Back From FL

Hi All,


It appears I survived my trip to Naples, FL despite delayed flights on both ends.  Don't you just love sitting on a runway?  And traffic down to the PHL airport last Tuesday was nuts!  Thank goodness I had a driver picking me up...I would not have been good in the traffic.  But I made it in time, only to end up sitting on the runway - we were 30th in line to take off.


Arrived in Fort Myers to 80 degree weather.  Drove to the hotel in Naples which was fabulous (The Inn on 5th).  What a beautiful place.  Of course, I hadn't had anything but yogurt at home early, so I was famished.  And what was waiting for me in my room?

My room was beautiful and I had a huge balcony that wrapped around.  That was heaven when I woke at 2 a.m. each night (I don't sleep all that well away from home).  It was mild enough that I could grab a bottle of water and go out on the balcony for 10-15 minutes.

Dinners both nights were excellent - steak the first and the second night I had an amazing pasta dish with lobster, shrimp and clams.  Oh my!  I think I gained 5-10 lbs in 2 days. 

The entire point of the trip was to celebrate one of my managers who is retiring.  We secretly flew his wife into town to surprise him and that went really well.  We gave him a fun send-off and nice gifts and extended his (and his wife's) stay in Naples through the weekend.  It all worked out perfectly and I am so glad it is over!  I've done a ton of these meetings during my career, but it is always nice when it is over and you can see that everything went without a hitch.

Meanwhile, I did finish knitting Emory's skirt before I left for FL.  But, I hadn't folded over the waistband, added the elastic and blocked it.  I did that this morning.  I'm disappointed in the bottom - I did a picot bind-off, but the picots are not real pronounced.  Rather than washing the skirt (and waiting FOREVER for it to dry), I pinned it out this a.m. and then spritzed it.  I'll see how it is doing tomorrow and maybe give it another treatment.

Purple is her favorite color, so I hope she likes it.  I couldn't find the pattern I had used the last time, so I just made it up from memory - casting on and doing ribbing until it was long enough to fold over for the waistband.  Then knitting yarn-overs every so often to increase and create eyelets.  More knitting plain and then increasing again, etc.

I actually cast on a pair of Christmas socks for someone while in FL and got exactly 3 rows done.  When I got home I looked at it and ripped it all out.  It was horrible.  Maybe too much wine?  Or very poor lighting in the hotel room?  I'm just glad it was only 3 rows to rip out.  I am now well on the way with the first sock.

Also managed to get some cyber shopping done on Friday and some store shopping done on Saturday, so progress is being made.  No decorating inside yet.  Hopefully by next weekend.  I want a "regular" tree and Fletch is leaning toward a small table-top tree like we have had the past two years.  I miss the scent of a large tree and I miss using all (or most) of our ornaments.  Stay tuned to see who wins this one!

And, finally, this was my companion this afternoon as I was knitting before dinner.

I love his little curved arms and paws!

Dinner, by the way, was steaks grilled and a salad that included arugula, lettuce and kale from our garden!  Not bad for December 4th.

Be back soon!