Sing it, Willie

Well, I’m on the road again, and this post comes to you from an airport lounge in San Francisco* where I just finished reading all the wonderful comments about Meg and Alex’s good news (it’s not twins, btw, that’s just how the ultrasounds look) and thank you, thank you for all the good wishes. It’s a very, very exciting time to be a knitter, let me tell you.  I haven’t started yet (though there is yarn in my suitcase) and I can’t wait to let the wild knitting rumpus begin. For now, I’m knitting socks and a cowl as I journey along. Christmas is still coming, babe or no.

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I’m on my way to Portland and the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival,  which I’m sure is going to be awesome, and then Monday, I go gloriously, delightfully home, and frankly, I can’t wait. Once I get there, I’ve got nine days before I leave again for the Strung Along November Retreat* and it feels totally luxurious.

it’s been a wild week since Rhinebeck. I couldn’t go home afterwards, because I was waiting on the paperwork that gives me my permission to work in the US (I do things properly) and I’d been given an extension on my old visa while they worked on the new one, the catch was that it let me stay in the United States, not come and go. So, here I had to stay, until I had the new paper in hand. This turned into a forced vacation of sorts, and after a day in Boston, I flew to Las Vegas and worked for three days, and then Joe flew down and joined me, and let me tell you this… we are not such big fans of the Vegas strip. The lights, the beeping, the noise, the bright lights (the almost complete lack of vegetarian food) the gambling… it’s not really us. (We did finally break down and put some money in a slot machine. We spent $8 and won $21 and the minute we did we cashed out and walked away. We know when to hold ’em.) The fountains were pretty, the whole scene wild and interesting for an evening or a day, but overwhelming in large doses. We did a little research, rented a car, and four days later we’re happy to report that while the Las Vegas strip might not be our scene… the stuff around it is absolutely our bag. We goggled at the beauty of it all. We saw The Hoover Dam (that thing is a trip, let me tell you) and Lake Mead, and Zion National Park, and Red Rock State Park, and Valley of Fire State Park. American friends, you really have it together in the park department.

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We hiked, we clamboured over rocks, we said “can you believe how beautiful this is” about seventy thousand times.

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“Look where we are!” we said, and “Holy Cats, do you see that?” and “Oh man, that is stunning.”

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It was so completely different from home, so amazingly unlike anything we’ve ever hiked before, and I was so taken with it that I was pretty much able to ignore the fact that the whole place is full of tarantulas. (Not kidding. It’s practically where the stockpile is. We didn’t see one, but I could feel them watching me.) It’s a miracle we didn’t drive off the road or otherwise die of the awesome beauty. I don’t know what mother nature was thinking when she made that part of the world, but it was a good day for her.

We’d never seen anything like it, and we only saw a little of it. We’d go back in a heartbeat. When we were done there (not done, but when it was time to go, I’d never be done there) Joe flew home, I flew to San Francisco for a visit with a dear friend, and now off to Portland and The Dalles. It will be just about three weeks in the States by the time I leave, and as lovely as it’s been, and as much really good lemonade as I managed to make from lemons, the idea of my own bed and my own sweet family has me delirious with joy.

*That is a lie. I started the post in the lounge but I ran out of time to do the pictures. This post has actually come to you from The Dalles. Also, I finished a Toolbox Cowl and just have to weave in the ends.

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You are now fully updated.

**Though it almost never happens for the November Retreat, we’ve got two last minute spots free. (Actually, we have two hotel rooms free, and one of them is shareable if you wanted to come with a friend.) We can give you more info by email at info@strungalong.ca. We’d love to see you there.