mountain.

You might put on your pedantic hat and tell us that in the future we should be sure to follow markers and cairns, to which I would reply, after some choice expletives and stinging insults, that obviously, we did. It's just that there are cairns and markers all over the place - they mark every possible route down the mountain - even the ones best left for billy goats - or teenagers like H-Boo, who is now dubbed little miss bouncy feet - and not altogether too affectionately, to be honest.

Anyway, so that was the hike of the morning. We had Pizza and beer for lunch - and considering I'm currently doing P90X again, you have no idea how much it pains me to remember that particular lunch. You know how incredible beer tastes after a really long, hot hike (or bike ride, or yard work, or...OK, yes - or any damn time of day at all!! There! I said it! I miss Beer!! And Wine!! And... oh - whoops, sorry - let me get back on topic).

After cleaning up, etc, we hung out until sunset and walked across to Bar Island. Bar Island is a little island a few hundred feet away from Bar Harbor and is only accessible during low tide, when a bar (hence the name - get it? get it? Do you get it? Cuz sometimes I'm not sure you get it? - oh - and you can thank the SigO for that little piece of annoyance) of sand is exposed that is sufficient to walk across. I was pretty much pegged out on taking pictures by this time, so we have to rely on the SigO for those shots. I only have one to share.
Aren't we just beyond adorable?! So sweet it makes your teeth hurt, doesn't it?

Bar Island is probably the best place from which to view Bar Harbor. Plus the walk across is pretty great - crunching up sea shells all the way across, with the sun slowly setting, making the sand glisten with all those incredible jewel tones. And the sea gulls calling. And just a general air of peace and quiet. It was probably the most perfect way to end the vacation - if there is such a thing as a perfect end to any vacation.

So, that was Friday in Acadia. Tune in tomorrow for the skinny on Thursday.

Time Travel - Day Two - College Campus

2010-09-06T11:02:00.003-04:00

Continuing backwards through time, we (the SigO, H-Boo, and I) all went to check out her campus on our way home from Acadia. She's about 250 miles south of Acadia and 500 miles north of us. Let me tell you, the SigO is seriously suffering. Can't get through a movie with a father/daughter relationship without bemoaning the fact that his baby girl is 500 miles away. Last night, I almost picked up the phone to tell her she needs to cut her college career short because he just can't handle the separation.

But, I'm off topic - we stopped at her campus and took a bunch of pictures so when he talks to her, he can envision where she is at that moment.

So, here's the dorm.

Here's where she can hang out around a bonfire on chilly nights.

Here's the campus hammock - the only campus hammock - you figure they draw lots for it? Take turns? - "OK, Thursday, 27 March - that's your day! Enjoy." The Library.

And assorted other campus buildings.

And then, there's the metropolis town across the street from the campus

Honestly, I don't know how we're going to keep her from the vast temptations, or the corruption of her poor innocent mind! How can we possibly protect her from the lure of the single blinking yellow light in town?

Ah, what exciting times. I can't wait to see the woman she become. I think the SigO is excited about it too...when he's not bawling his eyes out! *giggle snork*

Time Travel - Day One - Korea

2010-09-05T14:10:00.012-04:00

So, as I'm a tad bit behind, I figure we'll just go back in time and see what's been going on in my life. I'm going to go in reverse order - so, the most recent thing I've done is go to Korea, the least recent is going to Spain - so, let's start with Korea, shall we?

It's been 12 years since I last saw Korea. Funny -I lived there for an entire year and probably saw less of Seoul during that time than I did this time. Back then, if I went to Seoul, it was to shop, or drink and go dancing. And I was always in the company of my active duty comrades. This time, I was there working with some Korean DNA analysts, and I was afforded the opportunity to see the city with a more local flair - at least where the cuisine was concerned.

You can't tell, but we're sitting on the floor, and we have little "napkins" in our lap since we're both wearing skirts. This particular dinner was roast duck - most likely the best roast duck I've ever had. During this week, we also had bulgogi (of course), bi bim bop, tons and tons of kimchi, Samyetang (chicken soup), Gaibitang (beef rib soup), sushi, sashimi, pho, and so many other dishes, I can't remember them all.

Our first foray into town was Friday evening, but only to do some shopping at Itaewon. Nothing new there (except the prices - boy, I remember things being a lot cheaper back in '98), but we did go visit one of my old haunts - the Seoul Pub. The owner is still the same man, but unfortunately, Gunther, the bartender I remember, is now living in Thailand with his wife (sister of the owner) - but we did get to see some pics of the year that I was there, and that brought back some fond memories. Otherwise, all we did was shop for souevenirs, etc.

Saturday, we took a tour of Seoul. That was a strange experience. They picked us up in a small van and Peggy and I were the only two tourists, with the tour guide and the driver being the only two on board. The first place they took us was Gyeongbok Palace.

A pretty place with plenty of beautiful architecture.

Had fun posing as a scholar and a warrior - funny - I'm the warrior - go figure that one out.

After Gyeongbok, we went to a Buddhist temple

- there was a ceremony in progress, so we couldn't go in, but the chanting was beautiful.

We went to this really nice area after that - the best shopping in Seoul in my opinion. Not quite as geared to western tournists, and more artistic. The best part for me was this beautiful tea shop.

We went to a few other --- weird --- places that we don't need to list here, but then we went to Changdeokgung Palace. I had initially signed up for this tour mostly because of this palace - it has a secret garden that I was really looking forward to visiting, so you can imagine my disappointment to learn the Secret Garden was a separate tour and we couldn't go in without being on a guided tour.

Still, the architecture was pretty at this palace as well - what I could see.

So, that was Saturday. Sunday, we decided we needed to go to the Yongsan Army Post Commissary to get groceries for the week. This would make our week a little less caloric (since we wouldn't be eating out every night) and a little cheaper (since I like to have a glass---or bottle---of wine before bed). This was my first chance to see how bad benefits are for military retirees these days - especially overseas. I found out retirees cannot shop on a military installation overseas without a ration card. I guess I already knew about this - somewhere in my subconscious, having heard about it before, but I had naturally forgotten, this not being something that usually affects me, and it came as a bit of a shock to not be allowed to buy simple groceries after having served as long as I did. But, blah, blah, blah - I don't want to rant about all the benefits that retirees have lost. Suffice it to say things worked out just fine.

So, the rest of the week was spent working (there they go again, expecting me to earn my income - weird, huh?), and it was pretty exhausting. Not much to report there except to say the students were very diligent, receptive individuals that seemed to appreciate our efforts.

A long week was rewarded with a farewell party and much applause.

I think it's safe to classify this trip as a success.

One last piece of fun - Peggy and I got to the airport very early, and while looking to kill some time, we found a little cultural center with a "learning experience" that let us paint fans for free - that was fun - especially as I totally forced Peggy to play along.
Oh, btw, no real knitting done on this trip. Heavy sigh.

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

2010-07-07T14:38:00.003-04:00

So, you know how when you have a final coming up, or a deadline, or anything else you absolutely HAVE to do, but really, really, really don't want to....

You know how you'll find all sorts of other things to do - things that you would typically NEVER do, because you would normally think that was tedious work - things like scrubbing the baseboards in your house, organizing your junk drawer, cleaning the grout in the bathroom - anything, anything but that one thing that you absolutely have to do.

Well, that's where I am now. It's amazing how many people there are in this office I've never even spoken to that I now find absolutely fascinating - simply because I'm really burned out on my current task.

I think Dilbert sums it up nicely here.

anyway - that's my rant for the day.

Brazil

2010-06-17T11:43:00.008-04:00

Quick post to catch up.

Yes, I went to Brazil. That now makes 6 of the 7 continents of the world that I can check off my map. Antartica is all that's left.

No doubt you're asking "Wow! Brazil! Where? Rio? Sao Paulo? Iguazu Falls? How Exciting!"

To which I will reply "Erm, nope. Brasilia."

That's right. Brasilia. Capital of Brazil. Planned city. No beach. No rain forest. No jungle (except the concrete type). No aboriginal natives (except the ones demonstrating outside the federal government trying to get their land back.) Just Brasilia.

Not exactly the resort destination most people head to when they go to Brazil.

Still, the people there were unbelievably wonderful. You've heard about how friendly Texans are? Well, take it from someone born and raised in Texas, they're downright aloof compared to Brazilians! These were the most welcoming people I've ever met.
So, while we didn't really have any sight-seeing activities (we were there to work), the nights were a lot of fun spent with some really awesome people.

Don't get me wrong. There were some nice sights. For example, the cathedral there is designed to resemble the crown of thorns,

and the inside is gorgeous, with angels hanging from the ceiling

and a stained glass egg to represent the trinity.

Also, this bridge was designed to represent a stone being skipped across the water. But, we, naturally all believe it looks like a DNA Helix, so we have dubbed it the CODIS Bridge, or, in portuguese: Ponte CODIS.

Other than Brazil, not much news. We went to Vintage Virginia with my peeps from work. That was a lot of fun. I was in bed by 8PM from too much wine and too much sun.

I finally finished my Beachcomber tunic. It was a work in progress for 2 years, and was ripped back at least 10 times, but I did, definitely, get plenty of crochet practice, and I feel a little more confident that I have a clue what I'm doing now when I crochet.

I celebrated my birthday.

Lots of good presents. I pretty much just asked for money for yarn since I'm on a yarn-diet all year long - trying to pay down my debt. I scored pretty great yarn, but then, when I got it home and started adding it to my stash, I realized I had lots of yarn that I had originally purchased with a project in mind, and now couldn't remember what the project was. So, I spent several days re-organizing the stash, and creating a queue on Ravelry to try to categorize as much as possible. That was a lot of fun - in a sick, twisted way.

And really, that's the sum total of my news. You'd think there'd be more, considering how long it's been since I posted, but what can I say. Times are tight.

Something to Blog Home About

2010-04-29T08:58:00.007-04:00

It's not just the fact that I've been working ridiculous hours, and the idea of sitting one second more in front of a computer was repulsive, but there just really hasn't been enough for me to blog about - why? - well, duh - cuz I've been working ridiculous hours.

Still, it hasn't been all work and no play- we have gone out and done some fun things - so, to catch up:

1. Over President's Day Weekend, we did our traditional trip to Canaan Valley, where they had record snow falls.

We went cross-country skiing at White Grass

- it snowed on us the whole time - and we were pretty fried after the morning session - not that we were that sore, but we were that cold. The next day we went snow shoeing at Blackwater Falls State Park - we shoed out to a gorgeous overlook,

well worth the trip. Before we launched out on that trek, however, we slushed down to the minor falls, which were completely frozen over - so much so, that we were able to climb up behind them and play on the ice.

The third day, we headed home. We had planned to go air-boarding again, but our fun meters were pegged...are we getting old?

2. Well, if so, we're celebrating it.

3. Because of all the snow, we couldn't celebrate our anniversary until later in March - but we did the traditional Foti's with Pierre as our waiter - of course.

The SigO likes this dress a lot...I wonder why?

4. I finally took the time to go to a happy hour with some of my co-workers - and got to experience C's first time! At a bar that is. Unbelievable. For someone with a German heritage, it sure took her long enough.

5. Early April, the SigO and I went to Longwood.

We went by Kennett Square first to go to one of my favorite yarn shops - SigO was going to buy me a skein of cashmere - yeah, I got it like that - just sit there and turn green, I'll wait - anyway, unfortunately, Wool Gatherings is closed now. The owner sold the shop so she could spend more time with her kids. I can understand the necessity of that, although, I'm really glad I don't have to choose between yarn and children - that would be tough. Anyway, he was disappointed in Longwood Gardens, because the fountains aren't on yet, but had we waited til May to go, we would have missed out on all the tulips,

and they really were gorgeous.

Not to mention this weeping cherry tree -

which isn't what it's called, but i hereby dub it such.

6. Finally, this past weekend, we got down to Middleburg for a ride I've wanted to do for some time now.

It's off-road, but nothing single track - just a nice wide dirt/gravel road that is supposed to take you to three wineries. The scenery was gorgeous, but, of course, we got lost several times, so by the time we got to the "first winery", we had already ridden close to 20 miles, and the whole trip was only supposed to be 23. The SigO was hurting, and to add insult to injury, the "first winery" hadn't been a winery for over 10 years - talk about an out of date map - I really need to quit using trails.com. Anyway, we took a shortcut back after that little let down, but I still enjoyed the ride - it was nice to be able to go on a decent length ride without having to dodge traffic. And, as I said - the scenery was very nice.

So, that's all my news. I've not gotten as much knitting done as usual, since hours have been long at work - I'm still working on that same color-block cardigan I started last year. I'm kinda tired of it right now, so even though it's very close to being finished, I've picked up the cashmere afghan recently and have been working on some squares for that. Man, that stuff is nice to touch!

I'd like to say I'll keep up with this more frequently, but, don't count on it. Things at work have only marginally slowed - not enough to be noticeable.

The winter of our disbelief

2010-02-10T13:13:00.004-05:00

Well, let's face it - I've been having too much fun to blog.

First, there was New Years Eve - and it was everything we hoped it would be. Beautiful food, wonderful atmosphere, good music,

and spectacular company.

Of course, I mean the SigO, but also we sat next to a small group who were very fun to talk to.

If you're interested, here is the menu: Ten courses.

A selection of canapes

Demitasse of White Bean Soup

with a Sliver of Black Truffle Pizza

A Tin of Sin: American Ossetra Caviar

with a Crab and Cucumber Rillette

A Melange of Spicy Big Eye Tuna

with Mango, Avocado, Crispy Shallots and Sake-Yuzu Sorbet

Maine Diver's Scallop Sauteed with Capers, Brown Butter

and Lemon with Tiny Tomato Gnocchi

Pan Roasted Maine Lobster with Braised Baby Bok Choy

in a Fragrant Coconut Sauce Perfumed with Lemongrass

Pan Seared Four Story Hill Farm's Pekin Duck Breast

on Butternut Squash Risotto with Caramelized Endive

Vacherin Crostini with Pomegranate

xxx

Panna Cotta Parfait with Cranberry Jelly

A Duet of Souffles

Butter Hot Chocolate and Frozen Raspberry

At the start of all this, they handed us an encyclopedia they claimed was their wine list. Very funny - like I'm going to sit there and pick out a wine that would go with all those courses. So, I asked if they had a wine pairing - which, of course, they did. I expressed my concerns about so many courses paired with wine. The sommelier assured me it wouldn't be that much wine. "We don't fill your glass, of course." says he. Silly man. I didn't get so tanked as to not remember everything, but I was definitely feeling no pain at the end of the meal. Neither of us were.

Then there's been all the snow. Most snow I've ever seen - and I even lived in Korea for a year, so trust me - that's a lot of snow. In fact, I'm snowed in as I write this. This picture is from this past weekend, and it is currently dumping about 9 more inches on top of that. I think it will be somewhere near 32" when it's all done. We have plans to go X-Country skiing in Canaan this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed, cuz the SigO is on a business trip right now, and we really need the airports to stay open so we can finally ski White Grass.

Before this round of snow hit, we did manage to test my new disk brakes on a ride around Burke Lake. I need to figure out how to adjust them, because they were dragging a little bit. Between that and the mud, I definitely got a nice workout that day.
And, of course, I've been knitting. Finally finished the clapotis - which, as you can see, goes nicely with the beret I made while in Acadia last year.
And this is the last round of the traveling scarf I got to do. The most recent one, that I'm supposed to be working on right now was reported delivered to my door, but I never received it. I think we're going to have to do another round for that poor lady, but I'm still holding out hope that a neighbor will step up or something.
So, that's it. I know it doesn't sound like enough to keep me from blogging for so long, but then, there's also been that pesky job keeping me busy. Unbelievable how they expect me to earn my pay. *Sigh*

Someone slap me awake

2009-12-18T09:37:00.005-05:00

I totally forgot I had really fun pictures from TWO weekends ago. One of my oldest friends - no - she's not my oldest friend in that she's old - she's my oldest friend in that I've known her longest - now behave yourself - came to visit me before deploying to Afghanistan/Kuwait/Iraq for a year. And seeing as how I didn't think it likely for her to get a whole lot of pampering while over there, it only made sense that we go do it before she left.

So, we went to Yvonne's Day spa and splurged.

She had the Dr. Fish Pedicure.

I had the Jello Pedicure.

Then we both had the spa Manicure and pedicure. It was a very nice, relaxing day.

As a point of interest, I'm knitting the top I was going to wear for New Year's Eve, until I changed my mind and decided I was going to wear a halter top and skirt - so I started knitting a beaded silk shrug for that. Until the SigO changed my mind because he's stuck on a red dress I modeled for him that doesn't require any knitted items at all. None. How weird is that? So, the gorgeous lace top, and the luscious silk shrug are both hibernating while I work on a cashmere beret - that feels awesome - can't wait for that to finish. The only thing that's interuppted that is the traveling scarf - which I almost completely forgot about until the last minute, and just got that knit up and ready to send today.

So, that's it. That's the excitement in my life - for now - stay tuned - New Years Eve is less than 2 weeks away. Woo Hoo!!!

Gobble shiver Gobble

2009-11-30T09:13:00.005-05:00

Happy Belated T-day to everyone. Boy do I have some fun stories.

First, let me catch you up on my knitting retreat. As usual, I spent a weekend in Nov with my buds at Clara Parke's knitting retreat. Still being dedicated to the whole P90X gig, I ran and hid every time we had a meal, which meant I ended up spending a lot less time with everyone than I would have liked. Not that mealtimes are all that long, but since I ran and hid, I ended up driving to other locations (OK, OK - yes! Yarn shops!!!), which reduced the amount of time I had at the retreat. Seriously, it wasn't nearly enough time, so next year, I plan on meeting a couple of buds in Boston a few days before the retreat so I can get my fix. I did have a good time though. Spent too much on yarn (what a shocker, huh?), and on one of my escapes, I got to check out a Rowan exhibit that was on display at the Lenox Library. Personally, I liked the quilts the best, but I loved this jacket. Very nice. And I had to take a shot of this dress, as I actually know someone who made it. The end of the retreat came all too soon and I had to wish my gals farewell, but I'm looking forward to next year already. Also looking forward to spending a weekend with them down in Georgia in summer 2010, and, spending a week doing BRAG in June. I need something to keep me going after New Years Eve, and I figure this is the ticket.

So, on to this past weekend. The SigO and I went to Garrett County, MD, which is the far west part of Maryland - almost to WV. It's a very scenic area, with lots to do, all of which we got skunked out of. But, before I get to that, let me tell you about Art's Market. Oh yeah, SigO - I'm going there! And I'm taking my readers with me!! So, here's the deal. Tuesday, 24 Nov, we still don't have plans for the weekend. All the ideas I'd come up with had fallen through and I was plumb out of ideas. So, I called the SigO and dropped it in his lap. He googled Mid Atlantic Resorts, and came up with Yellowstone Village Cabin rentals in Maryland. I checked it out on line and thought it looked pretty great, so he called their office and reserved a cabin for us for the weekend. Yay SigO, right? Showing great initiative, and all that. Now, had he only shown enough initiative to get an address...that would have really been something - but then, how humdrum would our thanksgiving have been if he'd been so normal, right? See, the rental agency informed him they would be closed on thanksgiving, and he would need to pick up the keys at a location near the cabin. He listened very carefully to the instructions and wrote down "Art's Market" as the place to get the keys. No address. No intersection. Nope. Just Art's Market. But how hard can that be, right? I mean, we're talking a small little town here - surely all we need to do is ask a local where Art's Market is...and so we did. Many, many, many times. We even stopped at the Maryland State Police - nobody had ever heard of Art's Market. We even stopped at Arrowhead Market and asked them. No dice. Three hours later, after driving all over Garrett County, with the turkey sitting in the ice chest in the back seat, we're still trying to find who might have our key - and, oh yeah - where our cabin might be. Finally, we find a sign that says Yellowstone Village Cabins (I'll give him the props - he saw the sign), and hooray - that's where we're supposed to be staying - now which cabin - oh, and yeah - still no key. So, the SigO started knocking on doors. One by one. Undeterred by the fact that everyone would be sitting down to Thanksgiving meals, he was not to be defeated (no surprise there - he was imagining the weekend back home, had he failed - not a pretty picture). Finally, he found someone who knew where to go. You guessed it. Arrowhead Market (sound's just like Art's, right?), back where we'd looked almost three hours prior.

I literally jumped for joy when we finally got to the cabin, and I saw how nice it was. Cathedral ceilings, with nice big windows. A fireplace in the living room, and another on the deck, next to the jacuzzi. A big den downstairs (where I would do my workouts), and a nice big kitchen. The turkey came out great - I'm sure it had plenty of time to get all nice and tenderized rolling around in the back of the car for all those hours, and that's why it turned out so great. The stuffing was yummy (I think so anyway - the SigO wouldn't even try it. I made it with Quinoa, so it wouldn't be so unhealthy, and upon hearing the stuffing would be healthy, he promptly jumped in the car and drove back to Arrowhead Market to get some cornbread stuffing - never even tasted mine!), the gravy was quite tasty, and so were the green beans. The only disappointment was the pumpkin pie. Some things shouldn't even be attempted to be healthy. That night it started to snow, and we got about 3-4" total for the next day. So, we scampered off to go X-Country skiing, only the rental lodge wasn't open, and we still don't have our own equipment. So, we went up to Wisp, hoping for some snow boarding, or air boarding. Skunked again - they don't open til Dec 4th. So, we went and saw 2012. Good CG affects. While driving around, we stopped at this little corner market that also had a corner dedicated to a U.S. Post Office. I still had my traveling scarf to mail, and this was the first post office I'd seen. This, without a doubt, is the coolest market (no - it wasn't called Art's by the way) I'd ever seen. They used an old coal-heater to warm the place, and it had been in the family for generations. I just loved this place. Anyway, we didn't do much Friday, so, we hoped for enough snow to go skiing Saturday.

Saturday, we woke up to the bulk of the snow being melted. All that was left was muddy, nasty trails. So we headed home.

Sounds like a bad weekend, but let me tell you, that was my favorite Thanksgiving ever.

Don't You Wish Your Boyfriend Was Hot

2009-11-09T08:41:00.004-05:00

Like Mine. Sing it now - you know he is!!!

But, this isn't just a gratuitous "look at my hot boyfriend" post - believe it or not, I took this picture, at least in part, for you to see the scarf I knit for him. When it was done, I told him I thought it would look good with a pea coat, and so he bought one. And now he's mega-hot. Just sayin.

And on the note of scarves, this is the latest in the traveling scarf saga.

I think it's the nicest one so far, although this is undoubtedly the worst picture I've taken. I put this off til the last minute (I know - whoa! shocker!!), and barely got it mailed out by the deadline - and then when I got to the post office, I realized I hadn't taken a picture yet, so I took a shot on the hood of my car, with the sun beaming down behind me, so yes - that's my shadow on the scarf. So, it may be difficult to tell, but you'll just have to take my word for it - it's definitely the best of the lot so far.

Otherwise, I've put all my other projects aside for now so I can get some chemo-caps knit up in time for Clara's retreat, which is now less than 2 weeks away. For those of you new to the blog, Clara Parkes is a knitter extraordinaire, who has published a few knitting books, and who has a "Knitters Review" newsletter she publishes monthly. And once a year, she has a retreat in Massachussets, and this will be my third year. I go, primarily, to hook up with friends that are also faithful to come every year. Anyway, we normally have some sort of charity we knit for, and this year (and last), it's hats for patients who have undergone chemotherapy. So, I knit one last night (in alpaca - i understand that the most important thing about the hats is that they be seamless, and in a nice, soft yarn), and I'd like to get 3 more knit up before I leave next Friday. Hats are such a nice, quickie project, it's not really a challenge to knit 4 in two weeks.
Actually, the challenge this year, will be staying on my diet at this retreat. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Oh, and this last shot is for my family - cuz by now I'm sure they're missing all the fall color they got to see while they were here.

I survived

2009-10-30T12:24:00.008-04:00

For anyone who has ever been to Germany, you can buy a t-shirt that says "I survived the Autobahn", which is the German highway system - the infamous one without the speed limit -well, of course, there is a speed limit, but we're drifting off subject - quit distracting me!

Anyway, I think I need a "I survived my lunatic family's visit" t-shirt. I don't get how it is that I work out every single day of my life, and yet, when they come to visit, I'm exhausted at the end of every day. I mean, yeah - my brother is a marathoner,

and uber-fit, but still - I'm not a complete couch potato, so what's the deal? I want to know. Not to mention my Mom is practically a fossil, (Can you believe she's 74?! And still adorable. I hope I'm that well preserved at her age) and she keeps up! Someone please explain this to me.

In the meantime, here's the story. My uber-fit brother, my sister-in-law, and my fossilized mom all came to visit this week. They came down in conjunction with the Marine Corps Marathon.

The day before the race, to keep him off his feet as much as possible, all we did was go to Ford's Theater.

And, there may have been a trip to a yarn shop in there somewhere. What can I say - he wanted to preview the course, and while we were trying to drive around, finding all the hills he'd have to run, we came close to Bethesda, MD - home of Knit and Stitch = Bliss - a shop I rarely get to visit since it's so far out of my way. I bought Rowan's Felted Tweed to make this wonderful Fair Isle vest - now all I have to do is learn how to knit fair isle - i figure I'll start with a hat and go from there. So, that was Saturday (they got in Friday night).

Sunday was the race.

And seriously, I think I was more tired than my brother - we raced around trying to get to places to cheer him on. We did get to see lots of gorgeous sites while running around - and with virtually no crowds around (since we were there at the crack-o-dawn - oh yeah - i left that little jewel out, didn't i?).

But, unfortunately, at one point, Doms (Mom's nickname - make sure you remember, not gonna tell you again!) and I got separated from my sister-in-law, and since she was the only one with a race map, that meant we were lost. Well, that and the fact that I'm directionally dsyfunctional. So, Doms and I wandered around lost for - like - ever, before we finally found a metro station, and went to Rossyln, along with the other million people wanting to get to the race finish line. We never got to see him finish, but I did make sure he knew how exhausted I was when I did see him. Silly boy - he didn't think any of this was about him, did he? Truth of it is, yeah - i was tired, but that ended up being a lot more fun than I would have expected.

So, that was Sunday.

Monday, I took a half day off work so I could meet them at the new Smithsonian American History museum. I enjoyed the exhibits - especially the new exhibit for the flag, the one about American's in War, American Presidents, and the transportation exhibit - but there is an awful lot of wasted space in that new set up. Still, I learned a lot - I even learned things the SigO didn't know - impressive, huh?

Tuesday, we all trooped down to Monticello - which is in Charlottesville, VA. And do you know what else is in Charlottesville, VA? The Needle Lady! A really great yarn shop, with a terrific selection. It's possible I bought some yarn there too. I also found a great pattern for a top for my New Year's end of P90X celebration - all I need now is to find some yarn that won't break the bank - the yarn called for in the pattern definitely will. Anyway - back to Monticello - it's a lovely home, but even nicer than the building are the grounds.

The gardens were incredible. The whole day was just one giant watercolor painting - we got really lucky with the fall foliage.

we stopped at this one church on the way there,

and took a zillion pictures

- tons of color, lots of nice photo ops.

Wednesday I had to work all day. The gall. Expecting me to earn my income. But, considering my yarn habit, that income is pretty crucial.

And speaking of yarn...The Doms and I spent Thursday visiting some of my favorite haunts. That, of course, means Wegmans. Not that I love going to Wegmans so much - but, I do have to go a lot - especially on P90X - dieting is such hard work. Then we went to Burke Lake -just so she could see how gorgeous it is in color. Then Merrifield. Then REI - a true favorite. Then Nature's Yarn, and finally, Uniquities. We didn't have time for all my favorite spots, but we did have a stellar day. And now, it's Friday, and they're leaving, and even though I'm exhausted, I already miss them.

Sigh. Texas is so far away!!

Knitting Update

2009-10-15T12:18:00.004-04:00

This blog is 100% about knitting.

If you feel yourself dozing off already - probably want to go ahead and move on.

I finished my section of MisJaq's traveling scarf last night. To catch everyone up, this is a group in Ravelry (an online knitting community), that knits a section of a scarf, and then sends it to the next knitter. You start off with your own scarf. You knit 5", and then send it to the next lady in line. This is the lady you always send to, for the entire exchange. She then knits 5" and sends it to the lady under her, who knits 5", and so on, until the scarf comes back around to you. So, the first scarf you receive in the mail is from the lady above you, and it's only her 5". Then, the next scarf you get has 5" knit from the lady above you, and 5" from the lady above her, for a total of 10". The next will have 15" knit. And so on, and so on, until you're the one knitting the last 5" of a 50" scarf. Get it?

Anyway, I had to take MisJaq's scarf to Tiffany at Nature's Yarn (my favorite LYS) and have her rip it back to Jannit's section. I don't know how, but I somehow lost some stitches and couldn't find them again. I kept frogging and tinking and got down to where if I went much further, I'd be messing up Jannit's section - and it's a bit pointless to have a traveling scarf, where the object is to have many women knitting up your scarf for you, when you end up messing with the previous knitter's section. So, needless to say, I didn't want to push my luck any further - especially since it was going south, quickly. Luckily, Tiffany set me straight and I was able to knit my section without any more drama. I did use a lifeline though after Tiffany set me straight, and intend to do that from now on with future traveling scarves.

I used Kaffe Fassett's sock yarn, and I think it is a nice continuation of the colors MisJaq originally chose.

My araucania hoodie is still coming along well. One more sleeve, then on to the hood and the button band. No pics of that yet.

Finally, I'm working on a scarf for the SigO. It seemed only fair that he should get something more than one pair of knitted socks. Although, he'd better use this scarf more than he wears those socks, or else!! I found the yarn in NYC, and found the pattern in Ravlery (of course). It's a multidirectional diagonal scarf. I think it looks very manly, and want him to buy a peacoat to wear with it.

See, there are all sorts of hidden expenses with knitting!

Gettysburg

2009-10-14T12:18:00.003-04:00

So, we were desperate to get out of town. What's new, right? And the SigO chose Gettysburg. I had this great camping location all picked out in MD. And no, I didn't make reservations. It was supposed to rain and drop into the low 40's. How many maniacs could there be like us, out on this particular weekend.

Apparently, a lot. So, that campground was full - "We're full every weekend" said the registration lady - rather snottily. Then why do you close 3/4 of your effin' campground in Oct, I'd like to know!?!

Anyway, I did a quick search on SigO's iphone and found Codorus State Park, which is only 18miles out of Gettysburg. Not the most private camp sites, but we got a pretty good one, without anyone immediately next to us on any side. So, after setting up camp, we headed down to the battlefields and did some riding.

Encounted a few problems there too. The map we were using was out of date, and the Visitor Center isn't where it used to be. And they've changed the direction of the traffic, so following our map had us riding against traffic the whole time. Which got real un-fun, real fast. So, we turned around and simply tried to follow some signs. Which was OK, but still, not the best ride ever. The SigO was a tad grumpy when I tried to take this shot, but I put on a pouty face until he smiled at me.

We got a nice shot from the top of Little Round Top,

and a nice one from close to where the visitor's center used to be.

Then, we headed on out, to continue the ride, but it tried to drop us onto another busy road without much of a shoulder. By this time, my fun meter was pegged, so we loaded the bikes and wandered around thru town on foot instead. Lots of folks wandering around in period clothing. Nice.

It was quite dark by the time we got back to our campsite, and with temps dropping fast, the highlight of the evening was to see how big a fire we could build.

Too bad I couldn't take it into the tent with me, because it was seriously cold that night, even with two heavy blankets and us huddling together for warmth. I cursed at him every time he got up to pee - which, quite frankly, was one too many times - but then, once would have been one too many times. And yes. I know. If you think I was cursing...

I'm sure he wasn't loving life out there either. The one time I had to get up to pee I thought my bum was going to freeze off. Can you believe I still want to go camping in the snow one day?

News from the knitting front is good, but since I have no pics to share, you'll have to wait on that one. I'll try to remember to take some shots tonight, and post again tomorrow.

Until then...

Crazy Busy

2009-10-01T11:32:00.005-04:00

I know - I'm late in posting, but I have been crazy busy lately. Crazy busy getting ready for a business trip next week. Crazy busy doing P90x. Don't even try giving me that deer in the headlights look. I don't even watch commercials and I've heard Tony's obnoxious promo's on the product.

Ab Ripper!! I hate it. But I love it.

Blech.

Needless to say, I curse at the TV a lot while doing these routines, but I can't argue with the results so far.

So, but, I have a few minutes now, so thought I'd tell you about my weekend.

We went and looked at RV's.

You all probably know by now that the 5-year dream/fantasy/plan - call it what you want - is to sell everything, buy an RV and spend our golden years traveling around. The RV will be home. As such, that means it needs to be a monster RV. Which is why we're looking at a 42 footer. The one we liked the best (where we were looking - and yes, it was the only 42' model on the lot) was the Timmons Phaeton. We looked at some smaller ones, and as soon as we walked in, I thought "there's not even enough room for all my yarn in here!!!" But, I think we could fit into this one. It's got a bath and a half. It's got a king size bed. It's got a full sized fridge.A washer/dryer. And a bigger kitchen than the one I have now - I'm just sayin.

Let me tell you though - as you're driving down the road, and one of these beasts passes by you (and if so - you're driving too damn slowly - again - just sayin'), you see all these compartments along the side. I've always thought those were storage compartments. And some of them are. But most are just places for the sewage, or the propane tank, etc. Not nearly as much storage space as you'd think. We'll have to get one of those roof luggage things, put that on top of our tow vehicle, and stow all my yarn in there. Cuz you know, it's all about the yarn.

Anyway, that night, we went to Cavalia. This is a show out of Canada that mixes Cirque du Soleil and horses. We had a very nice time, and the show was quite spectacular. My favorite part was right at the beginning - this girl was on a trampoline, flipping her legs over her perfectly straight, horizontal body - over, and over, and over again. Quite the sight. Also, there was this one scene where it looked very much Lord of the Rings.

That was very pretty. Another scene had a group of rather gorgeous men standing on the backs of two horses and galloping around, jumping, doing tricks, etc.

H and I lamented over the fact that undoubtedly none of them are interested in women. So many gorgeous men. So few straight.

The show effectively ended with several stunt riders, one after the other, while also featuring several acrobats and aerialists doing their thing.

A nice show, all the way around.

As far as knitting goes, after the RV lot, we went to Old Town Needlecrafts in Manassas, VA. Like In Stitches, she sells knitting, needlepoint and cross stitch. She also sells some quilting supplies. I was only into the knitting. I got the yarn and pattern for a Filatura Di Crosa cardigan that I intend to start just as soon as I'm done with the Araucania Hoodie. I know - amazing - I'm finishing a project before starting another. That's just because I really want to wear the hoodie this fall, and time's a ticking. So far, I have the back and left front knit up. The sleeves are short, so those won't take long, but I just finished the ribbing on the right front, so I have a lot to go on that, plus the hood. Damned P90X. It's interfering with my knitting!!

2009-09-23T10:55:00.003-04:00

Just to demonstrate my love for my readers, I'm posting today's blog, despite having one foot in the coffin. I may have overdosed on Airborne and Echinacea-Goldenseal, and yet, I still think there's an invisible giant with his foot on my head - and he keeps pressing down, harder, and harder.

I figure this is either the crud that's been making its way thru our office, or it's the effects of P90X - one or t'other.

But...I'm not here to moan and groan, I'm here to tell you about the horseback trip with WWO.

I took the two girls with me on this trip, seeing as how they both love horses. H has some experience with horses, having taken lessons when she was young, but I had practically none, and I don't think W has a whole lot either. Because H and W were my guests, the guide put the three of us together, so H had to suffer our slowness - although, I'd like to point out it wasn't mine or W's fault we were so slow - it was the four women in front of us who had no control whatsoever over their animals, and another woman who was afraid to go fast. Typical adult thinking - they think they need to protect the poor little children, but of course, who do you figure would like to gallop their horse - the frail little 70 year old, or the vibrant 17 year old? And yet, they stuck us behind the frail little 70 year old - who, I admire for being out there (she's probably really only 50, but hey - she looks about 65 - 70), but I wish they had put her in the back, not us.

But, I make this sound like we had no fun at all. In fact, we did have a nice time. I didn't get a whole lot of shots of all of us, and those of you who know me, know I won't post any of them with the girls faces clearly visible. To explain this - I don't believe in putting someone on my blog until they give me permission. And I don't believe in putting a minor on the blog until his or her parents (both) have given their permission - and since I don't have H's or W's parents permission...you don't get to see their lovely faces. Such is life. Get past it.

Still, here is one nice view we saw along the ride.

And here are all of us lined up, for a picture. Odd place to take the picture. We were all baking in the sun, and you can tell we were all pretty tired of sitting there, waiting for the guide to snap pics from each and every camera brought on the trip. The blue dot, third from the back is me - trying to shade my face.

For the most part, we were in nice shady/cool areas. Either shaded by trees, like you see here, or nice and breezy as we trotted through an open meadow.

Also, this is Rambo - my trusty mount. I had very little problems getting Rambo to heed my wishes, until the end when he was tired, but I still wanted to go fast - then he was a tad stubborn. But trust me, considering the girl in front of me kept walking through tree branches, compliments of her horse, Pearl, and the one in front of her liked to walk over bendable shrubs in order to scratch his belly, I'm not about to complain about Rambo being a bit lazy in the end. And besides - he matched me perfectly- look at those colors!

OK, I'm going to bed now.

Later.

Acadia '09 - Day Six - Last Day

2009-09-21T09:29:00.004-04:00

For those of you who are fans of the movie Logans Run, you'll understand when I tell you "Last Day" in Acadia felt a little like "Last Day" in Logans Run. You hope you'll get to renew and come back really, really soon.

As last day's go, this one couldn't have been nicer. The SigO and I spent the morning biking the Carriage Trail. We started out at Witches Hole, went around Eagle Lake, then Jordan Pond, past the Jordan Pond House, around the Carriage House, and back up the around the other side.

I would highly recommend this ride to anyone. There are a few climbs, but nothing the average rider couldn't handle, easily....so long as your chain doesn't pop and you don't lose momentum, like the poor SigO - he had to push through some pretty tough times on account of this. Also, he tricked me into stopping halfway up one hill - the things he'll do to get ahead - and I lost momentum on that hill - still, if you keep a steady pace, this is a great ride. About 17 miles long, with incredible views all along the way.

Here is one of my all time favorite scenes - marshy grasses on the border, then the lake, then the mountains - hard to beat.

Needless to say - I tend to take several variations on this shot.

Then there's the shot from on high -

and one from the trees

We rode past waterfalls, bluffs, and many other beautiful sites, but stopping to take pictures when you're on a bike is much harder than when you're hiking. Not to mention, you just can't do justice to some of them - like the waterfall. We sat and enjoyed that for a while, but none of the pictures we took really came close to displaying its beauty.

After the ride, we went back to Bar Harbor and had a small lunch on the pier - one of the places we always eat - we almost missed it this time - isn't it funny how important those little traditions become. We've eaten at this place every time we've come to Bar Harbor, and even though this is only my third time, it would feel like we'd missed something if we had forgotten to stop here this trip.

Having satiated ourselves, we rounded up the girls and managed to find the only boring path in Acadia. Mind you, set anywhere else, this would be a great trail. But compared to the rest of the trails in Acadia - yawn. We followed the directions given us by our proprietess in the B&B, but she obviously is on this trail for her dog's sake, not the views. Living in the area, she probably focuses more on what's away from the crowds than what vistas are offered.

We did find a fern gully for H (SigO's daughter - you know I don't like to put names in my blog, but I'm tired of referring to her as the SigO's daughter, and I'm tired of referring to her friend, as ...well, her friend...so we'll call that one "W" - and yes - I fully expect you to remember these designations from now on!). I'm not 100% certain of the story behind this, but apparently, ever since she was a wee one, H called this type trail "fern gully".

Also, the birch trees were pretty great. And the SigO almost knocked one over on H. That was exciting. We were noticing how many of them were dead or dying, and he looked at one and said: "Maybe there's a disease - look at this one ", and H did - from directly under it - as he proceeded to completely knock it over - barely missing her. So, for those of you keeping score, first he marches her 5 miles fed by false hopes and lies, then he makes her vomit, then he nearly brains her with a birch. Ah...parental love. The true reason we make kids so resilient!

That night we ate at a lobster bake type place down on the ocean. H was, ironically, the only one who ordered Lobster, although the SigO did have some in his "cobb salad" - if you can call a salad with lobster a cobb salad - but that's what they called it. We didn't get to sit outside as we would have preferred, but we did get to witness the best sunset we'd seen all week.

As if the island was reminding us that it was our last day - the sun was setting on our vacation - and wishing us a good year between this night, and next year, when we return.

Acadia '09 - Day Six

2009-09-18T10:51:00.006-04:00

This is the day we climbed the Bubbles. It's such a nice, easy climb, over in no time, and the view from the top is another stunner. All four of us climbed it this year. Last year, one of our group was having issues and didn't make it to the top, so I stayed behind with her, and then went up by myself a little later. On that particular trip, I noticed that you can get down to Jordan Pond from up there, and explored around, trying to figure out the path, with no luck - also, I was on a timeline since I had to get back with the rest of the group. This year, I found the path, and now my goal for next year is to hike the bubbles from the other side. I want to start at the Jordan Pond house, walk up to the South Bubble, and climb up from that side, then down to the parking lot, where we plan to ghost a bike, and I'll ride the bike back to the pond house, get the cars and come get everyone else. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Anyway, I didn't take many pictures from the top of the Bubble since we have about 11ty billion shots from up there.

I did (barely) get a shot of this falcon that was soaring around. He came so close to me at one point, but I didn't have the camera ready yet - and sometimes, I think we're so busy snapping photos of everything that we actually miss out on some things, so I'm not too sorry about not getting that shot - I couldn't have done it justice anyway.

Still, I knew you'd squawk at me if I didn't show you what it looks like from up there (although I'm SURE I showed you last year), so here's a shot from last year.

And here's a shot of the bubbles from down by the Jordan Pond house. In case you're wondering, and in case I didn't mention it last year, the bubbles are named for the girlfriend of the guy that donated the land to the park. And they are apparently reminiscent of one of his favorite body parts. Not my story. I wouldn't make something like that up.

One of the distinguishing features up on the south bubble is balancing rock, shown here. We traditionally take pictures of all of us trying to roll it down the mountainside, but apparently we took those shots on the SigO's camera, not mine, so I don't have those for you.

After we climbed the bubbles, we headed back over to the quiet side for lunch, which, tragically, in case you've forgotten, is where the Lilac Lily is. Chloe (shop owner) was happy to see me again - needless to say. And I didn't disappoint. I found more yarn.How is that possible, you may ask - well, I take that back, only a non-knitter would ask that. For those non-knitters reading this, try thinking of it this way: Yarn = Crack for knitters. So, this time I got all this yarn for an afghan I saw Chloe knitting - it's Cherry Hill, and I've used Cherry Hill for socks (my sister-in-law's and the Domster's socks are in Cherry Hill - just so you guys know) and I like the way it knits up. Besides, Chloe's afghan sold the yarn for her. I also bought these two buttons. No idea what I'm going to use them for, but I wanted them the first day I was there, but I didn't see them until the SigO walked in the door, and he already bugged out when he saw all the yarn I was buying. So, I got them on this trip. Of course, I left him and the girls down at the lunch counter while I went yarn shopping - again - and I was checking out when I saw him coming down the street towards me. I shouted "Quick! Here he comes!!" to the amusement of the entire store. Pretty silly of me since he would have to pack it in the car to go home. You'll be happy to know there was still room in the car for the two girls when we did finally head home a few days later.

Anyway, after the lunch/yarn binge, we headed over to Long Pond for some canoeing. Now, this is the same pond that created so much havoc with us the first year. That year, we rented a two person kayak, and could not keep that damn thing straight. Apparently, the SW wind on the pond wreaks havoc with the boats. So, much wiser this year, we rented a canoe instead. We were going like gang-busters heading out. We were sure we were going to make it to the mountains - and we did get very, very close, but we had much less time this year, so we turned back, and thank heavens we did, because as soon as we turned around, the pond gremlins began messing with us again. Nothing as crazy as that first year, but we still had quite the time keeping the boat straight - and this a canoe, I'd like to remind you. When we did finally turn it back in, and were telling the rental lady about our adventures, both this year, and the previous, she laughed and told us they call the kayaks the "divorce boats". So, now we know. Long Pond is not a place for anyone without a very strong relationship.

It is pretty though. These are the mountains we were heading for.

And here is the cutey patootie rowing hard.

Isn't he just cute as a button?! And he so loves it whenever anyone tells him that - make sure you get the opportunity the next time you see him.

On the way home, we saw this fellow munching down on some poor hapless souls apples. He didn't give a dang about us, let me tell you. We stopped the car and had plenty of time to take some snaps of him chowing down.

When we got back that evening, I went shopping, yes, again, at Fabricate, a quilt shop in Bar Harbor. She had some of her batiks on sale, and I still want to put together the quilt I was supposed to be working on at Hershey this year, so I picked up some fabric from her. Also, she's a fellow knitter - there's a surprise - so I got this recycled silk from her.She doesn't want to really sell yarn, because she's right across the street from another yarn shop, called Bee's. The irony is, she felt it was safe to sell this yarn, because she didn't think anyone else in the area would carry it.

Whoops.

Headed over to Bee's afterwards, and found this.

Also recycled silk.

The one at Fabricate is from a sari. Not sure where this comes from.

Still, after all this, I was finally satiated - for now.

So ended another great day in Maine. We have only one day left, and you'll have to wait til Monday to hear about it.

Acadia '09 - Day Five

2009-09-16T13:39:00.004-04:00

Finally - the Precipice. Doms, you might want a shot of vodka before reading this. Oh - right - you don't drink. OK, deep breaths. Ready? Go! Read Fast!!

In case you've never heard of it, the Precipice is a trail up Champlain Mountain and is the most challenging, best known trail in the park. For our last three trips, it's been closed. The first and third because we were there during nesting season for the Falcons, and they close it down for that. I have no idea why it was closed the second year. It just was. Overall, it's not as "woooo, scary" as people make it sound. There are a lot of places where you've got bushes between you and the plummet to your death. Plus, the view on the way up distracts you from scary thoughts.

Still, there are certainly a few spots where it's a bit nervey. Although you'd think the iron rungs would be such a place, for me - since we were going up, not down - it wasn't really that big a deal. After all, you've got four points of contact the whole way up when you're on the rungs. Much scarier is when the ledge you're on is barely wide enough for you to walk along and it slopes, ever so slighly downward - and there's gravel, and a little slickness from the recent rains. Those are the scary parts.

There are also a lot of just plain ole challenging parts - like bouldering up one long trail, and pulling yourself up over rock shelves and ledges. In all honesty, I think I was the most worried when about 2/3 up the trail, my arms were just worn out from all the pulling and I was wondering if I'd have the strength to pull myself up the iron rungs. But, once we got to the rungs, it seemed a lot easier to me from there. Probably because I knew we were almost to the top and I was going to make it.

One of the rewards of making this climb is having your picture taken here.For those of you who can't read it, the bottom line says "People have died on this trail!" That would be a good sign to have at the beginning of the trail....before you start - wouldn't you agree?

Once at the top, a lot of people sat and enjoyed picnics that they carried up with them. I would have enjoyed doing something like that as well - to sit and enjoy these views - but there ain't no way I was going to add even a few more ounces of weight to have to haul up that mountain other than my own body weight and the weight of my water bottle. So, no, in this case, I didn't take any knitting with me. I plan to be several pounds lighter the next time I climb it, so maybe I can spare some room for a sock or scarf in progress on that trip.

The walk down is really very easy. So, so, so much easier than going down the Beehive. Nice, long flat rocks, instead of bouldering down. On the way down, we saw the boat the two girls were taking out for their whale watch - it's that tiny little speck in the distance.

Also, you can see main stree in Bar Harbor from up there - we were staying in a little B&B off that street, so that was cool - kinda like spotting your house from the plane.Of course, after it was over, we stopped at the Thirsty Whale, for a drink in our favorite beer garden, served by our favorite bar tender, who just so happens to also be a knitter. The poor SigO - he thinks we're taking over the world. His words to God's ears!

I can't wait to do this again next year!!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast

2009-09-15T12:00:00.008-04:00

I know - I was supposed to be telling you about the Precipice, or Acadia - Day Five, but that will have to wait, and I don't think you'll be disappointed, since you get to read about what a bonehead I can be sometimes.

Sunday morning, at 0900, I decided it was time to clean out the pantry. I was sick and tired of every time I try to find an herb, or a bottle of vinegar, I had to dig for 15 minutes, and sometimes still couldn't find it. I was sick of going to the grocery store, and bringing home food that I already had plenty of, but couldn't find. So, this was it! I was going to tackle the beast.

First, let me tell you, the pantry is no small deal. It's about 5'x4'", and 9' tall. Plenty of space for disarray, but still, I thought I could finish it in a day.

So, I began by pulling everything out. Everything. Pots, pans, bakeware, food, spices, papertowel holders, you name it, it was in there, and out it came and got placed in a designated spot on the floor or countertops in the kitchen.

Then, I began to scrub. I really wish I had a before and after, so you could see where the molasses had spilled over, or the grease had accumulated, but take my word for it - it was grody in there.

Once I was done scrubbing, it was clear to me I needed to paint, and line the shelves with something that's easier to clean. And here's where the boneheaded part comes in.

I blame my father. He had these cut corners genes and he passed them along to me. Because, let's face it, I didn't want to have to buy paint brushes, drop cloths, rollers, pans, etc, etc, just to paint the pantry. I mean, damn, I wasn't even going to paint the shelves. So, yup, I bought spray paint.

I'll give you a moment to stop laughing at me.

Recovered yet? OK, good, get ready for more.

When I began to asphyxiate, I turned on the ceiling fan.

yeah, yeah, yeah. Yuk it up.

When I emerged from my fog of paint, and looked at the kitchen, I saw I'd need to stop working in the pantry and immediately begin cleaining the paint off the walls, cabinets and floors before it set.

So, you can see how it took me longer to finish this project than originally scheduled.

By 8:00 Sunday night, I had all the paint cleaned off where it shouldn't be(mostly), all the paint applied where it should be, and all but the bottom shelf lined with contact paper. The dishes, food, spices, etc were still all scattered throughout the kitchen.

So, Monday, I took a personal day in order to complete this project. One thing I forgot to tell you - I wanted to have two levels on the shelves that store the bulk of the canned goods, jars, etc, so I stacked a level of bricks along the back, and put contact paper over those as well.
Here's the end result. I finished everything, cleaning up after myself and all, by Monday around noon. I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to buy an area rug to cover the paint on the floor in the pantry (Remember, I said "mostly removed paint where it shouldn't be.)
I was very happy with the end result, even if it was a drama fest getting there.
But now, it was noon, and what to do, what to do?
Then I remembered! In Stitches is having their 15 year anniversary sale! Woo Hoo!! I certainly deserved a prize after the last two days, and boy did I find one.
This is Araucania Rehue, in color #8 - Orange Multi, and color #1 - Green Solid. It's made from baby alpaca and silk. Very soft. Very pretty colors.
And this is the hoodie I'm going to make with these colors - the orange multi will be the bulk of the knitting, but the ribbing for the buttons, and around the hood will be in the green. I think it's so gorgeous, I began last night. And since I'm using a different yarn than what's called for in the pattern, I even knit a swatch.
Yes, I knit a swatch.
Try not to faint.
Oh - I forgot to mention. I also bought this air sanitizer to use down in the basement to clean up the SigO's cigarette smoke. This is even better than a lava lamp if you ask me.

Last, but not least, since I deprived you of the news from Acadia - here's a nature shot for you.

I saw this guy swoop down and grab something out of the tall grass. I couldn't get close enough to see what, but I could see him chomping down on it. I'm sure it was nummy. The world is his pantry. Too bad he can't pull all our litter and crap out, and give the planet a good scrubbing, huh?

Acadia Day Five tomorrow - I promise - unless I don't.

Acadia '09 - Day Four

2009-09-11T10:18:00.005-04:00

This was the day we made the SigO do the beehive twice. Don't even begin to feel sorry for him - he loves this stuff!!

Here's how it went. In the morning, I went up to Greathead (hey, I didn't name it!), which is a gorgeous hike with beach views almost all the way around. The first part looks down on Sand Beach - the only strip on the island that's really suitable for wading in the ocean - or swimming if you're a polar bear. I did part of this hike last year, and what we didn't know is that you can go all the way around Greathead and it will bring you back to your starting point, with views all the way around.

This first one is of Sand Beach, at the beginning of the hike.

This is a view of Otter Point, from the tip of our little peninsula.

Around the corner a bit, is a view straight down from our perch.

Then, on around, we saw this guy climbing the rocks.

Finally, this is one of the last of the views before you start heading around the backside of the peninsula to get back to the starting point.

After a brief lunch, we left the girls in town, to spend some money, and I drug the SigO back to the Beehive. If you wonder why he had to do it twice, it's because he and his daughter have been doing it since she was about 9 years old, and she continues to force herself to do it each year, although parts of the trail are a tad bit terrifying since you're walking across a very narrow span with a steep ("omigod, omigod, I'm gonna die" type steep) drop under you. She's a bit frightened of heights, so this hike is especially rough for her, but she toughs it out every year so she can face her fears and stare them down. I admire her greatly for it. And so does her friend. But that doesn't mean her friend is willing to do the same thing, so I usually take her friend up Greathead, while the SigO and his daughter do the Beehive. But hey! Last year, I missed the Beehive due to this and didn't want to miss it again. Hence the reason the SigO had to do it twice this year.

And get a load of these views - you can see why I didn't want to miss it again:

This first is only part way up - I'd guess around half-way. I can't remember what it is.The SigO will know, but since he's still not contributing to the blog (boo, hiss), we may never know.

This is, I think, the same area, from higher up.

And this is the top.

But the real fun of this climb are the places that are a bit hairy. You can see the abject terror in the SigO's eyes.

And here he is, showing you his gorgeous bod. Either that, or he really has lost his beach ball - I know he's lost his marbles!

So ended Day Four. Monday - The Precipice!!

Acadia '09 - Day Three

2009-09-10T12:27:00.004-04:00

On Monday, one of the girls had an interview at the College of the Atlantic. Which left the other three of us kinda in limbo, since her interview was in the middle of the day. So, first things first, off we went to the Quiet Side of the Island, where one of my favorite yarn shops is, and where - big surprise - I spent a fair share of money on yarn.

1. Malabrigo Sock Yarn - for a vest

It's actually black - came out in the pic looking more blue.

2. Done Roving Sock Yarn - a mom/daughter team in Maine makes this- for over the knee socks for Christmas

3. Alpaca Sock Yarn - to re-knit the socks I knit for the SigO last year - which got lost. Weird story. Maybe another time.

4. Silk/wool blend for another shot at a camisole I want to go with my Noro short-sleeved jacket.

5. Lace weight yarn for this awesome scarf they had hanging there that I loved.The SigO and his daughter ate lunch while I happily yakked it up with fellow knitters and had a great time in the Lilac Lily.

Which, btw, is something I love about Maine. There are fellow knitters everywhere - some I've hooked up with on Ravelry already. What a great state! I found one in a quilting store, one in a wine shop, one knitting on the porch of our B&B, and one was a bartender! Knitters Rule!

I had to cut my shopping/yakking short so we could hightail it back to the college, just to wait another hour while the interview went WAY beyond the scheduled time, but she was really pumped about the whole thing, so it was worth the wait.

Not much time left at this point except to drive up to Cadillac Mountain, and check out the view.

So, yeah - it was a quiet day, but it was the only quiet day we spent and I know I had fun!

Acadia '09 - Day Two

2009-09-09T09:54:00.005-04:00

The girls were a lot more lively on Sunday, after having slept nearly 20hrs, give or take. So, first thing after a sumptious breakfast, we headed back to the park - the B&B provided a good breakfast - not one of those hokey ones where you get a muffin and a banana and that's supposed to cut it for the morning - we got pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc, etc.

The first thing we did was check out Thunder Hole, and it was kickin' big time! Probably the best performance I've seen. I tried a few times to get a better angle, by climbing up on rocks, but I think the SigO and his daughter found the best spot.

After Thunder Hole, we went back to Otter Cliffs, and hung out watching the wave action, but it didn't quite compare to the day before, so we headed over to Otter point, where you can sit down, right next to the waves.

After a quick lunch, where the SigO modeled his new look,we headed over to one of our favorite hikes - Jordan Stream. This hike was much more exciting than the first time we went, since portions were flooded. Yes - that's the trail - with the completely useless bridges spanning portions of flooded trails. Unfortunately, this also meant that the place where we left the trail last year, was unavailable - as it was now, no longer a gorgeous meadow, but instead a giant marsh.

As a result, we hiked a considerable distance further than originally planned, and missed the main point of the hike - the meadow full of blueberries. The girls referred to this as "the hike based on false promises and lies".

Still, we did come out on a gorgeous meadow, overlooking a lake, and the ocean. Lakes, oceans and mountains - only in Acadia!

That night, we headed to Rupununi's for lunch, where we laughed so hard, one of us (no names!) threw up. Literally! Can you just hear that conversation later: "Today, Dad made me hike five miles, through marshes and over flooded trails - and then he made me throw up!" That's how I would have worded it, but not everyone is as bad as me, I guess.

Day three will be posted tomorrow, where I bought BOUCOUP yarn, and one of the girls went for her interview at the COA.

Acadia '09 - Day One

2009-09-08T09:59:00.005-04:00

Another year has brought us to our favorite vacation site, Acadia Natl Park, Maine. As usual, we did the marathon drive, 13 hrs up the east coast. This years drive was made more exciting by a tropical storm, and a navigation system trying to avoid all toll roads - pretty much impossible when driving up to Maine. When we got to our B&B (Mosley Cottage), the girls were too exhausted to do anything, so they just crashed out for the day.

The SigO and I headed to the park and got some great views of an ocean gone wild.

As you can tell - it was a little chilly/wet out, but that made everything even better as we almost had the park to ourselves. This is Thunder Hole - as deserted as I've ever seen it - undoubtedly partly because of the rain, and partly because of the tragedy the week prior.While the ocean was really kicking, it wasn't putting on an impressive display at Thunder Hole, since the water was so high.

So, off we headed to Otter Cliffs.

This is about the happiest I've ever seen the SigO, watching the waves crash against the rocks. And he really enjoyed the solitude out there, as did I.After a power nap, we indulged in an expensive restaurant, where I had lobster (it's Maine! What did you expect?). And he had Veal Roulade. We were both too stuffed for dessert. Which is really saying something.

So ends day one - a very satisfying start to our vacation.

Stay tuned for days two - six.

Surprise Visits

2009-08-27T08:06:00.003-04:00

I had another great weekend with the WWO.

This time, we went kayaking down the Susquehanna.

Such a beautiful peaceful trip. And the first surprise visitor of my weekend was this young eagle. So young, he still had some of his white feathers. He wasn't alone either. There must have been a nest around somewhere, because we had multiple eagle sightings that day. Not to mention the Osprey ignoring us while she decaptitated her freshly caught fish; or the cranes, herons, and kingfishers. As I said - a beautiful and peaceful trip. We stopped on one of the islands for lunch. I wonder who used to live here? This wall wasn't the only evidence that there used to be people living on this tiny little patch in the middle of the river.

We were back to our cars and ready to leave by 3, and I hotfooted it over to Ewenique Yarns in Bel Aire, MD. There was a small group of knitters in the back, laughing over life in general. They were a little worried they were being too graphic and I might be scared away. Silly girls. Didn't take much to set them straight. Needless to say, I found some gorgeous yarn - which, duh, means I bought some gorgeous yarn. But then, I've been on a bit of a yarn feeding frenzy lately. Really need to slow my roll since our vacation is next week.

My next surprise visitor this weekend was one of my oldest friends. She and I went to college together (until I jetted off to Europe for 13 years), and she is also retired military, so she can take advantage of the military airlift transportation - which means she can fly around the world, when space is available on a military flight, for free. So, she's enjoying some free time and I was one of her stops. Very fun. We spent the day in Old Town Alexandria, where, of course, I visited Knit Happens. Yes, I know. I had just been to a yarn store, the day before! What's your point? Yarn Feeding Frenzy. Remember? She spent a few days with us, and made us some Carne Guisada - something hard to find here in DC metro. Quite yummy. I took her to DE where last we spoke, she was trying to get a flight to Europe - I still don't know if she made it or not. Hope so.

So, that's my excuse for being so late this week - was off playing with friends.

Next week, I'll be on vacation, so no new posts til Sep.

Posting pictures

2009-08-20T09:21:00.003-04:00

As usual, I procrastinated getting pictures taken of my knitting, which means I didn't have anyone around to take a picture of me wearing it - so it's just hanging up, or laying down, or whatever, but at least you can see I've been busy.

First, here's the Beachcomber Tunic - still in progress. As you can see, once I got it on the blocking boards, the decreases became much more obvious on the front piece, so I'm going to have to rip that back and go at it again. You can't say I'm not getting plenty of practice with my crochet on this piece.

Back looks good though - i think -and after only three tries! The next, most recently completed, is my Silky Liesl, knit up in Art Fibers Kyoto, in an autumn-like colorway (color #27). I really love the lacy hang of this, but wish I'd made the yoke bigger. The funny thing is, the reason I didn't is because someone else on Ravelry lamented that she wished hers was smaller. Oh well. She's probably a tiny little thing.

This quickie, fun little cardigan was made from Be Sweet magic ball-which has several different fibers all knotted together. It was very quick, very easy to make, but I had to keep re-knotting the fibers together. I never bothered to block this, and it really needs it - have worn it several times. Very cute.

Finally, this Noro cardie is one of my favorites - I think it's very elegant, but also VERY warm, so it's going to have to wait for winter.

So, here's some news. I'm trying to get the SigO to do an entry in my blog - one per week type thing. We're thinking of calling it SigO Soundoff, and I'd let him talk about whatever he wants. It's going to take me some convincing though - he thinks it's too much pressure. So, feel free to offer some encouragement!

Been a Long Time Coming

2009-08-18T10:31:00.004-04:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know. I've been slacking off. In my defense, since I got back from the Netherlands we've done nothing at all except sit around the house. Day in. Day out. Weekday. Weekend. I was just about to lose my mind. This past weekend came just in the nick of time.

I certainly hadn't planned on sitting around so long. In fact, I had plans to go to the Quilt Odyssey on July 29th. Instead, I sat in traffic for five straight hours - and never made it out of DC. To give this some perspective, both my Mom and I left our respective houses at 1:30 EST. She lives in Texas. I live in Northern Virginia. She drove all the way from her house to Katy, Tx, a total of 158 miles. I drove from mine to Washington D.C. in the same amount of time. A total of 30 miles. When it became apparent that there was no end in sight to this traffic, I turned around and went home. Welcome to N. VA. Expect Delays.

So, that's why no blogging lately. Nothing to inspire me. When I don't get out of my small little environment, I have no inspiration for philosophy, wickedness or thirst quenchers. I do get lots of knitting done and will post pics of all that as soon as I remember to take some.

But we did finally get out of our hole this weekend. We went to the Lancaster, PA area for a nice camp trip at Hibernia County park, and then a nice bike ride in Atglen, PA.

I had assumed there would be showers at the campground, but no joy. They did have a nice deep sink with a tall spigot, so we had ourselves a bit of a birdbath - in the middle of the night when we could strip down to our skivvies without too much fear of being caught.

The campground was gorgeous - tall, tall (over 150') tulip poplar trees. We left our rain cover off the tent to give us more breeze, and when we woke up in the morning, those incredible trees loomed over us. It wasn't too crowded at the campground either - which begs the question: When there are 20 campsites, and only five groups camping, why, oh why do people decide to pitch their tents right next to another tent? Why not spread out a bit? If any reader out there can explain this, I'd really like to know. I'd also like someone to explain to me how we managed to get sandwiched between a site with two young couples, who stayed up singing songs from Dirty Dancing (I can't make this kind of crap up) til 2AM, and a site with a young family, including twin 2-year old girls, who went to bed before 8PM, and were naturally back up by 7AM. In case you ever wonder what the appeal to back country camping is - this is it. Total peace and quiet.

But, of course, this helped get us up and out early, so we could go on our ride before it got too hot. It's really gorgeous country and I should have taken more pictures, but I was just enjoying being there. I did get a shot of this old mill, and this gorgeous house both seen on our bike ride.

Then on our way home, I got some pictures of the Amish, driving home from Sunday services, and a few pictures of the country side. They're blurry because I was trying to take them from a moving car.

So, that was the weekend. Sanity restored.

Wicked Wednesday - Inexplicable Time

2009-07-22T12:02:00.004-04:00

Is it really only Wednesday? How is it, that when Christmas rolls around, we're all so stunned:

"Christmas!? Already? It feels like I just finished celebrating a new year a few weeks ago! How could it possibly be Christmas already?!"

And yet, each individual week, it takes an absolute eternity for the weekend to get here.

I think I know.

I think time flies so exponentially faster on your time off (weekends, evenings, holidays, vacations), that it creates a vortex which sucks in the rest of the year, causing time overall to fly by, while still allowing it to creep ever so slowly while you're at work.

If that's not wicked, well, I just don't know what is.

Home! Home! Home!

2009-07-20T12:58:00.006-04:00

I'm thrilled to be back home, back in the arms of my cutie-patootie! I got to move my flight up a day early, so got home Friday night, which was a pleasant surprise for all of us.

Don't get me wrong. Den Haag is a great place. It's right on the beach, and it's a lovely beach - long strip of sand to stroll down. We had a beautiful rainbow that you can just barely see peeking out of the clouds.

I went to Taste a few more times and enjoyed lounging as long as I wanted while sampling different wines. That's one concept I wish restaurants/bars in the U.S. would adopt - not everyone is in an all fired-up rush to eat, drink and leave. Sometimes, you just want to sit back and relax for a while.

The folks that designed the Netherlands Forensic Institute (where I worked all week) are pretty clever. They put in different types of soil in the courtyard so that the plants growing there would be different and make a fingerprint design. It's easier to see the design in this older satellite picture before the plants went in, but it still looks pretty cool, even with the plants.

Yes - it was raining - practically the entire time I was there. We had two nice days of weather.

Also, these same designers have a quirky sense of humor. As you can see on this satellite picture, there are six courtyards in the building,and in each courtyard, there's a different "artistic" layout. I have no idea what's up with the bunnies, but there it is.

Another fun experience before I headed out was a seasonal meal of raw herring, served with onions and pickles on a bun. Sort of the Dutch version of hotdogs - but yummier (to me) and a little healthier.

I barely knit anything while I was over there. Caught up on my reading instead. But, I'm back in full swing now and have almost finished Liesl. I'm putting full length sleeves on mine, and using Art Fibers Kyoto, which is primarily silk (raw), in a golden-yellow color (colorway 27). I have one sleeve left to knit, then I can block it and find some buttons for it. No seaming on this baby. Woo Hoo!

Again - it's good to be home.

A Weekend in Holland

2009-07-12T06:23:00.004-04:00

It's Sunday.

It's Raining.

Who cares.

Heading out in a minute to bike down to the sea, but first, let me tell you about yesterday.

I walked all around town center here in Den Haag. Of course, my first destination, was Woool, the LYS. Met Pauline, the shop owner, and bought a wool/bamboo locally dyed, in the same shades as her cat - named Sunny - hence the colorway is named Sunny Cat. Also bought a Merino laceweight in Chocolate Colorway. Hoping it's enough to make the lacy cardigan in Feminine Knits.

After that, I went sight-seeing, like a good little tourist. Took shots of one of the many museums, and some skullers out for morning practice.

Also found these sand sculptures - made from a different type of sand - cubic, not round - supposedly withstands wind and rain, as opposed to regular sand sculptures. Here's a shot of one of many - front side:

Back Side:

Finished my latest book while sitting under a giant tree, drinking tea, outside the church - Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles - about a girl in Missouri during the civil war - good book.

Went back to the room and downloaded A Thousand Splendid Suns onto the Kindle, then headed back out and found a great wine bar called Taste, and finished the day by reading this book I can't put down and drinking almost an entire bottle of wine - all in different varieties - Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc, and, of course, some champagne.

Not a bad day. Would have been better if the SigO were here.

Just sayin.

Wicked Wednesday - Hittin' the Road Again

2009-07-08T15:55:00.002-04:00

Well, I have to go to Holland tomorrow.

I know - most people would say "Wicked!"

But the simple truth is, I'm gonna miss the SigO - something Wicked.

I'm just sayin'.

I know:

And I will.

Taosday - Last Weekend

2009-07-07T10:02:00.005-04:00

Today I'm going to reflect on our bike ride this past weekend.

We drove down to Orange, VA, because I had this (faulty) memory of a great ride I had done down there.

Now, it's not fair to say it's not a great ride. The scenery in the beginning is quite nice. There are a few old churches,

a nice little river,

an old train station,

with an even older caboose,

and, of course, an adorable SigO.

However, this ride is advertised as a ramble. A ramble, in my opinion, doesn't include 16 straight miles of up and down hills. A ramble, should be a nice, somewhat easy, peaceful ride. I know - Taoists don't judge - but who ever said I was taoist? Not me.

Further, while I'm judging, perhaps the guy that wrote the map could put the bong away before reporting to work in the future. I don't know where we were supposed to turn to get on the right road, but as soon as we were on the wrong road, it all flashed back to me.

Yes. I had been on this wrong road before. And it only gets more wrong. Next thing you know, you're riding your bike on a highway, without a shoulder, and drivers who think you're an annoying obstacle to accelerate around -I remembered it all. The last time I was on this ride, I made the exact same turn and ended up in the exact same wrong place. I asked this man who was out mowing his lawn how to get back and he steered me straight. Here's the crazy thing - that same old man was out mowing his lawn again this Saturday. It's a big lawn. I suspect I could go by any weekend and find him out there mowing it. I wonder if he enjoys that? But I digress.

Mind you, this part of the ride wasn't all bad. There were some funny parts...in retrospect...although I think it's going to take a lot longer retrospect before the SigO thinks they're funny. See, I was really tired on this ride. I just didn't have the juice for all these climbs - so when the he pulled ahead, I just told him to keep going until he got to Rte 20. Unfortunately, it was shortly after this conversation that I realized we were on the wrong road and unlikely to ever see Rte 20. More unfortunate - he was cruising too far ahead to hear me screaming - like a banshee - at the top of my lungs - until I was hoarse and out of breath. The more evil side of me (definitely not the non-judgemental side) says "that'll teach him for not checking behind for me from time to time!" By the time the car I sent after him had caught up to him, he'd already climbed up Mt. Kilamanjaro. Now, had I really had my evil face on, when he finally got back to me, I should have said "I had a cramp and just wanted you to come back. Now we can go on!" In fact, I'm laughing a little evil laugh just sitting here thinking about it. But, it didn't occur to me to be that evil at the time. I was probably too hot and tired to think that creatively. So, we headed down hell's highway and were a few miles from our end point when the SigO called for a break and I was so thrilled at the prospect that I didn't bother telling him we were only a few miles out. So, we rested our bikes against a post, and sat here for a few minutes,

me dreading getting back on that damn torture device they call a saddle But, all's well that ends well, and it obviously ended well since I'm here telling you all about it, and, last I checked, the SigO hasn't moved out of the house.

Thirsty Thursday - Sure could go for a beer

2009-07-02T12:29:00.003-04:00

This was one of those weeks where the minutiae will just wear you down after a while, making you want to go sit out on the deck and swig beer until you forget all the BS you had to deal with.

So, in that spirit, my top five favorite beers:

5. Hoegaarden - pronounced whogarden - is a white beer brewed in Belgium. They add coriander and orange peels to the mix when they brew it. It's crisp and very refreshing. It, like most Belgian beers, is served in its own special glass. Oh, and it's 5% alcohol. Hooray!

4. Rogue Yellow Snow IPA - Big, and Hoppy. This is their tribute ale to winter sports - you get it - yellow snow - anyway, they add juniper berries to the mix when they brew it. It almost makes you crave a hearty bowl of soup. Very tasty - nice bitter finish.

3. Stella Artois - Brewed in Leuven, Belgium (notice a trend here?) since 1366. Another hoppy beer, which I like best served with a slice of lemon. It was first brewed as a Christmas beer and gets its name from the Christmas star - Stella.

2. Pilsner Urquell - The Original Pilsner. Brewed in the Czech Republic in a city called Pilsen - and hence, Pilsner became a standard word for beer brewed in this fashion. Urquell means Original Source. This pils, in my opinion, is still the standard for all others to compare against

1. Corona Light - I know - after all those fancy, luscious beers, this is the one I drink the most. It's just SO crisp and so perfect with a slice of lime - and so refreshing on those hot days. I'll never forget my first - pulled out of a tub of ice by a guy on the scorching streets of Laredo, Mexico. Sometimes, it's the simple things that rock your world.

Of course, I should add a few warnings:

1. Like all these sites say - Please Drink Responsibly.

And equally important

2. Friends don't let friends knit drunk. I mean - really - do you know how much I've ripped due to one too many of #1 up there?

Wicked Wednesday - New Car

2009-07-01T07:46:00.004-04:00

I apologize for not posting yesterday or last Wednesday. Last Wednesday I had bloggers block. I just couldn't come up with something wicked. I'm sure you understand. It's tough for such a sweet young innocent like myself to come up with wicked thoughts.

Just look at this face.

What? I'm sorry? You say that picture is over 25 years old? We must have a bad connection - I can't quite make out what you're trying to say.

Anyway, the reason I didn't post yesterday is because I was out spending excessive amounts of money on

MY NEW CAR

Yes, Bob, what have we got for the young lady? Why it's a Toyota Highlander Hybrid Limited!!!

Yes - it has occured to me just how much space there is in the back for when I go on yarn binges.

And That's Wicked!!!

Too Much Fun

2009-06-29T12:22:00.004-04:00

Some weekends are just too eventful. The plan for the weekend was to go camping at Westmoreland State Park, ride the Chesapeake Ramble, and kayak under the cliffs on the Potomac.

First, we left at approximately 11:00 Saturday morning. We weren't in any hurry. Plenty of daylight this time of year, and the Chesapeake Ramble is an easy bike ride, the kayak trip wasn't until Sunday, and it doesn't take that long to set up camp.

We arrived at the campsite at 3:00 in the afternoon. I'm sure you're thinking:

"Wow! Westmoreland Park must be hundreds of miles away from where you live!!"

Nope.

70 miles.

Yep.

Took us 4hrs to drive 70 miles. Actually, it took us nearly two hours to drive 11 miles. Boy, I sure do love living in Northern Virginia.

But, at last, we made it, got camp set up and headed down for our bike ride. We started our ride at The Tides Inn, which we did deliberately because we really enjoy kicking back for some drinks at this location when the ride is done. The atmosphere is spectacular here, with it sitting right on the bay - quite a lovely location. The ride went better than anticipated - there was a nice breeze and it was slightly overcast, so we didn't get roasted.

The scenery on this ride is very nice. We've ridden it before - you got to see my SigO's cute little rear end in the last blog about this ride - this time, you get a frontal shot of him at the maritime museum . Why is there a train engine at the maritime museum you ask. Beats me. Maybe it's not a train - maybe it's a steam boat? I don't know - too tired to go read the plaque - or even see if there was a plaque - and we were WAY too close to the end of our destination - with beer calling - to be bothered.

All went well until, after loading the bikes in the car, we closed the hatch back and...

voila.

Who knows why this happened. Nothing was poking up higher than it should be. The weight of the bike rack - being empty - shouldn't have caused this (empty because I wanted our bikes to be secured inside the car - ironic, huh?) I have no idea what caused it. All I know is I closed the hatch and the window shattered. We stood there, staring at our shattered window for a few minutes before deciding "Screw it. Let's go get a beer." At which point I locked the car (go ahead and laugh - so did I - rather hysterically at this point) and headed in to the Inn. We lounged around here until about sunset, when the view was its most spectacular.

We proceeded with our campout as planned - cooked our steaks in the dark, and laughed a little more hysterically each time another piece of glass inexplicably fell out of the window frame. I forgot to bring blankets and pillows, so we used the "emergency" blanket we keep in the car, and used our towels for pillows. The SigO didn't want to wake up in the morning. Isn't he just beyond adorable?

The longer time stretched, waiting for him to wake up, the more I didn't want to go on the kayak trip anymore. I didn't want to fool with crowds anymore (the park was packed), I didn't want to leave my bikes, plus all my camping gear in a car without a rear window - especially since the sky was menacing (it did rain on us a little bit, getting home), and I had simply had too much excitement for the week. So, we stopped at a cute little restaurant for breakfast, where they actually served our mimosas with little umbrellas, and then headed home, and had a nice, quiet afternoon in the basement. Watching movies. Sitting very still so we didn't break anything else.

Thirsty Thursday - Tea Lovers Unite

2009-06-25T08:04:00.008-04:00

This morning, as I drink my Creme Brulee flavored black tea, I'd like to share some of my civilization with you.

1. Did you know Green and black teas have 10 times the amount of antioxidants found in fruits and veggies? (found on WebMD.com)

Image found on Wikipedia

2. The story of tea began in ancient China over 5,000 years ago. According to legend, Shen Nung, an early emperor was a skilled ruler, creative scientist and patron of the arts. His far-sighted edicts required, among other things, that all drinking water be boiled as a hygienic precaution. One summer day while visiting a distant region of his realm, he and the court stopped to rest. In accordance with his ruling, the servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from the near by bush fell into the boiling water, and a brown liquid was infused into the water. As a scientist, the Emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. And so, according to legend, tea was created. (This myth maintains such a practical narrative, that many mythologists believe it may relate closely to the actual events, now lost in ancient history.) (found on stashtea.com)

Image found on Google Images

and

3. According to a book the SigO's Mom gave me, the reason Americans drink more coffee than tea is because during WWII, tea was associated with the Japanese, and so it became out of fashion to drink it.

Image found on Google Images

So, if you're still on the dark side

Image found on Google Images

--- coffee --- come back to the light. Come back to civilization. Come back to tea!!

Image found on Google Images

Taosday - Non-Judgement Day

2009-06-23T08:24:00.002-04:00

According to Michael Greghorn, Taoism makes no moral distinction between right and wrong and judges no one.

I really like the "judges no one" part. Imagine the world if we just accepted each other as they are. Actually - we'd be like little kids - before they start judging their peers by what TV, Mom & Dad, and dogma teach them. You've seen it - a kid sees another kid, runs up to him/her and says "Hi! Wanna Play?" without regard to sex, ethnicity, size or any other measuring stick we seem to have so readily available to us when we grow out of this wonderful age. These same kids are the ones running into other people because they are so fascinated with their surroundings. How fun would that be, as adults, to just walk right into someone else - and then you both start giggling, and then run outside to play tag.

Wicked Wednesday - Too Big to Fail

2009-06-17T15:09:00.006-04:00

In yesterday's news report, I saw California is seeking a bail-out because they're too big to fail.

Apparently, that's the new buzz phrase, and is very reminiscent of "Help, I've fallen down and I can't get up".

Of course, the government is pushing back - after all -as soon as you give one child a piece of candy, they're all going to want some, right?

So, instead, let's think of ways California can get out of debt:

1. Make and sell soap out of all the lipo-suction fat in Hollywood.

2. Engineer treadmills such that they produce electricity. Then dangle a new pair of manolo shoes on a string at the end of the treadmill - line up all the valley girls - in this way we can make California self-sufficient in energy - a Huge money saver!

3. (My personal favorite) Humboldt's #1 selling product goes national

hmmm - I gotta go - I suddenly have a craving for Nintendo games and a pizza.

Taosday - Living in the Moment

2009-06-16T11:27:00.002-04:00

Do you ever look back at old pictures of yourself and think "Hey, I looked pretty good in that picture!" You may even think "Wow, I wish I were that thin again."
Now, at the time the picture was taken, were you thinking "Man, I look good today." or "I sure am happy with my weight right now."

Never in my entire life have I been content with my self - as I was. I remember one time in my life, going for a run, and feeling exhiliarated that my muscles felt strong and powerful. And yet, now I look back on some of those times and wish I had them back. I wish for the pain-free days before I tore so many ligaments in my knees. I wish for this. I wish for that...

In other words, I'm doing it every day. Every day, I think "What if?" What if I were richer/thinner/smarter/faster/whatever. And how long before I'm looking back on today and thinking "Boy, I wish I had those days back"?

I know I don't usually go quite so deep on these blogs, but I think it's time I started enjoying the life I'm living - right now - instead of waiting for that "better life" that's right around the corner, just as soon as I...

So, here we go - living in the moment, right now. Except in traffic. And then, I'm sticking to "what if..."

Another Wet Weekend

2009-06-15T10:07:00.004-04:00

Once again, I had another great trip with the Washington Women Outdoors.
This time, we met in Leesylvania State Park for a kayaking trip down the Potomac. Not to be confused with the kayaking trip the SigO and I took down the potomac - - the trip from Hell -- unlike that trip, this trip was the perfect duration and energy level.

The name of the trip is "Paddle to Lunch" and I could already see the lunch restauarant from the put-in and take-out point, so I knew it wasn't going to be a killer day. We headed down-stream, away from the restaurant, but towards some beautiful marsh lands. Before we had even been in the boats five minutes, a heron swooped down out of the sky and snagged a fish out of the middle of the river. A very rare sight as heron's usually fish in the shallows. That was just the beginning of a day of "new sights". Shortly after we were in the marshes, I saw my first-ever osprey. She was one unhappy lady since there were a few fishers camped out too close to her nest. She circled almost continually overhead, squawking at those pesky fishermen and all these strange women in their kayaks.

We rowed past a great deal of this plant - that I've already forgotten the name of - spatter - something or other. It blooms this little yellow ball that never - in its entire life - opens up. Kind of like some of the men I dated prior to meeting the SigO.

We rowed under this tree full of poison ivy - where I reinforced my belief that I'm not sensitive to it, since I never got so much as a single hive. Hopefully, neither did anyone else.

We dead-ended here, where the water got too shallow and so we turned back the way we came, ending at Tims Rivershore Crabshack and Restaurant - a place I've frequented by car, but this was my first time arriving by boat. We got quite a lot of stares as 15 women piled out of kayaks and started placing orders for fried pickles (another first for me - not as weird as I had expected).

It was quite a nice day, which I concluded with a manicure/pedicure and some knitting - that I had to completely rip out since I started it the night before - while drinking - too much! I have to admit, cutting back on my drinking not only helps me in the pocketbook, and with the weight-loss, but it really helps reduce the amount of tinking/frogging I have to do.

You would think that would make for a great weekend, and really - I'm not complaining - much. It would have been a stellar weekend had the SigO and I been able to go for our bike ride as planned - instead of spending the day fighting with an overflowing toilet, only to throw in the towel (a painful metaphor - as you'll see) and pay a plumber $850 to come out and auger the main-line for us - to discover a wad of paper-towels clogging things up. Since we don't use papertowels in the bathroom, I think it's time we had a talk with our cleaning service. *sigh* Seems like you can never get ahead. I'm ready to sell it all and drive away, but that conversation has to wait until Taosday.

Until then...

First Thirsty Thursday

2009-06-11T09:47:00.004-04:00

OK, as predicted, I'm already tired of "Therapy Thursday" and have decided Thursdays will be Thirsty Thursday. On this topic, I can be thirsty for anything.

For example, this week, I'm thirsty for good stories.

In the Yarn Harlot's daily calendar entry today, she tells the story told to her by a Malaysian friend. In this story, all the snakes in the Garden of Eden were originally plain old white until Eve took up her needles and kit the pattern onto them from the tail, right up to the head.

I think this is a great story. I mean, you can see it now, right?

Eve: "Adam, look at this great pattern! Don't you think this will look much nicer than plain old white?"

Adam, never looking up from his newspaper titled "Heaven's Daily News": "Mmm hmmm. Yes dear. Very nice."

Eve: "Wouldn't you love to give it a try! It's very relaxing, and it gives you such a sense of fulfillment to have made something so beautiful!"

Adam: "Are you crazy? Knitting isn't macho! What's for dinner tonight anyway? Not more manna, I hope!"

Eve: "Dinner is whatever you go and pick off a tree! Don't bother me, I'm knitting."

And they lived happily ever after.
Or, at least the snakes did.

Wicked Wednesday

2009-06-10T08:06:00.002-04:00

Top 5 Things I'd do today if I could get away with it:

5. Drive a Bulldozer down the highway and push everyone out of my way
4. Use my laptop as a frisbee
3. Replace the water in my water bottle with vodka - and THEN drive the bulldozer down the highway - woo hoo!
2. Replace the water in the office water cooler with vodka - and then invite the company CEO over for a open bitch session.
1. Rob a bank and retire from the working life so that #'s 2-5 are unnecessary

First Taosday

2009-06-09T13:52:00.003-04:00

I thought it might be interesting to discuss "Going with the Flow" when it comes to DC traffic. This image was captured live from a traffic camera at 2PM in the DC metro area. 2 PM. NOT rush hour. You'll note it's somewhat heavy headed North, but almost stopped headed South. Again, this is NOT rush hour - although many who live in this area would claim there's really no such thing around here since traffic stinks all the time. But, that's not really my point today.
Here's the thing.
It's definitely less stressful to apply some taoist thinking to sitting in traffic and just "go with the flow".
No need to constantly shift lanes. It sux, no matter which lane you're in.
No need to try to get around the moron driving slowly in the fast lane. You'll only get stuck behind some other moron who can't read the sign that says Slower Traffic Keep Right. Yes, I know, all the traffic is slow, so why bother, but trust me, a great deal of our traffic problems around here come from people cruising in the passing lane with no regards for the fact that they're NOT PASSING ANYONE.
So, why stress over it, right? Just go with the flow. Take it easy. You'll get there when you get there.
And there is some seriously good advice in all that.
Here's my only problem.
If I do that, doesn't that just make me another head in the herd of cattle mooing along down the interstate?

What bothers me more?

Being stressed?

or

Being Cattle?

Therapy Thursday - Acupuncture

2009-06-04T16:02:00.003-04:00

In an attempt to liven up my blog - and post more consistently, I've decided to have some fun with alliteration.

For now, that means the following:

Tuesday = Taosday

Wednesday = Wicked Wednesday

Thursday = Therapy Thursday

When I get sick of these alliterations, I'll switch to something else.

So, for my inaugural event, today we'll talk about Acupuncture.

According to Wikipedia, Acupuncture is a technique of inserting and manipulating fine filiform needles into specific points on the body to relieve pain or for therapeutic purposes.

According to my experience, it's a pretty vague discipline. When I went to an acupuncture clinic to see if it would help me lose weight, I asked the practitioner how it would work. Her answer was something along the lines of "Concentrating on your body will bring you more awareness of yourself and help in your weight loss efforts."

I don't need acupuncture to help me be more aware of my body as it relates to weight-loss. If that's all there is to it, I think we should all just eat in front of a mirror. Puts me off my feed every time!

Patrick Stewart on Sesame Street

2009-06-02T23:48:00.001-04:00

Cpt Picard at his best!

Tink Tank

Ketchup!

You've Got to be Effin' Kidding Me!!

Steeler Nation

Postscript

Seneca Rocks

Acadia 2011

Update

Failure

First Annual Festivus Insolidus

Mary's Rock

Good Wine, Spectacular Food

Pampered

Wrong Fork

Dazy Lays

Hic'

Almost Forgot

Last Day

Spectacular Weekend - Day Two

Too good for one post

Field Trip

New River

Spoils of MS&W

Jo Weekend

Ahhh

Tejas and Nostalgia Lane

The entire rest of the year in 1,000 words or less

Time Travel - the real work begins

Time Travel - Day Five - Wednesday in Acadia

Time Travel - Day Four - Thursday in Acadia

Time Travel - Day 3 - Last day in Maine

Time Travel - Day Two - College Campus

Time Travel - Day One - Korea

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Brazil

Something to Blog Home About

The winter of our disbelief

Someone slap me awake

Gobble *shiver* Gobble

Don't You Wish Your Boyfriend Was Hot

I survived

Knitting Update

Gettysburg

Crazy Busy

Acadia '09 - Day Six - Last Day

Acadia '09 - Day Six

Acadia '09 - Day Five

We interrupt this regularly scheduled broadcast

Acadia '09 - Day Four

Acadia '09 - Day Three

Acadia '09 - Day Two

Acadia '09 - Day One

Surprise Visits

Posting pictures

Been a Long Time Coming

Wicked Wednesday - Inexplicable Time

Home! Home! Home!

A Weekend in Holland

Wicked Wednesday - Hittin' the Road Again

Taosday - Last Weekend

Thirsty Thursday - Sure could go for a beer

Wicked Wednesday - New Car

Too Much Fun

Thirsty Thursday - Tea Lovers Unite

Taosday - Non-Judgement Day

Wicked Wednesday - Too Big to Fail

Taosday - Living in the Moment

Another Wet Weekend

First Thirsty Thursday

Wicked Wednesday

First Taosday

Therapy Thursday - Acupuncture

Patrick Stewart on Sesame Street

Gobble shiver Gobble