Back Home Again!

 Hello My Friends!

It's been some time, huh?  But now Fletch and I are back home and now I have to settle back into a work routine...but first a quick catch-up post.  Quick because I kind of over-slept, or slept in this a.m.  I dread opening work email, but I have not done that yet.

Our vacation was lovely.  We had beautiful weather the entire time (rain only one night which prevented us from having an outside fire).  We were North and West of where we live and were surprised not to see too much color, but it was still a wonderful time.

We started out in Cook Forest State Park which was absolutely gorgeous!  Lots and lots of old growth trees.

Fletch out on a ledge!

The fire tower which we did not climb!  A sign stated the limit was 6 people at a time.  When we were there a number of folks were climbing up as well as about 4 dogs!

Fletch by a giant cherry tree.  This was along a Sensory Trail within the park which was very interesting.  The signs were in English as well as brail.

After leaving that area we headed to Erie for a few days.  We visited Presque Isle:

One day we went to the Erie Zoo.  I have a love/hate relationship with zoos.  I do like seeing different animals, but I hate seeing them in cages or not in their natural habitat - just makes me sad.  The Erie Zoo was nice and spread throughout the acres it covers are some botanical gardens.  It was a great day weather-wise to be walking around a zoo.

After that we headed North to Chataqua Lake in NY, and then came home via Dallas, PA where Ricketts Glen is.  We got home last Wednesday and by Thursday afternoon, all the laundry was caught up (yes!  the washer is still working very well, thank you).

The Lehigh Fiber Festival was this past weekend, and you know Dee and I just had to go!  It was sort of a miserable day (though Dee and I had a good time).  The tropical storm had moved up the coast and it had started raining Friday night.  Everything was pretty wet (most vendors were in tents outside) and it was quite windy (and raining hard at times).  A number of vendors had not bothered to show up.  I still managed to find some yarn!

On the right:  Gold Panning, in the middle:  Paisley, and on the left:  Honky Tonk Woman

I couldn't decide between these three skeins, so I bought them all!  Such a good deal - sock yarn by Twisted Owl Fiber Studio out of Longview, TX.  Each skein is 100 grams and 463 yards (75/25 Merino/Nylon) and they were on sale for $11 each - so really, 3 skeins for the price of one!

The Lehigh Fiber Festival is a small event and no sheep or sheep dogs.  We did spot one animal though:

A rather large bunny in a lavender cage!

Well, that does it for today.  I really need to get cracking and see what is happening in the work world.  It is good to be home again and I will enjoy gradually catching up on blogs (the sign of a good vacation - not much blog reading...or being on the internet at all!).  I do hope that you all are doing well and enjoying the beginning days of Fall.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog!

 Hello My Friends!

It's been some time, huh?  Hard to believe I was away from this space for so long...but it was a wonderful break.  Now it is good to be back.  I'll share a few pictures and tell you a little bit about our vacation, but first some thank yous.

Our neighbors, Rob and Eva, took care of coming over daily to feed Mabel and let her in and out.  Thanks to the hurricane remnants, there was quite a bit of rain here and Mabel felt the need to stay in a bit.  Extra thanks to Dee and Steve who came over a number of times to hang out with Mabel, show her a little lovin' and affection and, of course, spoil her with treats!  Dee texted me pictures of Mabel which was wonderful, and we knew she was being taken care of so well.  That made our vacation all the more pleasant.

Initially we were not sure how our plans would work out.  We left on Tuesday, September 27th.  On Monday, the 26th, at around 4 p.m. I received a text and an email from AirBnB letting us know that our confirmed (and paid for) reservation for Wednesday night had been cancelled.  No reason or explanation...it was just cancelled.  We scurried around and found another AirBnB (more $$) for Wednesday, but that was not a good start to our trip.

So, where did we go?  Tuesday we were in Stanfordville, NY which is just outside of Rhinebeck.  Just shy of a few weeks for NY Sheep and Wool (which was fine by me - Rhinebeck would be crazy I'm betting!!).  That first night I managed to finish the 2nd Tidal Wave sock.  Good thing too, because by the end of the trip I had run out of socks and was wearing them!

After that we were in Southern Vermont, Northern New Hampshire, back to Southern Vermont and then finally Kingston, NY (again just outside of Rhinebeck).  We absolutely lucked out weather-wise.  We had beautifully sunny days with some cool (but not cold) temps.  Colors were at about max in New Hampshire.  We were staying in a house in Dorchester (Katie I am not sure where you are?) that the owner calls the Log Cabin.  (As Fletch says, it is a million dollar log cabin with a million dollar view!)  The owner, Keith, is the son of Lois, a friend and former client of Fletch's.  We stayed there last year as well.  Our friends, Lois and Dick were just down the road in their house.

One day we took the Mt. Washington Cog Railway to the top of Mt. Washington.  Breath-taking views.  Again we lucked out.  Mt. Washington is often in the clouds and often has nasty weather.  The day we were there was crystal clear and unusually warm (upper 40's).  Our train was in the afternoon.  Those who took the train up in the morning were able to see the Atlantic Ocean from the summit!  The sun was glittering on the water!  We could see far, but could not tell if we were seeing the ocean or not.  We were able to view Quebec, Canada as well as a number of peaks to the west in Vermont.

Back to Southern Vermont where the colors were not quite at peak, but still very beautiful.

That was the view from our AirBnB apartment in Marlboro, VT.  Our hosts were gracious enough to let us have a fire one night and even provided wood for us!

Fletch had bought this little folding grill/fire pit before we left on vacation.  Very convenient.  It folds completely flat and could be used for grilling as well as a little camp fire!  A little prosecco added a nice touch to our evening.

While in that area, we drove over to the (very pretty) cemetery where my parents' ashes are buried.  I had a little chat with them and then wandered around a bit.  In a prior visit, Fletch had discovered a gravestone and marker for a guy who had participated in the Boston Tea Party!!

Pretty cool and pretty surprising that he lived to the age of 94!

We arrived home Wednesday afternoon with enough time to unload the car and take quick showers.  Then we ran out to meet Colin & Mailing, Bonnie & Zhongren and Anna for dinner.  C&M had flown up from TX that morning for a wedding over the weekend.  We were pretty tired after our drive home, but it was so nice to see them again.

The garden is still producing:

The radishes are yummy and we will have the green beans tonight.

I spent the weekend doing laundry (no surprise there), switching out the summer quilt for the winter comforter on our bed and bringing out all my wool sweaters and putting away summer tops and dresses.  Fletch ran out yesterday and picked up a number of mums to have around the property.  Here is the yellow one by our front step along with a couple of pumpkins we had bought before we left.

I really like those bit, flatish pumpkins/gourds.

Finally, I'll leave you with a funny.  We love to find unusual and funny cards to frame and this one is the latest that we added to our collection (click to enlarge):

All in all it was a wonderful trip, but it is also very nice to be home again.  There were some places where we had no internet and no TV!  I actually enjoyed that, but Fletch felt a little out of sorts - LOL.  

Tiny Needle Tuesday October 5, 2021

 Hello, Hello!

We are back.  And safely, despite some of the heaviest rain I have ever seen on our way home yesterday.  It sounded like hail hitting the car.  Fortunately when we arrived home it was clear.  We actually came back a day early due to my having to be at the office on Wednesday.  I always need a day at home before jumping back into reality.  Today will be filled with laundry and probably a small grocery run.

Anyway, I did not take a lot of pictures, but have a few to share.  We started and ended our trip with camping in Rhinebeck, NY.  I know!  Not for NY Sheep & Wool.  Our favorite campground in the area has closed (thank you COVID) so we stayed at a new-to-us place that wasn't the greatest.  In between those Sunday nights, we journeyed to Southern Vermont...left our camper there and just took the car over to New Hampshire and the White Mountains.  We stayed in a beautiful log home about a quarter of a mile from where our friends were.  There was no one around and we had beautiful views of the mountains.  The weather was often overcast, but one day I woke from a nap to find Fletch coming to get me - looking out over the deck there was a huge rainbow.

You can see there was not a whole lot of color in the trees...still a bit early.  But one day our friends drove us up to Mt. Washington (where we had lunch at the Mt. Washington Resort - an AMAZING place) and we saw a lot more color there.  One night I cooked dinner for us (BBQ Shrimp) and one night Lois fixed a delicious venison stew.  We never would have known it was venison if she had not told us.  It was like the most tender roast you have ever had.

We drove back to Vermont visiting some familiar and favorite places along the way.  It had been three years since we had been in Vermont - far too long.  Driving back to Rhinebeck on Sunday, we stopped at the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent, CT.  A small, but very impressive museum filled with old tools and artifacts Eric Sloane had collected over the years.  There was also a small gallery with a number of his paintings and drawings.  At the back of the building was his studio/library/whatever room.  We have a few of his books and have always enjoyed his pen and ink drawings.  On display were two swifts!!

Both of them a little larger than the swift I have!

Meanwhile it is Tiny Needle Tuesday and I have two finishes to share!  Amazing...but with internet service and connectivity availability lacking for the entire trip I managed to stitch quite a bit!  First up, I finished Coverlet Birds.

I'm happy to have this one finished.  It's a bit larger than I wanted - really too large for a pin cushion.  In this photograph you can't really distinguish (or at least I cannot) between the blue and green.  But, after the red, there is a bit of green, then all blue until the end where it is green again.  The Ginny Thompson Flower Thread was very annoying to use, so I will pack that away for quite some time.

The other piece I finished is Malabar Farm - a small (pin cusion size) piece designed by Stacy Nash.  I had started this quite some time ago and then promptly lost interest...but it was in the stitching bag I brought on the trip, so I took the time to finish it up.

Yes, that is yet another bird - a peacock!

Due to internet issues I couldn't even read blogs while we were away, so I will enjoy some catch-up time today.  I also need to go through all the work emails so that I am caught up when I go to the office tomorrow.

It is good to be home!  We had a lovely time, but how wonderful to shower at home last night and sleep in my own bed!  I hope you have all been well.

Vacationing/Weekending/I'm Back!

 Well Hello There!

How are you?  I've missed you.  I did manage to read a few blogs on my phone, but not a lot and I sort of started to catch up and then didn't.  Oh well, c'est la vie.  We had a wonderful vacation!  It was wonderful to get away.  It was wonderful to see family (some of whom we had not seen for 4 years!!).  And, we crammed a lot into just a few days.  A quick run down of things:

On Monday we took the ferry across the James River and over to Jamestown (a car ferry that is FREE!!!).  This Osprey was nesting right next to where the ferry docked.  She had her wings spread to shade the eggs.

After docking in Jamestown we made our way to the Williamsburg Botanical Gardens which is not a huge place, but certainly gorgeous.  A nice morning walk after the longish ride to the ferry.  Then we had lunch at the Yorktowne Tavern.  Damon (Fletcher's brother) ordered a steamed platter that was shrimp, clams and oysters.  Look what was in with one of his oysters:

A little baby clam crab...supposedly a delicacy...but I don't do oysters anyway.

Tuesday we drove into Norfolk to Fletcher's sister's house and had dinner with a whole bunch of family.  The only shot I got was this one which does not come close to including everyone.

The table was set up in their backyard which goes down to the water.  It was so pretty as it got dark and candles were all along the length of the table.  Food was delicious and there was plenty of wine flowing.

Fletch has 5 brothers and sisters.  Most live in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Chesapeake area, but we stayed with Damon and Peggy out in Suffolk - i.e., out in the country where you have to drive at least 30-45 minutes to get anywhere!!  Suffolk is where Fletch's grandparents had a farm, and, in fact, his uncle still has land there.  It is beautiful country, though there are plenty of snakes (thankfully I saw none) and also bears (again I didn't see any).  For all you spinners, here is a spinning wheel that was Peggy's great grandmother's!!

We missed Tyg while we were gone, but Damon and Peggy have a cat.

Meet Big Guy or Mr. Big.  All 27 pounds of him!!  He is so big, but such a love.  And very handsome.  He would join us on the deck at night and would go after the numerous tree frogs going up the side of the house (and boy are they messy things!!).

I took plenty of reading material, lots of knitting and lots of stitching and did almost nothing - LOL.  And, it was great!!  I managed to start a sock and got the ribbing completed and that was it!  This past weekend has been full of grocery shopping, laundry, etc.  And today is back to work!

An email came through that my office is officially opening July 1st!  That is much sooner than anticipated.  However, we have the option to continue working from home if we like.  I will do a combination I'm sure (I know my bosses will want me in the office at times).

Meanwhile, it is good to be home, though I am missing Virginia and family.  Fletch managed to get a second deer tick bite while mowing the yard on Friday or Saturday!  And Colin pulled a tick off of Tyg one day when he came over to feed him.  We are heading over to Colin & Mailing's for dinner and a concert in the park tomorrow night.  Can't wait to see those kids!

Vacation - Part 2

Good Morning!

Part 2 of our vacation coming up.  We had a day to just hang at our campsite outside of Charlottesville - we didn't bother going in to walk around as we had been there the prior Spring.  We found a nature trail on property and walked that.  I did some knitting and took a (well-deserved) nap and Fletch puttered around going various things.  We grilled steaks for dinner which were pretty flavorless😞 - luckily we had some great Brussels sprouts and onions to go with them. 

Wednesday we got up, packed up our camp and headed South to the Suffolk area.  We stopped at the "famous" Virginia Diner for lunch which was good (but everything was sweet - even my chicken salad!!).  We got to Damon & Peggy's (Fletch's brother and his wife) mid-afternoon and relaxed with a beer.  That night Fletch stayed up later than everyone and ended up locking himself out of their house!  He spent the night in our camper in their driveway - lol.

Thursday morning the guys went through a bunch of old photos and memorabilia and I knit.  We headed out to the Smithfield area in the afternoon.  First stop was Fort Boykin on the James River.  We walked a bit and came upon this gorgeous Black Walnut tree.  It is the 2nd oldest tree in Virginia and is over 200 years old!

And we did a bit of beach combing.

Smithfield has some lovely old Victorian houses, so we strolled around town a bit and ended up on a nature path that Peggy used to walk when she was working (she retired in March).  Much to my dismay, we came across this guy:

A black snake over 4' long.  I was not pleased.  Supposedly they are harmless, but that doesn't really matter to me.  I stepped up the pace (plus the mosquitoes were coming out) and we made it safely back to the car - lol.  We ended up at Captain Muck A Chuck's for dinner - a place right on the water.  The fish tacos were some of the best I've ever had and the frozen margarita wasn't bad either.

Friday we went out to breakfast and then stopped by Fletcher's uncle's home to say hello.  Then we packed up and hit the road for Chincoteague.  It was pretty windy in Suffolk and we were a bit concerned about crossing the Bay Bridge, but there were no restrictions and it turned out to be much less windy on the Eastern Shore.

As we were setting up our campsite, the wind picked up a bit.  We had dinner and just as we finished Fletch's sister Lori and her husband Patrick arrived (in their very large RV).  It was a great night for a camp fire (though the wind whipped up the fire and we went through our 2 bundles of wood quickly) and we just sat around having beverages and catching up a bit.  We could see the lighthouse on Assateague from our campsite.

Saturday we tooled around Chincoteague.  We had planned to go to Assateaque and tour the lighthouse, but last time we were there the bugs were so bad we couldn't even get out of the car!  It was kind of a mucky day so we stayed put.  Fletch and I did find a nature trail that was about 1.5 miles long on the bay side of the island.

We didn't linger as there was a lot of standing water and ponds that seemed perfect for various insects.  We did hear a lot of bull frogs.

Driving around on some back roads, we came upon the Timothy Hill House - the oldest house on Chincoteague (circa 1800).

And we stopped for ice cream on our way back to the campsite!  I have not stopped for ice cream in years.  It was delicious, but I couldn't even finish it.... 

Sunday dawned with some rain.  Lori & Patrick packed up and headed back to their home in Chesapeake, VA by 8:30!  Fletch and I had a lazy morning and then went to the Chincoteague Museum.  Lots of Island history.  I was sorry not to be able to visit the yarn shop and not to see any ponies, but all in all, we had a wonderful time.  We didn't leave until after dinner on Sunday to avoid the heavy traffic around Dover, DE.  We pulled into our driveway just after 11 p.m.

A fun time, but it is good to be home!!

Vacation Part 1

Greetings on this grey and misty Wednesday.  We had a touch of rain overnight, but I have some pictures that will brighten things up.  Warning:  picture heavy.

We started our trip by driving to Charlottesville, VA on Saturday, April 27th.  We had had some very high winds (and tornado warnings) on Friday and the winds were still pretty strong on Saturday - not fun going over bridges while towing a camper.  But, we made it safely to our KOA which was small and very quiet (yay!!).  We set up our camper, cooked some dinner and tried to have a fire, but the wood we bought was very damp.

Sunday dawned and it was a gorgeous day.  After breakfast we unhitched the car, left the camper and drove down to Richmond.  We met a couple of Fletcher's cousins and his aunt at Tazza's Kitchen for lunch.  Really good food!!  After several hours of hanging around chatting, we followed Fletcher's cousin Kathy and her husband Rex back to their home in the Fan District of Richmond.  We took an afternoon walk along the walkway across the James River.  There were lots of turtles (including some snapping turtles) and birds.

We saw a group of people practicing rock climbing on a very steep wall.  We fixed some salads for dinner and later in the evening took a walk in their neighborhood.  It's kind of like walking around Society Hill in Philadelphia - very elegant homes.  The only difference is that there are a ton of Confederate statues all along the different roads.  Here's a picture of the front of Kathy & Rex's home:

Monday was a bit damp and on the cool side.  We had coffee and then made our way to the Stir Crazy Cafe (a local, funky coffee shop) for breakfast.  After that we headed to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens - 50 acres of gorgeous gardens.  So many plants in bloom, so many peaceful places.  It was wonderful.  Some snaps:

Pitcher Flowers

A beautiful carved gate...and Fletch

Pink Lady Slippers

I want this bench!!

This is the same tree that I showed yesterday (with Fletch & me standing in front of it).  HUGE!!  And, over 100 years old.

There were greenhouses with beautiful flowering cacti and other tropical plants:

And a room with just butterflies!!

They put out dishes of fruit and also water for the butterflies to enjoy

They were everywhere!  You had to watch where you stepped because some were resting on the walkways.

There was also a very large community garden with ripe tomatoes (already!!), squash plants in bloom, plenty of greens and bee hives!!

We walked around for over 3 hours and then ended up at the cafe on property for lunch.  If you are ever in the Richmond area, I cannot recommend this garden highly enough.  It is gorgeous!!

We headed back to Kathy & Rex's, packed up our car and drove back to Charlottesville and the sun came out!  We fixed a great dinner of nachos (done over charcoal) and then had a small campfire to end out the day.

Tomorrow - Part 2.  Thanks for sticking with this long, picture-heavy post.

I'm Back!

Well hello!

We are back from vacation - got in late Sunday evening and yesterday was spent mostly on laundry and picking up a few groceries.  Today I'm back to work and it's a bit on the busy side (no surprise there).  So this will be very quick.  More details later.

We did have a fabulous time and excellent weather (which is highly unusual for us - lol).  Here we are in front of a tree that is over 100 years old!!

This was taken at a Botanical Garden we visited in Richmond (again - more later...and more pictures!!).

I only took the Southwest socks to work on and finished them approximately 3 hours before we headed home on Sunday!

They ended up being matchy-matchy (which I normally don't like) and I love them.  Sadly no yarn shops were seen during our trip.  There were a couple in Richmond I had noted down, but our time was limited there.  I really wanted to visit Carodan Farm on Chincoteague Island, but they were closed since they were at Maryland Sheep & Wool.  Boo-Hoo. 

I managed to read a few blogs while I was gone but not many...I'll be trying to catch up a bit over the next few days.  More about our trip in the next post.  For now, I've got to get back to work.

Back From Vacation!

Well hello there!  It’s been a long time.  I thought I would post yesterday, but first days back at work can be rough, no?  This will be a long post with a bunch of pictures, so grab a cup of coffee or tea, or an adult beverage and sit back.

We had a great vacation.  It was just wonderful to get away.  The weather was pretty good the entire trip (only had rain one night and a few drizzles on a couple of days).  We did not see a lot of color (more in MA than in VT which was a surprise), but managed to have fires every night except the rainy one.  First we headed to the Woodstock/Saugerties area in NY.  It was a relatively short drive for us (3 hours or so) and we had time to set up our camper and then relax before dinner.  For our first night we had steaks and veggies done over the fire:

Don’t know if you can read the coaster on the table, but it’s one Fletch picked up last year and says:  “If drinking on the front porch counts then, yes, call me outdoorsy.”  LOL

Saturday we got up and headed out to Saugerties to the first of the four yarn shops we visited!!  This one was called The Perfect Blend Yarn & Tea Shop

It was a very cute shop with a small selection of teas, mugs and yarn.  I did buy some gifts there, but the only thing for myself was a replacement tape measure.

From there we headed to Rhinebeck!!!  What a cute and fun little village.  Lots of boutique-type shops, coffee houses and restaurants.  We stopped in Al Stickle’s Variety Store at the back of which is the “yarn garage.”  A fun place with really nice yarns.  Since I knew I had two more shops to visit, I practiced major restraint and only came away with this skein of yarn.

A little sparkly and fun!

Our next stop was southern Vermont.  There is a very nice shop in Brattleboro, but since I had already visited there a few years back, we skipped it.  I wanted to get to the cemetery where my parents’ ashes are buried.  This was the very damp day.  So Much FOG.  This was driving up the road to the cemetery:

And there was one tree beginning to turn:

This is (to me) a beautiful place – nestled in the Green Mountains, by a river.  A few years ago Fletch was walking around and discovered a grave stone for someone who fought during the Boston Tea Party!  Anyway, I had a little chat with my parents who are doing fine.  It was misty/rainy, so we did not stay long.  That afternoon we managed to get in an hour’s walk along side the CT River.  And despite the dampness, we managed to have a peach pancake breakfast the next morning!

There is just something about food cooked outside that makes it so delicious!

Tuesday found us headed to Northampton, MA.  I had read THIS ARTICLE https://www.masondixonknitting.com/knitters-weekend-northampton-massachusetts/ by Gale Zuker on the MDK site and it was wonderful to find the places she mentioned.  Well, not ALL the places – I did not have that much time.

The first afternoon we went to Webs!  It’s big, but not as overwhelming as I thought it might be.  Everything is organized really well and the people are helpful.  The back really is like a warehouse with metal shelving and tons of yarn.  It’s the type of place where I should have had a list of projects and yarn requirements…but I didn’t…so I just got a few things:

The bottom two skeins are so soft and a lovely spruce color.  They are a blend of alpaca and bamboo and I plan to make socks for Fletch.  Those skeins were deeply discounted.  And here’s a shot from the front of the store:

It was starting to rain a bit and Fletch wanted some coffee so we drove to a coffee shop.  I spotted this tea that they were selling….not appealing to moi:

After that we walked a bit around Northampton and ended up getting subs to take back to the camper for dinner.  Neither one of us felt like cooking in the rain.  No fire that night – we stayed in the camper knitting (me), reading (both of us) and writing (Fletch).

The next day turned out to be beautiful.  We headed up to Montague and the Book Mill which is just fabulous!  ( http://www.montaguebookmill.com/)  Our timing was perfect for lunch at the restaurant (The Alvah Stone) and we were able to sit outside by the waterfall.  Our meals were delicious and I wish I had been in the mood for a drink.  Look at the cocktail list:

Here’s a shot of one of the rooms inside the Book Mill:

We each got a book and we bought some fun cards.  One of my favorites (from The New Yorker):

The day was still young, so we headed back to Northampton and the last yarn shop:  Northampton Wool.  What a lovely shop.  Lots to choose from and very welcoming.  I came out with:

The latest issue of Laine (FABULOUS!!!) and a fun skein of sock yarn (or course). 

Before heading back to camp we stopped at:

The Pie Bar in Florence!  We both had Salted Chocolate Pie and it was so good.  We also picked up some maple-nutmeg cookies for Colin & Mailing.

The next day we headed back to the Woodstock/Saugerties campground for one final night.  I managed to finish the 2^nd green sock!!!

Our last night and I finished the one and only project I had brought on the trip!  I don’t knit in the car, so it all worked out just fine.

We got home on Friday afternoon.  Saturday morning I met Dee for coffee which was great (it had been too long since we had gotten together).  The balance of the weekend was playing catch-up with laundry, grocery shopping, etc. 

And…the weather has been pretty much awful since we got back – Humid, too warm (we ran the AC Sunday!!) – everything is damp and sticky. 

I’ve managed to start a new sock, but I’ll save that for another post.  Thanks for reading this LONG one.