Dinner Date

Girl-child and I had a dinner date before I left town (and before she went to summer camp - two weeks without being able to pester her at all. It's a mother's trial).

Anyway, we went to Cafe Ena which was spectacularly delicious.

And then we stopped by The Wild Rumpus which was so much fun. I hadn't been there in ages.  This is the ceiling:

The chickens run free now (they used to be caged).

And we walked around Lake of the Isles. What a lot of fun we had. Being and empty-nester has its benefits but I sure do enjoy my kids when I get to see them.

Orlando

I went to Orlando for work last week. It was my first "working" PhD residency.

In addition to it going well, we had some good food, including grilled baby octopi:

I'm sure I had never realized that I needed a TV in the mirror of my hotel bathroom.  Not!  How weird is that?

Outrageous light fixtures seem to be a thing in convention hotels.  And wild carpet.  I failed to photograph the carpet but here's the chandelier from the lobby:

Happily, I seem to be approved for TSA pre-check most of the time.  I'm not sure how it happened, but I will not complain.  I love not having to take off my shoes or take out my laptop and toiletries bag.  Except the buckles on my shoes set the thing off and I had to take off my shoes anyway.  Lesson:  travel in Toms after this, even if they don't match as well:

I love being a librarian.  In the old days, when I worked for the Evil Airline That No Longer Exists, I didn't like telling people I was in the airline business 'cause they always told me their worst travel horror stories.  In stark contrast, everyone loves librarians ... and who doesn't enjoy being loved?

I'm Usually Better at Keeping a Secret

I was just so excited about these Superpower Mitts that I couldn't wait. I showed them to Girl-child on July 4th. They're for her birthday in November.

I guess sometimes I'm just no good at keeping secrets. Besides, she just had her wisdom teeth out so she's been sick and needed a surprise.

Also, I finished Itineris.  Rose the Gypsy gave me the blue yarn and I purchased the greet at Yarnover.  There's another hank of blue. My plan is to make another something so that RtG can have one and I'll keep the other.

And I (finally) started my big lace project for the year.  It's the "without" version of the With or Without Shawl.  It's not Estonian but it has a lot of nupps, so it's in lieu of an Estonian shawl (my goal was to make something Estonian or Orenburg style).

I'm not sure about the nupps.  I guess I'll look at them over the next few days and decide if I should keep going or rip it out and start over.  

Holy Cow!

I don't think I've ever seen window washers without a little bit of scaffolding to stand on, but there they were yesterday:

And it was a pretty windy day, so I'm sure they were getting quite a ride!