Saturday Sky 11-27-10

Clear sky, sunny with afternoon temperatures in the teens. Not too bad.

Knitting Barter

I used to do a lot of counted cross stitch and hardanger, but now my eyes won't let me do it. I started a cross stitch pattern on a sweatshirt using waste canvas, but had to stop after just a few stitches. None of my family was willing to finish it for me, so it sat in my closet for several years. Recently, Just Relax and Stitch, a needlework shop www.justrelaxandstitch.com opened close to the Caribou coffee in Osseo where we knit at every Friday. Kind of jokingly I asked if anyone there would want to barter. I would knit a pair of socks or shawlette if someone would finish my sweatshirt. Here are her socks and my sweatshirt!

November to Remember Mystery Trip

A week or so ago, my Travel Friend and I went on a 4 day Mystery Tour with R and J Tours. What a fun trip we had although the first and last day were on the bus getting there and coming home. We stayed in St Joseph, Missouri all 3 nights and spent 2 days-all day-visiting very interesting sites. Above is the C. W. Parker Carousel Museum in Leavenworth, Kansas where we learned the history and makers of carousels and even rode on this one.
The second day we spent time in Leavenworth.

Our first day was spent in St. Joseph, Missouri. Such a historical, interesting and unknown city. The above monument is of the Pony Express Riders which started in St. Jo on the route to Sacramento, CA. Visited the Pony Express Museum and also the Patee House

Museum.

Had an excellent lunch in this National Register Historic site from 1869, recently restored Gothic Revival House.


Visited the Jesse James home where he was killed.

Toured the Tobiason Studio and saw stained glass windows made and we each made a stained glass angel decoration. Here she is making lamp glass beads, but had none for sale-I would have bought at least one.

Buffalo Soldier monument in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the oldest continuously active Fort west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Frontier Army Museum was very interesting. Luckily we were on a tight schedule so all the visits in the museums were short, enough to see the highlights and psych us up to come again. (I can only take so much of a museum.)

Fred Harvey, who started the Harvey Restaurants along the Santa Fe Railroad and hired Harvey Girl waitresses had a home in Leavenworth. We toured the home which is in the beginning stages of reconstruction which was interesting. Will be fun to see how it looks when it is finished. These Harvey Girls served our lunch.


This VA chapel is in the Guinness World Record Book because it is actually 2 churches. The top level is a Protestant Church and the Catholic Church is in the lower level. They are not connected from the inside. Both levels have beautiful stained glass windows.

These are only highlights of a fun, full 2 days.

Saturday Sky November 13, 2010

Overlooking the Missouri River from Leavenworth, Kansas on my mystery tour. Weather was clearing and cool-maybe upper 40's, but at home had a blizzard leaving 7 inches of snow.

Bank Sign

A sign hanging in the bank!

Saturday Sky 11-06-10

It almost looks like last week. We continue to enjoy temperatures about 20 degrees above normal for this time of the year. Got up to 60 degrees.

Quotes Meaingful to Me

I have never been able to explain why/how knitting helps me listen and learn, so I loved this quote from Perri Klass in Fall 2010 Knitter's Magazine. "Knitting was my way of tying up-or soothing that restless roaming piece of my mind which couldn't relax and open up to a story I really wanted to hear, or to information I knew I needed to learn."

Two quotes I like from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's 2010 Page A Day Calendar:

Saturday, August 14/Sunday, August 15.

"'Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic.'--Anonymous"

Saturday, October 16/Sunday, October 17.

"'The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings.'--Dave Weinbaum. In case you missed it, I think that's permission to start another sweater."

Thanks, Perry and Stephanie.