HB!

Two of the reasons why August is always so hectic. Hard to believe that they are 6 already!

A Chihuly pose at the Corning Museum of Glass (a most excellent museum for young and old alike).

Memoirs of New Orleans

Hello, all! Madame Muriel here. After my travels to Italy, then back to Arizona, and on to DC, Ms. C let me have a few days out of my travel pod, and then it was on to the Crescent City for a conference. Look at this nice welcome we received in the airport.

Unfortunately, it was quite rainy during our time there, so I didn't get to go out and see as many of the sights as I would have liked, but I did have plenty of stitching time in our hotel room, especially when Ms. C was in her conference sessions. I also took plenty of naps.

 

One of Ms. C's colleagues also brought along a companion. I'm pleased to introduce you to my new friend Cina. We've become pen pals.

I did attend one business meeting, as they were serving lunch. Those archivists were a little out of control, so I had to step in and take over. I know how to keep a meeting in order!

I did insist on being let out of the hotel after a few days! How could one be in New Orleans and not visit Cafe Du Monde? I did have to stow my stitching to avoid the powdered sugar.

I partook of another New Orleans tradition. I highly recommend Cafe Adelaide for their libations. I didn't take a picture but the Saint Lawrence restaurant had excellent food. Larry is the patron saint of archivists, so those crazy nuts felt compelled to check it out.

We finally had a nice day for some outside photos. (I'm lucky I didn't start to mildew with all the rain we had!) Here I am at the famous St. Louis Cathedral. Can you see me?

 

Oh, that's better!

I even tried my luck with horse-back riding.

 

The back of the Cathedral.

Another church with pretty architecture, the Jesuit Church of the Immaculate Conception, at night.

 

And back to overcast weather. How I wish I could've taken a boat ride.

Ms. C took me for a quick stop at the Aquarium to find gifts for her daughters, who love marine mammals. She's sad that the girls weren't with her to see the otter exhibit.

 

We ended the trip watching the New Orleans Zephyrs beat the Iowa Cubs. Here's Cina checking out the game.

It was a whirlwind trip, but great fun. I hope you've enjoyed my Memoirs of New Orleans.

P.S. Don't forget to comment if you'd like me to come visit you next!

Madame Muriel

Due to some miscommunications, Madame Muriel took an extra leg on her trip and returned briefly to Arizona before coming home to me. Thank you to Chiara and Gracie for taking good care of her and ensuring that she remained on her journey. I'm going to take her on a trip with me, and after that, she will be ready to head out on her next adventure.

If you would like to be the next person to host Madame Muriel, please comment on this post by August 24, 11:59 pm EDT, and I will draw a name to see where she'll travel next.

San Diego

We spent our second big summer vacation in southern California. DH and I lived in San Diego in the mid-1990s, and we really love San Diego. The girls loved it too, especially since we celebrated their 4th birthdays there.

L., cousin C., and A. bubble rolling in Long Beach. 

C.'s dad helped construct this; you can just see him behind A.'s bubble.

At the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. They also went to the Zoo, 

on a different day while I attended a professional conference.

Birthday Princess A.

Birthday Princess L. (looking like the Paper Bag princess!)

Cake! (They goofed on L.'s name.)

Candle time 

J., L., A., and C. at SeaWorld. 

They went there 4 times during the week! The girls loved SW.

L. dancing with J., a friend from DC, whose dad also was in San Diego

 to attend the same professional conference.

A. dancing by herself.

C., L., and A. watching the whales. (I have dozens of whale photos.)

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

We spent last week avoiding the heat of DC by visiting the Bahamas. It was my first time to the Caribbean, and it was wonderful.

We had our own private beach.

The girls and their grandfather built a sandcastle.

The view from the back of the house.

A marvelous sunset.

It was a very, very relaxing vacation. I even managed to work on some stitching from my Wipocalypse list. This birth sampler I started from scratch while there.

This replaces the sheep PIF piece I had planned. I had the red star and blue waves on this one done before we left. There are white stars on either arm of the red star that don't show up well. Here's a link to the PDF of the pattern.

We followed our tradition of watching A Capitol Fourth on PBS. And we managed not to have to go to Urgent Care at all this trip, although we had a close call when A. decided to bite the end off of a glow stick. (Fortunately, they are non-toxic, but still taste awful.)

2 on Reading

I have two reading-related items for you.

First, Conde Nast published this list of the 69 Greatest Fiction Travel Books. Since I enjoy travel memoirs, I thought I might find some good reads on this list. Strangely, I've only read 2 of the recommended books. I did spot a few more that I think I'd enjoy. I noticed that Michael Ondaatje nominated quite a few of the books. I would add one or two of his books to this list, too.

Second, last week's Booking through Thursday asks about pet names and whether the names were inspired by reading. Both of my pets' names were. My cats are Dewey and Gandolf*. If there's another round of pet naming, and if my children don't trump my naming rights, I might use the names of prominent mathematicians: Ada, Turing, Galois.

* Yes, I know it's supposed to be spelled Gandalf, but I pronounce it "Gandolf" and so use that spelling.

November SBQ: Thankful

In this month's SBQ, Lee asks us to give an example of a specific instance when we've been thankful for our ability to do needlework.

This question is difficult for me. I've not had to deal with a difficult illness or terrible loss of a loved one. I've not had one of those "ah-ha" type happy moments either. Stitching really is just part of the fabric of my daily life. I tend to turn to reading, especially escapist reading, when I'm really stressed out.

Two stitching-related incidents do come to mind. Way back in 1997, DH and I were flying stand-by on a military flight to Hawaii from Travis AFB. We were on vacation, and the flight was essentially free if we could get on. We'd been checking the schedule and availability regularly, so we thought we'd easily get on a flight. What we didn't realize was that we were trying to fly the week before school started back in Hawaii, and all the families stationed there were trying to get back, and they had priority over us. Every morning, we'd get up bright and early to go check in, only to wait for hours to be told that there was no space. We spent the afternoons touring the local area. We did this for 3 days before deciding to book commercial flights out of San Francisco. I was very appreciative of having my stitching with me during all the waiting. I stitched in the waiting room. I stitched in the car. I made significant progress on this project. Coming back, we were able to take the military flights. Whew!

Last year, I wanted to do something special for a close friend of mine. We've been friends from a very long time, and she was with us all during my labor and delivery of the girls, and went way above and beyond in helping us out during the first year of the girls' lives. When I saw Casey Buonaugurio's Hot Cocoa Sampler, I knew that I had to stitch it for her. My friend was delighted to receive it as a gift last Christmas.

How Not to Have a Vacation

Last week, we went on vacation. I've taken to calling it not-a-vacation. In short, we had 3 trips to urgent care, 2 ear infections (the girls), 1 sunburn (me), 1 case of bronchitis (hubby), gloomy weather, a flat tire, and an overall lack of sleep by all 4 of us. And we came home to a dead phone line.

On the plus side, we had funnel cake, really good food overall, a bit of outlet shopping, excellent automotive service, a nice walk along the boardwalk, and one afternoon at the beach. DH completed his biennial shoe shopping (4 pairs of Clarks at the outlets).

The highlight of the trip for me, besides introducing the girls to the ocean (they were a bit overwhelmed by the openness), was stopping at a LNS (no website). I bought four charts, some 32 count linen, and some overdyed threads. The charts are:

American Chronicles by Liz Navickas (I'm planning on stitching just the flag.)
Flag 1998 by Bent Creek
Spring Medley by Elizabeth's Designs (I'm planning on stitching the tree sampler.)
Summer Welcome by Sam Sarah Design Studio

It seems I was in a bit of a patriotic mood.

So while the trip wasn't complete misery, it certainly wasn't the vacation we had expected.

Be careful what you complain about

I made it safely back to DC from LA. No teenagers today. No, no. Today I sat across the aisle from the has-been character actor who talked in his stage voice rather than in his indoor plane voice. At least the movie quieted him down somewhat, too. (Name that movie -- character actor laughed at all the bickering scenes between Jon Voigt and Helen Mirren.)

Otherwise it was a great trip. Nice weather. Good visits to a bunch of low key SoCal restaurants (Soup Plantation, anyone?). And lots of fun time with friends. While I wish it could've been a little longer, it's nice to be home.

On Vacation

I'm in Los Angeles for a long weekend, visiting friends. It's been a nice break from the house renovations and other craziness that I've had going on at home lately. Right now I'm staying with the friends for whom I stitched the wedding sampler that is pictured in my previous post. I'm happy to report that it's hanging prominently in their living room. I'll also have an opportunity to take a picture of one of the other projects I stitched.

I was hoping to get some stitching done on the 5.5 hour flight out here. No such luck. I and about 20 other adults got the pleasure of sharing the flight with not one, but two, school groups making their way back to the west coast. While they weren't really acting badly, they were loud and a bit more active than a planeful of a regular mix of travellers. Everyone was very happy when the flight attendants (stewardesses is a much more fun word to type, btw) turned the movie on earlier than planned and then also let us watch a second movie.

I haven't made any further progress on my March SAL ornament, the flower basket. It requires a bunch of floss changes for the flowers, and I just haven't been in the mood for it. Since I wasn't working on it, I finally gave myself permission to start another project. I finally found the bunny pattern for the April SAL. It's a lot of color blocking, and it's going together quick. I started it last Sunday and have finished about half of it already. Just what I needed to get the stitching juices flowing again.