caracolina

Unlike with other vacations, this time I actually had a few things going on at work and was busy for the half day I was at the office. Sonal was supposed to pick me up at home on 1 PM and I was actually running a bit late! Then when I got ahold of her through Hemu at the store she left home and wasn’t able to get off the 101 at Cave Creek. She was forced to detour to the 51 while I was freaking out at home, waiting in front of the apartment complex, wondering what could have happen to her. I was so happy when she arrived! Of course I got to the airport with plenty of time left anyway.

The flight was pretty bumpy but otherwise uneventful and I was so excited to see John and my mother waiting for me in the airport! We drove to Frederick, MD, from Baltimore and were all very tired by the time we found our Sleep Inn.

Just in time for our vacation I finished the baggie for my camera (a Canon power shot SD1100). It is a miniature version of Percy on Knitty.com. I spun this yarn on my friend Sandy’s wheel when I spent a weekend in Prescott recently. The batt was a “Batt out of Hell” which I had received in my goodie bag at Yarn School (I think Spring 2008). There was an etsy store address on the label which no longer exists. I really do love the colors and how it spun up, though! It really made me want to card up some art batts of my own. And I even lined the bag with some scrap fabric.

The only thing I’m not fond of is the strap. I knew I wouldn’t have enough of the cool yarn so I decided to try using some other handspun and the only thing that worked was this grey/pink stuff. I just don’t think a knitted strap will work in the long run. It seems to get longer the more I wear it and also would have been good to make the strap detachable because oftentimes I just shove this bag into another larger one and the strap gets in the way. In future (ya, right) I could see myself cutting off the strap, attaching rings to each side and fastening a woven cloth strap to it. Maybe this could be an inkle loom project when I finally get that loom going…

I dropped off John at the airport early in the morning for his flight to Baltimore. From there he drove to Philadelphia to pick up my mom who’s coming in from Frankfurt, Germany. The first thing I did on the way to work was lose my way leaving the airport. I ended up in Tempe and had to U-turn back to find the 202, 101, and so on. I blame it on driving straight into the rising sun!

John got to Philadelphia just a little late but my mother and her suitcase arrived just fine. The two of them are heading over to the Chesapeake Bay for some R & R before I fly out to Baltimore on Friday and the real vacation starts.

The visit that was supposed to only be a day or two turned in into five days, if that’s not a good sign I don’t know what is… Jessica left us today so she could be with her hubby in San Diego. John is whipping up an itinerary for the two of them because after Caleb is done with his training they are going to take the scenic route up to Montana to visit his family before settling into their new digs in Florida.

Tonight, Jessica, John, and I were invited to the Shah residence for dinner. It was the first time we visited in a long time and also the first real opportunity to meet Rinku’s fiance Yagnesh. In light of the recent loss of Mr. Shah, everyone had a good time and it was great to see Rinku smile again. Dinner was, of course, excellent. Several people from Swadhyay stopped by later on to talk with Mrs. Shah. The older folks sat and talked in the living room while Nirash, Sapna’s brother, chatted with us in the dining room for a while before we had to call it a night.

I think all three of us were a little nervous when Jessica got here – would she be ok staying with us? Would we be ok with her staying here? Would her dog Sparky get along with our cat Murphy? As it turned out, we needn’t worry. We all got on great. The only one with a problem was Murph as she couldn’t deal with Sparky. He didn’t like being locked out on the balcony at night so we “compromised” and locked Murph into the bathroom at night so that he could stay indoors. In the daytime the two of them shared the same room but didn’t get close.

One thing that Jess mentioned she liked last time she was here was Pani Puri, so we had that tonight for dinner, what a treat. It has been way too long since we last had it!

Jessica and John had been talking about meeting up in Yuma because she was going to visit friends there on her way to San Diego to meet up with her hubby Caleb (who’s in the Navy). At what seemed to be the last minute, plans changed and she headed directly to Phoenix instead, arriving here shortly before noon. She’ll stay with us for a couple days before continuing on to Yuma and San Diego.

We finally made it to my mother-in-law’s house today to spend a little time with Aunt Eleanor, John’s great-aunt on his mother’s family’s side. She continues to fade away ever so slowly. She only gets out of bed for about an hour per day now. Not bad for a 97-year-old one might say, but everything is just a chore for her now, even eating. I thought her hands were frail and bony years ago – they are even tinier now.

Mentally she is mostly there and she still listens to the radio on headphones, but communicating was difficult since she wasn’t wearing her hearing aids. I left her after 30-40 minutes so she could nap a little bit.

Time for another market Saturday at Tonopah Rob’s. I was pretty lazy today and only helped a little with the CSA boxes: There wasn’t that much to pack this time and the guys had it under control. I had brought my drop spindle and chatted with several people, including Steve who mans the market welcome booth. He became a quadriplegic after a car accident a few years ago and listening to him is a reality check as well as an inspiration.

After the market Rob, Jerry, John, and I enjoyed lots of food at our favorite Mexican place in that neck of the desert: Tony’s.

After talking about it for a quite a while I finally posted two items on Ebay – two collectible figures from the movie Princess Mononoke, San riding on Moro and Ashitaka riding on Yakkul. Let’s see how it goes…

Update: Both sold – I even came out with a little profit! I’ll try to sell more anime stuff next month.