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January has been a light reading month and that's OK because it was a fun travel month! I also had 10 sick days and only finished one book during that time. Mostly I watched trash TV. I only finished 4 books. Three were good enough and one, Yours Truly, wasn't good enough to recommend. What good books have you read this month? DNF: Fresh Water For Flowers by Valerie Perrin - This is supposed to be a great book but I couldn't get into it. It might have been because I was not feeling well and distracted by travel. Maybe I'll give it another try later.  The Sweet Blue Distance By Sara Donati, Read By Kate Reading TLDR: A sweeping saga installment in the Into The Wilderness series. In 1857 Carrie Ballentine takes an offer to move to New Mexico Territory to be a nurse and midwife. She needed to get away from her family and past and this was a great opportunity. Her brother travels with her and about half of the book covers the challenging trip. Once she arrives in New Mexico, she discovers that the doctor has not been totally honest with her about her work or his family. It's an adventure story of the time and it's a love story as Carrie builds her new life in New Mexico. If you like westerns and/or family sagas, I think you will like this one.  The Silent Sisters By Robert Dugoni, Read By Eduardo Ballerini TLDR: the 3rd installment in a fast paced international espionage series. This is the 3rd book in the Charles Jenkins series. This was our road-trip-to-Denver book. There were "seven sisters" in Russia. These were female US assets working deep in the Russian government. In the last installment Jenkins barely made it out of Russia trying to bring out some of the assets. Just when he's getting settled back with his family, he's asked to return for the last 2 of the seven sisters. On his first night in Moscow he accidentally gets involved in an altercations outside of a bar. That results in the dealt of the son of the head of a brutal organized crime group. Now he's being chased by the police, the mafia and Russian agents. Like all of the Dugoni books, it's very fast paced. I did have a little trouble keeping up with the Russian names but it was worth the ride.  Yours Truly By Abby Jimenez, Read By Kyla Garcia and Zachary Webber TLDR: If you like the fake dating trope you might like this. I didn't like anything about it. Brianna and Jacob are ER doctors with the emotional maturity of teenagers. These people are in their 30s and have more baggage and anxiety than a 13 year old. Brianna is newly divorced and Jacob's girlfriend broke up with him and is marrying his brother. Brianna's brother needs a kidney transplant quickly. They meet when Jacob starts working in the same ER as Brianna. They meet in a broom closet where both go to hide from the stress of work. This is my first problem with the book. Neither of these people would last a day in an ER department. That whole setting was stupid. Jacob is trying to get through all the ex-girlfriend/brother wedding activities with his outrageously multi-cultural and woke family. Brianna agrees to fake date him to help him through. It's a giant cliche from beginning to end. I read a previous book from Jiminez, Just For the Summer, and it was sweet. I thought this one would be a nice, easy read while I was sick. Instead, it was outrageously annoying.  The Wide Wide Sea
By Hampton Sides, Read By Peter Noble TLDR: This one is for true history lovers. This is the book that Chris and I picked for our trip from Richmond to Tucson. It's a long one at 15 and got us through 3 days. It's the story of Captain James Cook's final voyage to search for a Northwest passage. The book is really interesting and it was all new information for me. I don't know if I ever learned much about Captain Cook. I did think it could have been edited a bit but all-in-all it was very interesting. The narrator has some really interesting mispronounciations.  Tuesday evening, while we were waiting for Ian and Laura to arrive, I saw a shadow out the kitchen window. I had finally gotten a glimpse of the javelina! We were told that they were wild in the neighborhood but this is the first one I've seen. I've been told over and over that they aren't pigs. To me they look like a wild boar but people around here are adamant that these are unique creatures. As long as I don't have to get up close and personal with one, they can be whatever they want to be. But glad to have checked another Tucson box. The weather was chilly yesterday, about 50F for a high and then it rained in the afternoon.  All three of the new guests arrived on time and without incident. We gathered around 8:30 yesterday morning for another hike in the Sabino Canyon recreation Area. Ian is healing from a calf muscle tear so this hike didn't have as much elevation as the Monday hike, although it was still about 5 miles. This is a saguaro blooming out a new arm bud.  This saguaro is one of the one of the most mature ones that I've seen.  In the back of that last photo is this beautiful rock dam. They didn't get much rain this part year so it's dry right now. But in the afternoon we actually got a good bit of rain so maybe there's a little water in the stream today.  In the afternoon, and on a whim, Laura and I decided to visit the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures. What we expected was a dusty little storefront museum with a few miniatures, no other visitors and a bored docent keeping a close eye on us. You know the type: a little place with someone's beloved small collection and no money to properly keep it up. What we found was a legitimate, big and popular museum in a custom built building and a parking lot full of cars. It was astounding and absolutely overwhelming. I took a few photos to share but you should click on the link and read about the history of the museum and the founder. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of miniatures in this museum that were mostly collected (and made) by one woman. The items date as early as the 1700's.  The doll houses date from the late 1700's to contemporary times. This one was called The Yellow Rose of Texas, The Wedding Day. The gallery below had a photo of each section. This had to have taken years to build. This is the work of a Waterford crystal master cutter. When he retired he decided to make miniatures of the pieces that he used to cut in the factory.  There is a massive display of Department 56 Christmas Village pieces, including a display set into the floor! In the commercial realm there was also collections of kewpie dolls and a Halloween set similar to Department 56.  I had seen the pencil lead carvings from Salavat Fidai online before but it was very cool to see 3 of them in person along with videos of him making each one.  There was even a special exhibit of ships made by Gregory Baumgartner. They are 4 models of a collection of 11 model ships he made of the Union Navy ships that were destroyed at the Gosport Navy Yard. These models are all about to be acquired by the US Navy for exhibition in museums around the country. They are beautifully made and there are great photos and videos on the webpage.
We went there expecting to spend about 30 minutes but stayed 2 hours and we could go again and see different things. You can't absorb it in one visit. If you like miniatures and are ever in Tucson, don't miss this museum. The weather starts to improve and warm up today. We will head to the Saguaro National Park East so Ian and Laura can see more of the area. Starting tomorrow we should be able to spend some time at the pool. We also have our falconry adventure tomorrow.  On Monday we went on our first hike with our friends, Bill and Laurie. This hike was in sabino Canyon National Forest. The trail isn't marked on maps, it's just one that they know about. I learned that unmarked/unmaintained trails are called "social trails". This view looks back toward Tucson.  I think we walked about 4 miles with a healthy elevation gain. It was quite enough for me since I hadn't really exercised for most of the month of January. I had spent 12 days sitting in vehicles on the twoo road trips and 10 days in the recliner with a cold so I was a little out of shape! I was asleep Monday night by 10. That's really early for me.  Bill pointed out an old mine entrance but I was fascinated with the Saguaro perched right on the edge of the entrance. You can see two of the roots exposed. A Saguaro with this many arms is supposedly well over 100 years old.  There are a few things in bloom around here. This is an ocotillo plant with bright pink flowers on the tips of the stems.  This is a cholla and I don't have to tell you what those flowers look like.  Yesterday was rather chilly and we didn't do any hiking. Instead we went to the grocery store to prepare for our friends to arrive last night. Chris went with Bill to pick up another friend at the airport and we enjoyed and afternoon of storytelling in Bill and Laurie's patio.
I also made some progress on the two wheelchair shawls. The one in the right is one whole cake of yarn. I only need to add three rows from the new cake and it will be done. The rest of the new cake will finish off the other one. These will be wrapped up pretty soon. Today we plan to go back to sabino Canyon to take the new arrivals on a short introductory hike. It's going to be chilly again so we will probably be pretty lethargic today. The weather warms up later this week and I see pool time in my furture.  We've made it to Tucson and have settled in our little condo. When you first rent a place you are never sure if it's really going yo be like the photos, but this place is great and is all that it was advertised to be. It's going to be a comfortable place to spend the next 2 weeks. This is the view from our screened porch. There's a great hiking trail that starts just behind that fence and goes way up that canyon.  We love this hike because we can do as much of it as we want and the views are great all the way up. Yesterday morning we started our vacation with a hike up the canyon. It's the first time that I've really exercised since January with the 2 cross-country trips and 10 sick days in between.  It's not a terribly steep trail so we did about 45 minutes out and 45 back. That was a good start to the trip.  We don't usually see many flowers in the desert but these were a nice surprise.
The afternoon was spent watching the Eagles beat the Commanders and I can't wait for the Super Bowl in 2 weeks! I don't have a crochet update today but will in a couple of days. We're heading our for a hike this morning and might spend the afternoon by the pool with a good book. We left Hot Springs Wednesday morning and settled in for the longest day of driving to get to Midland, TX. I think it was about 9 hours. Through Arkansas I got a good look at the rice and forestry industries. As I researched, I learned that Arkansas is most known for poultry but I didn't see any of that in the parts where we were. We were lucky to make it around Dallas without any slowdowns. I actually visited Midland/Odessa in the 1980's when I was working for KPMG. I was sent there to do an IT audit. It was at a severe down period in the oil industry and I had never seen such a depressing place. Today it's booming! There are oil and gas workers everywhere and the economy is strong. There's also a big investment in that area in solar and wind. It was kind of depressing to see so many windmills not working. I'd say only about 30% were actually working. Anyway, it was all interesting.  While looking around for interesting things, I discovered that Odessa has a replica of Stonehenge. We just had to check it out before leaving town. It's at the University of Texas Permian Basin and was built in 6 weeks in 2004. I wouldn't make a special trip but if you are near Odessa you should go to see it. After that visit we were off to White Sands National Park. We drove I20 and I10 through El Paso and then north to Alamogordo. We got to go through a border crossing station and saw part of the border wall near El Paso. El Paso looks like a very interesting city and I think it would be fun to explore if we are ever back in this corner of the country.  White Sands National Park is amazing. If you have never done so, look it up in Google maps to see the satellite view of this wonder. The size is hard to describe. It reminds me of the vastness of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. The white sand is gypsum and it's as far as you can see. The park is only part of the total sand area. Much of it is a government missile testing range. Chris' Dad actually worked here some when he worked on missile development after he retired from the Navy. When you visit the park you have to check the testing schedule because occasionally a road to the park might be closed. It's not something that happens very often but it does occasionally happen. Here are a few more photos.  Of course you can't go anywhere anymore without running into some girls ( always girls) doing photo sessions for social media. These three were out there at least a half hour just posing for photos. It seems like a colossal waste of time but to each her own.  On the crochet front I'm making steady progress on all of my projects. Here's the wheelchair blanket so far. I've worked on it for 2 days.  This is the shawl that I started. I finished up the partial cake and set it aside for now. I have 2 more cakes and I know I can get finish this one and get one more made with the remaining cakes.  I decided to start the second shawl and to see how far I get with one whole cake. Then I'll know how much of the last cake to allocate to each. So, I'm making progress all around.
Today we finally head to Tucson where we can sleep in the same bed for 2 whole weeks and cook some meals in a real kitchen!  Our second stop on the way to Tucson was Hot Springs, AR yesterday. It was an opportunity to check another National Park off our list. To be honest, we would have never made a special trip to come here but it was a great stop over after 7 hours of driving. We got in a good hike to help recover from 2 days of sitting in the car. Hot Springs is the second smallest National Park after the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. It has a very interesting history and a big part of the "park" is the row of mostly former spas along the main road. One of the spas has been converted into the visitor center so you can tour the building to see how these spas were set up over 100 years ago. The tile and stained glass work is beautiful. I think that now there are 2 spas that you can visit and use. We didn't do that.  Instead, we hiked up to the observation tower to get a view of the surrounding area. I bet these views are spectacular in the Fall.  We found a super cute hotel to stay at that's only about a couple of miles from the park. We are making our hotel reservations as we travel. Being that it's the middle of January, there isn't any problem finding hotels on short notice.  Today, in the car, I worked on the next wheelchair blanket.
Tomorrow we have about 9 hours to drive and are going to get to Odessa or Abilene, Texas. We aren't stopping for anything fun, we're just making progress tomorrow so I'll post again in a couple of days. After Texas, we will stop at White Sands National Park to notch another park off the list before we arrive in Tucson on Saturday.  I don't think there's a better place on the planet to spend a travel night. A night listening to some great music is a perfect way to unwind after 9 hours in the car. We made it to Nashville about 4 pm, ate dinner in our hotel room and headed to Broadway to listen to some music. As everyone in the US knows, it's freezing right now.  Our 5 block walk was fast and really cold but it was warm in The Second Fiddle. Being a Tuesday night in January, there weren't a lot of customers so both bands had fun and we felt like we were having a private concert.  The other excitement from the trips was our first visit to a Buc-ees. What a huge place! It's like a really clean Wal-Mart for travelers. There had to be 100 gas pumps and bathrooms cleaner than mine. Now I get the excitement about Buc-ees.  Finally, I made great progress on a shawl while Chris was driving. The lighting in the hotel room is horrible but you get the idea. I think that today I'll switch to the moss stitch blanket while we travel to Hot Springs for our second stop.
 Well, there was a lot of football to watch Sunday and Monday so I was able to finish one last project before leaving town. This will be a donation blanket for a chemo or dialysis patient. It finished to be about 38" x 65" I've made this blanket once before in 2021. The yarn is Universal Major. I got it on sale several years ago. I'm not a huge fan of pink but it was on sale and I know that someone will love it. I used 4 skeins, about 1300 yards.  The pattern is the Inchworm Baby Blanket. It calls for 2 colorways of this yarn but I only used 1. If you prefer video tutorials here's one from Fiber Spider that I used to supplement the written pattern. I used a J hook but should have used a K, I think.  The colors in this photo are the most accurate.  OK, now we are officially off!
 January is turning out to be a crochet-focused month. Since I came back from Denver and had my sick days the only sewing was on the farm quilt. Otherwise, it's been all about crochet and that's all I'm taking on our trip. There's no space in the tiny condo to set up a sewing machine. One of the projects I have been working on is this wheelchair blanket for donation. It's about 25" x 37". The red yarn is some that I got at a Hobby Lobby clearance sale. I purchased one skein of black to add some interest. It's Yarn Bee Soft & Sleek Chunky and this is a very nice yarn. This is going to be such a warm lap blanket and the moss stitch makes it drape nicely.  I thought that I would use all the yarn in that little blanket but my estimates were way off. I weighed the blanket and the leftover yarn and determined that with one more skein, I'd have enough to make another blanket. This one will have more black and the red sections will be a little shorter. This one is started and packed up to work on during the trip.  This is my big pink blanket and that partial ball of yarn is all that's left to do. I'm not taking this one on vacation because it's just too bulky.   Just to make sure that I have too many projects, I'm taking this yarn as options for more shawls.  Finally, I'm starting a new garment project. The pattern is the Enchanted Crochet Poncho by Brianna K Designs. I found the yarn when Anne and I were on our road trip. This isn't the same weight as the pattern but I didn't want a bulky poncho. I'm taking this in case I have a day that I can sit and focus. I know I"m going to have to crochet several rounds to get the right pattern adjustments. If I can get past the first set of design rounds and get it set up properly, the rest will be pretty easy. This was expensive (to me) yarn so I want to get it right.
That should be plenty to keep me busy! We leave about 7 tomorrow morning. I'll stop in a couple of times with an update on our progress. The first stop is Nashville.  Hanover Country Life, 75" x 77" It's done and delivered! The Fab Farm quilt (pattern by Elizabeth Hartman) is finished and has been delivered to the Montpelier Center for the Arts and Education. This will be their 2025 raffle quilt.
My quilt club meets there 3 times a month and part of our rent includes providing a raffle quilt. I had been looking at this pattern but didn't have anyone to make it for. Once we moved to MCAE for our meetings I knew that this quilt would be perfect to represent our rural county. I named it Hanover Country Life. If you want to see a lit of detail photos you can look at the quilt page here. In other news, I've been busy packing for our trip Tuesday. So far I've gotten my crochet projects packed, run my pre-trip errands and started on clothes. |
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I'm Vicki Welsh and I've been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I'm into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here. Categories
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