Travelogue 02141.3

First of all. What the heck is this getting pitch black dark stuff at 4:37 pm here??? I have it on authority that by December 21 it gets dark by 3 in the afternoon. What the heck?? (ok maybe SuperGuppy exaggerated a little??) My local zip code got 5 more evening minutes today, Boston gets 1 more evening minutes on December 21. All relative I guess!

Knitting Hubby and I did go to the Old North Church for Sunday service. (one if by land, two if by sea) Since I’d goofed and forgot Nov 1 was standard time we were up an hour early. I blame it on not picking up a Saturday Boston Globe at the hotel front desk. After breakfast we wandered around North End until 8:30 (it even smells great on a weekend morning – garlicky, olive oily and bread baking-y) and got a tour of the church from one of the pastors. He said during tourist season – even up to 2 weeks ago they have people hanging from the rafters to get a seat. He estimated we’d have 20 at the most and that’s exactly how big the “crowd” was today.

Graham, Knitting Hubby and I spent this morning at the New England Aquarium. Very nice. Bet though their whale watch tour doesn’t include 88 orca. The NEA is very nice, based on a 4 story tall coral reef central tank with a ramp that spirals upward around it. Very nice viewing. Other exhibits were on the walls behind the tank. The ticket was part of our Boston City Pass. It paid for itself by so far going to 2 of the 7 museums or observatories. And our $15 7-day MBTA pass paid for itself by Friday.

All this walking makes you hungry (which means you eat too much and have to walk it off again) so we looked for the Tap (we’d had clam chowder there on Friday and again today). Wait a minute, do I hear someone moaning “that lunch place? Ew. No.”???

We walked to our afternoon destination, the Institute of Contemporary Artwhere again, Graham can get in free by flashing his Student ID. Most museums so far, except the aquarium wave in MIT students free. (I’m sure there are others??). How nice is that? Anyway, I love installation art so I had a happy brain all afternoon.

After that we were pretty worn out, but not enough to keep us from shopping for dinner at Whole Foods. This was my only second time ever at a Whole Foods and this one had a completely different personality than the Bellevue WA one. This one was the very kind I’m sure you’d find in other college towns!! We don’t have anything like Whole Foods or Trader Joes (I’ve never been in one). Sigh.

As you might have noticed we are really enjoying ourselves here in Boston. We’re sad that we only have 2 full days and one half day left to play tourist and hang with Graham and Rachel. Boston is a great town for pedestrian touring. I really don’t know what I’d take off my list if we had less time! And even if Graham didn’t live 6 blocks east and the MIT campus wasn’t on the backside of our hotel, this would still be a great base of operations. (and they cut you a deal for extended stay!!)

Travelogue 02141.2

Wow, what a wonderful day. It started out cloudy and foggy. Our yarn hunt was going to start early and we figured out a location for Knitting Hubby and I to met Dave Daniels and we’d swapped physical descriptions. You know me, Sophia Loren from 1963 looking. Actually I think I described myself as a bit lumpy, wearing jeans and not wearing a coat if it was above 55 degrees out. And Knitting Hubby as having the same haircut as Dave.

We spotted each other from about a 1/4 block away. It was like a reunion with someone you hadn’t seen in a long time but instead this was friends that had never met in person. Kind of like the Heidi story but Knitting Hubby didn’t figure Dave was an ax murderer. (you know the knitting cabin story where Heidi and I had been commenting on each others blogs for a couple of years and I invited her to knitting cabin weekend? And Knitting Hubby thought I was nuts asking “what if she’s an ax murderer” and when I told Heidi what he said, she replied “what makes you think I’m not?”) But anyway I digress.

Dave took us on a walk through the Shops at Prudential Center with it’s 3 stories of stores all under glass. Once you get inside you can shop forever with out being exposed to the weather. Then we walked down Commonwealth Avenue where we saw beautiful homes with a parkway in the middle of the avenue. (the thing in common about the homes was the wealth involved in owning one) It was followed to the east by Clarendon Park and then Boston Commons (where I saw my first grey squirrel of the trip and the pigeons that inspired color combos in one of Dave’s woven scarves). From there we went into the heart of the city at Downtown Crossing. Got to see Filene’s Dept Store, or what’s left of it which is a big hole in the ground. And for you curiosity seekers, yes we witnessed Dave snapping photos like a trained assassin for Ass Watch Wednesday. (assassin – get it??)

The humidity was at least 103% again so we stopped in a grocers to get something to wet our whistles while we waited for our first stop to open. You know me, WAY over heated all the time. We told silly stories about how we got our cats and Dave recounted what a little devil Dusty can be. And then Dave handed us a bag. A very special bag containing 8oz of a 50/50 blend of silk/merino in a very special colorway dyed by Dave. And the colorway name? Ruby Kitty. Named after our little Ruby. And just as soft as her belly down. (again sorry about cell phone pics. I don’t have software with me to edit)

And then?!?!? Our first yarn store. One that I’d heard about for years – Windsor Button. The button collection at Windsor Button is about three times the collection of Button Emporium in Portland. It also carries yarn, cording, ribbons… I’d go on but you can just click the link. It’s a fun shop. One of those dangerous ones that carries things you didn’t know you even needed.

Meanwhile we ran a wild three way dialog about yarn, dying fibers, cherry wood, dumpster diving, spinning, weaving, Seattle, public transportation, trimming cat toe nails, herringbone twill….

We took the green line to the second LYS. Again one I’ve heard of and was really looking forward to it. A Good Yarn and it was! It was a hard store to limit myself yarn wise. And you know. I don’t need any more yarn. That was until I saw the Malabrigo sock yarn in Abril. The deep blue to deep plum to deep purple colorway. Yep, bought the last two skeins. It will be a woven scarf. A Good Yarn is out in Brookline, a tree filled neighborhood. To get there you take the green line to Brookline and get off at the Puppet Showplace Theatre. Well that’s what I’d use as a landmark.

The day passed all too quickly. Dave walked us around some other neighborhoods and took us back to the green line. It was a wonderful and most memorable day. Thank you Dave from Knitting Hubby and I.

BUT that’s not all. We took the T back to our hotel to regroup and check our travel instructions. And visited the USS Constitution. I was wondering if I’d remember much of it. Yes. Most of it. It had been 40-45 years since I’d been on it. I’d seen it before with the major 1925 restoration. Since then there has been an early 1990’s restoration and the current one for Old Ironsides 200th anniversary of the Battle against the Guerriere in the War of 1812.

From there Knitting Hubby and I wandered into the North End again this time looking for Italian food. We ate at the Trattoria di Monica. Fun little place. And you know it must be good if the table of 8 behind us was speaking Italian. And the tables were so close together and the food? Very good. Extra happy taste buds? Yes.

Travelogue 02141.1

Ok for the rest of you that didn’t know either, Boston Commons is the Park T Station. (quit laughing you locals). Breakfast again in our hotel and then we hit the road (T) for the Freedom Trail. We skipped the first two stops and started at the Park Street Church. And next to it the Granary Burying Ground. We’d been on the trail for 2 minutes and spent the next 35 there. What a walk through history with a lot of familiar names. Three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine. And Paul Revere. How can you beat that.

Across the street and a bit down is Kings Chapel and the Kings Chapel Burying Ground. Again we spent a lot of wonderful time there. But I’ll skip right to the chase and tell you the highlight of the Freedom Trail for me. Paul Revere’s House.

We took our time walking through the outdoor markets. Where the prices should put Seattle’s Pike Street Market and our local farmers market to shame. We stopped at a nice espresso cafe called Caffé Paradiso in the North End. Where we had Macchiato’s. Real ones. Not the fakey Starbuck ones that they drizzle caramel sauce on to flavor, but one where the caramel flavoring is coming from the caramelly sweet shot of espresso.

This evening we celebrated Graham’s birthday, eating at a local seafood restaurant. On my list of things I wanted to try while in Boston was Lobster Roll. Yum, so sweet and good. Graham and Knitting Hubby had Mahi Mahi and Rachel had scallops. (A ton of scallops so she took half of them home)

And birthday is never done till you’ve had dessert at Toscanini (like we really needed dessert.

On the ride home I spotted this tile. Anyone know where it is?

Tomorrow? Tomorrow is going to be FUN!!!

Travelogue 02141

Just a warning. No photos (ok I can hear you all say hooray at that one) until I remember if I can scale photos in Picasa. Yes, traveling with Gecko the Dell Mini instead of my Mac.

Our flights were wonderfully uneventful. No people chitchatting, no babies crying, no kids kicking seat backs. I had an empty seat next to me the first leg of the trip, Knitting Hubby had one the second leg. i opened my pack to find that I’d grabbed the wrong book to read on the flight. Then cast on for my Cherry Garcia cowl and after 3 rows decided I need smaller needles or different yarn. Tried watching the TV in the seat back in front of me but we lost reception for about 1000 miles. The woman in the window seat had it closed the entire flight. And my movie hadn’t downloaded to my iPod. Oh well.

Our flight got us to Boston ahead of schedule yesterday. Graham and Rachel were waiting for us at the luggage carousel. It was nice having help navigating and moving bags. We got to our hotel just in time for their nightly wine hour. We walked all over their neighborhood, had dinner at the Cambridge Brewing Co and then Graham toured us a bit around MIT. He says every once in a while he’ll be walking down a long long hallway and it will strike him “I go to MIT, I go to MIT!”. I of course as Mom get all teary eyed just thinking about it. (and the answer is yes, I did just cut and paste this from an email I just wrote)

Today Knitting Hubby and I took the T to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. My favorite? The Impressionist collection. I could have studied the van Gogh’s for hours. I am not a van Gogh groupie. I have other favorite artists. But to be in a room with his use of color and his brush strokes? Heaven. When I am in a room of Impressionist painting, I have to make my self eventually walk away and look at the painting as a whole. We had a late lunch at a little pub across the street. You ordered your beer there and then you ordered your lunch thru a little window in the back storage room that was connected to the sandwich shop next door. Over the bar was an oil painting of the Three Stooges. A nice painting if you like them.

From there we hopped the T to the Symphony Stop. We toured the First Church Of Christ Scientist Mother Church in Boston. Since it is nearly winter the fountains have been turned off. We started the tour in the Mother Church where our tour guide started her talk with the question “you do know this is not Scientology?” Yes I know it’s not, I have a few friends that are Christian Scientists. Mother Churches were built with donations and were paid for upfront before construction ended. From there we toured the Mapparium. A three story tall stained glass globe that you tour from the inside. It was really cool. From there we just wandered a bit and then took the T back to our hotel. Oh and dropped a few coins at the MIT COOP bookstore. T-shirts and the like.

Tonight we walked over to one of Graham and Rachel’s neighborhood restaurants. Helmand (Afghan Cuisine). Oh my. I’d go back there in a heartbeat! I had one of my favorites, Qabelee, It’s Pallow (Afghan-style rice) baked with chunks of lamb tenderloin, raisins and glazed julienne of carrots. We don’t know how we’re going to top that for Graham’s birthday dinner tomorrow night.

Bundling for Beantown

We leave Wednesday at 0′dark thirty and the only thing I’ve actually packed are my knitting projects, the new Spin-off (that I’ve hid from myself), my camera kit bag and a TSA approved sized Germ-X. We’re headed to visit Graham and Rachel for Graham’s 23rd birthday and to play tourist for 8 days. I need to answer back a couple of Twitter friends that have invited us to knit meet-ups. And take notes on what restaurants they are suggesting!

My two main traveling projects will be a Cherry Garcia cowl in the brineshrimp magenta bulky I just finished spinning. The other? It will be a pair of Knucks out of either the blue/green handspun or the heathery blues to browns handspun. My fall back project will be my seemingly never ending JF Noro Striped Scarf.

I must confess we bought a tourist guide to Boston and have been having fun marking our “not to be missed” list. Towards the top of my list? The USS Constitution. Last time I was there was when I was in junior high school (if not earlier) and it was very memorable. We also have walking the Freedom Trail on our list. Last time I did that I was in grade school and we ran out of light and got kind of lost. But the best thing on my list? It will be hopefully meeting in person the Boston folks I’ve met over the years on Twitter, Ravelry and blogs. These items of course are a seoarate list from seeing Graham and Rachel, hanging with them and touring MIT. sorry…

We’ve had a little rain again. Very little. It can rain all day at the 3 swips per minute of the intermittent wipers. But I love it.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Hi, it’s Ruby. I love this time of year. I spent most of today sleeping on the top bunk of my bunk bed cat tree. For a while I was cold so Momma put a blanket over me and I was really nice and toasty. When I wasn’t napping I was happily sitting in the dining room window watching by bird friends. Yes, they’re back from their summer vacations! And I watched the outside cats that wander through our yard too, Seem to be more of them. I hope it isn’t because of my little bird friends. Mom and Dad say that our Auntie Johan is going to come visit this week. We like her!! Well time to take my pre-sleep nap. Night!

Squeezably soft

The photo was taken against the beautiful fall leaves in the park by the river. I’ll miss them when they’re gone!

Just a nice fall weekend

What more can I say? It was warm out (no snow like on the east coast), the leaves are turning, there was still a little fresh produce at the farmers market, our local grocers had a few bottles left of Montepulciano and I had some empty bobbins in need of some filling.

I was in a soup mood all weekend no matter what the temperature. I’d found a recipe for an “award winning” chicken soup. Made with chicken plus leeks, rutabagas, parsnips, sweet potatoes and carrots. Hearty to say the least. So I made a large pot of it for last night’s dinner and we ate it with nice crusty bread. No photo. As usual we dove right in.

At Friday Night Knit Night we decided that Sunday would be our once a month semi ad hoc spin Sunday. We tried out the Richland Public Library instead of our usual cold season library in Kennewick.

They’d just completed a major renovation and we thought it would be nice to spin up by the fireplace on the second floor. The fireplace though had had a bit of technical difficulties, the wood panel above the fireplace had fallen off and the framing around the fireplace itself was propped up against the chairs. It was too hot up stairs to be seated next to a fireplace if it had been working anyway so we arranged our spinning and knitting chairs to look out the window.

Kim spun some of her wool that she’d picked and carded at our last gathering, Jessica was spinning a sample from one of her fiber clubs, Kelly spun from silk hankies and caps, Lisa was knitting a baby sweater for a friend and Nancy was working on an afghan. I spun 2 of my 4 oz of my latest roving from Wasatch Watercolors. I may have bought about half of everything she’s dyed to date.

Everything so far has been a real fun spin!

You know fall is in the air

When the local Apatosaurus turn.

Ahem. Notice anything??

I mean aside from the fact that there has been little content lately? And what there was, was lame filler? Oh, wait. I just did the math and I haven’t been gone that long and I have been “busy”.

Work, there has been work. The paycheck one. And talking to Graham on the phone. He’s had his first exams and is enjoying his research (theoretical nano-materiomics: properties of biological and de novo bioinspired materials or something close to that!). They saw snow flakes mixed in the rain this morning in East Cambridge. And planning a couple of trips. One to visit Graham for his birthday and the other is a trip to Wisconsin on Amtrak for Thanksgiving. So all you Minneapolis folks? I’ll be waving again from the train windows.

And knitting and spinning. Below was a fun spin from my Wasatch Watercolors stash. I bought a truck load of her stuff when I was in Bozeman MT in May. It’s a fun spin.

And this is the tussah merino blend Kim gave me for my birthday. 2 oz 260 yards.

And I was busy recently attempting to make a little difference back in that guest/stash room (which somehow looks even worse now). I took a big bag and filled it with all the roving that I’d bought years ago, not my style now and put it up on Ravelry. It all sold that evening! So I put more up and more up and even more up, leaving myself with just the hand painted rovings that I really truly love at this point in time. Then I took a look at my spindle collection. And sold all those that I don’t go back to all the time. Sold. I took a look in my weaving equipment case but there wasn’t anything that I don’t use. And when I was all done, I had a nice pile of cash in my PayPal account. It’s not like it was burning a hole in my pocket….it wasn’t really…really!

So last Thursday a week ago I received a PM in my Ravelry mailbox from a woman in Bothell WA who had noticed how much I loved the Majacraft Suzie Pro Alpaca I’d test driven at OFFF. She has more wheels than time to spin on them all and offered to drive halfway rather than ship. I had that cash just laying there in my PayPal account…. mmmmmm, well you can fill in the blanks.

The previous owner had left 4 oz of wool on the bobbins so I plyed them off. 260 yards.

And my first trial run on the Alpaca was 4 oz, 120 yards of bulky (ish) Wasatch Watercolor in the Brine Shrimp colorway. Ready to finish!

37 degrees and flurries

A little fall is in the air so I’ve worn long pants instead of clam diggers (capri’s to the rest of you) this week to work. Daytime temps have been in high 60’s low 70’s. Night time nothing to worry about. So this morning as usual I packed no jacket and had the roof wide open on the Mini Cooper. For a while I even drove with my window open, watching the beautiful red sunrise and the sky turning from dawn to what was going to be blue skies.

So I was a little taken aback when I checked CNN.com and my local weather graphic said this–>

The little symbol for snow and the word flurries. I gave it a chuckle. After all CNN is a long way away. What do they know. Then I checked my local newspaper and glanced at their online temperature and conditions symbol. Same. 37 and snow flurries. (I have this graphic somewhere else and will load it tomorrow).

Fall gets me into the cooking and baking mood big time. I don’t can, freeze at all, and I don’t preserve in other ways much. Today’s treat? Gluten Free Beef Jerky. I do use my at least 25 year old dehydrator all year round. When I worked with a duck hunter for about 5 years, every October he’d bring me as many pounds of duck breast as I’d like, no limit, so I could make duck jerky. YUM. He retired two years ago and has somehow left me off his list. So then I went back to making beef jerky. A few years ago I purchased a jerky press. Like those old Mirro cookie presses except this is all plastic and you can throw it in the dishwasher when you’re done. My current batch jerky batch is made with 2 pounds extra lean ground beef and 1/2 cup San-J Gluten Free Teriyaki Marinade. It’s flavored with soy, vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and other things I put in my usual jerky marinade, just no gluten!!! Just started drying it 30 minutes ago and it should be done by morning. Gluten free so both Graham and Rachel can enjoy it.