Gone for a while

I'm gone for a while, from blogging that is. I am still here, but my heart is heavy (and sometimes strangely peaceful at the same time), with cares for friends, for family, and for our country and world. I need the time now to be quiet, to reflect, and to work.

I will continue to post my projects on flickr - I need to note some measure of progress for my own benefit, so I can look back and see that I was there.

I finished Mammy's Flower Garden, an offering of love for Donna, and In the Beginning - Let there be Light, an offering of love for Nathan. My next big project will be Pentecost Moments (or Memories - both are working titles) for Todd. I purchased the fabric yesterday, and I can almost see it now. My sketch book is growing, and I'm almost ready to create some prototypes to hang around me as I try to discern the completed quilt in the fog of my vision.

Pray for peace, for wisdom, for understanding, for kindness, for our country and our world. Pray for healing for those we love who are ill. Pray for wholeness and a better way.

Simple pleasures in my back yard

The ever-lovely belladonna
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

These beauties make their appearance - without warning, it seems, about this time every year. I'm not sure where the bulbs came from or how they ended up in the places we find them, but I always look forward to seeing them spring up every summer. At one time, we had three or four of them in the pond (filled with dirt) in our back yard, but this year only one bloomed there. There are two in our front yard and another in the side yard next to Rimmers. The sight of them gives me so much pleasure.



A mix of colors in my view
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

We haven't done much in the back yard this year, and I've vowed not to buy more to plant this year; but last year's work is still bringing rewards.

The thing is ...

I have developed a work-like obsession about "my needlework." There's always one more thing to do, one more thing to try, and so little time. I work from sun up 'til sun down, and my mind is in a nearly constant altered state as I see see things begin to take shape. I'm fascinated by the process.


Hugs III and I together at last
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.


Last week, I was delighted to finish Hugs III, and I was pleased with the overall effect. I'm thinking of yet another doll (and another Bishop dress), but it will be a while before I allow my scissors to begin snipping to shape the fabric. I want to get a few other things completed first.

I've been really pleased these last several weeks, though, to get some unfinished objects out of my sewing boxes and drawers. I finished another pair of pillowcases like the first pair (same pattern, very similar process and colors), dug out some old embroidery test sew-outs from maybe as many as 6 years ago, tossed away some old scraps that were too small to use for anything - ever, pieced together at least 80 9-1/2" blocks for the Martha Circle quilts from scraps (Carol's and mine) plus cut another 80 solid blocks from complementary patterned fabric, tried a little machine smocking (I didn't think it would stretch like hand smocking, but it does), and started gathering a piece of muslin to attempt Shibori (a Japanese version of dying cloth) which I'll make into a sundress if it turns out anything like I think it will.



Smocking sampler
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

I have a renewed interest in smocking, too, as a result of finally finishing the Bishop for Hugs III, so I started a sampler. I messed up the fabric when I was pleating it, so I'm seriously considering cutting it off before I get to the messed-up pleating area and using it as a panel in one of the bags I make for Lydia Circle.

As I work on things like this, I have two thoughts: The good thought - I can test and test and test and then incorporate the pieces into other objects (that's good because it reduces or eliminates waste)... and The bad thought - I doubt that many of today's young women are interested in hand-made things like this because they probably don't know about them yet. Interest in these types of things generally doesn't happen when one is a young adult - there are too many competing urgencies, like getting or keeping a job, feeding yourself and your family, figuring out how to get established as an adult, etc ... Oh, how I remember. But as long as I'm not wasting my learning experiences (I can use them in useful objects), I don't feel as bad.

So, as I began - the thing is, days and days go by, and I don't think about blogging. I DO think about reading the blogs of others to find out how to do something, but to sit down and write in my own blog? Nah - I could smock another row, make another block, read another description in a book ...

So little time, and it's good!

Our version of Down on the Farm, plus knitting and other needlework

Lauren is so good to make sure I get my physical exercise. It's the only way I'm going to continue to be able to walk. Twice a week, he walks with me up the hill on the dirt road around the county dump and back - about 45 minutes; and he tries to find manual labor for me to do over at our church, Mt. Olive. In the last few weeks, he's given me the courage to learn to drive the tractor and to use the riding lawn mower. But I don't just sit and drive these things around all the time. Today, for example, I dug up a pile of dirt and shoveled it into the wagon behind the tractor, and then I drove to the back of the church lot, shoveled the dirt out of the wagon, and filled up a low place. Lauren trimmed vines and branches, and I loaded those into the wagon, too, and then took them back to the dumpster and tossed them in. We were over there for about 1-1/2 hours - a nice workout.

Hooray for Lauren! After 42 years together, plus our dating time before that, after all the ups and downs, happy times and sad times, struggles and smooth sailing, we've come to a good place. We are thankful that we have both lived long enough to get to this part of our marriage and lives together. Not all our friends were as fortunate. I am thankful that he takes care to do physical workouts with me, ones that aren't boring!, several times a week.

Baby cap and sweater for Lydia project
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Although I've made some headway on my big quilting projects, I'm in another interlude where I'm finishing up my Lydia project knitting (I had two sweaters in progress), and I had a big urge to get those crayon tests incorporated into bags. I have about 11 bags now almost finished, and six more to get to the same stage - and I hope to finish them all by this weekend, and then I'll take photos.

I posted pictures of both sweaters on flickr, but the one I linked to, above, is my favorite. This is Bernat's Satin yarn, and it's so soft and nice. This is the third one I made with a slip stitch pattern and the fourth sweater I've made using Jacqueline Fee's Sweater Workshop bottom up formula. Probably the only reason I made this sweater is because I made that little cap out of this yarn when I was with Donna and I was playing with things you can do with a slip stitch, and I liked it so much that I knew it needed something to go with it.

My next baby sweater will be a hoodie. I found a basic top down (the hood first) pattern, and the only seam, I think, that's required is sewing two edges together to make the top of the hood. I like working on circulars, and I like having a garment that doesn't have side, shoulder, and sleeve seams. The pattern is free from Knitting Pure and Simple at http://www.knittingpureandsimple.com/babycardi.html. The pattern is at the bottom of the page (requires scrolling down) and is in pdf form. I'll make it plain, the way it is, before I begin to experiment with it. One of the big advantages of this pattern, in addition to the fact that it meets my "no seams" criteria, is that it uses ties instead of buttons. It has no gender! That's a definite advantage when you're knitting for those you don't know and will never meet!



Hugs I
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

I've had some success working off my UFOs (unfinished objects) and so I'm stretching my luck. I picked up a doll, much like the one in the picture above, that I started during my first retirement - maybe sometime in 2001 or 2002, and I'm going to finish it. The one I'm working on has maroon hair, and I just about have all the hair in place. I have a little blue smocked dress UFO that I'll need to finish, too. I'm hoping that effort will get me back into smocking. I really enjoyed that when I was doing it. I made smocked dresses for several of my friends little girls, from new born to age 4, and I even made one for Donna.

Bread's baking, and it's just about time to take it from the oven. Ymmm. It smells good! Tonight, I'm hoping to have some success with Steve's pizza recipie - dough ripened in the refrigerator over night and pesto for the sauce. We'll see. When he and I made it together in Pagosa, it was one of the best pizzas I've ever tasted!

Silence - Micah died

Micah Bezy died two weeks ago. The world feels empty, somehow, without him. His mother, Margaret, is a close friend of mine. We see each other only in spurts, but when we do, we immediately recognize that there's something special between us.

Margaret and I used to sit in our cars and talk while our boys were in confirmation class together. I don't remember exactly if that's how we became friends, because at the same time this was going on, I took Margaret and Pierre on as tax clients and I did their returns for a number of years. Maybe that's how we became closer friends. MA and PA was the label on my tax files. Pierre is gone, too. He died a few years before Den did, if I remember correctly. Den died 11 years ago this year.

Micah was or would have been 40 this year. After high school, he went on to a technical college and then went on to work. He was a good worker and respected by his employer. Micah's last day at work was Tuesday, June 24, I believe. He apparently went home that evening, perhaps had his supper, sat down in his easy chair, and died. His heart probably failed him. A couple of years ago, he had some work done on one of his heart valves, totally unexpectedly. The valve must have failed him. When he didn't show up for work over the next few days and he didn't answer his phone, his employer called law enforcement to check on him, and they found him dead. His employer called Margaret and told her.

Micah was an honorable man, full of integrity. He was a practicing Lutheran all his life. He was thoughtful and serious about his faith, enjoyed good music, and pondered the things of the world. I remember when I was an organist at church, he always recognized the music when I played some of the old classics which weren't part of the mainstream of Lutheran church music. Micah was quiet, seemingly shy, but never unaware of things around him.

His mother hears the silence now. The silence is so deep that even the movement of air seems to be noisy. God is close to her now, providing a glorious euphoria even in her deep grief. Micah will be part of her in a new way now, for the rest of her life. She will carry him with her, now, forever.

In the meantime, life is for the living, and life is to be lived. That's our faith. Margaret is walking on, a step at a time, sharing the goodness that is hers to share with those around her. Those who are in her presence will learn much, if they listen, because she hears God in a new way. In the depths of her pain, there is a strange, unexplainable peace. God has her attention.

Quilting, bag making, coloring on fabric

I can't believe I haven't made any notes in my blog for two weeks. I've posted a few flickr pictures, but I didn't take the time to jot down what I was doing or the results of my experiments with color on fabric.

Actually, in my mind, I've written many blogs the past two weeks, but they never made it to Blogger. Micah Bezy died two weeks ago, and much of my awake and sleeping hours have been filled with thoughts about Micah and his mother, my friend Margaret.


Tedious work, but paper outlines do the trick!
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

I finished quilting and putting the shams together for Donna's quilt, and now I'm machine quilting the quilt itself.

It's beyond me to leave well enough alone and do traditional regular quilting. I just don't think I have the skill for it, but I'm determined to try it on the quilt after next.

(The next quilt in line is Nathan's quilt - and I am going to use lots of threads and maybe an overall scheme (picture) on it, and then I'm going to machine quilt a top Donna made several years ago. It's the latter one where I'll buckle down, get my focus fine tuned, and do a traditional, regular, quilt pattern. I need to learn how to do that!)

I have 18 full-size blocks to do for Donna's Mammy's Flower Garden quilt, arranged in three rows of four and two rows of three. For the "four's," I'm going to put in an overall design that doesn't emphasize the four points of the block. I have four of those done. For the "three's," I'm creating patterns where I can put four identical objects in a block, each pointed to the corner (these quilt blocks are on point, so the corners are the focal points). In the picture, I'm putting four clusters of grapes in the block. At this stage, I'm slowly sewing around my paper template, and then I'll fill in the detail next. No two blocks will have the same quilting pattern.

I found a picture of the bunch of grapes on the Internet, and I've found a few things in coloring books. Some of the designs, I just make up by doodling until something comes out right. The shapes have to be simple enough that I can get a definite outline from them. If the design is too complicated, I pass on it. I think I could actually sew over tissue paper, but the risk is always that some of the stitches will loosen up too much when you remove the paper. I could probably overcome that somehow, but I haven't spent too much time thinking about it yet.

My free-motion sewing isn't really all that great, but when a block is finished, I like the total effect. With practice, it gets better, but I've come to the conclusion that practice will last the rest of my life.

When I was a child in elementary school, I used to beg off staying for church on Sunday, and I would come home and thread up Mom's sewing machine and sew. I would clean up before she came home so she wouldn't know because I wasn't supposed to use her machine unless she was there. Not only that, the saying was that if you sewed on Sunday, you had to rip out all the stitches before you died. Ah, I haven't thought about that for a long time!

Sewing fascinated me as a child, and at this stage of my life, it fascinates me again. I can't believe the hours I can spend at my machines, and I can't believe how fascinated I am by the things you can do. We never dreamed of anything like this when I was young. It was buy a pattern, cut out the fabric, and follow the directions - at least most of the time! Mom was creative, though, and she made a few things for me for which she had no pattern. My favorite was a lavender dotted Swiss dress which buttoned down the front, and it had tons and tons of small pleats in the skirt. She received so many compliments for that one, and she deserved them all.

My fascination:

Soft pastels on fabric - pre-wash
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

I'm experimenting with coloring on fabric, which is fun. But I started free-motion embroidering the colored swatches along the way, and I stayed up several nights this past week turning the dial on my Sears machine, using another stitch, and sewing all over the piece I'd colored. This piece, using mostly (if not all) straight stitch, is my favorite, but I used zig zag, the hemming stitch (oh, I love that), and the few decorative stitches I have on this machine on other pieces I made. By putting the feed dogs down, the traction and movement is all mine, and I see the most fun stuff coming from those stitches. Just can't believe it.

The Crayola colors fade only a little when put in the washer. I tried oil pastels, but most of that washed out. I may try them again and put the color in heavier. A surprise was when I used soft pastels (in the picture above), which is essentially colored chalk. I rubbed the color in before I did the vinegar rinse, and I was surprised at how much color stayed when I washed the piece in the washer. I don't have a picture of the post-washer version yet. I'm putting all these pieces into the bags I'm making for the Lydia project, and I'll photo the final version when they're finished.

The last couple of days, I incorporated the colored swatches into the outside shells for bags - seven of them so far, and I stitched out about a dozen patriotic images (using my Bernina) from free designs I downloaded from Ann the Gran, and I'll incorporate them into bags when I turn to them again next week.

Today, I'm taking a break from bags so I can move on with Donna's quilt. I need to change projects every few days because my head gets buzzy and I don't see the project as clearly as I'd like.

There! I've caught up with noting where I am so I'll remember later. Back to sewing!

Crayon-on-fabric tests

My first attempt at crayon on fabric, a couple weeks ago, didn't prove to be colorfast, so I'm going at it again. As I think I mentioned previously, Connie sent me directions for a vinegar wash to set the colors, and I used it this time. I didn't use it on my previous fabrics because, from all accounts, I didn't think I needed it. That was test 1. This is test 2.



Crayon on fabric test
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Here's a pre-machine washing sample, made from a sketch Lauren did in church - I love them, so I've collected many of them. My representation, of course, isn't nearly as nice as his original sketch - he works with a standard black pencil - but then I'm just testing for colorfastness at this time. If I can get the colors to stick, I'll spend more time getting a more accurate representation of what he does.

My samples will all turn into something useful - potholders, place mats, pads to keep hot things from scorching the table ... so I can play for a while without feeling I'm wasting fabric or time.

Three weeks of odds and ends ...

At our last Martha Circle gathering, Carol brought a bag of scraps left over from cutting 9-1/2-inch squares for the military quilts. Thinking that others might like some of the scraps, I took only a small bunch. They're really neat scraps - 9-1/2 inches long (give or take an eighth inch) and most are about the same width - great for making strips and then cutting them into squares. So, last week, I put together four quilts and used up those scraps plus a number of squares I had pieced together before I got heavy into traveling last spring.


From Carol's scrap bag
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

When we met for Bethany's shower (Lydia Circle) last week, Carol mentioned that she had more scraps, so I asked for them. She brought them on Sunday, and they are wonderful. There were sufficient red, white, and blue scraps that I was able to strip piece a whole 36 x 45 quilt top with them. (There are still quite a few scraps in her bag, and I bet I can get another top from them.)

The work of piecing the strips together is peaceful, meditative-quality work, and it suits me just fine. I'm sure it doesn't suit everyone, and I'm always reminded of that when we meet together and we marvel at the diversity of strengths among us while each of us sits in the muddle of what we perceive as our own weaknesses.


Gold, red, and brown strips from Sue's scrap bag
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

As I was working through Carol's bag, I was rummaging through my own stash, which includes little packets here and there of scraps, so I pieced some together, combined them with the balance of the rather plain blocks I had put together before I quit in the spring, and got my sixth top completed this morning. That brings me current through June.

One of the thoughts I have when I'm putting these together is that there should be something of interest in them. Though there is definitely nothing special about most of these tops (including the last one), the strips of gold, red, and shades of brown catch your attention. It's my thought that if you were sitting in a wheel chair with this over your lap, the colorful stripes might get your attention and allow your mind to wander to another place. That could be a good thing - and it's my hope that it is.

While I was scrapping away, I threw together some scraps for some new potholders, too. They surely are nothing special except that it allowed me to throw away (toss forever!) a few permanently dingy ones that were sitting on my kitchen counter. I made two that were 9-inches, and those felt a little big, so I made two more - one 7 inches and one 6 inches, and they seem to be about the right size. They are quilted with three layers of (pieced together) cotton batting, and that seems about right. I bound the larger ones with a 3-inch piece of cross-grain fabric, folded in half. That's a good size to work with. I used a two-inch strip, folded in half, for the smaller ones. Two inches was just a tad too narrow.


Carryall bag for Lydia Circle
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

I will finish three Lydia Circle bags today, featuring sheer drapery fabric samples which were donated to the Lydia group, and that will finish up my scrapping and small projects for a while. I made the first bag (pictured) earlier this week, as a prototype, and I now have the other three ready to line and finish. These bags are large enough to hold a few magazines (or something of equivalent size) and the straps are long enough to slip over a shoulder. They don't have pockets, and the closure is a simple tie. Although they look fancy, they aren't, and they should be useful.

Next, I'll finish two knitted baby sweaters - for a total of four, and then I'll think about where I want to go from there. I think I'd like to make a baby / toddler hoodie, but I want to make it all on circulars, with a minimum of seams. I think I'll need to analyze a pattern that looks plausible and see if I can convert it to circulars. I think Elizabeth Zimmerman has a prototype hoodie in one of her books. Maybe I can find it, and that would give me a head start. I'm not fond of buttons on knits I make, but maybe I can figure out why I don't like them and fix whatever the problem is.

On with the show. Needlework is my life these days. As boring as it sounds, I'm content for a while, and that definitely is a good thing!

Regrouping for the summer

Last week was a really low key week, and I think this week is going to be another one as I catch up with things around the house. There are numerous small projects, like mending, that I put off in favor of larger, more fun projects like quilting. The small projects create a certain amount of physical and mental clutter that eventually buries me.

Yesterday, I mended two little slips of dresses that are really handy for summer when it's too hot to wear much of anything, and I remodeled a third (Clio) that I had purchased from a thrift store last year. All three had been sitting on top of my sewing desk for a year. How nice to have those done and out of my sight.

Among the to-do things I did last week was get out the sewing manual for my Kenmore machine to remind myself of some of the things it can do. I have looked for a year for a switch to lower the feed dogs so I could so some free-style sewing with it. I had finally come to the conclusion that I would have to set the feed dogs to zero, take off the foot, and just make the best of it if I wanted to use this machine for embroidery. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go the extra step to tape over the feed dogs - tape tends to leave a sticky residue, and that causes all kinds of other problems. Low and behold, the manual told me that there was a feed-dog switch on the almost-underside back of the free-arm. Sure enough, it was there. I had to tilt the machine toward me and lean over it to find it. I would have never found it without the manual!

It's not that I will do much free-style embroidery or sewing on the Kenmore; it's just that I have this urge to make that inexpensive little Kenmore perform like my expensive Bernina.

I suppose what partly drives that urge is a comment from a friend of ours who said she couldn't quilt because she didn't have an expensive machine like my Bernina. Poppycock, I said to myself! And poppycock it turns out to be. I do as much or more sewing on the Kenmore as I do on the Bernina. The Kenmore has a beautiful little stitch.

The other part of my determination to make the Kenmore perform like the Bernina, of course, is the difference in cost. Although I love the Bernina, the price I paid for it, more than eight years after I purchased it, still makes me cringe.

(My friend, by the way, gave me a couple dozen nearly full spools of thread when she decided to give up sewing. I think sewing just wasn't her thing any longer, although in the days she was sewing, she proved to be a really fine seamstress. She is a very talented woman, dabbling in all types of artistic endeavors, from oils to textiles! We have two of her oils hung on our walls, and I proudly point them out when we have guests. )


Crayola Crayon test for crayon quilt
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Having a low key week and handling only small tasks has its rewards. In preparation for making the Plaid Cats crayon quilt, I dug out some pre-stamped pillow-cases I had purchased for Mom a number of years ago, colored them with crayons, and then free-motion embroidered them (using the Bernina). Connie sent me the recipe for a vinegar bath before I wash them, and I'll eventually get around to doing that. The work isn't exactly polished, but it's a start.


Bethany's bag - front
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

After making the baby quilt for Bethany's shower the week before we went to Colorado, the need for a matching bag was nagging me, especially since I had some squares left over, so I made the bag last week. The front quilt square is a pocket. I put another square, on point, on the back just as decoration. I was pleased with that. The entire bag is made using the Kenmore, plus the serger.


Karen's purse
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

And then there's Karen's bag, on my to-do list since my visit to Judy this spring. Like all the things on my to-do list, I had a fear that it would stay there forever. I was so pleased to start and finish it last week and pleased with the way it turned out. The picture isn't good (taken in the mirror in our dark entry-way, colors washed out by the flash), so I'll describe it a little. The bag is fully lined with muslin, has one inside zipper pocket for small things, a drawstring closure to keep things from falling out, an outside patch pocket to slip things in, a large flap to cover all the openings when the bag is worn, and an adjustable strap with a belt-buckle closure. I found the belt, which was just the perfect size, hanging in the garage, where it's been for years, and Lauren took the buckle off for me the morning I finished the strap. The purse was made entirely on the Kenmore and the serger.

And speaking of the serger, I learned something new and useful about it yesterday. I changed my threads from black to white so I could put an overlock stitch on the bottom of the thrift store Clio dress before I shortened it, and when I change threads, I need to re-do and test the tensions again.

Sergers are nothing like sewing machines. Even if the instructions were well written, I would be confused, but the instructions for this serger (Singer) are not exactly well written. I generally use the two loopers and one of the needles (usually the left one). The instruction I use is No. 7. How to sew three-thread standard overlock, flatlock and wrapped edge overlock. This instruction has 6 steps to it, and I generally stop at Step 4 because that seems to get me a serger-looking stitch. I never could figure out what Steps 5 and 6 were. Yesterday, in a rare moment of clarity, I stumbled on the fact that Step 4 tells you how to do a three-thread standard overlock, Step 5 tells you how to do a flatlock, and Step 6 tells you how to do a wrapped edge overlock. The only difference is the setting for the tension discs, and each setting produces a unique stitch.

As the former manager of a technical documentation department, I mourned the fact that the Singer tech writers didn't have our standards. Numbered steps mean sequential tasks. Steps 4, 5, and 6 are not sequential. They are mutually exclusive instructions and each should have been listed as a unique, not sequential, procedure under the subtitle How to sew a three-thread ... Aargh! (As an aside, the Singer writers don't use the 2 commas-in-a-series-of-three rule, either. In my opinion, that's always a mistake.)

I am hooked on the serger for finishing seams and securing raw edges. For years, I used a sewing machine zig-zag or overlock-type stitch, but there's no comparison. The sewing machine tends to provide a less polished, bulkier finish than the serger. Now that I've unlocked more serger overlock secrets, I'm sure I'll use it even more!

A family vacation in Pagosa Springs

Village Pointe, Pagosa
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Pagosa Springs, Colorado, has been a family favorite of ours since we discovered it in 1990 - 18 years ago. We had visitors that year from the Netherlands, the family of our foreign exchange student, Mathieu, and we treated them to a tour of the western part of the United States. We used time shares where we could, and one of the places available to us was Pagosa Springs. We were hooked right away, and we purchased a time share there.

Since then, we've traveled there various times with our children, my parents, and my brother and his family, and we've always come away wanting more.

Because of work and other life events, we haven't been there for a few years, and we were long overdue for this trip.

This year, we traveled with our oldest granddaughter, now grown and married, and her husband - wonderful travel buddies, we've discovered - and we met my brother, Steve, and his wife, Connie, there, for another fully satisfying week.

We had two units together that, combined, were large enough to sleep eight - complete with two kitchens, two living rooms, and two baths. It was just enough space for our three families, giving us ample private and community space to enjoy.

Wyndam Pagosa, formerly known as Fairfield Pagosa, has activities for everyone, more than one can take in within the space of one week.

Here's a sample of our schedule for the week:

Sunday

We checked in, drove through town so we could refresh our memories of all we've enjoyed in the past, grocery shopped, and fixed supper.

Monday


Boy in snow at Wolf Creek
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

We drove up to Wolf Creek pass, stopping on the way up to enjoy Treasure Falls and the snow that's nearly always in the basin near Wolf Creek, and then stopping at the overlook high above the valley on the way back.

Steve and I made pizza dough according to a recipe Steve found on http://www.culinarycafe.com/Pizza/Basic_Pizza_Crust.html. Steve brought all the ingredients, including parchment paper, pizza pans, and a baking stone. It was fun watching the yeast proof. We let the completed dough set in the refrigerator overnight, giving it really great yeast-bread taste when we put it all together the next night.

Tuesday

Lauren, Stephanie, Scott and I took a juggling class, and then Steve, Connie, Lauren and I took a Wildflower Cards class where we colored wildflower cards with watercolor pencils and then worked the colors with a wet brush. Both activities were lots of fun.

Lauren shredded nearly two pounds of mozzarella cheese, chopped some onion, and browned some Jimmy Dean sausage (our favorite with pizza), and then Steve and I assembled the rest of the toppings and baked two pizzas for us. For the sauce, Steve used plain tomato paste covered with pesto. Yummmm! I don't know that I've ever had a pizza as good as these were. I'm going to try the recipe at home and see if I can come up with some method to make smaller ones and freeze some because there's only two of us here.

In the evening, Stephanie, Scott, Lauren, and I went to a little root beer float social sponsored by the resort - that was another yummm!!!

Wednesday

Connie and Steve drove to Durango for the day, and Stephanie and Lauren took a water color (real water color) class in the morning - both coming back with a really nice painting that would look good on any wall!

In the afternoon, Scott, Stephanie, Lauren, and I drove down to Chimney Rock and took the guided tour of the ruins. Actually, I took only half of the tour because I was afraid the second half would be too high on the mountain on paths that were too narrow - and when it was over, Stephanie, Scott, and Lauren all agreed that I had made the right decision. The history of that area is absolutely fascinating.

That evening, Stephanie and Scott made tacos for us, with all the trimmings. I can't remember the last time we had tacos, and the minute I bit into my first one, I knew it had been way too long. Another ymmmm!

Thursday

Thursday was a rainy day, a perfect day to play games nearly all day instead of just part of a day. Connie took time out to go to a Tee Shirt Art class, and she came back with a really neat t-shirt she hand painted as a gift for her nephew.

The rain gently backed off late afternoon, giving us some blue patches of sky, and after a supper of Johnsonville Brats (another yummmm!) we took off for the weekly Thursday Rodeo at the fair grounds. This was only the second rodeo the group had put on for this season, so the announcer and support crew were a little loose in their presentation; but they'll pick up as the summer goes on. We've enjoyed going in the past. I don't remember, though, the event where the little kids ride sheep. That was a lot of fun to watch. (I posted a picture or two on Flickr.)

Friday

Steve had caught a cold just before the trip started, and Connie was catching it - and they both were due to be back to work on Monday, so they left a day earlier than they had planned so they could get home and rest a bit.


Preparing to river raft at Pagosa
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Stephanie, Scott, and Lauren took a three-hour 9:00 rafting trip, and after I took them over to the activity center to catch their ride, I cleaned up our units a bit and then went down to the Edelweiss Needlework Chalet in Pagosa. Whatta store!!! They have all kinds of needlework, from knitting and crocheting, quilting, embroidery ... I ended up purchasing two crayon quilt designs from them, created by Black Cat Creations . I also purchased an inexpensive Brazilian embroidery design by Ed Mar.

That evening, we went down to the Pagosa Town Square gazebo and enjoyed some excellent (and free) music presented by the Belleville Outfit . We stopped at Subway and took our supper with us. The group was scheduled to entertain us for an hour, and ended up giving us a great time for 1-3/4 hours. They are sooooooo good! They are a young group and we don't think they've been together long. We bought their first CD, and they've improved since then (tons!) and we're sure they will continue to improve. If they don't make it big, we will be totally surprised. They are good, they love their audiences, and their audiences love them right back! If we ever have a chance to hear them again, we will jump at it.

Saturday

After we took the bikes back early on Saturday morning, we took a drive in the mountains high above Pagosa. It's a drive we always enjoy. Later in the day, we got our things ready to leave for home on Sunday, and we ended the day with frozen pizza and some games.

While we were in Pagosa, we played a little tennis, rode bikes, and did a little fishing. We could have done more of each, and we could have taken some wonderful hikes and many other things, but a week is just too short to get in all that the area offers. Next year..... Yep, next year we will do better! (Sure - we'll just have to keep going back and going back!)

Finished projects

For Bethany's baby shower
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

I found this simple pattern in Quiltmaker, March/April '08, and thought it might be a quick piecing pattern to put together for a baby shower I'm attending in June. The designer, Fran Morgan of Tyler, Texas, called her design Warm Embrace. She included two versions - one with Chenille by the Inch between soft, pastel squares, and one with rickrack between brightly colored squares. Both were beautiful and caught my eye immediately.

I didn't want to go to the expense of purchasing Chenille by the Inch or rickrack, so I used sashing between the squares - not as novel, but equally pleasing, I thought. My version of her quilt is called Sing a new song, from Psalms 96 and 98. The color combination, from fabric I had on hand, looked so joyful to me.

I cut out the pieces on Friday and finished the quilt Tuesday afternoon, just before we went to see Prince Caspian (which I liked!), so it was a pretty quick quilt by my standards. The quilting is simple, and that shortened the time considerably. As a rule, I like heavy quilting because I like the small crinkles after I've washed it; but heavy quilting stiffens a piece (so much unyielding thread) and takes a lot of time, and I wanted something soft for a baby and I wanted to finish the piece fairly quickly.

The outer squares have a wavy quilting line cross-hatching the squares, the inner squares have a diagonal line radiating from the center, the inner sashing is moderately stippled, and the outer sashing is more or less scribbled.

I hope Bethany, the intended "mom-to-be," enjoys the brightness of the quilt. My idea is that it should attract the attention of the baby and keep him (yes, it's a him) occupied for long periods of time (is that possible for a baby?).



Two baby sweaters, bottom up
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Having gotten the quilt off my machine, with a couple days to spare before we take our sometimes annual vacation to Pagosa Springs, I decided to bite the bullet and do the finishing work on two baby sweaters that have had gaping holes under the arms, incomplete work around the neck opening (thanks, Donna - I didn't think I could pull off that neck opening, but it works well!), and threads hanging out that needed to be woven in, so I sat myself down in front of the TV (which I listen to like a radio), hunted up the right needles and made myself do it.

For my first completed sweaters using this method (Jacqueline Fee's Sweater Workshop book), I'm not displeased, although it's hard to be satisfied with much, if any, of my work. I have another one on the needles, completed from the bottom through the joining of the sleeves while I waited to see if I could handle the neck opening to my satisfaction.

With this neck opening at the raglan seam (with basic instructions from Jacqueline Fee's book), I cast on and added a six-stitch extension under the overlap to give the opening a little more substance. On the beige sweater, I carried the extension only through the sweater body, but with the gold sweater, which I did last, I continued the extension through the ribbing. I think I like the latter method best, and that's what I'll use for the sweater currently on my needles.

The buttons are 1/2", and they have shanks at the back. It's hard to find kid-like buttons with shanks, but I'm not sure if flat buttons would work well. There's a lot more choice in flat buttons - lots of nice soft colors. I guess I could make a thread shank, and maybe I'll finally get to that when I use up the buttons I purchased.

Jacqueline Fee suggests you crochet the button loops, but I just made a loop and then wrapped it with a blanket-stitch, and I like the looks of that a lot. Either way would work, I'm sure.

Because we're going to be away next week, I'm getting another sweater on the needles to take with us. That should give my fingers plenty to do, I hope, while we're gone. I'll make it the larger size, like the beige one. The gold one, while very stretchy because it's made using a slip-stitch pattern, is still small, and while working these two sweaters, I've decided that it would be safer to make these sweaters just a bit large. Babies come in all sizes, and we saw some pretty big ones while we were in the U.K.

All these sweaters, by the way, are for a Lydia Circle project, not (yet) for anyone I know.

A six-hat trip

Hat No. 6 during UK trip
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

If I had any consistency, I would knit hats every time I traveled and then give every trip a hat rating. Our tour of the U.K. would be a six-hat (plus one headband) tour. This was the sixth and last hat I knitted while we were gone.

I don't ever remember knitting a hat before this year, and I think I fell into doing it because it seemed to be a good way to try some stitch variations, using a quick project; and, besides that, it was knitting, and knitting is comforting to me. Last year, I made a few belts and scarfs, but somehow, that wasn't as satisfying. I guess I'm a hat person.

Donna and I knitted daily while I was visiting in the Philippines, and I made three or four baby hats there. I don't think that's a fair measure of the hat-rating for that trip, though, because we knitted a bunch of other things as well.

This hat formula or recipe is of my own devising. I thought I'd like something with a bunch of crown room, and this recipe gives it because the decreases, when they begin to happen, happen every 10 stitches, so the decreasing happens fast. Many hat patterns decrease 6, plus or minus, stitches every other round at the crown; but with 140 stitches to begin with, this one decreases 14 stitches every other round. To compensate, you knit more rows (inches) before you start the decreases, and the result is that you end up with a nice, comfy (and not quite so hair-flattening) crown.

The basic recipe for this hat is simple.

- Find your gauge for the needles and yarn you want to use, and make it divisible by 4 for K2, P2 ribbing.

- After the ribbing, increase 30 to 40 percent (unlike a tam which is generally increased 50 percent), and adjust the count so it's divisible by 10. Use whatever pattern you devise for the 10 stitches.

- Knit to within an inch or so of where you need to close the top of the hat, and then K2tog every 10 (for the first row) 14 times. Work the next round in whatever stitch pattern you've chosen.

- Continue the decreases, knitting one less stitch before decreasing every time, until you have only a few stitches remaining on two needles. Knit them up (and decrease a few more, if necessary) into an I-cord to close the top, making sufficient I-cord to twist into a button (or more if you want something other than a button), and then bind off.

- Weave in the ends and do whatever you want with the I-cord closure.

- Done!

I find the picture of the hat is interesting. I stood against a light peach-gold wall in the hallway and Lauren took the picture, using flash. My glasses look really thick, which they aren't. But if you look closely, you can see where the flash caught something of Lauren's image in the lenses.

There's no place like home ...

A favorite view in Poway
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

There's no doubt about it, I am a travel junkie. I am always glad to be home - that's true, too; but it takes a while before I am ready to settle down and be at home for an extended period of time. Being able to see views like this, though, helps me settle in more quickly. I think I am not only addicted to traveling, I'm addicted to looking at beautiful scenery.

I see this scene every time I go somewhere in town and then come back. There's this little road that I travel each way, and each way has a view that grabs my attention quickly and doesn't want to let go. Although I always say I'll take a picture next time, I never do - at least not until today.

I passed up the entire spring season, when everything everywhere was covered with the most remarkable green for our neck of the woods; and today as this picture came into my view, now in its near summer state, I caught myself once again saying "I'll take a picture next time."

Kicking myself as I rounded the corner and watched this view disappear, I made a U-turn and drove back. So here it is - beautiful, golden brown, blue skies with lovely white fluffy clouds, clear air.

The hillside to the south of us, over Poway-Scripps Parkway, is now a variety of golden shades. It will turn a dull brown before too much longer. The sun will scorch the life out of it, making it no more than fodder for fire. The light plays around the goldness throughout the day, and it's a joy each time I go out into the back yard and glance that way. A picture of it wouldn't be good because there are so many rooftops and all their jutting things and lamp posts in the way, leaving only a thin strip of the hillside; but take my word for it, it's beautiful.

Around our neighborhood, jacarandas are in bloom. Those beautiful lavender trees provide a wonderful color against a green and golden brown background. There's color everywhere.

I am so lucky to live in a place where I can look in so many directions, so many months of the year, and see something so pleasing to the eye. I am so very, very lucky!

Second morning at home ...

Mumbles, Wales
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

When you've traveled long distances across several time zones and are back home again, sleep and dreams play tricks on you. All night, I travel across green moors and plains, walk neatly laid footpaths, wondering what I will see around the next bend, and I hear the sounds of sheep bleating in the fields. We have a cool wind blowing in Poway; and both yesterday and today, I woke to the sound of chimes and cowbells (yes, I have some in our back yard), enhancing whatever dream I was in at the time.

We are tired by 9:00 at night, and we are awake shortly after 4:00 in the morning. It's about an hour off for me, but two or three hours off for Lauren. By this time next week, Pacific Standard Time will have caught up with us, and we'll be back to our normal routines - except that Lauren's job for the season is over and he'll be home most days. That's a good thing. We enjoy being around together. It must be a good sign that's true when you stop to think we've spent 24/7 with each other for the past 30-plus days. Not too bad. Not too bad at all!

Yesterday, we weeded and trimmed the yard. The weeds had nearly covered our little stone patio out back while we were gone. The amaryllis blooms had come and gone, as I knew they would, and our roses had faded. We filled two garbage cans full of trimmings and grass and adjusted the sprinklers for the season.

Our tomatoes grew while we were gone. Last year, we planted them too late because we were traveling during the early part of the season; so this year, using a contraption a friend gave Lauren, we planted before we left. Lauren spent several days designing a path for the sprinklers so the plants would stay watered, and it seemed to work. I hope these tomatoes are as delicious as last year's. The English eat grilled tomatoes for breakfast, and I loved them. Fresh ones will do for me, though - juicy and sweet!

There were so many images to remember from our tour of Britain, and although I took many, many (and maybe too many) pictures, there were many more I wanted to take.

One of the pictures I didn't take was a good one of the stone walls separating the fields, especially in the Midlands and south and west into Wales. This picture isn't good, but it does suggest a little of the detail of the stones placed in a vertical position on top of the stone wall.

Not only is the picture somewhat blurry, taken at the last moment just as we passed the wall in the car, but the stones are more carelessly placed than most of the ones I saw.

I grew seeing pictures of Britain, the hazy green fields in the distance as one hill rolls just past another, and those pictures came to life for us. It's an amazingly beautiful place!

Yesterday, I finished the 6th hat I started during our trip, with the yarn and needles I bought during the first days of our tour. I'll take a picture of it and post it later. It's modeled after the same 10-stitch recipe I used for the last one. I like the fast decrease at the end, decreasing every 10 over 140 stitches. It makes for a roomy cap and only a couple inches of shaping at the crown.

Today, I'm going to cut out pieces for a crib quilt for a shower in June. I found a pattern in the March/April 08 Quiltmaker magazine (page 20, if you have the magazine), and I'm going to adapt that and use some bright greens, blue, yellows, and oranges. I think I'll use a flannel plaid for the backing and use something really light, maybe plain white flannel, for the batting.

Soon, I'll be quite content to be at home again; but it will be a few days before my feet no longer want to trod another footpath, turn another corner, see another waterfall, wonder at another view. Travel is so addicting to me. My sense of being tired always fails, and I just want to keep going on to the next thing I've never seen before.

Day 32 - One last view of an English moor

View of the moor from Moorside Grange hotel
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

It certainly wasn't planned that we spend our last night in Britain looking up at magnificent moorlands and down into the plains where Manchester lies. In fact, before we left the United States, we really didn't know what a moor was, even though we had seen the word all our lives.

Today, we know that a moor is a beautiful work of nature in Britain, a mountain unlike our craggy or tree-lined hills and mountains in the United States.

Our first realization of what a moor was came when we were in Kingsteignton and we toured the Dartmoor National Park on our first day there. We made it a point to look up the word when we got back to our apartment. I'm not sure what Lauren thought moor meant, but I had always assumed, without thinking about it, that it was swampy land. Not so. Not so at all.

It was with a good bit of surprise, as we turned off the M-6 toward the Moorside Grange in Stockport, that we found ourselves climbing a treeless, narrow road up a mountain. We recognized what it was right away, and the higher we went, the more sure we were that we had chosen the wrong hotel, that this was a place we should have stayed at the beginning or middle of our trip, not at the end.

The Moorside Grange (& Spa) isn't in Stockport at all, but south of Stockport, just up the moor from a little village called Disley. Even so, it's only 16 miles (and about 30 to 45 minutes) from the airport, so we're really not far away.

The Grange is a Best Western hotel. We usually think of the Best Western offering adequate motels near the interstate back home, but twice we've stayed at Best Westerns that were much more than adequate - this one and another in Portugal that had been the hunting "lodge" (a huge estate) of someone royal many, many years ago.

I watched the sun set to the west of the moor this evening, and the light playing against the roundness and the shades of green was mesmerizing. I, who have a tendency to topple to my face if I'm not looking directly at the ground, found myself wobbling left and right as I gazed at the hills. Far off in the distance, through the haze, we're pretty sure we can see Manchester. Although it's about 15 miles from here, driving, it's closer as the crow flies.

After we figured out where we were in the grand scheme of things, related to Manchester, we went into Disley this evening and had supper at The Ram's Head, a lovely former bed and breakfast that has its origins in 1840. We had a fillet of pork wrapped in ham and a tomato-based sauce, accompanied by fresh vegetables. It was delicious!

May 20 - Swansea, Wales - Day 31

It's hard to believe our trip is almost over. I believe we could go on for another several weeks. Even with 31 days in this country, we've only touched the surface of it.

The British are friendly people, and we've really enjoyed getting to know them just a little bit better. I will never see them in the same light again, and I will always have a warm spot in my heart for them. Their country is beautiful and has such a variety of landscapes, beautiful gardens, and miles and miles and miles of public footpaths through all the towns and villages. I found a brochure in the lobby of our hotel here that advertises walking tours from June 7 through 22, all here in the Gower region. Wouldn't I like to be here then! The walks and the views look fabulous!

The Dragon is a four-star hotel, located in a great place for walking around in Swansea. We didn't pay much attention to the ratings of any of our hotels when we booked them months ago, so we've had some that were two stars and some that were probably no stars but certainly adequate for our needs.


When we checked into the Dragon and I told the clerk that we were prepaid (something we've learned to verify as we went along), he said yes, we were, and that he would upgrade us. I don't know why he did that, but as a result, we ended up with a two-room suite instead of just a room. It's utterly gorgeous!

Yesterday, we walked and walked and walked. We must have covered 4 or 5 miles! We were driven by curiosity - what would we see if we walked in that direction? Turned that corner? Checked out that street? It was fun. I posted a few pictures on Flickr.

Swansea is situated on the sea shore, and their beach is huge, huge, huge. Neither Daytona nor Myrtle beach can boast such wide beaches. We were surprised to see only a few people there. It could be that they were all out doing their weekly shopping, because we saw many people carrying shopping bags in town while we were on our way to the sea.


Swansea, Wales
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Today, we're planning to drive along the shore through this area (Gower region).

We came into Wales again, beginning and ending our trip here (except for the airport in Manchester) hoping to find Welsh cakes, that wonderful scone-like pastry we discovered while we were on the boat on the Llangollen Canal. So far we haven't seen any. Maybe Welsh cakes are only a northern Wales pastry. Of all the things we tasted on this trip, Welsh cakes have been our favorite. That will be part of our quest today - to see if we can find them.

A little bit about Bath, before I end our travel journal, and the Redcar Hotel where we stayed. When we first came into that town, it seemed that there were so many people and so many buildings lining the valley that I knew would hate it. It felt closed in. But how wrong I was.

We found the Jane Austin museum and went inside, but it was so small and crowded with people, and so hot, that we just didn't think we could tolerate being there. The museum boasts air conditioning, but they surely didn't have it on that day. So we walked on.


The town center in Bath isn't too large, so it's really easy to get around there. We went into the reception area of the Roman baths, but that was crowded, too, and we just didn't think we wanted to wait in line and pay 10 pounds each to tour them. So we left and wandered around the town some more.

(Later, as we were sitting on a bench eating ice cream, we noticed that we could see people touring an outside part of the Roman baths. Some were standing at the walls in the bath, looking at all the people on the streets. Lauren wondered if these people had paid 10 pounds each so they could stand inside the Roman baths and watch us on the streets.)

As we wandered and watched the people congregate here and there in outdoor and indoor cafes and restaurants, I began to hear echoes of Mrs. Bennett's voice. Bath seems like a place where people go to socialize and meet other people, and the idea that the whole of Bath is the Jane Austin museum began to form in my thoughts.

There are throngs of young people in Bath, and as evening came, we began to see them leave their hotels and head toward town - usually guys with guys and gals with gals, many probably looking to meet someone in town.


The Redcar may have been one of those no-star hotels (we're not sure because we couldn't find the rating), but it was certainly charming. It occupied a few (Victorian?) row houses on Henrietta Street. The rooms were really tiny, but they were clean. It's the only hotel we've stayed at where I could take a shower and watch the news on TV at the same time. It's run by a family or group of friends of young people - we guessed from Hong Kong, who were the most friendly and cordial hosts we've had. We would recommend the Redcar to anyone!

Not only were the rooms small, but the walls in the Redcar Hotel were thin - just as they were in north Chester in our Victorian lodgings there. You just had to laugh and think about what it must have been like in years past, in Jane Austin times. Thin walls are perfect for gossip. The thin walls became part of the charm of the place, and we loved it!

The reception (lounge) area, comprised of three connecting parlors with a bar at the end of one, was beautifully done - so comforting and inviting, and advertised free entertainment that evening. Free is good, not only because it doesn't cost anything but because free is generally not as compromised by commercialism as costly things. We think we get more of a taste of local culture when we stay out of the way of the commercial events.

Oh, are we glad we took advantage of the "free" entertainment. The singer was Felicity ____ (I'll have to get her last name from Lauren), and she accompanied herself on an electric guitar. She must have known every American country and near-country western song that's ever been sung, and she had a lovely voice for singing them all.


Bath - In the Redcar Hotel - Felicity and her friends - excellent
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

There weren't many other people there - an older couple who will soon be celebrating their 40th anniversary and who seemed to be "Felicity groupies" and a man who seemed to be with Felicity were the main attendees, with a few who wandered in and then out again from time to time.

Because the crowd was small, Felicity kept a dialog running with us all the time and she made the evening so much fun. We sang along with her when we knew the words, and the man and woman danced to the songs from time to time. Lauren had requested that Felicity sing Marty Robbins' El Paso, so at the end, Felicity did it for us. She couldn't quite remember all the words, so she grouped up with her following and they kept feeding her the words as they came to mind. It was all really good fun.

I think the town of Bath originated because it's a natural place (with the Roman Baths) for people to congregate, and it still thrives as a place for people to congregate. No wonder Jane Austin could use Bath as a place for her characters. It's perfect. Bath is perfectly Jane Austin, and Jane Austin's characters are perfectly Bath.

Friday, May 16, Day 28 - Locally in Kingsteignton

Last day in Kingsteignton - getting ready to go home

We'll spend another day close here in Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot before we take off for the last few days of our tour.

While we're here, in spacious quarters, we'll take the time to get everything ready to wind up our trip. Our perishable food supplies look just about right to get us through tomorrow morning, and I'll fix some peanut butter Wasa Rye Crisp sandwiches, with dry roasted sunflower seeds, for the remainder of the days we'll be on the road.

Apples, bananas, and grapes also travel well, and we've become used to drinking room-temperature diet Coke and Pepsi. We'll carry some of each the next few days.

We'll purchase a bit of local baked goods as we travel, and we look forward to finding Welsh Cakes (a flattened scone with sultanas - a type of grape) again. Of all the pastries (not pasties, although pasties are a kind of pastry) we've tasted on this trip, the Welsh Cakes have been our hands-down favorite.

We carry large chocolate bars with us so we can break off a square now and then. We both like the kind with nuts better than the plain. I also carry a nut mixture with me wherever we go so I can grab a hand full when I start to feeling a little weak or hungry, to stave off headaches and that near hypoglycemic condition that plays havoc with me from time to time. The protein and fats from the nuts do the trick for me.

Yesterday and today are cloudy and sometimes rainy, so it's good we did most of our driving around during the early part of the week.

Today, and a trip into town

Lauren absolutely doe NOT like driving to the town center in Newton Abbot. Part of his dislike is my fault because I've taken him into the town from both the north and the west, robbing him of the experience of going into town the same way twice so he could memorize the turns to get to where we want to go.

There's something mean in me, I think, because I can clearly identify the easy ways to get somewhere and yet I can't help but choose something a little more challenging than the course of least resistance. I seem to do this consistently; and then, recognizing what I've done (and almost feeling guilty), I compensate by congratulating Lauren on passing another driving test. I never intend these little trips to be tests, I'm sure; I think my idea is simply to see something we haven't seen before. Of course, when he's driving in these strange and often tight quarters, Lauren doesn't see much of anything except the few car lengths in front of him as he tries to avoid oncoming traffic on a road that's hardly wide enough to support one-way traffic, let alone oncoming traffic. Anything he accidentally happens to see is bound to be for the first time!

Although Newton Abbot isn't a large town, it's larger than Aberfeldy, and it's laid out in curves rather than straight lines.

Once you get into town, you're faced with an array of signs which you need to be able to read immediately because the streets and the traffic seem so chaotic. According to a paper placemat-sized map we have, there are 9 public parking places in and around the town center, all labeled with that big white "P" on a blue square; so immediately as you come into town, you have these 9 big blue signs in your face, all pointing in different directions, as well as signs to the train station, the race track, the town center (and everything is in the town center, of course), and for anything else that might be of interest to a casual tourist, so how in the world are you going to digest all that and take the right turn at the right time! It's as though you've run into a wall plastered with signs when you reach the first curve leading to the center of town.

Nevertheless, after a full day out of the car, I have convinced Lauren that we will go into Newton Abbot today to walk the town center again. It really is an interesting town for its small size, with more than one street with lots of shops for browsing and at least one big market (that's like an indoor flea market), so you can walk and look for quite a while before you've run out of things to see.

There are several bookstores in Newton Abbot, and my quest for today is to find something by a local author or to find something historical about the area or a personal journal-type writing about the local environment. I haven't really been tempted to buy any books on this trip because I haven't been reading. Knitting has been my full-time idle-time activity, and I've been well contented with that. But I saw a book while we were in Cornwall by a man who had explored the area on foot in the mid 1800s, and it's the first book that, in retrospect, I wish I had purchased. Whether or not I find such a book doesn't make much difference; if I find one, I'll have something to pick up and read from time to time and enjoy the descriptions I read; if I don't find one, I'll still have my money in my pocket, and that's a good thing, too.

Yesterday


The old locks (now closed) near the towpath
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Yesterday, other than playing cribbage, eating, knitting (me), and looking up various things on the Internet (Lauren) (like: How do sim cards work on cell phones? What's the definition of a Moor? Who makes Astra automobiles (the answer is General Motors) and how long have they been around?), our only activity was to go for a nice walk on the path from Passage House Inn, through the marsh, to the edge of town where the race track is. The path follows the canal where they used to tow the barges (narrowboats) that brought goods to town and to transport clay for export to other parts of England. We found the old locks - just behind the race track. The canal is no longer in use and the locks are now sealed off; but because of our experience on the Llangollen Canal, the finding was all the more interesting to us.

St. Ives and the man who went there

One of Lauren's research assignments was to find the old childhood riddle about St. Ives, a place near Land's End in Cornwall. We both thought of it as we passed the sign that would lead off the mountain to that place. Here it is:

(As I was going to St. Ives refers to the name of a quaint old village in Cornwall, England.) Earliest traceable publication date is 1730.

Poem - As I was going to St. Ives
As I was going to St. Ives I met a man with seven wives.

Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits.

Kits, cats, sacks and wives, How many were going to St. Ives?

The Answer to the Riddle: Only one man was going to St.Ives! He met
the following who were going the other way: A man (1) with 7 wives; 7 x 7 (49)
sacks; 7x7x7 (343) cats; 7x7x7x7 (2,401) kits; for a Total of 2,801 wives, sacks, cats and kits!

The lagoon-estuary from our balcony


The boat floats
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Yesterday, the tide in the lagoon came up as high as we've seen it. The sail boat, which has appeared to be totally beached up until now, was in enough water to sail out to the English Canal if the owner had so chosen. Lauren didn't think the water would come that high, so it was fun to see that it did.

The swans love the lagoon filled by the high tides, and they come out in numbers (I counted 14 this morning) to play around the marshes.

There are two Canadian geese who seem to hang out together day after day. Are they a pair? Do the male and female look alike? I don't know. This morning, they were swimming upstream, antiphonally honking as though they were having a conversation, and then they simultaneously took off out of the water and flew across a broad circle back to where they were. It seemed as though they were saying something like "On the fifth honk, take off and circle the pond." It was fun to watch and wonder what communication they have. Their honks all sound alike to me. Just minutes ago, I saw them walking near the reeds at the edge of the lagoon, and there were about 6 baby goslings walking around nearby.

I wonder if there are marsh wiggles in this lagoon. I look for Puddleglum, but I'm not sure if I would recognize him if I saw him. He's my hero from C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.

Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things -- trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones.

Inspiration is everywhere here. No wonder we have such beautiful and lasting tales of the imagination that come from this place and other parts of Europe.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow morning, we'll drive to Bath. We'll be staying in a hotel on the side of the Henrietta Square that's nearest to town, but you have to walk several blocks and cross a bridge to get to the town center. It looks like we'll need to drive into the town to see what's there (Roman baths, among other things). Hopefully, I can locate a "P" on a blue sign that's easy to get to so it's not too much of a challenge for Lauren. He's passed all previous tests magnificently, and he really doesn't need to take many more. He's proven his road-worthiness for this trip again and again! (And he's still speaking to me. That's a good sign!)

Then, after one night in Bath, we're off to Swansea, Wales, for two nights. It looks like we're pretty much in the town center in our hotel there. I hope that's true. It would be nice for Lauren because I know we are going to get to that town center and to the wharf, and it would be nice if he didn't have to drive.

And then there's Manchester. When I purchased our plane tickets, I also purchased our first and last night lodgings. For the first night, I managed to get a hotel really near the airport at a reasonable rate (well, considering the circumstances, with the exchange rate being nearly US$2 to 1 GBP), but the rate for the same hotel going back was twice that amount. I ended up booking our last night in Stockport, not too far away from Manchester, for about 25 percent more than I paid for our first night; and as I watch TV and see the riots that have taken place in Manchester because of the football games (soccer) and learn that there will be another game this week, maybe I'm glad we won't be so close.

It looks like we will have Internet in Swansea and Stockport, so maybe I'll be able to blog once or twice more before we leave this beautiful place. But maybe not. We'll see.

Home soon

Soon we'll be home, and that will be good, too! We wonder if our tomato plants, planted in an upside down contraption, have survived. Lauren worked off and on several days to make sure the sprinkler was high enough and directed well enough to keep them with drink.

Our neighbor, who had rented out his house for the last 15 or so years but has now retired from the Coast Guard, is moving back and is in the process of making the house suitable again for his family. In exchange for the use of our lawn mower for his own lawn, he's kept our front lawn mowed, so the front lawn isn't going to be screaming at us as soon as we pull into our driveway.

I bet the back yard is a jungle, though!

My pink quilt is waiting for me, and I hope to get back to it within days of our arriving home. I have a couple baby things to finish knitting, ready for a shower in June, and I am now behind on my military quilt tops.

At this moment, life seems good, indeed.

Hat No. 5


Hat No. 5
Originally uploaded by Suzie Rozie.

Just for the record, I finished Hat No. 5 yesterday, and I started on No. 6. No. 6 will begin with burgandy ribbing as a contrast color, a purl-bump beginning border in burgandy, some cables in the pale brown or sand color, a burl-bump ending border, and then I think I'll do a rib-like K8, P2 around, using the same 10-stitches as before but a different pattern - all in the brown sand color. I like the fast decreases at the top (decrease at each 10-stitch marker every other row until I have only a few stitches remaining), making for a rounder crown of the cap.

Thursday, May 15, Day 27 - Early morning in Kingsteignton

We had a good storm last night, and the waters of the estuary are high. I was up at 5:30, and was glad I was because there must been a dozen or more swans, plus herons and other birds, enjoying floating on the waters. Again, I heard the loud plop-plop beating of a swan who had taken flight, but I didn't get a picture.

I accidentally figured out something this morning: Even though it seems silly to take a flash picture of a large area (like the outdoors), the camera operates according to its flash rules and keeps the shutter open only a brief time, reducing the chance of blur. The pictures, taken with a little zoom, are somewhat dark and grainy; but with a little increase in light using PSP, I actually did get a few distinguishable pictures this morning. How nice. There's nothing like seeing the real thing, but a picture to stir the memory and imagination is a good second best.

I just can't believe the view we have from here, sitting just above the marsh with a clear view for a long way. Passage House has built a new set of condos, and they opened just days after we checked in. We're lucky they didn't put us in the newer (maybe bigger and better according to their standards) units because they are further away from the marsh and their view is blocked by our building. We are really fortunate to have this place.


While we were checking our e-mail and I was posting my little blog last night, during the storm, I mentioned that the roof was leaking in the Reception area of the hotel. Here are some pictures. It was rather funny, but it wouldn't have been had the glass roof caved in. As I was trying to get pictures of the marsh through the windows, one of the gals who was trying to catch rain water as it dripped through the roof told me that the area was out of bounds, and I had to move back to the main area. They were good natured and looked like they were even having fun chasing the water with a rag and what looked like something no bigger than a flower pot.


Here's a picture of my navigation tools - two maps, one with a detailed view and one with an overall view, and the GPS, all sitting on my lap. At the same time I'm trying to keep track of our position and anticipate where I need to tell Lauren to prepare for another roundabout or merging of roads, I'm looking up to try to see signs that will identify a place name with something on the map and something the GPS tells us - plus, I'm snapping pictures when I think there's something in the side or front view that might be an interesting detail of our trip. Because Lauren's eyes are constantly on the road (and many of our pictures will tell you why - cars coming in all directions, blind curves everywhere, hilltops with no view of oncoming traffic), I also try to give him a running commentary of what I'm seeing as well as any information I've read about the place.


While we were traveling to Cornwall yesterday, I spotted a Hawkins sign - it's a restaurant, according to the sign, and we didn't drive down there; but I have to wonder if perhaps ... well, probably not. There were a number of Hawkins families who immigrated to the U.S. from here during various early stages of development in the New World - but it was interesting nonetheless.

Devon and Cornwall have spent a good bit of money on their roads in the past year or two, and they're really nice. Here's a picture where our GPS kept telling us to make U-turns and take other roads because, according to it, we were out in a field somewhere! It was funny. We've learned to argue with "her" (our Nuvi has a woman's voice) and tell her just to be patient because we know what we're doing at that particular moment. Most of the time, we haven't a clue what we're doing, and we are very reliant on our Nuvi!

Land's End in Cornwall is much like the Land's End we visited in Portugal - very, very windy, huge rocks left in the ocean where the waters have eroded the land, and absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Like the Grand Canyon, there's no way you can get a picture that even begins to explain the swelling of all your emotions when you see such a place. All our tiredness immediately went away and we were totally joyful and relaxed. All my pictures are on Flickr in the Cornwall set for UK 08.

We thought it was funny that we found this bake shop at Land's End advertising that it was the "Home of the Cornish Pasty" but it had nothing but cheese and onion pasties (which we didn't want). We just had to laugh. And then there's a Land's End Clothing Company, but they don't sell any Land's End products! I have to say it again (and those who know me have heard me say it over and over) - Marketing!!! Yeh, sure!

We had our minds so set on Cornish Pasties, especially the meat variety, that we left Land's End, drove just a short distance and took a long, narrow, winding road down to the cove at Semens in search of a local place where we could get the real deal - more than one variety of pasties. What a lovely little town. We found steak pasties (chopped steak, onions, potatoes, and perhaps a little carrot) at the Breaker's Cafe and were able to enjoy eating them indoors, watching the wind blow outside and mess up everyone's hair.

The view at Semens was also lovely - but what else could we expect from such a place! We stayed there just long enough to soak in a good dose of the ambiance and left just before the marine layer began to overtake the area. We had a little rain in places driving back, and considering the storm we had last night, we figured we lucked out with perfect timing to get the most out of everywhere we were yesterday and then to get home safely.

There's much to see in Cornwall, especially at the tip of the peninsula, and touring it certainly isn't a day trip. We didn't see any or many of the ancient Roman ruins, although we saw evidence of them from place to place as we drove by. We now have a mental picture, based on reality, of where they lie, and that's more than we had before we traveled here.

It was interesting to read in my Berlitz Travelers Guide (one of the best I have seen) that Land's End has been owned by Nycal, Inc., of Washington, D.C. since 1991. That corporation may own the land and the buildings, but the views belong to the earth and its inhabitants. That an American, or any other corporation, could think they could own anything of real value such as those fabulous views gives me a great laugh. Marketing, again! You can charge me to park, but you can't charge me for the joy I receive when seeing these awesome natural surroundings. Disney is fun, but Disney isn't real. To me, the technology to create Disney is more impressive than the results.

Last picture for my blog - my birthday supper - pizza and a salad of grapes, strawberries, and yogurt topped with Cornish saffron bread crumbles, all put together by Lauren. I am lucky to have a husband who takes such care to put together a meal for me, even when we're traveling and have to do with what we can find! Thank you, Lauren! Now we are the same age again. Let's go for a bunch more of these dual birthday / anniversary events!

And next to last note for today's blog: There's this fellow on BBC named Jeremy, on a show called Top Gear, who loves to drive, and he takes these exotic road trips to less populated areas of Britain and even as far away as Iceland. He's on the Dave channel, whatever that is. We love his show. I wish we had it in America. He's in John O'Groats now, and that's at the northeast tip of Scotland, just south of the Orkney Islands. What a beautiful country that is.

Although the U.K. is a beautiful country no matter where you go, if I were to come here again and have a choice of where I would spend nearly 5 weeks, I would go to Scotland and drive and drive from one coast to the other, from the north to the south, from ferry to ferry. It's not that I wish we had done that this trip, because this trip has been perfect. We've seen so much and learned so much. But there's something about Scotland, in particular, that stirs and intrigues me in a special way.

Last note for today: It's amazing how busy this place, Passage House, is. There seems to be a regular stream of business travelers here, and we've casually heard any number of interesting conversations about business issues while we sit here, do our e-mail and blogging and picture uploading. Today, I'm listening to two business people, a man and a woman, who are discussing someone on the job who is "a lovely person" but who shows up drunk on the job too often. She will be dismissed, according to what I hear, and they're discussing just what language to use to give her the termination notice. As the conversation continues, I think these two are from Human Resources, so the conversation is very interesting to me. I enjoyed being a Human Resources specialist for a few years out of my work career. It was a lot of fun (as well as hard work).

On another day, we listened to a conversation between two men about driving and cars in England. One man purported to be the expert who was advising the other. I didn't look at them, and I assumed the expert was an older, fatherly figure, who was impressing his younger son about buying a car and driving here. Lauren informed me, though, that the two men were nearly the same age. Interesting.

Last night, the conversation was among three people who were discussing how to switch off during a presentation they were giving. They had been in Cornwall and, I presume, had given the presentation, and they were preparing to do it again here.

At the same time, last night, a large group of German tourists had just gotten back from their day's bus tour and they were lining up at the bar for a tall cool one before supper. We have learned, from casual conversations over the last few days, that supper here is usually late and people have to wait. This is a nice area to sit in, though, with windows everywhere providing a view of the estuary, so I don't hear many grumbles that people are having to wait too long.