The Trip Of A LIfetime

I'll be try to be brief. Let's see, on the metro going to the Library of Congress, we met out tour guide, who let us follow him to the Library, then took us through the tunnels underneath to get from on building to another. The tour was great. Then we went to The National Arcives which were relatively empty and saw the Declaration of Indepence, Bill of Rights and Constitution. Saw many interesting documents and objects. Then, after lunch, we decided to go to the Spy museum, which was very interesting. I liked the 2nd half, Vince liked the first.

Afterwards, we were very tired, it was dark, I wanted to head back to the hotel, but my mom insisted we head to the Lincoln Memorial to see it at night. It was very cold but Vince and walked along. Then, jsut as we passed teh Washington Momument, we heard James Taylor. "oh, they're testing out the speakers", I thought. Then, as we walked further, I started to hear U2. Okay, seeing how rock/pop sounds. I look up at the Jumbotrons around the Pool, and I see Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry all bundled up playng with US Flags in background. "OMG! It's them rehearsing!". Whe I told my mom it's U2, she looked at me puzzled. Then she saw Bono and said
There's Bono". "Yeah, mom like I said U2". "Oh, he's part of a music group?". "Yes, mom and they are aas big as the Beatles to people around my age and they're playing right now!". "WALK FASTER PLEASE, I've never seen them live, nor, did I ever think I would." This conversation occurred while we were walking, by the way.

Thought we'd never make it, but we did make it to see then run through they're program of 2 songs, two times and it was awesome!

The next day we were at the We Are Once Concert! Fantactic! Posted pictures of all this on Facebook and will get a flickr album soon.






Oh, and I got to see Jerry Seinfelds "Puffy Shirt" and Steven Colbert's Portrait with a portrait. Now there's some real pieces of history!

It's Wintering All Across The Nation

This was my first flight all the way across the Lower 48. And, I was very surprised to see the landscape all the way across the country covered in snow.




Chicago (the last photo) was -1 degrees today. It took a few minutes for me to realize I was looking at Lake Michigan and not more snow covered land.

Its so nice to see Anchorage isn't the only place Wintering, even if they're doing it just for a little while.

I also found the landscape changes real fascinating. From the Cascades to the Rockies, then the flat Heartland, or as my governor likes to call it "Real America", and then comes the hills of the Appalachians, which compared to the flatness of the plains, looked like the wrinkles on the face of a long time California/Florida sun worshiper's face and then the Ridges that occur just before we hit DC. These ridges looked like a deflated accordion.

As we flew over Virginia, I could almost imagine the battles for our freedoms that occurred on these lands. Then we were over DC and seeing the Mall as we came in was just amazing to see. So much history here on this coast. Just over whelming for this West Coast girl. No pictures of this though, because you're not allowed to have any electronics out while landing and Vince caught me trying to take my camera out. Also, if you get out of your seat during the landing process you could be considered a security risk.

We have old building in California, but they're history is Spanish/Mexican history.

Tomorrow we're off to the Library of Congress, Union Square for lunch and then who knows what else. I'm sure I'll have pictures of the Mall today.

Getting Ready for DC, travel knitting, frenzy knitting, & the Bean Sprout update

I think I may have mitten fever. Did these over Winter Break, when I realized I just didn't like my other felted mittens. The pinkish color didn't felt well, which I was concerned about since it was on the lighter side. Oh well. Taking these to DC with me should the temperatures continue to stay "cold".

Shortly, before finishing these, my mother-inlaw asked me for one of my "diva caps" in blue. So I just had to go and buy more yarn for the job. My husband actually asked me why I had to buy more yarn when I have 3 crates full of yarn. He should know better than to ask.






After giving him a quick eye roll, off to Far North Yarn I ran. And, in addition to buying some Vero, I finally bought a skein of Noro Kureyon. No project for this yarn yet, but I've always been intrigued by it and so many see to love it.








I only have the brim to finish on my mother-inlaws hat. But, of course, knitters ADD has started. As I started packing for my DC trip, I realized I did not have a set of mittens that matched any of the hats I'm bringing along.





I decided to start knitting mittens for my good old diva cap from last year since I still have almost a whole skein. Finished one mitten, except for the thumb last night and started the next one this afternoon. Using a very easy mitten pattern, but since I wanted it to be diva-ish, I am using some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky. Hope to finish tonight before we leave as I plan on finishing my mother-inlaws hat as part of my travel knitting and then work on




my Maui Monkey socks the rest of the trip.

Why, oh why have I decided on such a deadline.

Well, back to knitting these mittens and who knows, maybe I'll knit a pair to go with my Obama Hat.

I'm bringing my laptop to DC and will try and post some pictures while we're there.

Little Bean Sprout

I never thought, as Ian proudly carried this paper cup with a small sprouting lima bean on the last day before break, that we would enjoy so much watching it grow into something during this very cold Winter Break. We'd even dropped it as we were heading out of the building and, hastily, put it and as much dirt as I could scrap up, back into the cup.

Now, every morning Ian and I give it a little water and check. New surprises every day. A little reminder that winter isn't forever, that spring is coming, that the grass will once again reappear and that maybe this is the year Ian and I will have a small garden.

Broken New Year Resolution

Oh well, took me less then 12 hours to break it. What was I to do? I had a crab leg left from the night before (we'd hit the $8.99/lb sale on Crab at Carrs) and most the ingredients to make hollandaise sauce for eggs benedict. I even had a bottle of champagne from New Years and orange juice for a Mimosa. Had to do it. Can't waste the crab or champagne, both of which go bad quickly. I didn't have any english muffins so I used an extra slice of hawaian french toast I'd made for the boys and voila another ruined resolution. Maybe tomorrow I'll do better.

Things to Do When It's below Zero

Play Broomball.


Yes it's very very cold out. And, honestly, I was having a serious second thoughts. I've frost bit my fingers tips a few times and always struggle with cold fingers. I ended up packing up some extra gloves and liners, just in case. We're out of hand warmers, which I usually hand out to the homeless. So, the boys and I put on our warmest gear and headed over to one of the many ice rinks here in Anchorage.

For my California friends reading this, every winter, you can find maintained ice skating at several schools, two local small lakes (Westchester Lagoon and Goose Lake), Cuddy Family Park(just opened this year with a Speed Skating Track) and several other public parks, including the we were at yesterday at 10th and E.













Despite the -5 temperatures out, you can stay pretty warm playing Broomball. And as a bonus, we even had sun shine for a short while on the rink. Not a warming sun, at all, but it was nice to stand around with sun shining on you for a while. The previous day was also a very cold, yet sunny day and it had been the first time in at least a week that I'd been in direct sunlight. When the sun hit my eyes that day, they hurt like when someone turns on the bedroom light in the morning to wake you up. Luckily, I had a pair of sunglasses in the car with me to wear.



AND......






Look at Ice Sculptures.















Since I was having no problem with the cold temperatures, my friends and I decided to walk down to Town Square to check out the Ice Sculptures. Some years, Mother Nature doesn't co-operate, and they've melted almost as fast as they're made. Not this year.

The first one that caught my eye was the Caribou as I walked into the square. It's high up on a knoll. I think the antlers must of taken great skill to carve without cracking them. And, though my iphone camera didn't capture it, the details outlining hair and structure were very well placed.





One of the carvers must be a Tina Fey fan, as they put a plaque next to one of the polar bear cubs in a Polar Bear & Cubs carving, saying "I Can See Russia From Here". Hopefully, you can make out the writing in the photo. It was a low light situation. Also discovered that if your iPhone screen is cold and so are your fingers, its hard to use the touch screen. It needs body heat to take pictures and I'd taken my gloves off a few times when my finger tips started freezing up on me as usual.









There is also an Ice Skating rink in the middle of Town Square. It's part of the Fire & Ice Celebrations that are sponsored by my husbands union, IBEW local 1546. There are live bands, performers juggling fire, and the finale is a 20 minute long Fireworks show, sync'd to music. It's a lot of fun and will probably attend tomorrow night.


AND....





Knit Mittens to felt.

One other thing to do is huddle up at home afterwards, warming up with some hot tea and work on knitting some mittens for oneself. I have completed one so far and plan to work on the second tonight. I'm always surprised at how quick they are to knit up and may knit a few more pairs to have around for next years school silent auction. Not sure how the colors will work out but trying to use more feminine colors without the colors being so processed that they won't felt right. See what happens with the pinkish/purple yarn. Could backfire.

UFO's, Eggnog Martini's, Hot Barack and Surfing

No aliens sighted, though we did watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind the other night. The boys liked it alot, though I remember going to see it with my parents and then going home and trying to figure out how to play the song on my flute. And, of course, my brother and I started playing with our mashed potatoes. No reports of mountains made of potatoes, whip cream or oatmeal so far.





The UFO's I'm actually talking about are my Un-Finished knitting Objects. Suspect this Eggnog Martini may be the cause of the frogging of my mitten cuff, several times. It's really just an Eggnog and Brandy, but I shook it up in a martini shaker, added a little vanilla liquor, rimmed it with graham cracker crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Made it feel like a much more decadent dessert drink.

So the project I was working on was a new pair of felted mittens. The reason being, I made myself mittens two years ago in a color that I don't really like. My son borrowed them the other day and that's when I realized why was I continuing to use them. They are UGLY! Knitting a pair normally is just a takes me a few evenings, I
have a box full of Lambs Pride Wool Yarn in colors I love. Why was I still wearing those things. Time to hand them off to one of the boys and make me another pair. Preferably in a very girlie color that the guys won't "borrow".

So I dug the box out and found a bulky yarn color I liked and then there was this pretty pinkish/lavendar color that I decided to use to make a pattern in the mittens. Not exactly sure how I was going to use the second color and that's been part of the problem with this project. I've knit these mittens at least 10 times, so I thought adding a checkered pattern shouldn't be too hard.
ARGH! Forgot about all the increases M1L, M1R's, then I lose the pattern. These could take a bit longer to make than I thought.

It might take me a little longs also because despite the election being over, I'm spending a little too much time on my laptop. I now have a Facebook page and a My Space Page (it's pretty blank, so far) and visit Ravelry groups and Huffington Post quite a bit.





OMG: Just saw this picture of our new Pres. when I was link the Huffington Post. Wow! Now this man's handsomeness in no way influenced why I voted for him, but what a nice bonus. I've always hated when Sarah was referred to as "Hot" as an actually reason to vote for her, but I must say on the Hottness scale, Barack has her beat. Oh, he did beat her. Besides: Surfing=Sexy Field dressing a moose=Resourceful but not sexy





Speaking of Surfing, just saw a fascinating documentary called Surfwise. It's about the Paskowitz Surfing Family. Very interesting story, but don't suggest you watch with the kids. There's some pretty blunt, matter of fact, talk about sex, with the "F" Bomb being the word of choice in that context. The dad definately was intense in his pursuit of happiness, some might say controlling, but he does speak some truths about society and what our priorities have become. The children spending their entire childhood surfing could in some ways be envied, but they also had some difficult hurdles to overcome as they reached adulthood. Surfing is something I've always wanted to do and I'm seriously considering doing one of their surfing camps. Cabo sounds good, but OMG is it expensive. A girl can dream...... Anyone else?






Back to knitting, I am working on the first monkey sock and have stopped on the heel because I want to really do the picked up stitches right, with no holes. Distracted from this project with the mittens but will get right back to it when I'm done with the mittens.