Oops! Time Passes!

Sorry about that! I got a little distracted around here by some things that needed taking care of, and I didn't realize how much time I'd let slip by.

Let me just say that I have the *very* best Secret Pal! In fact, I've been pretty lucky and have had the very best Secret Pals (plural) all along! both recipients and spoilers have been just wonderful, and I am very glad I've met you all!! :)

But it's SP9 now, so I get to focus on my very best SP9 spoiler! She came all the way out of state to visit ME for my birthday!! ;) and she even brought me some reveal gifties!! (I still need to take pictures.) The chocolate coated macadamia nuts didn't last long! Neither did the chocolate coated Kona coffee beans. (catching a hint here?) .. She also brought for me a wonderful book called Arctic Lace which I am just dying to read! There are a lot of neat factoids about musk ox and arctic cultures in the book as well as some lovely lace patterns.

Actually, she was going to be in the area anyway, since her husband was attending a conference, but isn't is the COOLEST thing ever that she made time during her vacation to go on a yarn crawl with me? Super cool! We had a *lot* of fun! at least, I know for sure that I had fun, and I'm pretty sure she wasn't suffering. :)

It was all made a little more difficult by all the black ice on the roads, and if it hadn't been such a special visit, I wouldn't have wanted to drive at all!

We visited Churchmouse Tea and Yarns on Bainbridge Island, Full Circle Yarns, Acorn Street, and Weaving Works in Seattle, and even a brief stop at So Much Yarn in downtown Seattle, but parking was scarce, and I didn't want to walk far in the cold and the slipperiness (The cold still makes my knee stiff and swell up and hurt.), so I idled the car while Carrie slipped in for a quick look.

At Weaving Works we got a special treat! Apparently, they have a special Birthday Week discount! (I think I knew this, but I hadn't remembered. Carrie saw the sign and saved us a bundle!) And while we were there, she picked up another birthday gift for me!! Sweet! It's a book called Naughty Knits and it's full of patterns for things you just wouldn't find in grandmother's knitting books. Things like a felted corselet!

We talked about knitting and spinning and all sorts of fiber crafts and about Hawaii (which I have desperately wanted to re-visit ever since I was taken there once by my family when I was about 6 years old) .. yep, she's living in Hawaii right now! I am so envious!!! (I'm not sure I'm *really* envious, because when I think about moving there I realize there is a *lot* of my stuff I wouldn't be able to bring with, and then there isn't much of a yarn or fiber supply on the islands.. so I guess maybe I'll resist the siren's call and stay put on the mainland after all.)

Anyway, I had a wonderful time getting to meet my SP9 spoiler, Carrie! What a fabulous way to reveal!! :)

...but I still haven't found her blog. hmpf.

Wheee!!

I get to meet my Secret Pal (9) today! :)
She's given me so many hints to who she is, but everything's been so busy and chaotic that I still haven't gone through the SP participant's list fully to find her blog. oops. ..
But today she's in town! Really!! visiting Seattle for a conference of some sort, and she wants to spend time with ME!! Wow, that is **SO** cool!
We're going to go visit Churchmouse Yarns and Teas today over on Bainbridge Island after I am done with my PT appointment.

This first week of 2007 is already better than any week of 2006, even *with* the unexpected flight to Tucson. (Says a lot about 2006, doesn't it?)

Oh! and my birthday is day after tomorrow! I'm so excited that my SP can be here for it!

and as if that all weren't fab already-- whatever snow we may or may not have had fall last night/this morning didn't stick! so I can drive in comfort!! :)

hugs all.

Patty's Challenge #4 -- How Do You Feel About Snow?

Do I like snow? Do I dislike snow? hmm... Well, I think that depends upon the context. Snow is an absolute necessity for downhill skiing (which I am not permitted to indulge in this season), for snow-men, snowballs, and snow forts. It's a lovely way to increase the ambient light at night in the winter-- a fresh white snowfall reflects the moon well enough that you hardly need a flashlight! It's really fun to watch a new puppy or kitten (.. or even a teenager from Los Angeles) experience snow for the first time. So I do have a bit of a fondness for snow, tucked away somewhere.

But on the other hand, snow of necessity requires cold weather, which I do not particularly care for. Snow makes the roadways hazardous. Snow creates extra chores (like shoveling sidewalks, scraping windshields, putting chains on vehicles). Snow impacts travel plans. Snow is difficult to photograph well.



See?

So I think I like snow in a way similar to that in which I like a lion-- in its own native environment, far away from me! Like, perhaps.. in Montana. (that'd be the snow, not the lion. The lion would be in Africa.)

Speaking of snow, we're expected to get another snowfall tomorrow evening and Wednesday morning. This has been one fascinating winter.

(...I'm not sure when we're expected to get our next lion.)

Er... "Last Night"

means Feb 2, 2007. I'm a late night kind of person and I forget to account for the clock thinking it's tomorrow already. ;)

Father-In-Law Passed On

at just a minute or two past 11:00pm last night in relative comfort and with his wife at his side. (the rest of us had only just left to go get some sleep! We didn't even make it as far as our hotel.)
Thank you for your kind words and support.

He's Made It To 2007...

...and my husband and I get a two hour nap before heading back to the hospital.