News from the heartland

I was wandering about the "net" tonight and realized that I haven't posted anything for quite a while. Much has happened since March. Most recently I went to Estes Park,CO with my friend JoAnne. We were joining friends for our third entry in the Estes Park Wool Market Sheep to Shawl. We found out that we could fit a Baby Wolf loom in the back seat of a Honda Accord. Who knew?! Along with 2 spinning wheels, a drum carder, two computers and a little bit of clothing, we were pretty full, but still had room for several pounds of fleece on the way home.

Speaking of home...once we reached Denver we weren't sure if we were going to get back home! As it turns out both of our houses were fine, but the shop where I share space got flooded. We took on about a foot of water so we really didn't lose too much. Of course, we are now some of the displaced but all in all pretty fortunate. JoAnne's husband Jim doesn't think we should be allowed to leave the state together anymore.

Will post some pictures and more ramblings later (who knows, maybe even this summer).

Where are the rabbit tracks leading now?

Across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, through the Lincoln Tunnel and into Manhattan. We made good time getting here. The seats were comfortable for sitting but not so much for sleeping. Oh well, the beds at the Hilton look comfy.

We made a quick stop on the way and the high schoolers regressed into elementary mode.

One of our first views of Manhattan. The kids really liked the signs.

The view from our floor. We are on the seventeenth. The Hilton is located on 6th Ave between 54th and 53th. Only a couple blocks from Carengie Hall, shops and Central Park.

Some of the groups went to Times Square and the Empire State Building. My group ended up chasing clothing shops, but it was fun seeing Manhattan by night.

Don't know what these building are, but the looked cool.

Tomorrow we have a very early wake up call, before we head out for a tour of the south park of the Island and the Statue of Liberty. In the afternoon we have a little free time and then "Wicked" on Broadway.

Christmas Carols

My older son, Phill plays in a Bass Ensemble through the local symphony school. Here they are playing Christmas carols in the lobby of the Great America building in Cedar Rapids, IA. Phill is the third from the left. Their director is John Hall (on the right).

Here is another shot of the guys. They are all high school students. It was so much fun to listen to them. The acoustics in the lobby were great and of course the ensemble did great.

BTW, I knit several inches on a scarf for my MIL while I was listening.

Getting Bigger

Bella came home with us three weeks ago and she has been busy growing and making herself at home. She and big sister Magpie are getting along great, most of the time at any rate. Thursday morning when "Pie" came out of Eric's room and started a good stretch Bella launched herself across her shoulders. Pie looked pretty silly with a furry yellow boa around her neck. They now spend a large part of every day playing together. Bella loves her big sister and Magpie is very tolerant of her younger one.

Here are some update pictures:

A new baby in our house

I've been wanting another yellow lab for many years, long before we lost our Rigby two years ago. Well, last week we were cleaning house; we thought it was for our church picnic that we were hosting, but it turns out we were puppy proofing.

Magpie, the big sister, has been needing a little sister since Rigby died. Over the last few weeks we've been talking more seriously about bringing a new dog home. We've been checking rescues but hadn't found any Yellows, so I checked out some puppies. We knew this was "the one". I'd been saying that the next dog would be Prudence (the second Beatles theme dog) but when I met her it was "Bella" that kept coming to mind. She truly is beautiful. She is a lighter yellow and has great markings on her ears. She is also a sweetie, very friendly but not too aggressive.

Anyway, ta da! here she is!

Here she is playing Tug-a-war with Magpie.

baby bunnies in the garden

Well, it has been a while since I've posted anything. I ran out of steam on the London trip blog. There's much more to say and share but...

While I was working in the front yard today, I saw a baby rabbit in my garden. The dog and I were walking towards the back of the house and I heard a loud thumping coming from among the coneflowers. I think it was the rabbit's warning thump. It was nice to see a rabbit in the garden; lately all we've seen have been chipmunks.

I've been building a new garden bed. It started out large and has grown. I've been dreaming of this bed for years and I am glad to finally be working on it. I'll have to do some progress pictures soon.

I've also joined an online Mystery Stole KAL (knit a long). I've got catching up to do already. I am working with a nice wool/silk blend yarn from New Zealand and some beautiful matte beads in a great green color. Progress pictures upcoming hear as well.

Day Two - Part Two (wandering around greater London)

Our original schedule called for a visit to the Tower of London, but we knew we just didn’t have the time for that so we decided to do the British Museum instead. This turned out to be the day of exploring around greater London.

After a few misses we found the correct bus to take, but since it wasn't a very direct route we decided to take a taxi instead. JoAnne flagged one down (they're easy to find in London) checked the fare and since it wouldn't be very much we hopped on board. I’ve long wanted to take a British taxi. It was fun and spacious.

We had a great time gabbingwith the driver. After only a few minutes our cabby dropped us at the front gate and off we went.

The British Museum

The museum is like a building around a court. Inside they have built the circular building with a library and the skylight covers it all.

EGYPT

The first section that we visited was the Egyptian. JoAnne was looking for the Rosetta stone and as you can see, she found it.

These are a close-up of hieroglyphs from a sarcophagus.

I like the look of this ram. The museum was great. So many of the pieces were ones that I had seen in my art history classes so long ago.

It was always fun for us to find fiber artifacts in the museums. We took a large number pictures of circles also known as spindle whorls.

This is a 14-15th century Egyptian spindle with a piece of woven cloth. I was so excited to see it.

There are no shortage of Pharoah sculptures. I didn't get his name.

Next entry: More of the British Museum.