The Journey Begins -- and continues!

NOTE: Remember I said I'd be bloggin' from the road? Well - I did. Tuesday night we stayed at a Super 8, which as we all know ALL have "free high-speed internet". And it did, but the signal was "low" and "very low" and dicey. Still, I carried on. I wrote a wonderful, clever, humorous, insightful and entertaining blog. Easily the best blog I've ever written; perhaps the best that ANYone has ever written.

And it disappeared. Gone. PPFFFTTT!! I didn't believe it - I rebooted, checked, rebooted again, checked again, and OH YES, ladeeeeez and gennulmens, there was the title (lawsy it was clever...can't bring it to mind just here, but do take my word for it) and the first line. Only. Sooooo....this is the first of my travelblogs. Again. (I don't delude myself, I'll never again attain that original brilliance - just {{sniff}} carry on.

Although this has NEVER happened before, we got out of our Outreach program Tuesday a little later than we'd intended. {koff koff} We hurried home to feed the cats before leaving town - ignore the verklempt lady behind the curtain - and headed out. First stop: REI to return some shoes (Mr Dearling) and then a quick run into Target for the monthly Rx refill (me). THEN we were actually On Our Way. EN ROUTE. Travellin'.

We drove to the Twin Cities where we stayed overnight with my darlin' sister-in-law, and Wednesday morning, we turned our noses west and headed out. Oh....I discovered that I had apparently forgotten my cordless mouse which I much enjoy, so before leaving St Paul we stopped at Target (there're lots of them there) and I got a wonderful new small mouse for Hermione with my gift card from the last birthday.

NOTE: I actually DID manage to sort, pack, find patterns, find needles, pack, remember clean underwear, find yarns and highlighters and so on -- although I did seem to pass over the mouse. Nevermind.

There was scenery-admiring, dozing and knitting happening on my side of the car and driving happening on Mr Dearling's side of the car. We got to Moorehead, MN and stopped for lunch at a Burger King. Mr Dearling hoped they had the same "Double Whopper for $1.39" special we had to home, but they did not. So he appeased himself with two "Whopper-Junior-for-a-Dollarses" and for MY part, I had a pair of "burger shots". These would be teetiny hamburgers of the approximate dimensions of the White Castles in days of yore. We used to say "they hide the patty under the pickle". Doesn't matter, the teetiny burgers were tasty, and with the rather superior fries, were a fine meal.

NOTE: This is NOT a food critic blog; however it may appear to be on acccount of I sometimes obsess think about food and eateries and so on, and I have been known to comment that an event can succeed or fail, depending entirely on the nosh.

Our first Planned Destination was the Red River Zoo in Fargo, NorthDakota. That was my fault: I showed Mr Dearling pictures on line of newborn triplet RED PANDAS at that zoo. Those are his favorite cutest-ever animals; nothing for it, being as we were going to be in the area ("area" in this case being "North Dakota") we went there.

Well - there WERE triplet Red Pandas...but they're not going to be on exhibit until the end of August. HOWEVER! The trip was way worth it anyway because they have all kind o' unusual and rare and endangered animals there and they are a link in this worldwide chain of zoos who have breeding programs to try to prevent the entirely-disapearingness of some of these animals. Also, they had a married pair of peafowl strutting around on the paths amongst the people....and they had a tiny peewee peachick with them.

NOTE: there ARE pictures; however, I can't figure out how come I can't "edit" them to fix their size, brightness &c on Hermione so will have to do something of an albumoid deal when I get home.

We then continued toward Minot, and saw a sign indicating two towns coming up: WHEATland and CHAFFee. How cool is that?

By the way.....Interesting Observation: the speed limit in North Dakota on the highway is 75 mph !! This means that one can actually - and legally - drive about 80-85 mph. We did notice, though, that at speeds higher than THAT, we began hearing this really weird noise......coming from the passenger seat.

NOTE: it is difficult driving west in the late afternoon, especially when there is a haze of tiny bugs beset by bad karma, and some pollen-oid matter. Mr Dearling, who Prepares for Contingencies, stopped and cleaned off the windscreen with Windex.

Upon arriving in Minot we had the good fortune of finding ourselves right next to the railroad tracks at the depot just as the Empire Builder was pulling out for its journey west. It was really exciting seeing the train, and because there were a few lights on in the people cars (as opposed to cattle cars) I could see in, where folks both upstairs and down were settling in for their trip. I would LOVE to take a train trip across country, even half-way, and be able to sleep in a pullman car and eat in the dining car, &c. I hear, however, that it is FRIGHTFULLY spendy, but a girl can dream.

Also...car travel with one's Best Beloved (who does all the driving while one knits, reads, writes, &c, see above) is a very fine way to travel indeed.

As the hour is now late (although not as late as it used to be, being as we're now in Mountain Time) I will leave the Minot Experience to relate tomorrow evening (allowing as how the place we're staying THERE....for the three days around the wedding....says it has GOOD WiFi in the attractive lobby, which will suit me (and Hermione) just fine.

So ends this day's travel. (NOTE: the free WiFi at this Super 8 is.....SUPER! And it's in Glendive, MT, if you happen to be passing this way.)

Preparing for Panic Mode...

It is Time. Officially. Monday-before-we-leave-on-Tuesday-evening. Which means that I should be efficiently starting to pack the things I'll need for about twelve days' journey away from home. I believe I may have commented before, how I feel about travelling. My sister was in the womb before me (she's six years older) and she took ALL the Wanderlust Genes. She and her husband have lived in Paris and Florence, have visited Africa and India and in South America. It's been perfect as they've been able to afford it - and my brother-in-law is an accomplished photographer, so he's taken advantage of their perambulations.

I, on the other hand, have a Taproot. I like my little nest. My Home. I like being able to get up in the middle of the night, go into the kitchen and grab a nosh out of the fridge, meander to the bathroom petting cats on the way and then going back to bed -- all without opening my eyes.

This is not to say that I dislike travel. We've been some wonderful places, Mr Dearling and I and I relish each and every day and experience. But it's finite. I think the longest time I can be from home is probably three weeks. As we turned onto our street after our amazing three-week trip to Nova Scotia (and I wouldn't have missed an instant of it) I said, "Isn't it grand, coming back to our own digs?" and HE said "I could've gone right past Seminole and kept going."

That was a Learning Moment - one which has not affected our relationship one jot. Sometimes he goes off on a walkabout (or more accurately "motorcycle-about" or "drive-about") for a few days or a couple of weeks. While he's gone, he throws his sleeping bag down where he is, sometimes not even bothering with a tent. He lives on peanut butter or cheese sandwiches and he hikes and walks -- sometimes skis -- and has delicious and halcyon days.

For my part, while he's gone, I keep odd hours, spend most of the time on the couch watching endless teevee and eating things he's not fond of: shrimp, frozen dinners, stuff like that. And I read, and knit, and doze with the cats....in short, I have delicious and halcyon days.

But when things like this come up, I'm excited. The purpose of this jaunt is because we've been honored with an invitation to the wedding of the darling daughter of dear friends. She's a very outdoorsy girl, marrying an equally-outdoorsy guy, amidst the beauty of the mountains which they both adore. They live there, too, for quite some time, so it's also THEIR mountains. The bride asked if I'd write a Wedding Prayer - they're having pretty much a secular ceremony, but asked seven friends to write prayers for them. (Where there is love, the ceremony is spiritual anyway -- intimately spiritual.)

So we're leaving tomorrow after a museum program. And I'm packing. Now, as a largely non-travelling type, I'm inexperienced here. But I'm taking a pair of sweatpants in case I NEED something of a pant-y type. And I'm taking four dresses (plus the one I'll wear) and three aprons, as that's my Daily Dress (a couple of my dresses will serve nicely for the mountain wedding, too). I've made lists: pills, dental stuff, earrings, brush/comb and so forth. I'm pretty confident about all that.

BUT!! See, this is a GRAND knitterly opportunity. Mr Dearling loves to drive, and he had a very fine GPS unit. It's between his ears. He reads maps like some people read novels. Which means, all the windshield time is KNITTING TIME!!

So the TRICKY PACKING will be determining 1) what yarns, needles and projects to take; which (photocopied) patterns to tuck in; being sure all necessary tools are present. 2) All current books being read, some for study and some for pleasure -- and which magazines as well....and of course the Guidebook of Yarn Shops all over the country. (Mr Dearling is not averse to my shouting "OVER THERE!! IT SAYS 'YARN'!!") 3) Writing tools. I have stories in the hopper, I have the beginnings of a novel which my Writers' Group said MUST BE DONE. SO that means notebooks, sticky notes, highlighters, pencils....and hard copies of some WIPs.

I've gotten a slightly-bigger notebook for writing things down outside of my blogosphere book, too. And of course.....of COURSE!!...I'm taking Hermione. I thought about taking Daisy, too, but Hermione's the man for the job,and Lovely Daughter can take Daisy while we're gone.

NOTE: In case you missed earlier posts: Daisy is my beloved Dell laptop, large of screen and wondrous. I love her. She is my cherished one. Aaah, but then there's Hermione. She's a teetiny netbook, notebook -- itty bitty laptop. Mr Dearling tells me that she's as gutsy as Daisy, though. She has USB ports but no disk drives or anything, so of course I'll be bringing Ygraine. Ygraine's the flashdrive. In fact, I have a new flashdrive JUST for my fiction, my stories, my ideas....she'll be coming along too.

Which means, when I find myself in the presence of the Almighty WiFi, I'll be able to blog from the road, keep up with e-mail, look in on Facebook and Twitter, and I won't miss my daily dose of Cute Overload (my first online check) and the LOLCats. And....these (and you MAUST DOINGK EET!): the Itty Bitty Kitties followed by Pitter-patting Baby Cats. You won't regret it - I start every day with these.

Why Dale-Harriet, whenever do you have time to BLOG??? (Ooops)

So what I'm saying is, in this the 21st century, I'll still have access to the electronic comforts of home. Admittedly, I may have to seek out a library or MacDonalds to get them, but there you are. We'll be staying in motels occasionally - certainly while we're at the wedding and festivities. But otherwise, we're going CAMPING ! Like, you know, MODERN normal ordinary human being camping!

In place of my canvas wedge with no floor and my deerskins and feather tick and candle lanterns (NOTE: I dearly love those, and enjoy our days spent in the 18th century) it's going to be LUXURIOUS to have a poptent with a floor and, you know, windows! With SCREENS! Sleeping bags. Battery lanterns. WEINIES!!

So let me reiterate. I need to pack for: Clothing and personal hygiene and stuff. Underwear. Socks. Petticoats. Brush and comb. That's one big suitcase.

And I need to pack for Knitting. One basket to keep up front with me with current projects, and one bag for yarn, extra patterns, extra needles, extra tools - and the Yarn Store guidebook (see above).

And Writing: blogosphere book, small travel journal, flashdrives, ideas notebook, pens, pencils, erasers, highlighters...those can be in the tote bag with the books for reading. It's time I begin browsing books about the Metis women in the Fur Trade, being as I'm slated to give a program about them in November. Now, that seems like months and MONTHS away, but I know how this sh** works; before I know it, it'll be day-after-next.

Then there's the music - a few tapes, a few CDs (I have an adapter for playing the portable CD player in the car which is Pre-CD-Players-in-Cars-Thenk-Yew.)

OK. The. Time. Has. Come.

WATCH THIS SPACE!

From There to Here, and more

Cricket dozes (I love her "Edwardian Dandy hair" markings!)

So I had a wonderful time in the Twin Cities. You know how, if you haven't seen a BFF for oh say 20 years, and you get back together...the conversation picks up as though you'd just gone to get the mail and come back in. I got there, I moved in (well, I know it was only a few days, but a girl has to have her book bag, her knitters' rolling case, her knitting basket, her music case for tapes, CDs, tape player and CD player, her little box o' drugs required by old age...what am I forgetting? OH! a few clothes) and we broke out the knittin' and it was Game On! Now, the truth is, the staid, respectable, calm, knittin', writin', readin', museum-guidin' historical-reenactin' cat lady you see before you is NOT the same free-thinking, heavy-drinking, college-student roaring hippie as I was when we were college girls.

Well - she is. I mean, I *am*, but older, mellower, and dare I say cooler than I was. I do believe I've cleaned up good. So has Auntie Barb. Her life has been more professional and "real" than mine in many ways, but our bond is in no way diminished. She too shares her home with two cats (Cricket and Lilly). She too works at a museum (demonstrating spinning, among other things). She too reads a WHOLE LOT. And we like the same foods. So Wednesday evening and Thursday were spent engaging n a variety of those pursuits, accompanied by non-stop talking. Non-stop. Oh - we share another quirk: both nights we were up past 2:00 a.m.

This is Lilly, she of the Probable Maine Coon heritage; she was checking me out and therefore not displaying her breathtaking tail.

Barb figured the last time we actually spent a few days together was 22 years ago; I can't remember, so suspect she's right - and yet, once we were settled in, stretched out, and had yarn and needles in hand, we picked up our conversation as though it had been interrupted for lunch. I was there from Wednesday to Sunday, and can tell you straight up that I left with a determination to repeat the experience pretty soon. For one thing, we didn't get done all we'd planned to do. We didn't, for example, get to the Star Wars exhibit - so I can use that as the excuse to go back before it ends. And there are meals we didn't get to.

There used to be a Chinese restaurant in Minneapolis called The Nankin. It had been there since three weeks before God, because it had been my Mom's favorite eatery since she was a young woman. Barb and I loved to go there, especially for their "Pressed Duck". WELL! Sit down and shut your mouth!! Seems there's a new restaurant run by someone who used to be at the Nankin - and rumor has it that THEY MAKE PRESSED DUCK, the same recipe ! I can tell you, I am SO packing Barb into the car and going there...furthermore, my sister tells me it's near Rudolph's, home of the finest barbecued ribs constructed on this earth. (Disclaimer -- that's other than the ribs made with sauce created by my Lovely Daughter .)
On Friday morning, I arranged to get together with my sister, who lives in Minneapolis. To my ecstatic delight great relief, it was very easy to get to her house from Barb's. The directions went something like: Take the major road from Barb's. It turns into the major road that goes over the river. When you get across the bridge turn right and proceed to Sister's house. (It's a different bridge than the one I always took before - remember the horrendous bridge collapse? Yeah, that one.) So I got to my sister's as though I knew where I was going too.

We headed back out to go to my nephew's house; he lives near Lake Calhoun. Every once in a while there are beautiful lake views on the blog of Chris , a fellow knitter-Minneapolitan who is owned by two cats. As you can see, I got to ride in Big Sister's convertible ! I might have ridden in a convertible before, but I don't remember where or when. Sister loaned me a sunshade like hers, and I felt....gee, I guess the best word to describe it is snazzy . Yep, I felt snazzy. I tried to adopt a casual "I-do-this-all-the-time" look, but you know, I don't think anyone noticed. Everyone who drove around us probably figured I rode around in convertibles all the time. Still, I thought it was a lot of fun.

When we got to Nephew's house, we opened the door and his four-year-old son rushed from the back of the house - and flung himself into MY arms!! (I think his grandma was non-plussed for a moment...but Nephew explained that a) he had told the lad we were coming; b) he HAD seen me before, though it was a while ago; c) I WAS with his grandma, and therefore probably OK. I asked my sweet great-nephew if I might take a picture of him, and he said "Sure!" So I did:

Is this not a major case of Four-Year-Old-ness? The truth is, he's a wonderful boy, as pleasing in manner as appearance, and I hereby issue a warning to the mothers of all three-year-old girls in Minneapolis: there is a true heart-throb among you; in about twelve years, pay attention!

There are also adorable twin sisters, age two, who were rarely moving slowly enough to get a good picture of, but imagine bright, enthusiastic, energetic little girls and you have it. Nephew and I discussed the fact that my children and he and his two sisters are, while not "estranged" with all the negative connotation, pretty much out of touch. My family is really small - my sister and I each have three children. Our parents are gone, our aunts and uncles are gone -- as he said, "It's pretty much just US." So we've made a promise to connect via the innerwebs (how DID we survive without it?) and my kids were delighted at the thought of being in touch with their cousins, too.

We had a nice lunch, Big Sister and I. We're getting together at the end of the month at a hotel in LaCrosse - not as far a drive for either of us as our own homes. (Also it's a "time away", which is fun.) She's bringing her two BFFs from high school, who put up with me tagging along as the nuisance Little Sister, but I've always liked them. It's going to be a very fun time, and I'll report back.

"But Dale-Harriet, did you go anywhere else?" Why, matter o' fact, we DID! And just where do you suppose a couple o' old knitters might go? On a YARN CRAWL! (This is what you were waiting for, n'est-ce pas?)

We first visited The Yarnery , which is actually in my old neighborhood. Now it's pretty much yuppified. My $87/month apartment is now a condo and probably a LOT MORE than that. (It had a fireplace, leaded windows, high ceilings - such a deal! Willie and I were married there, in front of the fireplace.)


One of the funnest things? Well, since her eye surgery (the reason for my going up, remember?) she can see COLORS better! She said it's like a layer of old yellowed wax had been removed and she's appreciating the clarity and brightness a whole lot. Can you imagine a nicer place to sit? I managed to resist saying "I'll have two of each, please. I had visited this shop on an earlier visit, and they're dear to my heart: they saved a signed copy of the Yarn Harlot's book for me. It's a very comfortable shop, and the ladies are helpful and outgoing. It's impossible to get out of a LYS without buying something but I had promised myself to Be Good. (Remember that promise as you keep reading.) But I DID find a row counter thingie you can wear around your neck, which has a LOCK on it! That, ladies and gentlemen, was a must-have, and godsend. I'm doing a Dr Who scarf, remember? This is one very cool thingie. (Barb was sore in need of point protectors too, and found her favorite kind.)

We also found another shop, not so far from "home base": Borealis Yarns . Barb didn't think she'd been before; we both figured we be there again. Can you say "Every time I'm in the Cities!"?

OK - when I got to this wall, I practically made a spectacle of myself, falling to my knees and sobbing. Well. That might be a bit extreme. Let me say this: that is a whole LOT of Cascade 220, arranged in that delicious rainbow-oid effect -- and right next to it, the same thing in Lamb's Pride worsted. Those happen to be my two most favoritest yarns for stuff, on account of I love the colors, it's all genuine off-the-sheepie wool , I get the best stitch definition from it, it's easy for me to use, and it doesn't break the bank. (Unless, you know, you DO buy two of every color. NO I DIDN'T!) But I almost got a case of Roaring Hives thinking about it. And that was the FIRST wall I saw! There are a lot o' walls in there. I admired, I cooed, I ogled, I stroked...I was fine, until I got to this one:

This is a Wall of Noro. Allow me to repeat that. A Wall of Noro . I was struck dumb. Transfixed. Hypnotized. I gawked. I gawped. I bought. What can I say? Now...see that basket at the bottom? Noro SOCK YARN. I've heard about it, I've read about it - I wanted to get down and ask for its autograph. Now, my "socks" are the kind in the pattern book for Teaching the Slow-Witted; I see those beautiful socks knitted by the pros with Eyes of Reverence. But you know - even my idiot socks, made out of Noro sock yarn, are going to be eye-watering. And I'm making a pair for ME ME ME. {ahem. excuse me.} So a skein of it went to the counter where it waited for me.

Here's another shot of that wall:

And yes, I bought some. Some of those shelves are Noro "Silk Garden"; confronted with it like that, just sitting there in all its sultry, mysteriousness, (I swear I caught the faintest hint of patchouli and finger cymbals) I could not resist. And you know, fair's fair - so I bought some of the regular Kureyon too. Now, before ye judge me harshly, (and the reason there's no picture of my plunder) is because some of it is for the Lovely Daughter. Don't you always bring something to your little girl when you go away? Heck, I brought home three hearty catnip plants and a pair of sparkly balls for my furry daughters. Fair's fair.


All in all, "a good time was had by all."