Monthly Archives: April 2022

and back to Ketchikan

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I felt like it was another one of those announcements that is phrased as helpful but totally trashes your plans. Like the Pennsylvania Turnpikes “improvements for your safety and connivence” follow by the “no guard rails” sign. In this case NCL gleefully informed us we would be docking at the new WONDERFUL terminal. It is only 7 miles out of town. And, the courtesy bus is free. Right O. Add in riding on a crowded bus, possibly losing 20 minutes each way, what is not to like? Right?  

Part of it is because I have no clue how many of the 800 people on this ship are going to want to take the shuttle bus. We are in town for only about five hours. I am hoping that most folks are either on tour or staying on ship. I also haven’t a clue how the shuttle bus handles scooters, chairs, and walkers. And there are a lot of individuals on this ship with mobility assisting devices.

Now, in case you are wondering why I am grumpy, there is a perfectly fine dock right in the center of the old town which lets us off about 100 meters from a great coffee shop. There is a quilt shop down the street, bookstore two streets over and…. Never mind, you get the whine.  And if I didn’t want to look for some quilt fabric featuring sea otters for a friend, I probably wouldn’t be bothering to head to town at all.

——->-8———–

Well, made it to town. Found fudge, found magnets still on sale for a couple of the crew. Quilt store was open – but found only one panel of fabric that had anything that looked like an otter on it. Picked up two spools of thread I like. As it turns out made in Canada means that it is not easy to find in the US.

Stopped at the bookstore, then headed back to the ship. As it turns out, the bus ride was fine both ways. The drivers were entertaining (and long standing Ketchikan residents). The drive was interesting in terms of seeing something outside the tourist portion of town. And no one is happy about Walmart moving in and putting a number of  mom&pop stores out of business. Interesting perspectives about living somewhere that salmon is a cheap food….

off to relax – tomorrow is a sea day and we dock in Vancouver on Monday. No internet till then…

Rivers of Ice

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(Wiki information here)

We sailed all the way to the Marjorie Glacier which is 21 miles long and comes into the fjord at right angles to the Grand Pacific Glacier which clocks in at 35 miles long. As rivers go, that isn’t all that impressive. But as massive sheets of ice grinding slowly and unstoppably forward with a depth at one time that was over 4000 ft … (All this is in Imperials measurements due to them being provided by the park rangers on the tannoy. The park rangers are not shy, pushing a clear message of environmental change and responsibility. I am just not up for converting to real numbers).

My cabin is on the Port side and far forward for which I am more than grateful today. As we slowly drift toward the mountain wall, Majorie Glacier appears more clear. I can see follow her backwards into the mountains as she travels downwards and curves around the peaks. The Grand Pacific Glacier doesn’t have that wonderful blue crystalline front appearance being covered with all the dirt and rocks which it has picked up on its journey toward the fjord.

Mostly what I have are pictures.

On the way up Glacier Bay

.Marjorie Glacier

 

and then the Grand Pacific coming into the end of the bay

which doesn’t look all that exciting.

There were the usual tiny bits of ice floating…

and then we traveled back out on our way to Ketchikan – which included dozens more of small glaciers, some melting snow and amazing scenery.

and, then there is the LongDog Sampler – You Belong to Me which is now ABB – all but Backstitch. Stitched on 16 ct Scroll by BeStitchMe with 4067 Sulky bendable.

 

Icy Point Straight

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The last time I was here was well before the pandemic. The ship docked in front of the old Cannery which had been turned into a small, pleasant and walk-through in 10 minutes museum. Today it appeared significantly different. The tribe, the state, and some grants had gone for upgrades including two gondola systems and upgrades to the Cannery. All was finished in fall 2019. And you can just guess how the following two years went. One of the young women proudly told me that she was glad to be able to be working at home this summer between semesters; that they were expecting 250 ships this summer.



I walked the nature trail over to the Cannery meeting only one other person on the ½ mile trail. He was having a wonderful time complete with fancy camera and tripod. We chatted for a few minutes; this trip had been delayed two years for him. But the trees, moss, and sunlight filtering through the canopy was well worth the wait.



The history portion of the Cannery hasn’t changed. But the clean up has been extensive, it now feels open and welcoming. There are obviously the usual number of shops with a variety of goods; cheap magnets and t-shirts through incredible paintings and carved stone art.

 

Underneath the gondola run (green, free, thank you very much!) was a fantastic cross between a par course and the type of jungle gym that would be the envy of any adult school yard. . It would delight any teenager in the world. For that matter, with ladders, elevated walks, short zip-lines, rings, ropes, and balance areas I would have been extremely tempted. If it hadn’t been raining and a bit slippery. And, if I had less brittle bones or a bit less common sense.

 



This evening I finished Death Before Decaf, pattern designed by the WitchyStitcher

Capitals

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It isn’t just the tree line is low, there was still snow clearly visible on the mountain peaks.

This is typical of  what I saw most off the port side for most of this morning’s cruise to Juneau.

 

Capitals

Often the capital of one of the US states is neither the largest nor the most impressive city in the state. Take, for example, Albany – the capital of New York. Closer to home is Sacramento, which is a reasonably sized sprawling city at the norther end of California’s Central Valley. It is not exciting and certainly not LA or San Francisco. Or, for that matter, as interesting as St Paul where I lived for six years. Being, besides the state capital, the poorer and more working class sibling of Minneapolis. No sports teams, no shiny, not fancy but with amazing river views.  Major industries included the St Paul stockyards where the major winter sport was broom-ball.  Back in the day when the county hospital was called Ramsey County Hospital more than one of us learned our suturing skills on the lacerated scalps of more than one totally drunk player. 

Juneau, as the capital of Alaska (Wiki article here) is one of the older cities but certainly not the largest (Fairbanks and Anchorage are both larger). Especially not when you consider that the town’s population can  increase by 6000 or more on a summer day’s when several cruise ship’s dock.  These past two years have been really rough on the economy as a large share of the population makes a living mostly in the summer and off the tourists. 

Douglas Island lies to the west and is bridge connected to Juneau on the mainland via bridge.

It certainly seemed true this afternoon as I wandered through a few stores in town on a very short run off ship. I stopped at the fudge store, the quilt store, the toy store, and a general store. The last had the feeling of a small town store where there were tourist goods, but also a hardware section (hammers, nails, screwdrivers etc), some knitting supplies, sewing supplies, toys.  It is early afternoon, mid-week,  and the shoppers were just about all tourists. And we are the only ship in port and with a  ship’s passenger count below 40%.

I managed to avoid being too much of a tourist as far as the few purchases I made


(except for the small stuffed sea otter)
and was back on the ship long before it stopped raining. I did mention the rain? No?  Well, it was raining which is extremely common except when it is a bit colder, then it snows. We were lucky today, the temperature stayed over 5*C… Talking to a few people who went to the Mendenhall Glacier – they didn’t see much due to low hanging clouds…

and then there is Death before Decaf…

which is now at 70%

 

 

Crawling up the coast

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We sailed out of Seattle early last evening to lightly clouded skies and smooth seas. This time the Olympic National Park was on the Port Side and Vancouver Island on the Starboard. 

But mostly it was a lovely sunset

 

 Our first of three Alaskan ports will be on Wednesday. As it is the furthest point on the cruise, we are headed there first and then will work our way back along the coast. The distances are not all that far so it is sailing up the Inside Passage, staying in the middle of the challenge – and just far enough from the shore that there is no cell coverage.

 

I relaxed in the library for most of today and stitched while ignoring all the regular announcements over the tannoy which were mostly by the Cruise Director’s staff attempting to get passengers to attend various events around the ship. As you probably guessed, most of those events, other than Trivia are all revenue generating.

 

Had a lovey chat at supper with the lovely, young HR director who is from Zimbabwe. She talked about the challenges of handling crew both while underway and while in dry dock (both the Jewel and a previous ship). She has been thinking about writing an article for the NCL internal newsletter. Obviously, I encouraged her with the thoughts that others could benefit and, as long as she phrased it in terms of what went right, what additional information would have been good to know ahead of time, and what she learned, others might really appreciate it. None of the other current HR managers on ship have handled more than one dry dock. With the young crews out there, it is rare for anyone headed Into the experience to have survived those 30-180 days before. Bragging doesn’t work, but humbleness and sense of humor does, I shared my experience as a passenger from Rotterdam immediately post the Chaos of the Seas dry dock in the Netherlands as an example of not well handled. She is also the lucky person who arranges for the all crew activities off ship in port. She is building up her database for the summer as the Jewel sails up to Alaska and back.

 

Otherwise, today’s project was “Death before Decaf” by the WitchyStitcher on 16ct whatever from Forbidden Fiber Co. This is a 4200+ stitch pattern (a lot more dense than the last) but I am making progress…. Also a new start on this cruise.

Sailing into Seattle

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It was earlier than I planned on rising, but the change in both ship movement and sound was obvious. From late in the evening to early this morning we made the slow, comfortable sail  up the inlet between Vancouver Island on the left and Olympia National Park on the right.  Not surprisingly as it became light this morning, the temperatures are cool and the sky overcast.

I had my last look at the skyline as we turned to dock at Pier 66.

Once docked, my balcony looks out over the harbor. At 0700, I don’t see any point in getting off the ship for a couple of hours.

At 1100, I had even less reason to get off the ship. The outside temp was 10*C (51*F in old money). Today is Monday. For anyone who is a crafter, knitter, spinner, stitcher the follow on is obvious. Seattle is not a small Alaskan town dependent on the tourist trade. All those lovely small stores are open on Saturday. And reopen on Tuesday. Which, obviously is not today. Instead, I stayed in the library, sitting at the table this time and chatted with various people who could actually identify cross-stitch (and that it wasn’t crochet…..).

No other photos today, this has to be posted prior to our 1600 sail out (! not bailout as auto correct would have it). Tomorrow is a sea day. Although we might be close enough to shore to use my phone, I don’t trust AT&T..

A library!

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I had thought they were all just about gone, except for Holland America which recognizes that people need books,

But the NCL Jewel came out of dry dock this past year and the library remains. Located on Deck 12, there is a card room with more than a half dozen tables next door. I am ignoring the poor ladies who work in the Spa trying desperately to drum up business every time anyone walks by.

But the library, it is a good size room with a dozen plus cozy seating areas. There is a table in the center which, as it appeared today, is the spontaneous morning get together location for any crafters or fiber folk on the ship.

There are three walls of book cabinets containing a variety of hardback books ranging from reference materials through various fiction genres and several languages. The cabinets are locked, glass fronts managed by a staffer who comes in to the desk twice a day to manage book checkouts. As you might suspect, the honor system just doesn’t work under cruise conditions. At least not on most of the ships I have sailed.

I spent the morning quietly stitching in the library, the afternoon enjoying the peace and quiet of my cabin. There are under 900 passengers on the ship. For those who normally travel on small ships, this is a huge number. For those used to the hustle and bustle of large ships, I can sit in one of the lounges and not see anyone for up to 30 minutes. Nice & quiet!

Since NCL gives me meal coupons for the fancy restaurants, I teamed up with another one of the solo travelers to use one last night. We had a pleasant evening; she just retired from the BC Provincial Paramedic service.

Otherwise – my true – new cruise new start…

Nightmare before Coffee from the WitchyStitcher. DMC floss on 16ct  Tumbleweed by ForbiddenFiberCo. Nice addition to my coffee wall? No?

Past times on NCL

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Since there is no way I am paying the hefty bill that NCL wants for internet – even the low bandwidth kind I decided instead to see how long I have been cruising with them

2011 – NCL Spirit in the Western Caribbean – immediately after Army retirement

N2011 – NCL Star – Alaska

2012 – NCL Jewel – Bahamas etc

2012 – NCL Jade x 2 – Canaries (did the loop twice)

2013 – NCL Jade x 2 – Western Med; Eastern Med (and I still have the lovely leather jacket I bought in Turkey)

2013 – NCL Epic – Eastern Caribbean

2015 – NCL Jade – 21 days of Mediterranean

2015- NCL Escape Transatlantic – Inaugural cruise over Halloween.

2017 – NCL Jewel Mexican Riviera

2017 – NCL Sun – Panama Canal x2

2018 – NCL Bliss – inaugural transatlantic

which sort of counts and 15 cruises and mostly on the older and smaller ships…

and mostly it was reading and knitting as sea day pastimes.

and then I went back to grad school in fall of 2018. And when I was about to be done with that – SARS-COV2 decided to come out and play….

 

 

Sailing away

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My ship this time is the NCL Jewel. I went and looked it up and it seems like the last time I sailed on her was in the Med back when Miriam was about 16 (so about 13 years ago).

Boarding is obviously in

San Diego, CA 4:00pm 

Saturday, April 23 At Sea

Sunday, April 24 At Sea

Monday, April 25 Seattle, WA.  7:00am 4:00pm 

Tuesday, April 26 At Sea

Wednesday, April 27 Juneau, AK. 1:00pm 11:59pm 

Thursday, April 28 Icy Strait Point, AK. 9:00am 6:00pm 

Friday, April 29 Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, AK (Cruising)

Saturday, April 30 Ketchikan, AK  8:00am 4:00pm 

Sunday, May 1 At Sea

Monday, May 2 Vancouver, BC, Canada 7:00am 

My flight this morning was fine. Poor George had to get up extra early to drop me off at OAK. The NCL airport crew from LAX was bussed down to meet us at the airport where they finally found the group of us hanging out and waiting.

We arrived at the port and were checked in. They let the first batch of us on ship at about noon; I promptly headed up to Deck 12 and found a lovely veg curry with rice and plenty of lemonade along with salad and fruit. The buffet is all self help. Being the first through the line isn’t an issue. If I don’t want to do that – I am probably going to be doing a lot of take away from a couple of location.

When the cabins opened at 1330 I had a lovely surprise. This is not the Oceanview cabin I had booked. Instead I am in a balcony cabin on Deck 8!

Errand Day

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and packing – which I really didn’t even think about till after supper.

First – there was an afternoon game. I remembered to trade in my ticket prior to the deadline for an extra ticket to one of the Mets games this fall. While I was at it, I swapped out another one so that I had two seats together. Always useful that… Of course, the As managed to win today. I didn’t look at the attendance, but it should have been better than yesterday. 

I decided early that I just couldn’t afford to take off ½ a day right before a trip. (Getting to that portion later). So instead stopped by a couple of the kids homes followed by Costco so that I would have snacks (hints, not foreshadowing) 

This afternoon, we were visited by the ladies who lunch –

with up to four of them at one point hanging out on our front patio. 

I managed about 250 stitches into the Spangler Book storykeep

which puts it a bit over 1/3 complete. The fun thing is about another 10 rows and I will finally get a new set of colors as the dragooning starts to show.

And I finished the March Quaker by Heart in Hand – which means one less project to take along. 

I’ve April & May packed to go with. I should be able get April started and finished before the end of the month.

Tomorrow? My flight leaves at 0640 which means George is going to have to drop me off at the Oakland Airport since BART doesn’t start till 0500. I am just not willing to risk running for the plane (15 minutes Richmond to North Berkeley, 35 minutes NB to the Coliseum Station, ~ 15 minutes between monorail rides from BART to the airport. Then security…. Did I mention that I would prefer to check my suitcase rather than deal with the overhead bins?

It is not quite 2200 here. Suitcase is ready to go. Backpack is waiting for the electronics. I probably should set an alarm….

and so not

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squeaking by, that is. Baltimore managed to get a run early on in the afternoon game rescheduled from the evening. The As, in spite of multiple opportunities didn’t manage even one measly run. They had more hits. In fact, in the face of no one out, runners on 1st and 3rd – the next three batters up were easily out.

Attendance? I would be surprised if there were even 1000 people at the ballpark. Seriously empty. So sadly empty it was embarrassing. There were Orioles fans present and about the only ones happy. We had perhaps a dozen in the drum section. It would have been more, but the unlucky people who bought front of the bleachers seats for this game discovered that they really didn’t want to sit in the middle of this particularly noisy crowd.

I did mention that the game had been rescheduled from the evening? Shortly after I arrived at the stadium, the sun cho\ose to go under clouds and pretty much stayed there. It was cool, it was windy.

Meanwhile, I hear from a friend in NY who is at a Mets Game. It is cold, it is windy. But this is New York, there is a Kosher for Passover food stand. Don’t think it completely made up for the Mets losing to the Giants but you take your little bits of joy where you can find them.

The good thing about afternoon games is that you are home in time for dinner.

And yes, the skies opened up later in the evening and it rained….

Squeaking by

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I am failing to add pictures today for several reasons – the main one being that photos taken with a  phone from Right Field don’t really show anything. That is, if there was anything to show.

You guessed it –  yet another marginal win by the As. Again, if the Baltimore Orioles were even a slightly better team…. George tells me I shouldn’t be so down on the team, but then, he wasn’t at the game watching all the young and not so young players struggling. Again, bad ownership, flashes of brilliance from the new center fielder, and a decent performance by the bullpen. Oh, yes, and error again contributed to the win.  It couldn’t have been the fans – the fact that there were UNDER 3500 fans tells you how disillusioned the fan base has become. It also tells you how few people renewed their season tickets… Mostly there were us, the crew around home plate and one of the schools local choirs for the national anthem (and there seemed to be almost a hundred of them). 

We had enough drums, extra cowbells, a broken Tamborine, a bin of Red Vines, and friends. That and two families worth of toddlers (two each) kept the energy level up. Somewhere in the middle of the game, the rumor started spreading that tomorrow’s game time was being moved up by a few hours. Now a 1840 start works well for me. Late enough to avoid paying for parking should I drive to BART, early enough to be done at a reasonable time in the evening.  Anyway, there is rain predicted for tomorrow. Unlike many other cities, rain outs are not usually a high risk here. But if they can be avoided by starting three + hours early, why not? Well in a city where lots of fans will show it, it might be a problem. Based on today’s experience, there probably isn’t going to be much difference in fan support between 1507 on a Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening. 

Please note – the information came from the management apparently posting on social media. Nothing on the score board, no tannoy announcements. An email dropped into my box at 2230 notifying me that game time tomorrow had been changed. And I wonder – does everyone have email? Is there anyone who is going to show up in the evening and be really angry? It might well have been smarter to turn Thursday’s day start into a double header. 

Even so, I had to bail in the mid-8th.  Something about needing to be at the SFVA tomorrow for an appointment. Actually, I don’t have to be there all that early. But this is the SF Bay. I can leave insanely early, get coffee from Peet’s and have a smooth uneventful drive followed by quiet time hanging out in the car reading, stitching, or listening to an audio book. Or, I can sleep longer and spend an insane amount of time caught in horrible traffic attempting to get across the Bay Bridge while being caught behind drivers whose panic shows that they do not belong behind the wheel of any car. 

Easy decision.

Current stitching update – left to the end…

More flowers finished in the Barbara Ana Floral Dreams and some fish and birds added to the LongDog

 

They won

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Ok. I should be jumping up and down to celebrate. The As won their Opening Night game. Yes, they won. The pitching was alright. The hitting was barely enough; at least they made no fielding errors. And that is where the worry about how real a 5:1 win really was. The As had an early run, The Baltimore Orioles came back with their own run. Later in the game, the As had a 4 run inning. Which wouldn’t have happened without first a major Orioles fielding error (RF & CF sliding and failing to catch what would have been a simple “grounded out.” A second error later in the inning, I don’t even remember who overthrew first base, meant that instead of the side being retired, there were still base runners after the man on third scored.

That is not how you win a game against a team which is even a smidge stronger.  Plus, there were only two batters In the line up who started the evening with a drum beat. That is a lot of turnover split between older players needing to retire and young ones just called up. I skipped the chance to be on the field to stay with a friend in the bleachers. On camera? Me? Not likely.

Enough about baseball, I doubt you were interested anyway! 

 

 

Some progress

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There are days when I work on a number of projects – ranging from stitching to cleaning to reading or machine embroidery. And sometimes within a category the item/s are one or many.

Today was a bit more sensible. From my upstairs window, I could see Sausalito and the Bay Bridge clearly for a change. But then it is Sunday with noticeably less air solution. There were a variety of entertainment options – Baseball has started which provides the listen/watch option. there are audio books, and then there is the insanity of YouTube for which there are a bijillion and one choices.

But the day came down to opening yesterday’s mail which had arrived later last evening. George refers sometimes to my daily packages; which are neither daily nor often packages. I don’t call envelopes packages, but anyway….

I finished Galaxy Girl – which required almost 400 stitches

I might yet go back and add some backstitching – it depends on how she looks when set in a framing hoop.

Floral dreams is 4300+ stitches (not the 2600 I was remembering) so adding 1350 stitches meant progress but there are a lot of flowers and color changes left. I would really like to get this finished as the Raccoon from the Year in the Woods series really is asking to be started….

Again, a Barbara Ana pattern.

and finally – 

554 stitches of fill-in of the Nile skiff. a fish, and what looks to be a dog head. I don’t see this finished before I head to San Diego for the NCL Jewel – but it just might be a cruise finish…

(You Belong to Me – LongDog Samplers).

and tomorrow is Opening Night for the As. For anyone who has TV access – you just might want to see the 20 minutes before the game. Apparently the lousy As front office has figured out that the Drum Section (which makes other team’s fan groups totally insane) might just as well be incorporated into Opening Night. Jorge (the head of the ’68ers Fan Group is working out the details but we just might be on the field to drum in the players…. (of course with an 1840 game start, the time zones suck for most of you….

Overly ambitious

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Remember I said that I had two cross-stitches I was planning on finishing today?

Well, I really hadn’t looked at how many stitches were left on either one. The First – Galaxy Girl (Barbara Ana) still was only at 82% after adding more than 1000 stitches today. Somehow, I was thinking she was 1200 stitches – not the realistic 1821.. So this is as far as I got –

the colors are the called for DMC, the fabric is one of this year’s Sparkly of the Month from Fortnight Fabrics.

But really, there were other distractions today – the Mets lost, the Twins lost, but the As somehow managed to pull off a victory in the 9th. Changing colors a lot really isn’t compatible with screen time.

And then there was a trip to the dogs – well actually a trip out to drop off keys to Dani & Alex followed by a stop at JoaAnns on the way home. Well, it is on the way home and picking up skeins of replacement DMC 712 is never a silly idea.

I hear the hot tub and sleep calling me….

Spidey Senses

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I met one of my baseball friends (from RF 149 and a member of the drummers) for coffee and pastries. We have mostly been communicating by text over the last couple of years. She works for KQED and feels fortunate to be able to still work from home most days. Reasons include decreased commuting time (Alameda Island to SF) and just the general hassle and cost. She usually drives to the games as well and has kindly offered to take a bunch of excess “stuff” to the next tailgate in her car. By excess stuff – I mean all the t-shirts, souvenirs, bobbleheads etc that have come home with me over the last several years.  I normally wear t-shirts, and really – how many bits of cardboard, bobbleheads or pennants does one really need?

Also, with Passover starting tonight, it was my last chance to enjoy food out with a friend. Did I mention scones and muffins? Anyway – I drove over to Alameda (through the Webster Tube) and made a stop at Michaels. One always needs floss.

From there it was to Signal’s on Webster St where we enjoyed excellent coffee as well as stopping up the last scone and muffin. They are also on the delivery route for Boichik Bagel but had been sold out hours ago.

But this is where the Spidey Senses kicks in. Apparently Alameda goes all out for Halloween with many just leaving the decorations up all year. Click on the picture if you want a better view. Me? I don’t think I would want a pair of giant spiders hanging off my house.

 


From there I headed over to Needle in a Haystack to indulge in fondling specialty threads and filling in some missing threads and beads for the series I mention below.

Aries is ABB (all but beads) which I was able to do once home. It had been on hold due to missing one of the Caron Waterlillies. This is the third of the Zodiac Girls from Nora Corbett that I have stitched so far. Stitching on 32 ct Vintage Country Mocha (or French Cafe) with all the called for threads. I haven’t decided whether to add the Greek or Hebrew signs at the end when I add the backstitching. .

Which meant then I was ahead of schedule on those and moved on to a couple of small Barbara Ana Dreaming whatever which I hope to finish tomorrow.

Actually on time!

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In fact, early. So the only thing late at all about Thursday’s trip to UCSF is my delay in hitting the send button.

With our usual disorganization, there were five of us going in different directions, all at about the same time. Dani was headed out to a dog show, George had a business appointment, Noah had a job interview which left Alex with his 1330 Ortho appointment at the Mission Bay portion of UCSF. Obviously, this left me as the driver.

So off I went, early as usual since being late for an appointment means getting out really late and landing in absolutely horrible traffic. Mission Bay is also not exactly on BART – it would take BART to  Embarcadero, a transfer to the T line tram, then some more fussing around, And this is Alex, my wonderful SIL whose appointment was to asses his progress after his ankle surgery. I was not about to sentence him to pegging blocks on crutches.

You remember the whole saga about his broken ankle and the insurance fight to get his care authorized?  Anyway, after picking him up and grabbing him a latte to go before hitting the freeway, we fought our way through traffic that did not meet any criteria for fun. I dropped him off in front of the clinic building 50 + minutes after we left their house in El Sobrante. Which was about an hour before his appointment.

I then drove aimlessly till I finally found an on street parking slot and settled in for what I thought was a long wait. 1327 I get a text from Alex. He is done. X-rays, exam, follow up scheduled. And this is three minutes BEFORE his appointment was even scheduled to start.

Thrilled to say the least, since this meant less traffic going home. Dropping him off 30 minutes from picking him up, I am still impressed. An appointment  scheduled, kept, and actually finishing promptly!  And yes, he is healing well. PT will be the next step…

Turning the corner

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I am sure you don’t remember, and the date/time of start isn’t really all that important. But I have been working steadily (more or less) on this particular project since I started it last fall while sailing along on the Star Legend. The particular project to which I am referring is the LongDog Sampler – You belong to Me.

According to the notes from the designer, her father had served in North Africa during WWII as part of the British Forces. This explains the Egyptian orientation as well as the fox and rats lurking in the picture.

I have 8/12 pages completely done, and portions of the last four. In reality I am at 84.5%, I have made it to the lower corner and am starting across the bottom of the piece. My reasons for doing it this way – well there really are no reasons, it just felt like the way I wanted to stitch at the time. And that last 15% is about 6ooo stitches.

Anyway – in case you couldn’t see it – here is the corner

and perhaps I should admit that I was worried about the size of the fabric since I really liked this piece for the pattern. I had calculated out that I would have some margin. But it isn’t a lot and I will likely have to sew on some strips in order to be able to frame it.

 

On the entertainment from – today’s robo-call was about phone, internet and cable services. Reported to be from Knoblauch Services. Spammers with a sense of humor? I can’t believe that this was serious phone call – Garlic? Really?

Mostly Mira

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Or actually under the name of Nora Corbett. But anyway – it was an unusual stitching day for me. I really only worked on one project which resulted in visible progress. Not unexpected for 1400+ stitches. If I had had a particular specialty floss in my staff (apparently ordered but not in stock when the pattern was sent) I might have finished those last 500 stitches which would have left it ABB (All but beads).

specifically – this is Aries from the Zodiac Girl series – What is left is finishing up the one lower side to match the other – the missing color on the empty side, a couple of strands of stitching and a few hundred stitches on the top. And beads, let us not forget the beads….

On other front – nothing exciting in the mail and no cleaning accomplished.

Wait! I emptied a waste basket and took a box down to the garage – does that count?

 

Ear, Ear

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

‘ere it is!

First things first!  Meet the JackRabbit. Pattern from Cottage Garden Samplings stitched with the called for threads – except for the flower, I substituted Forbidden Fiber Cos Galaxy on 16 ct Earthen by Picture this Plus.

 

the last 150 stitches took the longest – you see all those tiny purple rosettes? four purple with one stitch of white in the center. Wash, rinse, repeat more than 26 times..

After taking time this afternoon to see CODEX (link here to the information on this international book fair). Last year didn’t happen – so this every two years event may well now be on even years. George & Miriam had a wonderful time. Angel also found it interesting. I wandered around, talked to a few of those displaying everything from handmade paper to hand bound art books to ….. you get the idea. Me? As pretty as some of the items were – I am just not the kind of person who wants something on my shelf or table that needs to be handled literally with gloves.

 

The four of us hand dinner at Saul’s before heading home. This is the first time I have had the experience of using a QR code reader to order and pay for our selections which were then delivered by the wait staff.

Gwen turned 12 today. Quite old for a golden retriever. Posed in her new backyard I know that she got some special treat to eat.

And, finally, I was able to put more stitches into Aries (the third Zodiac Girl) from Nora Corbett

I added to the lower portion, stuffed in some more browns – so far this has been all tans and browns except for the Light Effects – E436 which is actually kind of a brown. You can see a bit of pink/mauve/violet which is Caron Watterlillies 138 – Mulberry. I am close to 40$ of the stitching complete so hopefully I can finish this up by the end of the week.