First Road Trip in 5 or 6 Years

The Narrows Bridge, the beginning of the trip.

 A rest stop on the way.

 A gas and fruit stop in Thorp Washington, on the way also.

 A fantastic view of Mt. Rainier, on the way back.

That's it?  Yup.  Not a single campground picture. As soon as we got there, the guys, hub. Dan and son Ben,  noticed a tire going flat on the truck, so the trailer was unhitched and the girls and I were left in camp while they, the guys, went back to town.  The town of Vantage WA. Not a large town by any means!!!!!!  [But the burgers from the RESTAURANT restaurant were very very good!]  Luckily the sprinkler was jetting water around and around or I would have melted and blown away.  It was hot and windy and got windier!

If not for a really really Nice Guy who happened to pull into the only gas station, my guys were up a creek with no tire changing materials. [not as much planning went in this trip as was necessary]  The Nice Guy had all the tools they needed, including bolt cutters to get the spare off the belly of the truck.

The guys and the girls did get to go swimming in the Columbia River later in the afternoon.  I stayed at camp and tried to relax.  Sewing was not even an option.

Honey, I'ts Home.

the sky was so colorful last night...this picture does nothing for it.

Recently we decided we would get back into the travel mode.  After much chit chat, we decided to go with a pull trailer, so of course we had to get a truck...I call her the Beast.  I need an extension ladder just to get in.

 Honey I'm Home with the home.  

You know....it didn't look that big on the lot....among all the other trailers....

We plan on going to the beach soon....I mean, the coast.  Around the Puget Sound here, there are beaches everywhere....Every. Where.  But the coast is still the coast.  The weather man says our weather here on the west coast will be nice while Hurricane Irene drenches the east coast.  So, even though we are thousands of miles apart, Mother Weather brings us closer together.

Art Assignment 1 from CollegeGirl

 Assignment 1: watercolor experimenting. Cinque Terre tomorrow and watercoloring on the beach. Fun fact: UW girl got drunk and fell off a cliff there a couple weeks ago. 

unfortunately it's a crummy picture here, but, say la vee.  i hope she brings this home! as for MY UW girl, i suggested she keep her drinking and cliffs far from each other!!

this is a google image i found of cinque terre

More Stitching on Magic

This weave looked rather like a windmill so I had added a sun-mill top to it.  

Every garden needs one, right?

 I used long strips of the red to weave, so I just wove it back and forth.

the fork in the road....











can be a crooked one....

College Girl in Florence, Italy

Girl of few words.
Got into Firenze today! Amazing and HOT. Gonna be an awesome trip :)

She's There and Safe!

CollegeGirl send a quick note.....

Here safe and it's amazing! Kinda hectic and stressful, but the Eiffel tower sure made up for it :D louvre today and whatever else we can find!


She is 9 hours ahead of us, so I am not really sure what day it is for her...

Sometimes a Mountain Just Wants to Glow

Mt. Rainier 

She's Off

College Girl Steph is off to Europe.  First stop is Philadelphia Intl Apt....Wah?  That isn't Europe.  Ok. SECond stop is Paris Charles De Gaulle Apt.  In France!!!  All that was yesterday/this am.  By now she should be visiting the Louvre with her travel buddy. 

Now for me.  I have been sewing...between granddaughter demands.

With the thought of garden paths, came the thought of 'forks in the road'....wonder what I will quilt in that gap??  Will I forget?  Maybe.  For the moment there are flying geese in the path....course, if they are in the path they must not be flying....

 And this....well this thing of safety pins is another path idea...

 I was trying to hold this up to let the light through AND hold the camera.  So you could see the geese under the path of sheer. 

 Oh there's those geese....their bottom side at least....

 another attempt from the front...

Paris....France!

College Girl Steph got these from the Brown Truck Guy.....2 of them....for herself and her Travel Buddy.  Why?  Because she is going to Europe!!!!!!   She leaves next week, flying to Paris first, so of course, when in Paris, "Do The Lou"vre. Tacky. I know.  But way WOOOWHOOOO

After a couple of days in Paris, where they will see the Tower of Eiffel, of course, if not go up into it, they will then travel by Euro Pass to Italy!!!!!!!  

Florence is the final destination.

They are taking a 'study abroad' class, art no less.  Steph's major is art history. 

A Funny Thought

Daughter Ashley has frogs in the grass of their new home.Teeny tiny frogs. Something about a wetland close by.  Anyway.  Rhiley in her 2 year old fearless way, was holding a frog in each hand, and Ashley thought, "what if she bites one?"  She didn't...

Update...it seems Rhiley DID put a frog in her mouth.  She just told me she gave the "frog a kiss" and then made smoochy mouch...

Distractions

I don't think I even looked at a needle all week, let alone held one in my hand!

Why?  Because of granddaughters.  Their pix are below, me first.

So as I looked at that glaring white spot in this D shaped 'window', I pulled out the rest of the scrap of shirt from Grace...there in a seam was this 2.5 inch long snippet in the facing area, so there were really 4 snippets...so I snipped them off the shirt and stitched 'em down.  Kinda looks like they are tentacles reaching out for the butterfly...how ever you look at it, the problem spot is no longer a glaring white spot.

 This is half of the whole of this cloth, with the butterfly showing where it sits in the right half...the sun shining on this shows off the stitching rather nicely...thank you Sun. 

 Must not forget the other half of the whole.  The "distorted" weave is all stitched down.  Mo Crow commented that it looked like a path going through the garden...I hadn't even seen it that way at all...duh!  It sure does!  Thank You Mo.

 and the big D from the other direction.

 3 of the 4 distractions of this last week.

 I just kept clicking the camera til the battery gave out [they were ready to be replaced anyway]

Rhiley, 2, and her 2 month old sister Avery, and their 3 year old cousin, Lily.   

My Gulls.