In Vino Veritas

In vino veritas, indeed. 

Monday we left the kiddos and the pups at the appropriate daycare centers, so they wouldn't get bored while we went wine-tasting. The pups stayed at Noah's Arf in Beaverton.

This was Dusty's first time at doggie daycare. He seemed a little insecure, but Rocky made sure he knew how everything worked in this kind of setting. Louis (our grandpup) stayed there, too. He's a real sweetie. I didn't get a photo of him there, but here he is in his natural habitat.

The human children went to their preschool on the Nike campus, as they are wont to do most work days.

Our wine-tasting outing started with lunch at Red Hills Market in Dundee with Peter and Alexa, and her parents.

Peter and Alexa take turns being on duty with the kids if they wake up at night. Soren, the older one, still gets up just as often during the night as his younger brother. It was good for the parents to be able to get away to have a break from work and child care.

We didn't get to too many wineries. (How many wineries are "too many?") We spent the time to savor each one. We visited Vista Hills and Durant in the Dundee area, where Alexa's parents plan to build a house.

We bought two bottles at each winery, which waived the cost of the tasting, as each couple had shared a flight at each place. The wines we tasted were mostly pinot noir and pinot grigio, I guess because of the climate and terrain in this part of Oregon. We also picked up some olive oil and vinegar at Durant for salads and to put on bread. On our way out of the the Durant winery, we found this lusty fellow.

Because of my many trips to the frog pond during various knitting projects, I'm well acquainted with the frog prince. (For this of you who don't knit, it's "rip-it, rip-it.") I have even had to visit the frog pond when quilting, not as easy to do, but easier to get caught up again afterwards.

Earlier in the day, we had stopped in at the Nike Company Store for our "employee-family discount" on some Nike gear. I bought two pairs of shoes for running (not likely), hiking, walking and other exercise. They are so comfortable I can hardly believe it. My orthotics fit inside perfectly,

While we stayed with the kids, we had our "guest house" parked across the street (with permission from the neighbors), so the kiddos didn't wake us up at night.

On Tuesday, we drove back through Sisters to Bend, where Charlie's brother, Jim, lives. He recently moved here from Park City. The plan was to join him in a year or two, assuming we liked Bend. We did. We enjoyed walking the dogs along the trails in his neighborhood. Here's Jim with Onslow. (You can see Charlie with Rocky behind Jim and Onslow. I had Dusty.) We did a hike on Saturday afternoon.

We connected with a realtor and looked at some houses. We also connected with the local yarn shop, Gossamer The Knitting Place in Bend.

Here are some photos of the inside:

Isn't this yummy?

They have some nice places to sit and knit.

I bought some sport-/DK-weight sock yarn and some fingering sock yarn (doesn't count toward stash), some locking st markers and some soap for my friend Joanie.

I have a feeling I will be spending some time at this place. There are also several quilt shops, plus somewhat close proximity to Sisters and The Stitchin' Post. It wasn't convenient to disconnect our tow vehicle from the trailer, so I wasn't able to do a lot of driving around.

We went out to eat a couple of times, and I cooked some. Houses cost about the same as in our neighborhood, so it should be an even move, cost-wise, unless something happens in either locality to change things. We will need to start "culling" our stuff. Obviously, the sewing machine, loom, spinning wheel and yarn and fabric stashes are a priority. Jim added a shed to his backyard, to serve as a workshop. I'm thinking of doing the same thing for a fiber studio. Then we could have a smaller house.

Work on the steampunk costume for Mandy has continued with the completion of the Braemar coat. Still a few items to add, but this was the last large piece.

I like how the lines of the jacket fit with the Victorian aspect of steampunk. I'm planning on a lace collar to go over the blouse, some mitts, maybe a snood (if I can figure out how to make it) and some goggles. Mandy thinks she's ready to lecture at the Royal Society of Engineers, because that's what girls can do in the alternate universe of Steampunk. (She's geared up--ha-ha--to explain her prototype of a clock-driven airplane.)

In the meantime, I think I've found the solution to next Lenten season's depriviation, when I give up my second glass of wine for Lent.

What's on my needles: Finished the Braemar coat. Now working on mitts, snood, collar.

What's on my Featherweight: Put away for now.

What's on my loom: Still waiting.

What's on my wheel: Stanzi also still waiting. Thinking about Tour de Fleece.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to Jodi Taylor’s A Symphony of Echoes again, with Charlie as we travel. On the Kindle app, still reading Undeniable by Laura Stapleton. Still not sure how I like it yet.

What's in my wine glass: Trader Joe's um...so many to choose from, now that we've been to TJ's in Oregon.

What's my tip of the week: I like to use freezer paper for patterns for when I'm sewing doll clothes. Often I can avoid pinning entirely, but usually one pin at a crucial area is all that's needed. I iron them down the way I would pin a pattern, then use my rotary cutter and ruler to cut all the straight edges. Finally, I add a pin if needed and cut the curves with scissors. The patterns can be used over and over.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.