Lazy Saturday April 26, 2008

I haven’t left my apartment all day and I’m fine with that. The only productive thing I’ve done all day is organizing my yarn stash. I feel like I went yarn shopping. I really do have lots of beautiful yarn and now I feel like using some of it. Yea. I put all the odd yarn balls in bowls and I was inspired to use some of it to make a new friend. Meet Sheldon’s new little buddy:

Now- he just needs a name. I need suggestions here people. It should go with Sheldon’s name, but I don’t want it to be too matchy-matchy (e.g., Shelly). It feels like a boy to me.

I have been working on my Lizard Ridge afghan. I now have 4 squares done and I’ve started my fifth. Only 20 more to go. Ughh. I’ve also been working another basic sock – this time I’m using some Brown Sheep Wildfoote yarn that I got in Memphis. And I finished my vesper socks a couple of weeks ago. They turned out great.

Last weekend I went down to Moline to see Cirque du Soleil with a colleague of mine. She has been to see several different Cirque du Soleil performances, but this was my first. I feel inadequate. There is just about nothing in the production that I could do. It was amazing – the strength and balance! The woman in back of us got progressively more drunk throughout the performance. And louder. She commented on absolutely everything. Somehow I don’t think that she’ll remember any of the second act of the performance. So, the show was Friday night. Saturday we went to a couple wineries on the way back (via I-80). I was quite impressed with the August Hill Winery. The tasting room was nicely finished and we split the tasting – my friend chose three and I chose three. I quite liked the Seyval Blanc and the Ginocchio. I’ll have to keep the place in mind for the trip between here and my friend’s place down in Champaign. A fun detour.

I have a concert coming up next weekend, so that means that tomorrow night’s rehearsal will be extra long – 3 1/2 hours. It’s fun, but it does cause me tired right from the beginning of the week.

brother visit April 7, 2008

As I’ve written, I’m trying to get to all fifty US states. My plan for the past weekend was to drive up to my brother’s in Minneapolis and then, with brother and friend, drive over to South Dakota on Saturday. It would have been state number #46. However, too-much-driving-itis struck on Friday and I gave up my pursuit… well, sort of. I may not have made my brother and friend drive to the actual South Dakota, but I did make them re-enact it. I’m so kind.

Here we have Mt. Rushmore:

And here is Crazy Horse (Version I):

And Crazy Horse (Version II with Sheldon):

Sheldon riding to Sturgis, South Dakota:

Sheldon at Sturgis, South Dakota:

Sheldon at Custer State Park:

And finally we have Sheldon visiting the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota:

What do you think? Will cousin Kate (against whom I’m competing to get to the 50 US States first) count my visit? I should at least get creativity points.

oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! April 2, 2008

Methinks that my brother is going to have me camping this weekend.  In Minnesota.  In the cold.

Pray for me.

And send blankets.

southland 4 April 2, 2008

I’m technically back from my trip, but I’m just stopping home to sleep and do laundry before heading up to Minneapolis for the weekend. I can’t believe that I’m getting back into a car, but… I am. Ughh. I won’t be road tripping for a while. Well, two weeks, I guess. I’m going down to Moline then.

Yesterday I packed up and left New Orleans. It was a gorgeous morning – 75 degrees, pleasant breeze, and some saintly creature built a fire out in the courtyard of the hostel creating the most wonderful aroma. I leisurely drank tea and finished my book. I read The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway. I had never read it before and I quite liked it. Around 11:30, I jumped in the car and drove and drove and drove. My original plan had been to drive up to Memphis, stay for the night, and complete the rest of the drive today. Well, when I got to Memphis, I was still feeling quite energetic, so kept on driving. I figured that I would stop somewhere for the night, but I didn’t really ever feel very tired, so I drove all the way home. It got pretty scary through Missouri – fierce thunderstorms striking. There were actually streams of water running across the highway. I did pull over for a bit. How does one drive for such long distances? Funny podcasts, songs to which you know all the words, Jelly Bellies, Corn Nuts, and coffee.

Okay, some final shots from the Southland:

There was a Tennessee Williams conference being held in New Orleans. As part of the conference, they put on an event reenacting the “Stella” scene from A Streetcar Named Desire made famous by Marlon Brando in the movie. Imagine, if you will, 25 contestants screaming “Stella” over and over again. Hilarious and very bizarre.

I love people watching. This man in the straw hat with the broom was probably my favorite. His great talent was playing the broomstick a la air guitar – yet he was one hell of an entertainer.

And finally, we had Sheldon posing in front of the Welcome to Mississippi sign. Aww. Oh, funny thing: driving back up the I-55, for a stretch I drove through Arkansas. Their Welcome to Arkansas center was housed in a trailer. Seriously. I can’t make this up. Is that the image of Arkansas that they really want to perpetuate? (To their credit, there did appear to be construction work of some kind going on behind the trailer, but really…)