Monthly Archives: August 2024

Rainy day – Reykjavik

Holly Doyne Posted on by

This was a second day in port on the new schedule. It was cool (cold is when it is below freezing), with a rather strong sea wind  and – you guessed it – rain. I looked out side from my comfortable chair on Deck 8. It is a decent location. I have a small table. can sit directly under a light and out of the main stream of traffic at the far forward point of the lounge. This particular lounge doesn’t have the nice table next to the coffee bar, but I can adapt. I miss the outlet, but not having dozens of people stop by and make stupid comments is also an advantage.

The total number of passengers is around 26x (out of a potential 32x) which suits me fine. There are a few I know from previous cruises, some nice seeming new to this time cruisers, and a few who obviously missed the ?Seaborne/Viking? ship that was also beginning it’s cruise yesterday.  Did I also mention the National Geographic ship (complete with some rather entitled adults/offspring if my limited experience in the hotel or town was any indication) that was also departing?

Anyway – I wound up with a quite day in the lounge, people watching, stitching, explaining that this wasn’t knitting/crocheting/embroidery/needlepoint and am heaedd to bed rather early.

Around Iceland

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Our Ship is the Star Pride, the third of the three yacht type vessels owned and operated by Windstar Cruise lines.

These seven days are as follows: (note changes due to weather – wind and high seas)

Friday, August 30, 1700 set sail not leaving today….

Saturday, August 31 Heimaey, Iceland 1000-1700 This has been dropped due to challenging sea walls, high winds and high seas.

Sunday, September 1,>Seydisfjordur, Iceland arrive 18:00 maybe…. when we get there….

Monday, September Seydisfjordur, Iceland departing 1330

Tuesday, September Akureyri, Iceland 09:00-1900

Wednesday, September 4 Isafjordur, Iceland 1200-2030

Thursday, September 5 Grundarfjordur, Iceland 0900-1800

Friday, September 6 Reykjavik, Iceland arrival 07:00

We are neither disembarking nor are we changing cabins as far as I know.

Zombie O’Clock

Holly Doyne Posted on by

At this point, my internal clock is only compatible with the walking dead. I can see why they might want to eat brains; I don’t have any. By the time we got to our hotel, I was completely exhausted and could barely find the bed. 

But actually my day started yesterday. I had almost no energy. Going on a multi-kilometer hike with everyone was completely out of the question.  Most of my day was spent on such important things as listening to an audiobook, napping, & a small bit of stitching. Maybe 1-2 hours were actually spent napping but not more. There might also have been computer solitaire involved. 

So color me pale and glassy eyed this morning which might have not been the best start for another long day of travel augmented by a couple of cups of rather strong coffee. We headed back to the airport in the sucky rental car which we hadn’t used since arrival. Getting to this particular location by train is actually more challenging than facing the autobahn (including the hike up a hill which actually compares to ours at home). We had to figure out the balance of not leaving too early and not arriving so late that we would be rushing through the airport.  Which meant arriving within my comfort zone (not George’s). Once again the car’s navigation system refused to play so I had to turn on my phone (AT&T has raised the daily connect fee to $12 from $10/US, Just saying).  My maps took us off the autobahn about 30 km out and we did a bit of cross country driving before picking up HWY 44, then 43 to Terminal 2. Luck was with us – there were actually signs to rental car return (small type face but actually visible) – and it was underground at the parking garage next to the terminal. 

Getting to the D/E check in area was easy. Finding the check in counter was a bit more challenging but they opened more or less on time. Security in T2/Frankfurt doesn’t have the new screening machines. Just saying that taking out ALL my electronics was a total pain. Laptop & tablet, camera, lenses, batteries, all chargers. This sucked. 

Our flight to Iceland on Iceland air was uneventful. We were sitting on the wrong side of the plane to see any possible volcanic activity. Hint – do NOT sit in the exit rows if you want to access anything in your carry-on. No underseat. Nothing at your feet. Good thing I didn’t need my camera. 

Arrival., hike, baggage. Exhausted, I couldn’t even run after the grey haired woman making off with my suitcase at the far end of the baggage carousel. Just dragged self over and reported it. By the time we were at the end of al of that, there were only three bags left going around. And then there were four. And then there were three. My bag was back. Since we leave tomorrow, I decided this was as good as it got and we headed to the bus. Which, as it turns out, unlike Japan and other places, doesn’t go to hotels, just to the central bus terminal where you have to get on yet another bus (by color, ours was yellow). We were dropped off downtown and finally found our hotel.  The bus wasn’t cheap but 1/3 the price of the rare taxi… and less than what my cruise line wanted to charge. 

water, tea, sleep….

Elephants on the stairs

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I am thinking there is a major cultural difference between the US and Germany as to the presence of open vx shut doors.  I will have to inquire further. In any case, I shut doors when I need to keep people out such as being on a Zoom call or protecting things from small people. But in general, all the doors in our house are open. Not so in the German homes of friends. Walking into an entry way, all one sees are closed doors with no clue where they go. The same is true for any upstairs floors. Ok, I understand privacy. But I really don’t think there is a difference between company and non-company days. I really think that all the doors are always shut.

This leads to trips up and down stairs and a lot of banging of doors opening and closing. Perhaps in your house you keep your bathroom doors open. In mine, a closed bathroom door probably means that the room is occupied. You don’t need to try the door handle to see if it opens. And you don’t embarrass someone inside who forgot to lock the door.

But it does mean that I know where everyone is. I can hear the heavy footbneats of the guys as they go up and down the stairs and the “firm shutting of doors.” Me? I try to be as quiet as possible so as to disturb no one with my comings and goings. Perhaps this is a “me” thing, but it occurs to me that it also just might be a bit gender related.

I have been doing a little stitching, decided not to go for a hike and am seriously considering a nap to finish adjusting to the current time zone.

Walking around Miltenberg

Holly Doyne Posted on by

George’s cousins essentially live in town, so we hiked down the hill Latest renovations resulted in the Post Office on the far side of the Main River from where they live. So it literally was “over the river and past the trees” to the Post AMT we go. There are some very logical reasons to haul European bound things along on a flight. Postage from the US can be almost cost prohibitive and then there is the slight issue of import duty. I had done the arithmetic, the package I was bringing was under my import limit so I figure no harm, no foul, presents are important! Especially stitching supplies.

We then wandered around town. I hadn’t looked a head of time so didn’t spot any craft/needlework stores, but George found a bookstore and ordered a book he wanted. Again – postage costs to the US were saved.

I spent part of the afternoon stitching, then went to listen to the new Ben Aaronovich book just released. It is set in the 1920s and features the Nightingale. About half way through before I was too tired to concentrate. Tomorrow will be more wandering around, I will pull out the expensive camera and see how it goes.. Then Thursday we fly to Iceland

Situational Awareness

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Not my usual topic but more than appropriate under the circumstances.  Let me explain: being aware of your surroundings and taking the appropriate measures as needed to avoid problems.

Situational awareness is second nature to police, fire fighters, and military.  It is why, decades after serving in the Balkans and mid-East why I still will never drive over anything in the road.  Awareness also used to be second nature for mothers of small children, before the advent of the ubiquitous cell phone. It also underlies behavior  for any smart person who is traversing an area unfamiliar or where they stand out in the crowd for any reason.

And then you have the average white dude who heads straight ahead figuring that it is the responsibility of everyone else to get out of the way or keep track of where they are going. I chose to find it funny most days, this particular form of obliviousness. But on occasion, like trekking through an airport it can become extremely frustrating. There is no way it can be interpreted as “I trust you to get where we are going” because it really is “I know where I am going, it is up to you to keep up….

Anyway, we arrived in Frankfurt, had the joy of an outside park position which meant outside stairs and buses. Onto the first bus we went. And then the doors wouldn’t close. Too many passengers? Moved a dozen or so people to the second bus. Still didn’t help. 25 minutes later, we finally headed toward the terminal. Turned out to be the far end of Terminal A which was the absolutely furthest distance one could get from baggage claim and still be in the airport. Then to top it off, baggage delivery took forever.

Then came the aforementioned trek to the rental car location (down stairs, along the underground concourse and back to the far end of Terminal A.). Take my word for it – don’t EVER rent a Peugeot. They suck. Whether or not all the electronic stuff is supposed to load, it doesn’t want to. The tutorials on how to run the nav system failed to load and I gave up, turned on my cell phone and used Maps to do our navigating.

After that, it wasn’t all that difficult to get to Miltenberg where we will spend a couple of days with George’s cousins before heading back to the airport and on to Iceland.

glasses and travel challenges

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Let me discuss the second subject first. We were both up early and I was packed and repacked for the X time by 0900 which was a good thing because Miriam was giving us a ride to BART. She looked at us. Where are you going? SFO was the reply. Oh, why don’t I just drop you off? I am going into San Francisco for the day and have the time.

I felt guilty for all of about 20 seconds, then said yes. As a result of the kindly provided ride, we were at the airport prior to the check-in being open. A coffee and a bit of sitting later and we wandered over to the line. And then the fun began. Apparently the EU is getting a bit more concerned about one way tickets. Like – are we EVER leaving the EU? George had to pull out his permanent residency visa. Even better for our lovely counter person were the outbound flights to Iceland on Thursday and print out of the ship’s itinerary  showing that we were obviously leaving the EU in less than 90 days.

So this is a warning for anyone flying into Europe (US, Canadian, OZ etc) to leave by ship. Having information on your phone is all well and good, but having things printed out makes it sooo much easier on everyone. It isn’t that the counter people want to be a pain, they just need to follow the regulations. And I can’t think of anything worse than getting sent BACK from the gate to check-in to provide the information. Trust me, she said that it has happened more than once.

So there we are, checked in, luggage dropped off and headed to security. I am really unclear as to how he managed it, but George was walking around with his reader’s on his face, caught them in something and broke the whole mess apart, More than a bit disgusted/angry at the whole process, he told the young screener just to toss the pieces out. Well, guess what? Anything given up once you start the TSA screening goes into locked containers and can’t be retrieved. I asked.. We are in the International Terminal known for fancy shops of high end goods and expensive snacks. that is it, Name sunglasses, yes. Reading material? Nope. I went out on a search mission of mercy. There is a lovely actual book store a couple of terminals from G. There were exactly two pairs of readers that might possibly work. Each one of them obviously cost more than 3/for from Amazon. Enough said. He now has readers. I can’t imagine dealing cranky guy for ~11 hours on a flight unable to read….

Just as a general note as well – mask wearing is well under 1%. I am not sure why everyone wants to believe that COVID, RSV, and Flu aren’t a thing – but there you are. I saw the occasional other mask wearer on ship. Seemed to be almost a nod of the head there in recognition. Here? Thousands of people, rare masks…..

——-//—

On board and ready to take off!

 

 

The usual long day home

Holly Doyne Posted on by

It will not surprise anyone who has ever cruised that the day you dock and depart ship is normally a totally and completely lost/wasted day. I was up early to find that the Solo Lounge was empty, clean, and the coffee machine turned off. Ok – I can go to Deck 16 outside and get a coffee. And, as it turns, the observation lounge on Deck 15 was closed off this morning. That left it clean, fresh, and ready for the new passengers who would be boarding.

Ok. I am packed. My suitcase was packed and set out last night. I have my carry on and a serious case of “let’s move on already.” This left me shortly after 0600 with nothing to do after breakfast but wait for my transfer. The good part? My 0900 transfer turned out to be available at 0815. I bailed off the ship, picked up my back, went through the immigration photo ID scanner (one of the few times that I think AI actually helps rather than hinders) and was directed toward the bus. At no point in this particular journey did anyone verify whether or not I actually had a transfer. Interesting, no?

Bus to airport. Find SouthWest. Hang out and wait till four hour before my flight to drop off luggage. This airport has very little to NO seating for people who are waiting to check in unless you are a wheel chair/mobility assistance passenger. At least in this terminal. Security took only 35 minutes with the old scanners (take out the electronics. empty pockets, take off shoes, etc).  And then I waited in the gate area what seemed forever.

George picked me up. We had pizza. I had planned on crashing early but all of a sudden it was 2200. That actually shouldn’t be all that surprising since I did a load of laundry, started packing my suitcase for tomorrow, and trying to get a clue. Not bad for getting home ~ 1830…

NCL – not really Victoria BC

Holly Doyne Posted on by

It was a typical last day of the cruise. A lot of people charging around trying to make sure that they hadn’t missed anything.

Mostly my group hung out in the Deck 15 forward observation lounge and stitched. There are 500 nautical miles between Ketchikan & Victoria. Even at 15 knots we should have made it here several hours earlier. But noooo. This was an 1800-2400 port call.

Really? Everything is closed; it is raining.

Books to read, a nice dinner with the group & an early night are in order.We dock ~ 0600 in the morning back in Seattle but I don’t disembark till 0900

The Ketchikan whine

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Feel free to either ignore this or send me condolences.  The upside of traveling large ship NCL is that they have great staff, extensive services, lounge space, more than average food with a wide variety of options. Plus the solo studios which can’t be beat. The downsides are that this is a big ship with way too many passengers, especially short screamers, for my taste.

And then there is the docking in Ketchikan. NCL has put a lot of money into Ward Cove. Originally a fishing processing location and then lumber/paper mill if my memory serves me. All that that was shut down by the end of the 1990s. Over salmon fishing lead to the shuttering of 20/22 canneries. The hatchery here now releases millions of salmon a year. Besides being popular with tourists, it apparently (along with the cannery) can be quite popular with the bears. Enough said on that. Anyway-  rather than be at one of the four piers in town, NCL docks at Ward Cove. The facilities are good, there is a huge shopping area with more than competitive prices, and there are free shuttle buses into town. 7 miles into town. That is seven miles of the total of 30 miles of road….

The day – arrival at 0600. First shuttle at about 0615. 30 minutes into town. Nothing is open. In fact, a lot of things don’t open till 1000 which seems a bit strange with 6 ships in port today.  Specifically, the quilt shop wasn’t opening early. The book store would have been open shortly after 0900 but do I really need more books? The Totem Pole museum apparently opens at 0800 so I stand corrected.

My favorite local coffee shop wasn’t open but one of the large (locally owned) tourist shops was. I was able to check off almost all of my list and then headed along the main drag back toward Pier 4 (furthest from downtown). Thought about going back to the ship and instead walked out to Safeway for coffee and candy bars completely forgetting the hair conditioner… but caught the free local shuttle back to Pier 4. It runs every 20 minutes. I couldn’t figure out the guy who was angry at the driver because he wasn’t willing to delay 5-10 minutes for the wife who was still checking out of the Safeway. Hello? Take the next shuttle…

From there it was the ship’s shuttle back to Ward’s Cove around 0900.  There were people just starting to think about going into town. Of note – 30 minutes in, last shuttle back at 1030. You do the arithmetic.  There are a couple of taxis and a free roving transport or two which I am sure make a bundle off people who can’t tell time.

I am back at the ship –

with art on the bow and hull sides which some people adore. I am really a fan of the older, simpler paint jobs…

Off to find whatever, do a bit more stitching and listen to an audio book. Probably won’t be back on line much after we pull out till we hit Victoria. Oh – and that is the rest of the whine. We leave here at 1300. We arrive at Victoria BC at 2000 TOMORROW… this doesn’t really compute.

NCL Bliss – Icy Point Straight

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Before I move on to today’s port let me describe the rest of yesterday. Part of the reason for the extremely short stay in Juneau – besides the fact that the total number of ships in port = 6 (for an area with a normal population of 32k) is that there was the plan to cruise Endicott Passage up to the Dawson Glacier. (Note, this is what I heard over the tannoy. I can’t find a reference by this name. The closest I can come is a reference to the Tracy Arm which is here on Wiki. ) We weren’t able to get as close as last year, but it was obviously and appalling how much further it had shrunk in the ten months since I saw it last fall. 

Today, compared to the last stop, the only other ship docked was the Celebrity Summit. Even so that obviously put more people onto this island than either live here – and certainly more people than bears. 

No, thank goodness, I did not see any bears. I walked the trail fro the dock to the cannery,

looked around, used the Wifi (as the cell phone connection was worse than the outside deck of the ship) and then hiked back.  I bought nothing, but noted that serious upgrade work had been put into the museum exhibits which now were all clear, readable, and obviously professionally done. It made it much easier to follow the story of the salmon canning which was the reason for the initial commercial expansion onto this location. 

Today’s highlight was meeting some birders standing along the trail looking up into the trees toward the water. I asked, one of the guys helpfully pointed out the bald eagle purchased on the branch way up the tree and facing the river. And me without my good camera. 

Do you see it?

How about now? With back to us and brown feathers all ruffled? I just couldn’t manage to get one with its head clearly visible…

 I am now relaxing and making lists of what I will need to pack on Saturday night for our Sunday departure.  Clothing might be important – I need to figure out what I will do for both a jacket and pick a sweater from the pile on the shelf. Then there are the electronics, camera, and, of course, stitching sufficient for 32 + days….

NCL Bliss – Juneau

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I don’t think that there is a cruise to Alaska that doesn’t include Juneau – the state capital. And since there are way too many cruises at this time of year, there are always multiple ships in port. At least no one is charging for the shuttle into town. That is right, for those of you who have been here – when you have the NCL Bliss, the Sapphire Princess, the Westerdam & the NCL Encore all in town there are a number of factors that obviously come in play. 1) there are more people getting off the ships than live here 2) there are not more than a couple of berths at the townside dock. We are not there. 3) for the cruise season, there is s huge influx of tourists, transient workers, and cash flowing into town.

I have been awake since early watching us sail up the fjord leading to Juneau. The channel seems deep and narrow with the mountains rising on both sides. I am not a geologist, geographer, or  really concerned with labels, but the closest in appearance to me are the Norwegian Fjords.

Since we are docking a few minutes out of town in the commercial port there will be a shuttle bus. I haven’t looked up our ship’s capacity because honestly I really don’t want to know how many people are on board. Since this is an early arrival for us, it is also an early departure, Obviously, I am not thrilled about departing at 1330. I would have enjoyed getting back to the museum or being able to wander through some of the smaller, locally owned shops that are well past the dock along the shore.Ah well.  It leaves me with plenty of stitching and reading time this afternoon.

The off ship today will be taking about half this group of stitchers (the ones not on tours) on a short hike to Changing Tides, the local quilt, yarn, embroidery/cross stitch shop. They don’t carry much of the latter, but a good portion of this group are also quilters so I don’t think they will have much problem parting with some of their money. And there is always fudge…

Since I hadn’t posted this before – I am staying in one of the studios –

The first picture is from the headboard, the second from between the toilet room and the shower. The wall not containing the screen (which is the corridor wall) has two storage areas with a hanging area and shelves/cubbies as well as a small, completely unusual “desk” area in the middle. There is only one outlet there. The rest are tucked in an upper compartment to the right of the sink. Not exactly convenient but better than nothing.

I am releasing this post early and will update when back from the frolic and detour in town.

Late morning update – we headed off the ship ~ 0900 with three other ships in port and hordes of cruise ship passengers on the streets. The weather varied between drizzle and rain. Walking up Franklin Street was easy after disembarking at the shuttle stop. Cross the road, proceed up the hill. Our goal was Changing Tides (the quilt shop). I picked up one pattern and otherwise got things for others who were out on tours and even showed restraint by not buying fudge at one of the Alaskan Fudge Shops.

The trip in the rain actually didn’t take all that long – we were back on ship in less than a couple of hours. Out of the rain, armed with a latte from the Solo Lounge and headed back up to the Observation Lounge for some relaxation and more stitching.

 

NCL Bliss – Sitka

Holly Doyne Posted on by

And, no surprise, not a lot has changed from last year when I was here. I have been encouraging everyone to go into town, just to see it,  If you want to read about Sitka, hit the blog post from last year, Wiki or the town website

meanwhile – the rest of the Maiden Voyage plaques –

Entering the ocean at Bremerhaven (no, not with paying passengers)

then there is the city & port of Southampton

and the stops at Ponta Delgado and Halifax

NCL Bliss – Sunday at sea

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Sunday – at sea all day

Inspire of most of my traveling companions being from the East Coast time zone, it doesn’t seem like they are particularly early birds. I found only one other of the group up early and out in the observation lounge on Deck 15 early. But there were a lot of other people up and about. Trust me. We did fine till parents with small, out of control children arrived. At that point the wise thing seemed to be to de-camp and to our dedicated meeting room.

This ship is not set up like many of the Celebrity ships, I.e. their market is not business groups and conferences.  Meeting rooms are limited to two, located on Deck 6 in the Atrium right behind one of the rather loud entertainment area, without windows, and rather noisy, The good thing is that there is easy access, so to speak to Starbucks if one is so inclined and the front desk.

The group is lovely, all women of intermediate ages – somwhere between “everyone out of the house” and ending with “retirement is wonderful and I have no intentions of heading back to work ever.” The stitching projects everyone has are as varied ranging from delicate samples on 46 count linen though my single color LongDog to at least three working (once again) on InkCirlcles “Half the fun” started on a cruise a could of years ago and no touched since. 

And that was most of the day. I detoured to lunch in the Garden Cafe and headed back there for supper rather than hit the main dining room. 

Oh – and I found these – (insert the photos whenever my phone and laptop actually decide to talk to each other) which are from the Maiden Voyage that I took on this ship in April of 2018 (predates grad school, Covid, George’s medical fun and past my 2017 round of hair loss chemo).

Looks like it will be at the rate of 1-2 a day at these upload speeds. That route was Southhampton to NYC via the Azores and Halifax…

Ah well.  

Mostly I spent the day with my fellow stitchers just hanging out and chatting.

I crashed early.

NCL Bliss to Alaska

Holly Doyne Posted on by

The following post is courtesy of Sea=Tac’s free wifi. George dropped me off at OAK this morning in plenty of time for coffee and my 0630 flight. We actually arrive in Seattle almost 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Not sure how long it is going to be, but I have the cruise line shuttle booked for whenever it leaves. The by far cheaper alternative would have been to take the light rail type connector into the city center and walk a few blocks. Just didn’t feel like doing that.

The map above translates to

Saturday, August 17  Seattle, WA  5:00pm departure

Sunday, August 18 At Sea

Monday, August 19 Sitka, AK. 11:00am -6:00pm

Tuesday, August 20 Juneau, AK  7:00am-1:30 pm

Tuesday, August 20 Endicott Arm, AK. (Cruising)

Wednesday, August 21 Icy Strait Point, AK. 7:00am3:00pm

Thursday, August 22 Ketchikan, AK 6:30am1:00pm

Friday, August 23Victoria, BC, Canada 8:00pm- 11:59pm

Saturday, August 24 Seattle, WA 6:00am arrival

I have a transfer booked but a mid afternoon flight so will wind up killing time again. Updates will be regular, but most likely anytime I hit the US phone system since I can totally live without paying for WiFi on ship. I get 150 minutes free. In the past, it has normally taken 5-10 minutes each time to get through the log in system. Try9ing to remain, but sailing on the NCL Sun a year ago spring is an  older ship. Haven’t been on the Bliss since her Maiden TA in 2018 so it should be interesting.

 

Current WIPs

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That means works in progress. I just thought it might be a good idea to list them, just to make sure that nothing has gotten completely out of control. This is actually several parts:

List 1 – SALs. Stitch-a-longs. 1) A Field Guide to Dragons by Climbing Goat Designs. I am finishing up the 8th Dragon. I still have about 1/3 of the frame to fill in. 2) The Herbalist. All 18 releases to this point have been completed. I am planning on doing the backstitching & #19 next week on the cruise along with #20. That will leave only 2 parts to go. 3) Smaug by Tempting Tangles. He is a new addition in the couple of months.  I am current with the first 3 releases. Probably won’t take him with next week but will take him on the long cruise so that I catch the next three releases on time. 4) Deadly Aquarium. I am current through the 9 releases. There are three left. I will have to finish this one when I return home after all the travels in Oct. 5) Haunted Clock – Tiny Modernist with four total releases. I am ½ way through #2. The next two will come out when I am traveling. and expect that I will have to finish in Oct when I get back Since it is a Halloween stitch….

List 2 – Single Projects. I have two.  Both were started this year. The first is No Time Like the Present by Modern Folk Embroidery It is being stitched on 18 ct Rustic Aida with 3750 & 3371. As of today, I have 23,165/35,596 completed which is 65%. I started it 25 Feb & last worked on it 17 July. It needs love.  The second is 324 by Works by ABC.  I have it loaded into PK in two parts. The top has 4662/7239 for 64% complete.  The bottom half has only 498/7512 or 6.6% complete. I started in 25 March and last stitched on it 9 June. Obviously, I need to get going on both. The first takes concentration. The second can be a pain with having to constantly pull new thread colors.

List 3 – the Left Overs from previous years. All of these have a significant amount of stitching left. : 1)  2021 – Broadway SAL by Taylor & Cromwell. I have the last two letters and the frame surrounding them to do. 2) 2021 – Seasonal Skies SAL by Ship’s Manor. The 12 parts are done, The picky, lots of color changes frame is left to complete. 3) Dark Queen of the Seas  SAL- Autumn Lane Stitchery. Part 11 is ½ done with Part 12 left to do.  4) Blackwork SAL 2020 – Magical Quilts. 7/12 of the months are done. 3 more partly done. Perhaps about 3 of the frame. I really, really don’t enjoy blackwork, even with color. 5) Cocoa by Thea Governeur. This one dates from 2019. It sits at about 75%. It wouldn’t be that hard to finish. It just hasn’t been a priority.

Adding those five to the 26 finished it means that I started the year with over 31 WIPs. I also trashed five that were old SALs had absolutely no interest.  I have no intention of having carry-overs this year unless they are SALs with parts to still be released.

I do have a few items on my TBS (to be started list). There is the BarnHouse & the Lighthouse in the Fabulous House Series. I have fabric/floss/pattern for both. I have Gorgeous from the ArtsyHouseWife. And I have the Ring tailed Lemur from Lindy Stitches. But since those are all single projects, I want to knock off at least two of the SALs before I start anything else.

Unless, of course, there is the thought of New Cruise/New Start….

European Dragon

Holly Doyne Posted on by

question mark, question mark… I am not sure that there really is such a generic dragon. Certainly the dragon pictured in Old English is not the same as that which is pictured on the continent. But that is probably the key to thinking about this – the designer is English. We have already seen a Welsh Dragon, as well as Fafnir, and a Wyvern. I am sure that a French dragon or a germanic tribes dragon is European and NOT English…. And certainly anything out of Eastern Europe would be completely other. The funny thing is, this particular dragon reminds me mostly of what English authors put in their novels.

I added over 1000 stitches in the dragon and another 220 to the frame. This leaves me with about 800 stitches left in the frame. Nit picking 2-4 stitches of a color at a time other than 310. I obviously still have major work on the wings on this particular dragon to go – about 900 stitches worth. I am hoping to manage tomorrow plus heading back to the clock or over to Vampyrum… Since all the squares have been filled on The Herbalist – not sure what it going to show up for the last few parts – probably something in the center section.

And yes, we watched the cliff hanger of the  Olympic Women’s Basketball finals.

Thinking back

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I can remember meeting Kid Rock in Kuwait when he & his groupies came as part of a USO show. The only reason I met him was that he stopped by the clinic and one of my PA’s gave me a panicked call. Just said that he had one of the USO performers who was there, demanding care and medications. Ok … but it wasn’t. This particular person claimed, without any prescriptions or medical notes to back him up that he needed certain meds prior to his performance. – and no, he didn’t have them with him. Something or other about forgetting them in his luggage or lost or …. Needless to say, I wasn’t all that sympathetic. I don’t consider uppers, downers, and oxycontin as medications for performance. Perhaps if I had been asked for 1 or 2 tabs I might have bent. But no one needs 30-50…. nor do they need advice on how to get alcohol around the local countries prohibitions.

And now I see this particular obnoxious person performing for the former president. And I am wondering if he is still using a lot of drugs to get through his performances, daily life, and how this is affecting him and those he is cheering on.

In contrast, Robin Williams came through with the USO as well that year. He walked around in the crowd, talked to people, and was direct, funny, and answered audience questions. That last can be pretty hard with a crows of thousands packed, all standing, into a small space. I went and looked at his Wiki article (look it up if you are interested). There are a couple of pictures of him at USO functions, but no mention of how much time and effort he put into entertaining and supporting troops.

Contrasts there.

Deadly Aquarium – almost done

Holly Doyne Posted on by

There are three more parts to be released after this, according to the schedule I copied into my calendar notebook.  Not sure what is left to show up. Besides completing this section, I added in the last of the white streaks and completed the only pillar needing stitches. This leaves me a small section on the bottom to fill in near the coral, the two sea gulls on top and some random fill in frame stitches.

What was added today is in the lower corner:  an additional sign; a nasty plant or two; perhaps some rocks?  It was only about 1000 stitches all told which left me time to start working on the Dragon Guide’s remaining frame.

And Olympics.  Some of which I get. The rest? Meh.

Haunting the clock

Holly Doyne Posted on by

The new sections drop about the first of each month. I had started on the new section right about the first and then became distracted by wanting to finish both Ms Yellow Mushroom and Sapphires in Sunshine.

This is slightly more than 50% of this month’s section :

I am doing some minor alterations on the pattern. For example, not extending the hill out past the tree nor adding yet another tombstone there. The second part of this section obviously is the rest of the building, more hill & ground, another tree, more pumpkins and yet a few more tombstones. It is a fair amount of stitching. I haven’t decided if I am going to take it along to Alaska. It certainly would be an easy stitch to work on in the evenings.