MOOCHDOCKING AND MOVING ON

A week ago when we pulled up to Bob and Deb Cline's farm, we had planned to leave Wednesday or Thursday.  

Ole man Murphy had a different idea.  The weather climbed well into the nineties.  There were air quality alerts which made it impossible for John to be out and about.  

Bob and Deb graciously asked us to stay there until we could travel and John could enjoy being outdoors without putting his health in jeopardy. 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, John and Bob worked on the motorhome.  The generator had been giving us a hard time.  Now, the Genny runs smooth as a kitten!

Monday, Deb and I sat on the deck and were spinning away while watching and listening to the different voices of the sheep.  Oliver, Olivia and Fergus the Australian Sheep Dog got to know each other.  

Tuesday, Deb continued to spin and I brought out my antique circular sock machine.  Being away from my fiber equipment for over a year has created quite a review and relearning experience.  Finally, I feel at home again with my wheel and my CSM.  

Wednesday, John mounted the brackets on the trailer bed for holding the bicycles.  Yeah!  Now, we don't have to have the bikes inside the motorhome while driving!  That was a pain!  

 The gathering was an all day affair, so I got quite a bit of spinning completed.  I was even able to  ply the yarns in to two ply yarn.  Now, I need to decide what I am going to knit with it. 

Yesterday, we arrived at Grand Harbor State Park.  The drive was a short one, thank goodness as we had a late start.  

After our late start, we stopped at Bed Bath & Beyond for coffee pods for the Keurig and a few little, miscellaneous items.  Then, John went in Menards (a Home Depot or Loews for all out west).  

We needed a couple two by fourteen boards for the car to sit on.  Right now since the Miata is a little two seater and sits close to the trailer floor and the door hits the metal rail. Right now, it is hard to exit the Miata after driving the it on the trailer.

Getting to Grand Haven was a breeze.  And what a breeze we have here....simply maaavalous. 

The culture shock really got to us though.  Being accustomed to large, roomy campsites, welllll, let's have a look.  Drum roll please!  And on our left....Does the name Intruder describe our situation?  

This unity is cozily tucked to our right.  We can't say that we have a site with a great view.  But, we are here for just two nights and tonight is the second.  But wait!  I am not finished....
THIS IS THE VIEW FROM OUR FRONT WINDOW!

If we were staying here for a full two weeks or even one week, I think I'd be a little bit nuts before the end.  BUT, we are leaving tomorrow.  Ahhh, all is well.

We went to the beach to try to capture a beautiful sunset.  What we got was a so, so sunset.  Here are a few of the photos I took.  Maybe someone will enjoy the sunset at Lake Michigan.  

I enjoy the sailboat with the United States Flag.  It was not in the sunset, but love it anyway.  United we stand!  





T H E . . . . .

  

E N D  !  



You KNOW John is going to get me when he sees this!  

Good Night and God Bless!

Smoky Mountains

The Smoky Mountain Fiber Art Festival is over.  We have made many great, new friends.  My classes were fun to teach and students have returned home with their scarves, purses and felting materials.  Oliver joined the class for a while and eagerly helped the students as you can see on one of the photos.  Felting is not an art for the weak.  It takes tremendous energy.  What I love about teaching is seeing the creativity of each student.  You can see their personalities come out in their work.  The students give me energy and gives me the desire to return to my studio and continue with my experiments with color, fiber and design. 

Again, the knit lights were a huge success along with the hand thrown pottery knitting bowls by John Todd of Paw Paw Pottery.  I am amazed with the colors that I regularly have great sales.  It seems that black is hard to find and, of course, I have it.  Choral is the new color for 2011 and is running a close race with black for top sales.  The student that chose to make a choral purse, of course, had to leave early and I didn't get a photo of her finished product. 

Thank goodness it is time to rest.  Three days of sales and two of teaching can make a person weary.  Now we are parked next to the Little River in Townsend Tennessee and letting the sound of the rapids sooth us.  John is planning on getting his fishing rod out and I may even join him.  Last night, he saw fish jumping and it totally excited about finally getting to fish.  In seven weeks of travel, he was unable, or unwilling to pay the high price of an out of state fishing license to fish a day or two to fish. 

We will leave for home Tuesday.  John has physician appointments Tuesday and Wednesday, then we are off to Bowling Green, Ohio, for the Black Swamp Spinners Guild Market Day.  I hope to see some of you there!

T Minus 4 .... Finally

In four days, we are outta here! OH Happy Day! After installing the cherry hardwood floors in the majority of our home and being dog tired from the effort, we are ready for a break. We have and more delays than there are M & M's, but finally, the brakes are fixed as well as the list of other fixes on the motor home. Sigh......

Zack (grandson #1) and Danielle's wedding is Friday evening, then we are free to roam westward. Ya know, it seems like yesterday that I was rushing from Indy to Cincy to be with my daughter and help with my first grandson. Oh, what a joy he was! (and is)..... And his big sister was such a hoot. Now, they are adults, making their own decisions, planning for their futures. What is a grandparent to do? We pray. We pray for them to have God's guidance and wisdom as they make their life choices. We pray for their safety as they go through life. That, my friends, is what we are here for...... to pray for our children and our grandchildren. That is the best thing we can do for them.

Speaking of children, our first direction will be westward to California. Daughter # 2 is there. She has been there for a long time (a mother speaking here). It will be so good to see her and share her new life for a while.

After California, we will head for Texas - taking our time. We will then spend the rest of our time exploring the "wild, wild west".

I will be taking my spinning wheel, fiber to spin, wet felting supplies and my new to me antique circular sock machine. Oh my gosh........what a learning curve there is to mastering making socks on that dear ole antique Legare 400. Let's see, I've started and restarted a sock so many times that I have lost count. BUT....each time, I get a bit further along on the sock. Today, I finished the heel and started on the foot before I dropped stitches and took it off the machine.....again! big, big sigh along with an eyeroll. Oh yes,,,, John will be taking his new rigid heddle weaving loom. Thanks goodness we have plenty of room!

I don't think I will be able to work on the CSM any more until we are on the road. Tomorrow, we shop for my shoes for the wedding, get a wedding present, pick up some food items from GFS, do some health food store shopping. Then we make a stop at the vet for micro chipping of Noah, the cat and Oliver, the dog.
purchase more ink for the printer so that I can finish copying information for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that is coming up in June.

I am co-chair of the festival and this will be my first year directing the activities from a computer in route to many destinations. The classes have been scheduled, most of the vendors are set, competitions are in the planning stanges, so most of the work is done.

We pick up the motor home Thursday, pack and be ready for the great escape on Saturday. My suggestion was to take the motor home to the wedding and head out right afterward, but for some strange reason there was a veto....spoil sport!

We have another winter storm watch,...another 6 inches of snow predicted....oh happy day! Calgon....(motor home), take me away!

Until next time....