Whew!

The H-word* took up most of my attention for the first three days of the week. I listened to my audiobook while I worked. On Wednesday, the Beaverton grandkids arrived with their parents for a visit. I still managed to get in some knitting. The Hinterland pullover is coming along.

The pattern is by Jennifer Steingass. I’m really enjoying it.

The kids arrived Wednesday night. We spent the next few days playing games, cooking, eating, knitting (two of us), enjoying the out-of-doors and each other's company. The adults followed through on our plans to have a single-malt whisky tasting with our set from Flaviar.

Dusty was happy to see is best friend Louis again. They spent hours playing, but also got to go for walks together.

One of those walks took us to the dog park. Because Louis is a bigger dog, we went to the big-dog section of the park. The kids and their mother went off to the kids' playground. When everyone had had enough fun, we walked home again.

Rocky rode in the stroller most of the time on the way to the park, but he enjoyed walking around in the dog park.

Then he got out of the stroller about half-way home to walk the rest of the way on his own, while Soren pushed the stroller.

Speaking of Soren, here's some cuteness. They’re so sweet when they’re asleep!

The boys wanted me to read some of my stories to them. I read until I got hoarse.

Someone in Germany sent me a photo of her daughter with her copy of Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook as well as a photo of just the book. I'm keeping a folder with photos of children reading my books, but I don't post them, to keep their privacy. Being a doll, though, Mariah doesn't need to have her privacy protected.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

*Housework, especially cleaning.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland pullover and the Empower kerchief.

What's on my loom: No progress.

What's on my sewing machine: No progress.

What's in my hoop: No progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In Fan Mail, we learn about a letter from Holly, Emil's friend and pen pal, and a real letter from a real human girl who uses our stories to learn English.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to The Sanatorium  by Sarah Pearse on the Audible app. Downloaded and started The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone.

What's in my wine glass: Fabre Montmayu Reserva Cabernet Franc from Mendoza, Argentina.

What's my tip of the week: Some salads can be made up ahead of time, like slaw, corn, potato or three-bean salad. It's handy to have some in the fridge when company comes.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

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 or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Visits

The Silver Leaf Shawl is finished:

We traveled to Beaverton to attend Johan's preschool graduation on Saturday. I wore my new shawl while I watched the ceremony and participated in World Wide Knit In Public Day. Here I am, knitting, in the Tiger Woods Center on the Nike campus, where the ceremony was held. 

There were 127 children graduating this year, the most ever in the history of Nike's on-campus day care and preschool program. Johan has been in the program since he was a baby. The daycare center is divided up into classes of children close to the same age. Here is Johan's class, called "Air Pegasus." Johan is the smallest, the one in the plaid shirt. 

Here he is with his teachers, wearing his new Nike backpack, a present from Nike given to each of the graduates. It was full of goodies, including a coloring book and other fun things.

Here's the program. Air Pegasus is listed on the center left.

Dusty and Louis spent a lot of time playing before and after the ceremony (and probably during, too, but we weren't there to see it). They hadn't seen each other since February, so they played hard until they collapsed under the dining table.

We were all pretty tired, including the parents and grandparents, so when the boys (and dogs) were napping, the rest of the family napped, too. Rocky was the only one who looked up when I took this photo. Then he went back to sleep.

Sunday we took a picnic lunch and went for a hike at L. L. Stub Stewart State Park. The pups have to be on a leash on the hiking trails. They had a good time anyway, though. The boys enjoyed running downhill and complaining uphill.

We stopped at the beaver pond to eat our lunch.

A pond turtle watched us from his perch, balanced on a floating log. He seemed to be enjoying the sun. (We didn't see any beavers.)

The park has a fenced dog run near the parking area, so when we finished the hike, we spend a few minutes letting the pups run loose. We will definitely be back. They have a nice campground, so maybe we will bring the trailer up to spend a few days.

When we got back to the car, I was excited to see that the pups and I had finally averaged walking a mile a day over a 30-day period. Our speed dropped considerably, however. I hope we can keep it up.

That evening, the babysitter came to look after the boy and the three dogs. The adults went into Portland to go on the Shanghai Tunnels Tour. During the late 19th Century, these tunnels were built under the growing city. From 1850 until 1941, able-bodied men were drugged, dropped through trap doors, held in underground holding cells and later sold to unscrupulous sea captains to populate the crews of their ships, usually between Portland and Shanghai, thus the term, "Shanghaied." It was fascinating and educational.

After the tour, we had dinner at Bangkok Palace restaurant. The food was excellent. This was just the appetizers (my plate).

We are on our way back to Bend today. Before we left, the dolls and I put together a retelling of "The Three Bears." It's called "Welcoming a Stranger––a Fairy Tale." It came out on Friday, as we were driving northward.

This week's story is the visit to the dentist's office.
What's on my needles: A new version of the Cables and Herringbone Doll Cardigan.

What's on my sewing machine: Costumes for the cast of The Doll's Storybook.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. No progress this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Welcoming a Stranger––a Fairy Tale."

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to The French Affair by M. C. Beaton. Now listening to Roseanna M. White's A Song Unheard, and The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte, for traveling in the car with DH.

What's in my wine glass: Oak Knott, Marechel Foch 2016 from the Willamette Valley.

What's my tip of the week: A small, flat Tupperware container makes a good dog water dish while hiking. There are many contraptions designed for giving water to your best friend, but most require you throw out the water your dog doesn't drink. On a long hike, you may not want to waste your water. A lid with a good seal can be placed back on the water dish to be consumed at a later water break or thrown out when you get back to civilization where water is available.

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 or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.