Go West! Go East!

Well, the trailer rugs are done and on the floor. I finished the rugs with hemstitching on the first night and the next morning and trimmed the fringe to roughly the same length. I've decided that I like having all three of them in the trailer.

They're handy to have, because they collect any dirt or sand that gets tracked in, but they can be shaken out and even washed, if needed. It reduces the need for sweeping.

Our trip to Florence didn't take as long as the last time. It makes a difference when you know where you're going. We got hooked up at the Port of Siuslaw Campgrounds and Marina when we got there. During our stay, we spent the better part of two days at the beach with the dogs. First we went to the one north of town, Hecata Beach, where we went last time, then to one of the parks south of town, South Jetty, which is a fee area, but we were able to use one of our Golden Age Passports (we each have one). Parts of the route to get to the beach were difficult with the stroller because of the deep sand, but we pulled it rather than pushing when the going got difficult, and that worked better. I started the Walk for a Dog app at the first parking lot where we stopped for the rest room, then put it on pause and forgot to start it again until we were partway to the beach. Oops! We still recorded a pretty good walk, though. I think it would have been about a mile. 

Dusty loves the beach, because, with the Chuckit, a person can make the ball go a long way. There is nothing Dusty loves more than to chase a ball. It's fun to watch the ball disappear into nothing with Dusty running after it until he disappears, too, only to return with the ball in his mouth.

Rocky rode in the stroller for most of the "walk," but he got out to wander around on the beach after we got to it. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Interesting smells never lose their appeal, I guess.

He was ready for a snooze on the way back.

Dusty, on the other hand, didn't want to leave. He was having too much fun. He ended up swallowing a lot of sand from carrying the ball, but he got rid of it the next day.

We did manage to wear him out enough for him to appreciate nap time, though.

On Wednesday we took Jim out for lunch to celebrate his birthday, which was in July. He was supposed to be in Bend over that time, but changed his plans because of the excessive heat. We ate at a place called International C-food Market Restaurant (say it out loud, and it makes sense). It was outdoors, of course, or we wouldn't have gone to it, but the weather was very pleasant, so it was especially nice to be outside. They allow dogs in the eating area. Every table has a water bowl, and the waitpersons keep them refilled. In the photo, you can see Dusty under the table and Rocky in his stroller behind Charlie.

I had New England Clam Chowder, which you can get with a salad and toast. Charlie had fish and chips, and Jim had fish tacos.

Our final night for this trip was spent at Three Rivers Casino Resort (still in Florence), where they let you park your RV in their big RV lot overnight for free, just for coming in and registering. To stay longer, you need "points" showing you had participated in the gambling. We stayed in and watched Missing Link, which I had stored on my iPad. I had brought the DVD player that attaches to my laptop, but it was Charlie's job to pick out the DVDs to take, and he forgot, but I had forgotten the pickles, so I think we're even. We hadn't seen "Missing Link" for a while, so it was nice to watch again, and we enjoyed it. (Earlier in the week we watched The Secret Life of Pets, which I also have stored in my iPad.)

We saw a lot of interesting wildlife on this trip, including seagulls, seals and this egret, who was always in this patch of grass. He/she seemed to imply ownership.

The meals were mostly very basic. We had homemade TV dinners for supper two nights, this pizza (a basic Costco frozen cheese pizza embellished with fresh vegetables by me) and some salmon burgers with potato salad I had made ahead of time. 

Breakfast was bagels, bran muffins or cereal. I had brought eggs to cook, but the timing didn't work out for that. Lunch was sandwiches and fruit.

Two of the dolls got to go along, so I could take photos and work it into a story for next week. I handed out a few cards to people with children and dropped off a couple of my books at the Books 'n' Bears in Florence, walking distance from where we were staying for most of the week.

On the way home on Saturday, I discovered this stowaway walking on my leg. I got him onto this piece of used paper towel and gently slipped him into a sandwich bag I had in my pocket for dog poopies. When we got to Sisters to visit the dump station, I released him onto a rock.

I have no idea what kind of bug this is. I hope it isn't a pest.

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.

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 People Kerchief. I took the pullover with me and now have a few inches on the first sleeve. The Kerchief is still in hibernation.

What's on my loom: Waiting for...placemats?

What's on my sewing machine: Its cover.

What's in my hoop: Same as always.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Pippa and Pauly find a snake in the garden and ask Emil to come and talk to it for them in A Snake in the Garden.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Come a Little Closer by Rachel Abbott. Barely started and didn't get to listen during the trip.

What's in my wine glass: Monte Planus Breedekloof Pinotage 2020 from South Africa. Yum! At least fresh out of the bottle.

What's my tip of the week: I have a lot of trouble getting the tops off of cooking spray, so once I get them off I leave them off. However, whenever I take it with me when we go camping, I put the top back on, so I don't end up with cooking spray all over the inside of the cabinet in the trailer.

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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A Week of Raking in Goodies

This week I'm showing off a lot of things that got raked in over the last couple of weeks. First Christmas:

My daughter and my younger granddaughter picked out the yummy set of fat quarters for me for Christmas, and Santa put this wonderful Mitten book in my stocking. I've already picked out the mittens I hope to make from the selection in the book, and I have several things in mind for the fabric.

This week we celebrated New Year's Eve by staying up until midnight and drinking an entire bottle (for two of us) of very expensive sparkling wine from Costco.

I already had the black-eyed peas soaking for our Hoppin' John recipe, traditional for New Year's Day.

On New Year's Day, we watched the Rose Bowl Game, which was very exciting, because we could cheer for both teams: the Oregon Ducks and the Wisconsin Badgers. It was a great game, because the lead kept changing hands. We discovered that our younger dog, Dusty, is a Ducks fan. Every time we said "The Ducks are gonna score!" he ran around in circles and grabbed a toy to shake senseless. The Ducks raked in the win, which made Dusty very happy. We're gratified that Wisconsin did so well, too, though.

The Wisconsin grandkids raked in bicycles for their dolls after they got back from Texas. Here's Daphne's Hannah riding hers. Zachary's bicycle is in the background. This is a well-made bicycle sold at Target. I was able to order it online with free delivery to their local store. (Looks like Hannah has been doing gymnastics.)

Saturday we went to a town hall held by one of our senators, Jeff Merkley. He took time for a photo op with me. (He's bigger in person!)

I found his answers to questions very thoughtful and easy to understand. I hear he has done more than 400 of these, so I guess he has it worked out. I'm glad he's one of my senators.

Sunday was the twelfth day of Christmas. We had our Christmas pageant. In this case it was the Christ Child who raked in the goodies: gold, frankincense and myrrh. Maybe not every child's dream present, but I doubt He was surprised by it. The applause for the children was enthusiastic.

Members of the choir wore halos while we sang as the angel chorus. I took this selfie with one of my fellow sopranos and was amazed that the halos seemed so real in the photo.

That's probably the closest I'll ever get to raking in a real halo.

Sunday evening we went to a benefit concert put on at my church for The Family Kitchen, a soup kitchen that provides meals for anyone who walks in the door, no questions asked. My church subsidizes the running of this organization by providing volunteers and the physical space, along with some money for running it, but needs help from outside to meet the needs. Two Oregon singing groups, True North Band and Down Range, generously donated their talents to raise money for feeding the hungry.

Down Range warmed up the crowd. I could have listened to them all evening. (These guys are about my age and survived the "Great Folk Music Scare" by learning to play...folk music.)

After a few numbers, True North Band came on. They perform blue-grass, folk and country numbers in their own style.

The lyrics were wonderful. They made us laugh; they made us cry. The music was lovely and beautifully performed. We bought CDs from both groups, which also went to Family Kitchen.

When we got home, the Golden Globe Awards were on, so we watched. We were so, so, so excited to learn that Laika's Missing Link (to which our son contributed and what helps support his family) won the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. This is the first Golden Globe Award raked in by Laika! (If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may know of my connection to this winner.)

Mr. Link was shocked to learn that he had won. He wasn't even at the awards ceremony.
"What? I won?"

There were three Disney films nominated, and Pixar usually wins, so it must be a good film, not just because I think so. I suggest you get a copy or find a way to watch it. (Your purchase helps my family!) Here's the proof:

Then I received this in the mail from our interim choir director:

Lucky me! Clearly, she wants to be sure everyone comes to practice on Wednesday. What prize do you think I'll rake in? (I'm hoping for the chocolate chip cookie.) My life is already full.

What's on my needles: Maine Memories still. Making progress. I'm almost done with the two-color section of the pattern. It will continue in plain purple from there.

What's on my sewing machine: Getting ready to sew Victorian costumes for two lucky dolls for Valentine's Day.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress. One of my New Year's resolutions, though, is to finish it THIS YEAR.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Together. Emil wants to know what the other dolls did together before he arrived. This story is a review of some of the activities the dolls participated in during the past year. They enjoyed the fireplace app on my iPad while they reminisced.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still Blowout by Rachel Maddow. It's a great story with lots of detail, but it has been a busy few weeks. I have used up most of the Audible credits I had accumulated by giving audiobooks as Christmas presents. Johan is listening to Ramona Quimby by Beverly Cleary and Tracy Dockray. (It was on his wish list, and much cheaper as a download.) The Wisconsin grands are listening with their parents to the Harry Potter books, although they have both read the first book as a physical book. They also have Into the Wild by Erin Hunter for the kids and Harry Potter and the History of Magic by Ben Davies for their parents, two literature professors. Our older son has a 3-month subscription to Audible, so he can pick out his own book and buy more if he wants. He commutes a long way to work, so audiobooks are a good way to pass the time.

What's in my wine glass: Terra d'ora Zinfandel 2016. Always nice.

What's my tip of the week: I'm getting a Roomba knockoff (a Christmas present). I will let you know how it works out.

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.

Work or Play?

The big event of the week was our viewing of Missing Link on Friday. We snapped a photo of the credits when son Peter's name came up.

In my opinion, it's the best Laika film yet. After the movie let out, we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner.

Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, we went to Walmart so I could do a photo shoot for the week's story in The Doll's Storybook. You can find the story here. This photo will give you a hint as to what it's about.

Many thanks to the Walmart employee who played along and allowed his hand to be in the photo.

We bought Daphne a doll for her birthday, which is the middle of next month. Here's the one we bought:

She is the Götz Happy Kidz doll named Marie and is almost identical to Jolena, except Jolena has a part in the middle, and Marie's hair is pulled back. Now I'm working on outfits for Marie, and Jolena is (logically) acting as my model, because she has the same coloring. Marie arrived in Wisconsin on Friday and is resting in her box (possibly in the parents' closet) until Daphne's birthday.

I finished this outfit on Wednesday.

The turtleneck is my pattern. The pleated skirt is made from quilting cotton. The instructions are here.

Next I made the pajamas, using my pants pattern and the Little Abbee Slumber Party pattern for the top, altered to fit.

I'm sending Marie this bathing suit, which is made from a girls' sock, and so will have to make another one when I get a chance. (This is Vroni modeling.) I thought Daphne would like it because of the kitty face on the top.

I'm working on a twinset now in "Huckleberry Heather" Palette yarn. I plan to make some slacks to go with it. Marie will need a coat, even though it will already be getting warm. I haven't figured out what to do for that yet.

I worked a little bit on the Spring Flowers quilt. After Marie's wardrobe is finished, I hope to be at it most of my free time until it's finished. With luck, I can finish it while it's still spring. then I will have to find another wall for it.

Cooking always cuts into my sewing/knitting time. I usually bake our bread. This one was for sandwiches. I use the bread machine on the dough cycle.

Finally, I thought we needed some more cuteness this week. Here's Soren and Louis, napping together.

Well, they are partly on a quilt. It's this one:

What's on my needles: Twinset cardigan for Marie.

What's on my sewing machine: Doll clothes for Daphne's birthday doll, Marie.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt. 

What's in The Doll's Storybook: The Birthday Gift.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Revenant Eve by Sherwood Smith. It was a good story, although it was the third in the series. Fortunately, the author fills in the blanks for us. I would have listened to the others first, but this was the first one available to me as an audiobook. Maybe someday I'll get to listen to the rest of the series. Now listening to Molly by M. C. Beaton. 

What's in my wine glass: Patón Clemente Tempranillo Crianza 2016, from La Mancha. Delightful.

What's my tip of the week: Beware of leaving your sewing pins on a magnetic pin holder for too long. Eventually the pins will become magnetized as well and stick together. This is the kind I mean.

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.