Where in the World?

Traveled from San Francisco: 2329 nautical miles.
Traveled from last stop (Lahaina, Maui) 120 N Miles. Currently off coast of big island, Hawaii. Rockin' and rollin'.
To next stop in French Polynesia: 2230 N miles.
Currently 11:30 pm Hawaiian time.
Me: sunburned back because I was too eager to snorkel and threw caution to the wind (and waves). Totally worth it!

Sent from my iPod
Julia

The view!

Hallway

A walk!

The Pacific

Morning Rainbow towards Hawaii

Another day in the Sun

It's easy to relax!
After a Sudoko competition
a lecture on ... sponges (don't ask why, and certainly don't ask about the subject--that was pseudo-knitting time),
sun,
a meal or two,
a nap or two,
a swim and soak
a wonderful dinner (all 5 of us)
What's left but to be crowned champions of "Passenger Feud". Grand Prize in hand:

Sent from my iPod
Julia

California Roll

 A little work and a little play flying with a little one.

A necessity of life!

Where else but San Francisco for a California Roll? Think deli and table for two on the street.

Not waiting in line: Buy your tickets online and order a taxi an hour ahead of time. Wait half an hour, flag down a taxi, sit in bumper to bumper traffic with a delightful, informative driver and arrive 3 minutes late. RUN for the boat! No line-no waiting! Last on board to

Alcatraz!

Sent from my iPod somewhere in the Pacific.

Family (PHOTO) Update

The Hubby!  Happy Birthday, Today!

He's been a (trumpet) performing fiend: Since Thursday, with Trumpet Geezers (2 gigs) and San Juan Symphony (3 gigs) (++rehearsals), and continuing today with two school concerts taking place 60 miles apart. For the past 3 weeks he's been Dad #1 to his daughter and granddaughter.  I don't know who has had more fun...

The daughter... packing repacking, remembering to feed the toddler, becoming more and more bored with a routine.  Expresses herself HERE. She had a birthday recently, too.

We've been getting updates from the S-I-L who is in Haiti.  Working hard, and playing chess.  We will be reunited tomorrow.

And the focus of every day:  

How did this happen?  20 lbs. and 29-1/2 inches tall!  We marked the wall.


Me?  Aw, shucks, nothin'...

A collection of travel bugs to be moved

A collection of library books to return

A collection of knitting projects to... finish

Bags to pack, repack or... something!

Twenty-four hours and it will be sealed!

Borrowing Blogs

OK.  The cheater's way out, but there some great stories to be told!  And here's one of them.
Wool.... Swimsuit.... all in one sentence?
From Eskimimi:  You gotta read!

A month's worth...

What can you do in a month?  
A month with at least 17 days of leisure...Next week I'll be off for a month. That means fewer blogs, and more stories!


Please leave comments about how much you can accomplish in a month.

I counted my Ravelry projects, and I've completed 35 "objects" in one year... That makes 3 things a month, doesn't it?
I'll attempt to pack a shawl, a pullover (toddler size), a cowl, and a pair of socks. (Maybe a suit of clothes for Mr. Foster, too.)  And I hope to run dry by the time I get to New Zealand, for I surely will feel justified in going off my yarn diet if I've run out by then...
Here's what's on the needles today, and will probably be packed in one week:

Europa Shawl, on hold

Skew sock, ripped back to...heel

Sorry Ms. Skew, but I don't think you'll make the boat...

Rose Pullover, in cotton (Roses to be duplicate stitched on the blue)

Cowl, ribbing only, in Regia Bamboo

And not on the needles:

Planned socks 

Ultra Alpaca Fine by Berroco
Fingering / 4 ply
50% Wool, 30% Nylon, 20% Alpaca

This could be ME! (or you)

Enjoy!

Wordle

Another Group like No Other

This just in from another Thursday Knit Group. They put us to shame!!
Somewhere in Ontario!

Socks Rock!!

Sock pictures make me smile:
See KISS!

My picture from 2005: Four Corners Sock Conference:

3 socks and a mitten in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona

And knitting at Panama:

I go for background pics while Stephanie wants to humiliate people!

Princess Top Finale

Officially a Finished Object!
All my worry about the length of the top, and the length of the sleeves, and the gaff on the front (I stitched a flower upside down...) let alone the 3 cast-ons I did to get a suitable size:  Here she is!

Non-Labor Caching

I took a walk on Monday.  With Dr. Beverly Casebolt, our pooch, named after the famous Soprano Beverly Sills, and (after Monday's walk) also named after a certain up-there-in-years-walk-circles-around-you, Dr. D Casebolt.  I thought he retired 20 years ago, but every time I see him he's been "helping out" at the hospital.

Rabbit Brush in bloom, every September!

Probably 15 years ago I went on a mountain hike with Dr. C.  We were at 9-10 thousand feet elevation, and I was glad we had him nearby.  Not only was he nearby, but he stayed behind to make sure I made it without calling for an ambulance!  I can't/couldn't believe he was in such good shape.  He commented that his lung capacity was larger than normal, and I guess that's what is needed in thin air.

Monday's canyon walk

The trail started at 10,000 feet and descended into a valley to 9,000 feet. The return trip was the "gotcha"... and it got me!  After a few switchbacks, I was ready to sit down, and after a few more, I did sit down.  Dr. C was monitoring all this, and everyone else merrily traipsed up the trail. Sooner than later, Dr. C recommended that I get the full benefit of each pause by lying down, so at every switchback, the two of us would drop to the ground and lie motionless for a minute or two.  Actually, I was the one who "dropped to the ground".

Dr. Beverly Casebolt

So 15 years later, I see Dr. C walking at a racer's pace up and down the road, doing his 3 mile loop.  I've seen him walking up into the canyon that Beverly and I visited on Monday.  And since Beverly is 14 years old, deaf, half blind and still wagging her tail and sniffing everything, and doing the same 3 miles but turning it into 5 miles I think she deserves to be a DR.

What's this?  Any guesses?

Oh, yeah, and we found the cache.

Shedding a Light on Countdown

My short blog from Monday evening was my attempt to let everyone know:
1.  They arrived.... C, H, and juju used 5 weeks to get to San Francisco.  Mick flew out there on Sunday afternoon, and arrived back 31 hours later.  For the latest highlights and advice on travel see:  Juju's Story.
2.  The quilt that needed to disappear by Labor Day... is finished put away.  I tried.  Really, but I overestimated my abilities.... (Maybe in November... or... who am I kidding?  It will be lucky to surface again in my lifetine!)
It's a "real" scrap quilt.  I'm making it because at a weak moment I decided to bust my fabric stash. I don't know what size I'm making or why or for whom, and no pattern--I'm just throwing pieces together.  Well, if that throwing bit were true, I'd be finished by now, yes?  So instead, I cut some pieces and look at it, and I look at patterns, and I sew and I move it around and... can you see why I'm not done?  I really put time in yesterday, as in 12 hours with a few hours off, and I added one (ONE) strip on one (ONE) side.

When I got the call that my family would be arriving in 4 hours, I put it together enough to make sure that when I get it out again, I'll have a plan to duplicate, and no more thinking involved. Now it's all nicely stowed in a tub to be forgotten  for just the right moment.  Good: There were lots of fabric removed from my stash. And snippings got thrown OUT. Bad:  It's in another sort of stash, labeled "UFO's".
2.1  The room needed to be useable tidied up to prevent a 14.5 month old from doing real damage to herself (i.e. ironing board, scissors, pins) or to me (i.e. unsorting of piles of pieces, and a place to sleep).  Here's before:

And after:

I like before and after pictures that have a happy ending!!

3. Will have to wait.  The dress that fits.... Juju is wearing it! Sans button:  See Princess Top.

Now do you know why I'm smiling??

For my "Followers"

Just a note to Laurie, Joansie, Brenda and others.  Lest you think I'm not being read, here's letting you know that I force myself upon 10 of my friends by emailing the blog to them everyday.  Sometimes they write back via email so most of their comments are invisible to you (unless they are SO witty that I post them myself).
I'm working on a reward that might train encourage my friends to click on the blog itself and leave comments for the ages!!
Thanks for your devotion! 

Talkin' Turkey

Food talk:
There's been a lot of hoopla about State Fair Fare.  Deep fried everything... and we can keep up with that!
Fry Bread, for example.... A fluffy deep fried tortilla (wheat flour) sprinkled with sugar...What's not to like?

Navajo Tacos, made with the fry bread as the base:

Do you pick it up or use utensils?  That IS the question!!
My meal of choice:

Smoked turkey leg... perfectly black on the outside, richly pink and moist on the inside.  I ate it for two days.... (no kidding!) and not deep fried.  Smoked locally at the Sparerib BBQ Company.. It was PURR-fection.

Count down:

"O"


I'm smiling! (And the dress fits perfectly!)

New Faces!

Inspirational bead work:

Miss Indian Farmington

Inspirational weaver:

Weaving demonstration

I was assigned a volunteer job 10 feet away from Roy so we became friends of fiber for 3 hours.  I knitted, people ignored me, while crowds gathered around Roy to watch quietly, sometimes asking the question we most often get:  How long will it take you to finish?

His exhibit included stories and history of weaving, his own stories and traditional.
I was particularly interested curious about the wonderful colors from the natural dyes.  Not so much that I would ever think of doing it myself, of course.

The logwood color in the center was a wonderful, creamy and earthy hue not often seen in rug weaving.

Roy's sheep called him several times... the ringtone on his cell phone started softly with a few sheep "baa-ing" and they got hungrier and more insistent if they were ignored.  It was a nice touch to the ambience!  He said, "I fed them this morning..."

Totah Festival

An event that occurs yearly in our town is a Native American Pow-wow and Market, with Soooo many vendors these days, it's hard to believe.  There are 100's and come from all over.  The ones I spoke to were only from the Navajo tribe, and here are some pictures.

Navajo Taco available at several locations.

Food booths were plentiful, with long lines.  The best bet was to get your Navajo Taco and Fry Bread in the parking lot, off location.

Dancing competitions were all day for two days.

I enjoyed the  "grandmas dancing"

Everyone was instructed to stand during their dances out of respect.

They had a lot of costume for 90 degree weather!

Not a Grandma.

Vendors inside:

Thousands of people were there.  I saw lots of people I knew!
(I was volunteering to selling tickets for a raffle and posters.)