Tripping

Of late Wonderful Guy and I travelled to the State of the Utes to see the Grandbebes that live there.  And also their parents.  Of course their parents too!

It had been way too long on both accounts.  This trip was a road trip, and whether it happened or not depended on the weather.  We lucked out, and had fine a fine travel experience. Of course we had a fine travel experience!  Because we had a great visit with the bebes and their parents.

See…the thing is...I learned stuff.  I learned that some of I-80 runs at 7500 feet.  And also, that checking weather is good and well.  But not complete.  One should also check road conditions when travelling….there.  Yep.  We spent some down time in Rawlins, but yea! They opened the road back up after 2 1/2 hours!

Only to have Hiway 287 closed 4 minutes before we reached Laramie.  So we spent an extra night there, before heading north and east an extra 120 miles to go south on I-25 to get home.

Under blue skies the whole way!  It was sideways snow…blowing snow was the issue.  Our direct routes home didn’t open up until way after we reach our fair burg, had lunch, and were all unpacked!

It was excellent to have a chance to catch up with Middle Daughter and have a chance to get acquainted with the grandbebe girls.  They are cutie-pies.  How could they not be though?  I say they could not!

And then we travelled to Desert Crazy Town in which to see Only Step Son marry the Lovely Fiancee.  The wedding was downsized from a big planned affair in June, to a intimate engagement in March.  They chose simple and less complex and less stress as the big plans started snowballing.

And I got a brief visit, once again, with Dearest Sister.  She and Car Guy celebrated Wonderful Guy’s birthday together with Lovely Step Daughter.  We took in the Shelby Museum, did a drive by of the Gold & Silver Pawn (home of Pawn Stars), and dropped some quarters at the Pin Ball Hall of Fame, where we all got a big kick out of the South Park game.  After walking Molly, the grand-pup, we finished of the day with the whole wedding gang at dinner.  I think the Guy had a good day of celebration.

(as seen on TV!)

We were up the next morning early for the flight home, and while it was not the best travel experience I have had, we made it safely.  And it was good to go somewhere warmish, though, and break out of wintry weather for a bit.

Where The Wind Blows

Over the Memorial Day holiday, I took my second trip in May.  Youngest and I loaded up the two grand-girls and traveled back to my hometown to celebrate Favorite Aunt’s 90^th birthday.

My siblings came in from all their respective places…Kansas, California, Nevada…and we had a few days of eating and visiting and keeping each other humble.

The Grand-girls had a fine time at the parade, on which day I left my fancy smancy camera back where we were staying….30 miles away.  (Seriously…I did….but better the camera than one of the grandbebes, I say.) The Memorial Day/Class Reunion parade is a typical (very) small town parade consisting of flags, horseriders, a few farm implements, old firetrucks, some motorcycles, and a few little ‘clown cars’.  It lasted maybe 20 minutes…maybe.  But there was candy!  Woot!

We received a personal tour of the new hospital from my BFF, and it really is a pretty spiffy concept.  All green and full of energy saving and other good ideas.  Like free child care and free something else…maybe meals for the employees?

Main Street has been rebuilt and there are several (7-8, maybe 9) business now.  There is a new city hall, a commons building, and the new Kiowa County school that looks very nice.  I am thinking all the churches are back, too.  It’s a church-y town.

There are still lots of empty lots.  Many homes were not rebuilt.  There are new trees planted, but I missed the big towering trees that were topped by the tornado.

The day of the parade was overcast, but the next day dawned cloudless.  Then the wind picked up, and by 10:30, I was thinking the sun felt good, but my! It’s a bit warm.  On the way back to the room, Youngest said the outside air temp read 102.  Yes.  A bit warm.

And the wind was crazy blowing.  Blew all day.  Strongly, and didn’t let up in the evening.

And that is why the powers that be figured out these are a good idea for this part of the country.  There are now several in town, bigger ones supplying a business (like the hospital), and smaller ones providing for residentials, and then this line outside of town, which I think either the town or the county own.

We returned home on Memorial Day, after a trip to the cemetery, wind still blowing.

It blew All. The. Way. Home.

But.  The weird thing?  I fought it as a crosswind across Kansas south to north….and when I headed north out of Denver?  I fought a crosswind all the way home, west to east!

No breaks for me.

Mother’s Day

I rarely get to spend Mother’s Day with Eldest, so this one was a special treat.  She asked Youngest what she should do.  Youngest told her our typical arrangement was to visit the nursery on Mother’s Day and pick out something for my yard.

So…while in Philly, Eldest and I picked up a couple of things from the nursery…and planted them in her yard…for Mother’s Day!  She bought me a peony and a hydrangea.

We saw this one in bloom at Longwood Gardens, and that is what we chose (or one close to it).  Not your typical hydrangea, and I liked it, because of that. I told her about hydrangeas being pink or blue depending on the alkalinity or acidity of the soil.  We are scientific that way...but I went on to say it was more like coffee grounds and lime....not sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid...

The peony was on sale, being rather puny in comparison to the big, robust bushes we found down the bench aways.  I am a sucker for the scrawny plants….at 50% off.  And a peony?  It’ll do. I just love me a good smelly peony!  Reminds me of old farm gardens, and big bouquets on kitchen tables.

But the big news on Mother’s Day?  Her first two tall bearded iris opened up.  Two that came from my yard, that I helped her plant 3 years ago.

Doesn’t get much better than that.

Home Again, Home Again

I swear.

It takes longer and longer, the older I get, to recover my equilibrium from vacationing.

Perhaps I should do less doing and more relaxing?  Nahhhh….that would not be very restful for me, I think.

I digress.  I am back from a wonderful time, even without the sheep festival.  There were two botanical gardens (of sorts), time in Eldest’s garden, the bridal shower, and just hanging with her peeps.

Traveling was relatively uneventful.  Weather served up decently.

And the dogwoods were in bloom!

But when I got home?

My lilacs were showing off…

Lilacs won this year.

Red Rocks and Pointy Plants

Wonderful Guy and I took a mid-winters break, and with a long week-end, traveled south to Sedona, AZ, mid-February.  There, for two blissful days, we enjoyed blue skies and 70 degrees (F…25C), made all the sweeter by the sub-zero temps we suffered through earlier in the week.  No coats, and a tank top for me!

We sported a bit of pink skin tones upon our return to the more northern climes.  It was a really wonderful break, even if the temps at home were hovering around the unseasonably toasty 60’s!

Ah well…so it goes for where we live, and one of the reasons we love it here.

We were not in Sedona long, but saw some spectacular scenery, and hiked a bit, and tried to capture some of the landscape in a photo or two.

One afternoon, we took in the tourist strip of shops, and came upon a plaque outside a restaurant called ‘The Cowboy Corral’ (or Cowboy something or other).  Seems this place was a local watering hole back in the late 50’s-early 60’s when Sedona was just a wide spot in the road.  There were more than 50 westerns filmed in the area around there and many of the stars wet their whistle, after the days work, at this local tavern…personages like John Wayne, et al.  After the heyday of the western, the tavern declined until it was bought and restored and all fixed up maybe 10 or 15 years ago…

Now I will admit I am a bit fuzzy on that last part, because after reading that part about filming the western?  I was all Heck, yeah!  I knew all this looked sort of kind of familiar.  I could just see those guys on horse back in all their stereotypical gear, being filmed riding at the base of the towering rocks, by a camera crew panning back.

Because we flew out at the crack of dawn on Monday, we drove to Phoenix on Sunday.  We decided to drive down early enough to take in the Desert Botanical Gardens.  Glad we did so in February.  I bet that place is an oven later in the season…well, like most of Arizona is, I reckon.

The founders of the Phoenix gardens, back in the ‘30s, decided to be a Desert Botanical Garden, so it is all desert plants, cacti, agave, desert sage, and such.  Very different, and very interesting.  There were some blooms, and we saw some critters…lizards, ground squirrels, and a hummingbird…it was a neat place to spend the afternoon.

Agave

Saguaro

Bird on Organ Cactus

Artsy Aloe

Road Trip

…but of a much easier nature than it could have been….oh…150 years ago…

Wisest Sister and I did indeed head north and east through Wyoming and to Nebraska, and visited the Brown Sheep Company. I have been there once before, and it’s really not such a long way from where I live.

When I was there previously, I was thinking it was the funnest (is SO a word!) name for a wool mill ever, and wondered about the brown sheep that must have inspired the name of the company. While waiting in the hallway for my turn at the ladies room, I happened to spy a photo. Of the Family Brown. Who founded the yarn mill.

Yep, Not about brown sheep, but about Mr. and Mrs. Brown and their kids. Glad I didn’t say anything. There is an old adage about there being no stupid questions…well, I would have proven that one wrong.

So we shopped some at the factory store, where I bought more than Sister. But not too much. Then we headed to Scott’s Bluff National Monument, which is just down the road a piece. It was a beautiful day for seeing such sights.

End of April, we traveled back to Kansas, and while there, we trekked out to a place called Alcove Springs. After debarking in early spring from Independence, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail, the wagon trains would stop at Alcove Springs for a brief respite. This rest was sometimes out of necessity, to wait for the Big Blue River to fall a few feet to crossing safer.

(seen up close, little arrows, mine, mark the swales)

I was born in Kansas, and lived there, and in other places around the Midwest many of my years. I have also traveled the West a good bit as well. However, until Alcove Springs, I had never taken the time to get off the beaten path to find one of those places where one can see the ruts left by the wagon wheels of those wagon trains.

(seen from way up high)

As the wagons crossed the prairies, the wagons did not go ‘single file’. They would spread out, and in this field, there were several ‘dips’ and runnels in the grassy area that are what remain of those pathways.

(reproductions wagons next to where the actual trail passed)

Now, it’s the first of June, and Wisest Sister and I are in Western Nebraska at Scott’s Bluff, which marked the end of the prairie to the travelers. I am not sure why they thought it was the end of the prairie. I think there is a lot of prairie west of there, but those were the claims made in the pamphlets and guides we read. They were one third of the way ‘there’, at any rate, upon reaching this particular landmark.

Whew. What a relief to be able to answer that! to all those ‘are we there yet?’ questions…

At Scott’s Bluff (called by the Native Americans ‘hill that is hard to go around’), the wagon trains had to pass through single file. Quite a bottleneck, don’t you know…

The wagons passed here…(again, the arrow is mine...it was not there to mark their path...lovely and pink, though it might be...)

And here…

And here…

It was a beautiful day while we were there. In the low 80’s. Blue sky with a few clouds, and a gentle breeze (very uncommon for the area!). As I walked up the path to where the wagon trail crossed, I shed my overshirt down to my tanktop.

Not something a pioneering female would be apt to do, in spite of how warm she was, in her long skirt and undergarments and long sleeves. And apron. And bonnet. And I suppose there would have been more unpleasant weather with which to contend. Just perhaps…

Also in the pamphets and guides? Those hardy pioneers found most of the claims made by the promoters grossly understated the hardship and overstated the ease with which the journey was to be made! (Madison Avenue strikes before there was an actual Madison Avenue!)

So.

I am left pondering. I have much admiration for these hardy souls who up and left what was behind, looking forward to what the future might hold for them. And yet, there, at the monument, is one small patch where the original ‘prairie’ is being regrown. Our forefathers exacted a huge price for all their tenacity and endurance and hardiness on the environment, the Native Americans, and the indigenous species of plants and wildlife.

Hindsight, yes, and yet, if we do not learn from our history, we repeat our lessons. (I know these things…)

Home Again Home Again (Again) (Once Again)

We went to Kansas (where I saw this hankie quilt, quite well done.  The tag mentioned that all the hankies were 'significant' to the quilter.  Or to the person the quilt was gifted to.  Or something.) It was a quick trip and I am not sure what all went on.

Also?  In Kansas?  The lilacs were In FULL!  And Glorious! Bloom!  Bushes and bushes (bushels of bushes!) typically line yards and farms in this part of the country, and I was wont to shout "stop the car"on seeing them initially!  But there was no need, because there were plenty to inhale all around the yard of my in-laws.

Of all colors...

The big doin's around town was the 20th Annual (and final) Victorian Day. Certain townfolk were dressed in tyme appropriate regalia, high tea was available, train rides, a tour of Victorian homes in town, the quilt show, and so on.  High tymes for a town of 600!

Also on display a vintage caboose...with intriguing wood. ( I did not choose to photograph the latrine...)

I had ample opportunity to practice my picture takin'.  This old part of an old building in an old town caught my old eye.

So anyhoo.  I would have probably blown off posting tonight but there is this little challenge going on with The Blog Hub group on Ravelry.  I think we are posting every day this week.  I will refamiliarize myself with the details once I am unpacked, but I am pretty sure I was supposed to get a post up today...it might have been yesterday, but being without internet yesterday, I am doing the best I can!

So done!

(As always, clicky on the pix makes them rilly big, and the lilacs may just give off a whiff if you try...)

Home Again Home Again (Once Again)

Every one is home now. And all is accounted for. Every toe and finger!

I have had a time of it. For five whole days, I was this one's second favorite person.

And this bebe momma deserves kudos for packing up her bebe 11 day after delivery, and traveling 450 miles with me, just to be with her sister. And doing it brilliantly.


Lovely Step Daughter 'stepped' right in and took care of whoever needed caring for.

The newest bebe momma knows how much I love her now.

Dearest Sister and I had a blast, with no need to share a bebe. We each could have our own...so to speak.

Like I said...she 'stepped' right in, and seemed to enjoy it. But these bebes? They make it soooo easy.

Honest. No one planned to dress them alike. Little Strawberry Shortcakes...

Other attire included hand embroidered onesies, gifted to the newborns by Dearest Sister.

There was also the Utah bebe shower, post bebe, and us Coloradoans, and Nevadans crashed it, as it were. This time I brought hand knits.

Other extracurricular activities included some sight seeing. Here we have the Great Salt Lake. Now we can say we saw it.

Also Dearest Sister and I had the opportunity to meet up in real life with some blogger people I have come to know through their blogs and their comments on mine. What a great experience that was. Thanks so much, Wunx and Kate, for the 3. Hour. Breakfast! Time flies when I am having fun. We will do it again when next I am in Utah to check on GB3. Dearest Sister and I had a blast meeting you.

Weekend Wrap-Up

...and entering into vacation mode.

We leave for Philadelphia next Saturday for a weeks stay at Eldest Daughter's. She and the SO recently purchased a place and this will be my first time seeing it. The day after we leave to come home, she leaves for Europe for her job. Timing is everything!

I am taking her iris. I have been digging diligently and regularly, and have 2 more clumps to go. Wonderful Guy said one always knows when it is fall around here. There are iris and tomatoes everywhere. I reminded him it was one of those endearing eccentricities for which he fell in love with me...right??? He agreed....mostly.

What makes me happy, makes him happy. I reminded him of that, too.

A ride on the motorcycle, a hike around one of the local natural areas (Bobcat Gulch), enjoying the yard, some knitting and household chores made up the rest of the weekend.

I am planning my trip knitting. I also rewrote the chart for the Seascape Stole (Knitty Summer '08). I thought I would try it in the lace weight I bought at the Yarn Barn, but the chart looks sort of big and complicated now that I have closely looked at it. Maybe too much for traveling. Maybe I will work on socks for Wonderful Guy out of the alpaca I have been spinning.

Personal Protection Equipment Required...

We are back from our travels to Kansas. Not a photo was taken. Not sure how that happened. The weather was unusually cool and damp, which was very pleasant and unexpected.

The small town fireworks were pretty impressive, until I felt something hit my leg. I thought one of the local little tykes had thrown a rock at me. It was a hefty impact, but when I looked down, I had a ring of soot, about an inch in diameter, mid-shin. Apparently, one of the spent, but un-incinerated cardboard tubes in which the charges are loaded, fell from the sky and landed on...me! No burn, but a good abrasion from the impact, and a sore place. I am very glad it took out my leg and not my face. It could have put my eye out! Seriously! I had been enjoying the fireworks up to that point. I watched the rest thinking I should have my safety glasses on.

I had a very nice visit with Wisest Sister in Lawrence, and a good, profitable visit to the Yarn Barn. Picked out some Shetland top, then fell in love with some 50/50 wool/silk. It's laceweight and I think I have enough for a shawl. Maybe. Since the bridge between Waterville and Manhattan is being worked on, a detour was required, so I didn't get to Wildflower Yarns there. Instead, I went through Wamego, and thanks to Ravelry, I remembered a little shop opened up there the last of June. Had to stop. Had to! Named Settler's Farm, I bought some of her handpainted sock yarn. Photos will follow...sometime.

I knitted most of the way there and back, and knitted most of the day while we visited on Thursday.

Tally for the trip:

• One Hedera sock complete, and another cast one, and the leg is 1/3 complete.
• One dishcloth, left with MIL for being such a great hostess, which she always is.
• One matching tribble 2/3 complete.
• One grocery sack thingey for Middle Daughter and Friend, except for finishing touches.
• Two Calorimetries of homespun, one which turned out a bit bigger than the other. How does that happen? AGH!

Again, photos to follow...sometime soon.

I am ready for some spinning for the Tour de Fleece now, having knitted very very very very much. Very much.

My copy of Start Spinning by Maggie Casey arrived while I was gone, too. I am excited to review and learn what she has to share.

Wonder what the news at work tomorrow will be....

Travel Plans!

The new year's winter can sometimes stretch out a little long in front of me, after the holidays. Here in the higher altitudes, with a bit of a shorter growing season, it is even harder for someone who yearns for warm days and green shoots in the yard. Lately, the weather has warmed slightly, and I have had to remind myself that "It is not yet the spring! Do Not Be Fooled!"

So it is with definite delight that I look forward to travel plans!

First, before Christmas, I bought tickets to fly to Philadelphia to see Eldest Daughter the end of February. It certainly was easier to say good-bye to her after the holidays knowing I was going to see her in a few weeks. Dearest Sister will be joining me, and perhaps Precious Niece, too. We plan to visit DC, and see the sites! We will also take in the Philadelphia Flower Show, which is a spectacular event.

This weekend, Wonderful Guy and I reserved a cabin at Yellowstone for part of a week in July. I love Yellowstone. It might be one of my most favorite places ever! We have been there a couple of times, and it has a special hold for me. I read a lot in preparation for our first visit, and it helped us to understand the geology, wildlife, and ecology of the area better. We hope to get off the beaten path and do some hiking in the days we are there. We will be staying in the Lake Yellowstone area, which is such a beautiful place. I am excited!

So I have something to look forward to, and hold me over, while winter continues to hold Colorado in her grip. Bring it on!