Author Archives: Holly

About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!

The usual long day home

Posted on 2024-08-24 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

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NCL – not really Victoria BC

Posted on 2024-08-23 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

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The Ketchikan whine

Posted on 2024-08-22 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Cruising | 2 Comments

NCL Bliss – Icy Point Straight

Posted on 2024-08-21 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

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NCL Bliss – Juneau

Posted on 2024-08-20 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

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NCL Bliss – Sitka

Posted on 2024-08-19 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

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NCL Bliss – Sunday at sea

Posted on 2024-08-18 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

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NCL Bliss to Alaska

Posted on 2024-08-17 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

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Current WIPs

Posted on 2024-08-12 by Holly

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) … Continue reading →

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European Dragon

Posted on 2024-08-11 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-Stitch, Prose | 1 Comment

Thinking back

Posted on 2024-08-10 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Military | 3 Comments

Deadly Aquarium – almost done

Posted on 2024-08-09 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

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Haunting the clock

Posted on 2024-08-08 by Holly

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 … Continue reading →

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Old Fashion Halloween Stitch

Posted on 2024-08-07 by Holly

Just finished Part 4 of the Luminous Fiber Arts Halloween SAL. This is finish #47 for the year. Please remember that 26 of the finishes in projects leftover from previous years. It is stitched on the kit fabric with the … Continue reading →

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Scanning

Posted on 2024-08-06 by Holly

I decided a while back that I really didn’t want to know my life’s cumulative radiation exposure. I had yet another PET scan this morning. It made sense to do it – if all the increased activity that showed up … Continue reading →

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Sapphires in Sunshine

Posted on 2024-08-05 by Holly

Done! This was an extremely fun stitch. The pattern is actually a 9 part stitch-a-long from Tempting Tangles. I normally don’t care for Mandala like patterns, but playing with the challenge of the silks made it fun. At this point, … Continue reading →

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Meet the last Mushroom

Posted on 2024-08-04 by Holly

The two high points of the day were watching the US Women’t Basketball team and finishing Ms Yellow Mushroom. Finish #45 for the year. Pattern by Nora Corbett. Stitched on  32 ct Vintage (something) linen from Zweigart with the called … Continue reading →

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Almost done

Posted on 2024-08-03 by Holly

with Ms Yellow Mushroom. Should be able to finish her up easily in the morning. Under 600 stitches to go, including the beads. Plus, of course the dreaded backstitch.   After that, I am going for a finish on one … Continue reading →

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Tree Guy

Posted on 2024-08-02 by Holly

I am not sure what I need to do further to bring out what I saw when in the hot tub on the back deck late this evening. I was looking up at the redwoods and thinking about the fact … Continue reading →

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Older than Snoopy

Posted on 2024-08-01 by Holly

Yes, I am. There was an entry in the August Edition of my local library newsletter under the kids activities relating to the Charles Schultz Museum and Snoopy’s 56th Birthday celebration. And I went “wtf?” I remembered Snoopy from childhood … Continue reading →

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