On the road to somewhere

Really cool lace knitting website

2009-06-03T09:08:00.001-06:00

Look what I found: a really cool blog about historical lace knitting.

House Photos

2009-05-25T07:26:00.002-06:00

As some of my friends and family are aware, we are in the process of purchasing a house in the town where I work. I am incredibly excited about not having a 20+ minute drive each way to and from work. Despite the worries about being an owner instead of a renter (i.e. having to deal with the tree in you living room at 3 am yourself), I am also looking forward to having a house that is mine. To paint, to plant, to whatever however I want. Well, I will have to take Steve's tastes into account.

We have passed all the major foreseeable roadblocks (pre-approval, inspection, appraisal), and so I feel secure in posting pictures of the house here. We close on June 19th. By the way, where did May go to?

Anyway, here are the pictures.

The front door - Steve loves the "atomic" style of the 1950's and 60's, so he was really excited about this detail of the front screen door.

There is also a great shed in the back, built by the previous owner. It has electricity. In my dreamworld it becomes a dye-studio with electricity provided by wind or solar. I want to put a window or two in the side (Steve is unaware of this). It is painted to match the house and the inspector was really impressed with its quality.

In fact, overall the house is in really good shape.
The kitchen - love the wood cabinets, all appliances are staying. Hooray!

Most of the other rooms are pretty unremarkable - nice wood floors, white walls. All decent size. There are three bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. The dining area is small. Also, all the windows are new energy-effecient, easy-to-clean windows. After living in the draftiest house in Independence, this will be wonderful. Seriously, in the winter their is a breeze from our bedroom window strong enough to ruffle your hair. We kept our heat 0n around 62-65 all winter to prevent wasting too much energy. So not only should we see a major savings on gasoline, but on energy costs as well.

Another aspect of the house we love is the basement - I see great potential here.
The basement

Love the fireplace, the finished portion is about 2/3 the width of the house and runs its entire length. Oh - and that is not paint on the walls but some kind of ??? acoustical fabric, carpet? It sounds weird, but it looks pretty cool. I really want to turn this into a multi-use party spot. One area for dining, another for sitting.

The other really nice thing about this house is the neighborhood. We actually saw some houses I personally liked better, but the neighborhoods were not as nice. We will be in walking distance of grocery, post-office, library, and community center. There is also a greenways trail down the road. I think it will be too far to walk to school, but I will try it just once to see. Biking may be an option. But driving will only take me about 7 minutes, shorter if I find a way that does not involve so many stoplights.

So - hopefully this time next month we will be moved in!

Handspun Hats

2009-05-23T15:47:00.002-06:00

I have not been documenting my knitting as well as I should - which is sad really, as I enjoy looking back on my past creativity.

That in mind, I present today two hats knit entirely out of handspun wool.

Handspun #1 - In addition to being handspun, all of the yarn in this hat is either naturally colored wool or hand dyed with plant dyes, with one exception. That exception is the lovely coppery orange that makes up the ribbing. The purples and yellow were dyed with annatto and logwood by my Plant Bio class last spring. I love the way this hat turned out and can't wait to wear it next year. I might have to make some coordinating mittens.

Handspun Hat #2 - This hat started with a special button for a friend who collects glass. I bought this button at SOAR several years ago. I had thought I would make her a sweater, but that has not happened.
Then one day, I noticed how great it looked with some blue handspun I had. Then I saw the cover of the book Boutique Knits and knew it would be perfect.

I love this hat. I am excited to give it to my friend. I may make one for myself (sans button), but the ruffled hat band was boring to knit. I also don't know if I have enough of my blue handspun to knit another one. Oh well.

My knitting has been a bit slowed this past school year, I hope to pick up the pace this summer. I have a couple of pairs of socks on the needles right now. A shawl from last summer that needs finishing. And suddenly many of my friends are having babies. So there will be lots of baby knitting in my future.

A day at the prairie

2009-05-21T14:13:00.004-06:00

Yesterday my husband and I went visiting a couple prairies in central Missouri. It was great weather - perfect for being out in the field, though the sun was a bit bright for photos.

Here are some of the plants that we saw:

Dodecatheon meadia (Shooting Star)

Castilleja coccinea (Indian Paintbrush)

Lobelia spicata (Spiked Lobelia)

2009-03-04T17:41:00.003-06:00

In addition to the ugly socks (which are probably destined for the frog pond), I have been knitting on successful projects.

Some fingerless gloves: my husband calls them hobo gloves. The pattern is Berry Hill, which I found through Ravelry. Both yarns are left-overs from other projects. The tan is alpaca and the slate blue is Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport. I am very happy with this color combination.

Next up are some socks, now finished, made from Tofutsies sock yarn I bought when I was botanizing in New Mexico a couple of summers ago. The yarn is made with soy fiber, wool, and chitin. The chitin is supposed to provide antibacterial protection. The colors pool on the leg, which is not really visible in this picture. I like the yarn, I am less happy with the pooling. This is the third pattern I tried with this yarn. Overall, I am pleased with the results.

Finally a pair of socks made with yarn I got for my birthday. If I remember correctly, the yarn is from Pagewood Farms. The pattern is called scrolls, and it is from the book, Knitting More Sensational Socks, I recieved for Christmas.

Currently I am working on another pair of socks: Blackrose from knitty. They are being knit in a rusty red sock yarn.

Ugly or Cool

2009-02-16T09:08:00.001-06:00

I can't decide if I like these socks for their funky color combination or if they are just hideously ugly. What do you think?

The secret hats

2009-02-14T17:38:00.004-06:00

In the last post before my prolonged hiatus, I mentioned a couple of secret hats I was working on. The hats have long since been delivered to their new homes and I want to share them here.
The idea came from CosyMakes - she started a word-along on Ravelry. The basic idea was to knit a hat and to embroider a word on it that was an action. So I chose to create two "Think Caps" for two of my friends who are professors at different universities. I know sometimes I need a "thinking" cap.

So I present
Think 1

and Think 2

Still hanging on

2009-01-29T07:30:00.004-06:00

Blue Sage (Salvia azurea) - a reminder of warmer days.

It has been a while since I have updated. First, I was preparing for classes. Then, I got caught up in the elections, then the holidays, now school has started again and I have been busy, busy, busy. I have seen three beautiful sunrises from my office window the last week, an indication of how busy.

I am stating here my intention to get back into blogging, as I like having this recording of my thoughts and I enjoy sharing these thoughts with my friends and family.

We will see how it goes. Off to prepare for class, but I will offer a more, satisfying post soon.

Over-indulgence

2008-07-29T10:11:00.002-06:00

This weekend, I allowed myself an extended weekend full of knitting, Friday afternoon, most of Saturday, Sunday evening, and Monday afternoon /evening. In all, over 18 hours of knitting - enough time to completely listen to Anne Bronte's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" and begin listening to "The Monsters of Templeton" by Lauren Groff. All that knitting had a price. Last night, my elbow was too sore to play our new Wii (a birthday gift for my husband from his parents) and today I woke up with very sore shoulders. I have to remember to take breaks and stretch. Oh, and not to over-indulge.

So what did I accomplish is all this time.
1.) I have almost completed the Icarus Shawl. I just have the few border rows, which are not charted for some reason and, from what I have heard, the never-ending bind-off. I started in on the first row of the border, but messed it up somehow.

2.) 1.25 hats, of which I do not currently have pictures. Plus, they are a bit of secret, shhhhhh.

3. ) Metaluna Mutant Mitts - I have been wanted to knit fingerless mitts for a while. I have had some Frog Tree Alpaca sitting in my stash for a while and when I recently checked out from the library this book, it all came together. While in the throws of creativity, I saw my husband's Metaluna Mutant Toy, and the colors reminded me of my mitts. Thus the name. Here are a couple of "In Progress" pictures.

Hmmmm, those really don't give you a sense of the overall pattern. At this time, I have actually finished knitting both mitts. But some of the fingers are too tight and need to be re-knit. Oh, I forgot, I still have one thumb to do as well.

4.) Re-knitting cuffs for my husband's alligator or lizard or baseball socks. I don't remember what we ended up naming them. I had the same problem with my stuffed animals as a kid.

Anyway, these socks were a birthday present for my husband last year.

After he wore them a couple of times, they developed holes in one sock, mostly in the cuff. I think the yarn was weak in places. I have fixed the hole in the leg and cut off the bad cuff. I am now ready to re-knit the cuff.

The Swap Complete

2008-07-28T19:04:00.004-06:00

One evening last as I was making dinner the door bell rang. The UPS man had left a package at the door. I knew it was my package from my felted nest swap partner, Knittrips. I forced myself to wait until after dinner to open the package. Here is what was in it.

The nest, embellished with a beautiful blue flower pin.

The Extra goodies - Stickers for my student's papers, a lovely green bag of glass hearts, a sample of Eucalan Wool Wash, and wonderful tea called "Ancient Happiness".
What a wonderful set of treats. I am always on the lookout for new stickers for my students (in my experience, college students enjoy getting stickers on their papers). I have been wanting to try Eucalan for a long time. My favorite is the tea - it smells and tastes delightful. Plus there is the added joy of saying I am drinking Ancient Happiness. Thanks Knittrips, you have helped to make my first ever swap a great experience.

Embroidery

2008-07-12T14:00:00.005-06:00

I embellished my Blue Skies hat with motifs that remind me of giant kelp and red algae. I suppose a name change is in order. I am thinking about adding some orange starfish, but I'm not sure.

I have been doing a lot of knitting while watching Lily. My husband is also sick, so it is convalescing day at our household.

Our Furry Friend

2008-07-12T06:18:00.002-06:00

Pets are part of the family. This is not a stunning new insight, but it is true none-the-less. Our cat, Lily, is beloved by my husband and I, and by many of our friends.

We aren't sure how old she is, but in the 12 years or so that she has lived with us, she has always been really healthy. She does not act like an old cat, still running around on wild tears through the house on an almost daily basis. Thus, when she stopped eating and stopped playing, we became worried. On Thursday, we realized she had not eaten all day, and then we started thinking, the last time she was really frisky was about 2 weeks ago. We had both assigned her reclusiveness to the visit of my rowdy and loud nephews. So I started watching her and noticed that she kept licking a spot by her tail, and she was sitting down really slowly.

Yesterday morning we went to the vet and the diagnosis is an abscessed anal gland. Not a serious condition if treated. The abscess was lanced and drained. We now have to give her antibiotics and clean out the wound twice a day.

The hardest part for us is that we don't want to lose Lily's trust. She looks at us like, "what have you done to me and why are you torturing me". We have blocked her access to under the bed, as it is too difficult to lure her out. I don't want her to have negative associations with special food treats. Nor with us picking her up. So we have been holding and petting her alot, not just when it is time to "doctor" her. She is annoyed - she want to be left alone and she wants under the bed. We know we have to do these things to help her heal; I just wish we could explain that to her.

Things that make me laugh . . .

2008-07-10T12:16:00.002-06:00

. . . include coming across funny scientific names while reading an other wise dry book chapter about isolation buffers.

I give you Sedum burrito.

Knit-Along

2008-07-10T10:35:00.002-06:00

A pervasive theme in the "knit-blog" world has been the knit-along. For those of you not familiar with this idea, a knit-along is where a few to hundreds of people knit together in cyber-space. The knit-along may focus on a single type of item (i.e. socks), a single book, or an individual pattern; the possibilities are quite endless. The idea of knitting-along has been so popular that recently a book was published - not surprising called "Knitalong". One of the authors, Larissa, also writes one of my favorite knitting blogs - Stitch Marker.

I have not been much of a joiner of knit-alongs. There have been a few (including one for the Blue-Ribbon Wrap pattern in Larissa's book), but mostly, I don't like to have external deadlines associated with my knitting. I have enough stress in my life. The life of a teacher is filled with small daily deadlines - papers to grade, lectures to write and present, etc.

Thus, I am a bit surprised at myself that I have joined, or am contemplating joining, several knit-alongs. Maybe it is the unstructured summer schedule or maybe it is wanting to share my knitting, I don't know.

Here's the rundown.

1. Felted Nest Swap - Based on the felted nest pattern in "Knitalong", the idea of this swap is to knit, felt, and embellish a small bird's nest and trade it with a partner. This swap was set up by a woman named Heather through the Ravelry web-site. My partner is Knittrips, someone I have never met. I have finished knitting the nest and I felted it last night. Currently, it is setting in the sun on my back step. No pictures - it is a secret until Knittrips receives it.

2. The TikkunTree Project - A community art-project advocating peace.

3. Ravelympics - To celebrate the summer olympics, a group of people over at Ravelry have organized this event. The basic idea is to choose a project (or projects) that would be a challenge, but not impossible, to knit during the summer olympics. I have joined in three events.

W(ork) I(n) P(rogress) Wrestling
Mitten Medley
Gift Knit Pentathlon

I haven't yet decided exactly what my projects will be.

Aunting

2008-06-30T19:23:00.002-06:00

This week, my two nephews, age 7 and 9, are staying with us. So far, so good. Today we: played outside with the hose, went to Crown Center and Union Station, drove through the Plaza looking for fountains, played video games, explored the sculpture park at the Nelson Atkins, and watched a movie about giant ants (Them!). My goal - get them to bed before 11 pm.

In knitting news: I have gotten past the first chart on my Icarus Shawl. Right now, it has over 375 stitches per row. The shawl grows at the rate of 4 stitches every other row. I just figured out that I messed up a row and will have to pull it back. UGH!

Science and Junior High Kids

2008-06-25T11:57:00.003-06:00

Last week and this week, I have been teaching "ecology" to 7th and 8th graders as part of our science camp. Last week we had the girls, this week the boys. I have placed "Ecology" in quotes because our lesson about determining species diversity has collapsed into - what is the insect? what is this plant? Which is fine, but if I do this again in the future, I want them to see that ecology is more than natural history.

Surprisingly, the girls seemed more enthusiastic collecting spiders than the boys. They had no problem with going into the tall grass and though there were screams when they found large spiders, they were really into it. The boys - not so much. They would have stayed at the edge of the field if we would have let them. Though once I told them "The girls last week had no problem getting into the tall grass", they finally went into the grass. While I don't like to appeal to stereotypes, I felt like I had to do something to get them into it. And, I knew it would work.

I have really enjoyed the experience and hope that I have been in some way a role model to these kids, even if it just demonstrating that most insects and spiders won't hurt you if you touch them.

Visitng the other side of the color wheel

2008-06-17T17:49:00.004-06:00

In balance with all of the cool blues of recent knits, I have also been knitting on the warm side of the spectrum.

Clockwise from the top we have

Icarus Shawl - Very easy lace knitting so far. I actually knit on this quite a lot during my recent road trip and at the conference we attending. I am now someone who knits during conference talks.

Corn Head Scarf - I have started collecting plant based yarns (linen, hemp, bamboo, etc), and I saw this yarn at the recent MisKnits sale. I have also been wanting to knit headbands to hold my hair back in the summer. Perfect timing, and so I came home with corn colored corn yarn (A-MAIZing in the Ducky colorway). I chose a pattern that reminded me of ears of corn.
Purple Gauntlets - I have more to say on these, and I plan to post a more in-depth post soon. Let's just say that there are issues. These purples are warmer in real life than the picture shows.

Love yarn from the Vicki Howell Collection, also purchased at MisKnits. The color is called Peter and Mary Jane (awww, how sweet). It is a blend of 30% silk and 70% bamboo. I am not sure what this yarn will become. I had my eye on a beret pattern, then I remembered I already have an orange beret. Suggestions?

And finally, the newly named "Flame Azalea" socks, previously known as "Candy Oranges". I decided to change the name because (1) this picture of flame azaleas reminded me of the socks, and (2) these are going to Sparkling Squirrel.

The final leg

2008-06-17T16:27:00.004-06:00

For completeness, I want to finish updating the highlights of my roadtrip with SS. After the day of plant hunting described previously, we started hotel hunting. We had about the same success rate, in that the first two towns we stopped in did not have hotels. Ok - one did, but the door to the office was locked with a sign that said, "Please call 555-1234 from the pay phone (there will is no charge)". But then there was this semi-scary guy who was involved in a conversation on the pay phone. We decided to move on to the next town. Finally, in Elizabethon, TN we found a decent hotel that just happened to have a Long John Silver's. I know LJS is not the best food for you, but I think SS and I have eaten there for every roadtrip we have been on together. I might be wrong, but it is kind of a tradition. Plus, we were too tired to do anything more elaborate. So we brought our fish, chicken, hush puppies, and cole slaw back to the hotel, watched a couple of episodes of "Top Chef" - a real treat since neither of us have cable at home, and knit. In a phone call to her husband that evening, SS learned of the 4.5 feet of water in her basement.

Despite knowing that a hard day of work lay ahead of us, we had a lovely time on the second day of driving.

We stopped at a winery (which I cannot remember the name of) and took a few minutes to knit on the patio overlooking the vineyard. Most of the wine was pretty good and we ended up bringing some home to Mr. SS.
We did not stop at too many places - we were both tired and we needed to be at the car rental place by 3 pm. We did stop at Tamarack, a huge store featuring crafts and products made in WV. We had also thought about eating lunch there, but the line was really long and none of the food sounded particularly tempting. In retrospect, I think we should have taken the time, because instead, we drove around the sad downtown of, I think, Beckley looking for a local restaurant. We finally found a place (again, I don't remember the name - I need to write my travelogues much closer to the actual days of travel), but it was not good. At least it was cheap.

We took a brief stop at the New River Gorge to view the bridge. You have to walk down lots of stairs.We did find a bird's nest on the way down.
You are rewarded with a wonderful view of the highest vehicular bridge in North America.

All in all it was a great roadtrip. I love traveling with SS. We have covered a lot of miles together and have always had a great time.

The next day - I helped SS and Mr. SS with basement cleanup. It was wet. And messy. And dirty. The national guard came by to pick up garbage from the flood. The fire department came by to wash the layer of mud off the streets. I swept up a lot of water and mud. We were all tired at the end of the day. But, we were all too muddy to take any photos.

The next day, we went to Pittsburgh (I flew out early the next morning), where we ate brunch, watched a Pirates game, and ate Indian Food.

Thanks SS and Mr. SS for your hospitality.

Blues Run the Game

2008-06-15T16:50:00.004-06:00

Knitting update.

Despite any reference to knitting in recent weeks, I have been productive. For your consideration, three projects in blue.

Blue Republic - Knit in yarn I spun from Bonker's Merino Top. My goal was to knit soft, bulky weight 2-yarn. I am happy with the yarn (though I need to work on consistency) and the hat. It still lacks a button embellishment.

Blue Skies Hat and Scarf Set - also from hand spun. I still need to weave in ends and block.
Close up of the scarf. This time I wanted a soft three-ply yarn. Again, need to work on consistency in spinning.
A secret sock project - the first Christmas present knitting I have finished.
Notice also the ceiling - no hole! Finally after over a month, the hole in the ceiling is repaired. Now we just need to put our living room back together.

In other news - the vertigo has subsided a bit. I actually did some gardening today!

The search for Trilliums, Mountain Laurels, and Rhododendrons

2008-06-15T06:14:00.005-06:00

In continuation of the travelogue of Jennifer and Sparkling Squirrel from Durham NC to Glenville West Virgina . . .

We planned to make our trip back to SS's house a two day trip - our mission was to search out cool blooming plants native to the Appalachian Region. We had three main targets were Painted Trilliums, Mountain Laurels, and Catawba Rhododendrons. Our eventual plan was to drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP).

On our way to the BRP, we stopped at the town of Boone, North Carolina for lunch. Both SS and I were surprised by the town - it was lively, seemingly, progressive, and really beautiful. We ate lunch at Melanie's, because the sign was covered with dancing vegetables.
The service was terrific and the selection was surprisingly varied. As the sign suggests, they have a lot of vegetarian and vegan offerings, as well as plenty of variety for carnivores. Cute decor on the inside - retro, vintage, chic. Later, as we were driving around town, we realized that Boone, NC is home to Appalachian State .

The coolest plant we saw in Boone - this beautiful Solanum, growing as a weed in the hedgerow of the parking lot.

From there we went to Julian Price Park in search of Painter Trilliums. We suspected we were a bit late in the season, but hoped that maybe there was a late bloomer or two. One the trail to the Trilliums we did see - Hawkweeds. I don't know why, but I am really enchanted with hawkweeds. They grow as lawn weeds in that part of the country, looking like delicate dandelions with really hairy leaves (Seriously, if you have hawkweeds in your yard, take a close look at the leaves)
We also saw a club moss.
And lots of buttercups.
We finally did find the Trilliums, but they were not blooming. Here is picture of what we hoped to have found.

From there we drove to Linville Falls, in search of Mountain Laurels. In the parking lot we saw flame azaleas . .

. . . and more hawkweeds.
Up the trail we did find blooming mountain laurels, which I was able to photograph before my camera battery died. Unfortunately, I did not have the spare with me, so I don't have photos of the falls themselves. The falls are worth the hike.

Our next stop was the Rhododendron Gardens - where we hoped to see Rhododendrons. In the parking lot, I became enchanted with these bluets, also called Quaker Ladies.
While we were too late for the trilliums, we were too early for the Catawba Rhododendrons. Imagine this scene full of pink blossoms.
We did see some blooming, but at lower elevations.

One treat at the Rhododendron Gardens was one late blooming Trillium, different species from the painted trillium.

V is for . . .

2008-06-12T12:16:00.002-06:00

Vertigo, which has left me in bed the last 1 1/2 days. This is something I have experienced before, and have been told is due to an inner ear infection. A . . .

Viral infection at that, so there is nothing to do but wait it out. The last time it lasted about 4 days. If I move around to much, I become very nauseous. If I lay on my right side, the room just spins, and spins, and spins. If I keep my head very still, I am ok. Until I get up again. It is incredibly . . .

Vexing. There are so many other things I would like to be doing. Gardening, working on my research, working on my classes for next semester, exercising, . . . you get the idea. This is also going to prevent us going to Steve's family reunion this weekend. However, I am getting a lot of moving watching in. So far I have watched: "From Russia with Love", "Marnie", "To Catch a Thief", and "The

Village". My other main activity, besides staring at the wall, has been reading blogs on the internet. I can't do much typing (too much turning my head), or internet research (again, the need to turn my head to write things down), but I can read blogs pretty easily.

I hope finish blogging about the West Virginia trip soon.

Raleigh, NC

2008-06-09T04:10:00.004-06:00

My friend and traveling companion for this trip, Sparkling Squirrel, is in an unusual competition with her family. The goal, to visit all of the state capitols first. This has been an long-term competition, and SS was able to gain an advantage this week - she is know the only one in her family to have visited Raleigh, North Carolina. The North Carolina capitol was only about a 30 minute drive from Durham, where we were staying for the conference. I was honored to be a part of her family tradition.

The capitol

The Presidents from North Carolina

An old water tower

At this conference (Annual Meeting for Economic Botany), I learned about iconography, and how it can inform us how about the use of plants in past cultures.

North Carolina Iconography

Live plants in Raleigh.

We had a fun side trip - only slightly getting lost. We have come to the conclusion that North Carolina does not feel the needs for signs, as we saw no signs for either Duke University or the State Capitol. Luckily, we were, eventually, able to find both.

Plants at Duke

2008-06-07T17:04:00.005-06:00

I have a lot I want to write about my recent trip. SS and I left Thursday morning and drove up in the mountains of North Carolina to view to Mountain Laurels and rhododendrons. It was a great time, but on Wed. night, her basement flooded with over four feet of water. We returned to her house last night and have spent the day today cleaning out the basement. I am exhausted. So the long post about the roadtrip will have to wait for another day. In the meantime, I wanted to share some of the cool plants we say on the Duke Campus.

A view from a gazebo at the Sarah P.Duke Gardens.

Turn-about - Poison Ivy with a disease on it.

Jayhawk in Blue Devil Teritory

2008-06-03T20:40:00.003-06:00

They are small things.

1. The check-in personnel for the dorms leaving 10 minutes before the listed check-in time was over.
2. Being told to bring towels, when in fact they provide towels in the dorm (towels take up a lot of space in the suitcase)
3. Maps with roads that don't exist, and lacking roads that do, resulting in getting lost.
4. No hot tea, except Lipton. (I have become such a tea snob)
5. A huge splinter in my tea from the stir stick.
6. Getting lost in the gardens.
7. A knitting needle, found broken in the morning when it was perfectly fine when put away the night before (size 1, dpn, wood).
8. The incorrect internet password.
9. Changing internet password on Monday morning without telling us.
10. Really skimpy pillows.

But they do add up. Makes me wonder if the Duke Blue Devil somehow senses that SS and I graduated with Ph.D. from KU.

Actually, most of the people associated with Duke have been great. Today we were lost (again) on campus, and a really friendly woman gave us directions. I am just glad that we are not staying at the University of North Carolina.

On the road to Durham

2008-06-02T14:36:00.006-06:00

Yesterday, Sparkling Squirrel (SS) and I drove from Glenville West Virginia to Durham North Carolina to attend the 49th Annual Society for Economic Botany Conference. We drove a combination of Interstates and more scenic routes. It was a good trip - we did see mountain laurels and azaleas in bloom. We did not find a good place to stop and take pictures though.

As we ere driving through White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, we started talking about the fancy resort there called Greenbrier. From what SS tells me, this is the oldest resort in the country, which once catered to Thomas Jefferson. On a whim, SS decided we needed to check it out to see what it looks like. We pulled up to the little gate house, and the very nice security guard welcomed us to look around and enjoy the shops. We drove around and the place was gorgeous, in that perfectly manicured, clean way. Very Great Gatsby.

They had wonderful, vibrant displays of snapdragons. Another highlight was a perfectly manicured croquet lawn. My camera battery ran out, so unfortunately, I did not get many good pictures.
After driving around a bit, SS asked if I wanted to see anything else. My reply - "The bathroom". I had to go and I knew they bathrooms would be nice. We went into the main building, through many of the fancy shops and into the main lobby. Very elegant. The website, linked above, has nice interior shots. The bathrooms were nice - they even had cloth towels for drying your hands.

From there we drove through Virginia, stopping at Napoli's in Alta Vista for a delicious lunch.

I did some knitting along the way. Introducing my newest sock, which I am calling "Candy Orange ", as the color of the yarn and the pattern remind me of those jelly, candy orange slices. The pattern is "Primavera" by S(t)ockinette, which is available as a free download.

We arrived safely at Duke yesterday afternoon.
Tomorrow: The challenges of a Kansas Jayhawk in Blue Devil Territory.