D.C.

I went to DC to see Boy-child Saturday.  Actually, I went Friday night because they don't have the Saturday morning flight to National any more :(

Of course I had to take advantage of the trip to pop into Fibre Space.  Such a fabulous store.

We had lunch at Lyon Hall in Arlington.  It was yummy.

Boy-child humored me and we went to the Folger Shakespeare Library which was FABULOUS.

I don't know why I'd never been before.

It's cherry blossom time right now.

Now I'm back home with my newly acquired Miss Babs Yowza in Zinfandel.   

 

I would say I wish we had Miss Babs available here in Minnesota, but I think it's a good thing we don't.  The sock yarns are wonderful.  I have high hopes for the Yowza.

Whirlwind London: Stop the First

With limited time, a traveler has to plan well.  I arrived Thursday morning, dropped off my suitcase at the hotel and headed for the Tate Modern.

While the permanent collection there is fabulous, the highlight of my visit was the Calder Exhibit.  Unfortunately, photography is prohibited in the special exhibits, but I do have a few photos of selections from the permanent collection.

Cocon du Vide by Chen Zhen

There's even stuff for fiber lovers:

I do love modern art (in general).

And this was an interesting exhibit:

The World Goes Pop was also good, but really, the Calder exhibit was spectacular.   If you get to London by April 3 next year do go and see it :D

Mostly Mosaics + Random Stuff

I'm a day behind ... here are a few shots from yesterday. For my free days I got a museum pass, which included the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum.

It's in an old palace across from the Blue Mosque.  The museum is so-so.

I never knew Muslims went in for relics, but they have relics, including hairs from The Prophet's beard.

My pass also included the Mosaics Museum, which has pieces of the Byzantine (Justinians?) palace.

The whole thing was found by accident.

There are so many layers of history here it's hard to keep track.

The detail is quite extraordinary.

Also, for Boy-child, here's what the water pipes look like at the cafes that offer them (hookas, not bongs):

Random shot of old wall with "new" (17th century) minarets.

Entrance to the Grand Bazaar.

Cool gate:

Amazing house:

I leave in the middle of the night tonight.  Can't wait to load my photos on my own computer so I can fix stuff up. (Digital cameras are great but it's really frustrating when you can't see the screen for the sunshine.  I'm a firm believer in cropping and straightening).

Stay-cation: St Paul

We had a slumber party at my place last weekend - Room Service (aka Bite Squad) dinner, movie, popcorn .... and then on Sunday morning we went to St Paul on the train for a low-stress day trip.

Girl-child claims it is not her fault that we ended up at the History Center before it opened.  Not sure why she was in charge of this since she has pulled this trick before ;-)

There was mini-golf at the Science Museum and some cool light stuff (where I was supposed to be mugging for a line-up shot, not smiling).

And we went back to the History Center to see the toy exhibit which was amazing.  Girl-child claims it was better having me there because I had commentary on so many of the toys.

We also saw a statue of our ancestor, Leif Erickson:

The Girls are so cute, aren't they?

They ran me ragged ... such a fun day!

H1N1

All the fuss over the flu.

Boy-child's just been diagnosed with a mild case of it. They gave us drugs 'cause it seems to be morphing into bronchitis and/or sinusitis and who knows what all. This after a meeting last week in which we were given a preliminary outline of what the plan for the University is - just in case such a large number of people are out that they have to start shutting things down. I still don't see how this flu is any more or less serious than any other year's flu but I guess the season is only starting so the real impact remains to be seen...

I really, really liked the doctor. She told Boy-child that my assessment was correct and that she was going by Dr Mom Instinct as much as MD knowledge to a certain degree which I loved because hey, there she was, totally backing me up.

May I also mention that I called Girl-child this morning and suggested that perhaps her plan to jump out of an airplane today was not such a good idea given that it's very windy. Turns out it was canceled because of weather.

Credibility is my middle name.

While we were waiting for our turn at after hours clinic we witnessed a truly pathetic young man so pumped full of self importance that he felt he could leave the waiting area and return as he wished without losing his place in queue. He learned differently. We were none the less relieved when he was finally called in to be seen, if for no other reason than because we wouldn't have to listen to his sighs and moans any longer once he left. I decided that he must be in for a case of The Clap and that he was going to be getting a big shot in the behind and be out in five minutes.

When he was seen on his way out five minutes later I couldn't help but giggle.

The waiting room at clinic did contribute substantially to sock progress. I've now got two heels turned and gussets started for Rosemary's mom's Christmas socks. Color is nowhere near accurate.

Girl-child and I went to the American Swedish Institute yesterday - she checked out museum passes from the library (such a smart girl). We also found copies of both of Audrey Niffenegger's graphic novels at (two different) libraries which is great since Borders doesn't stock them. They're spendy so special ordering could be risky. We did manage to spend some money on line though, for knitting books that are either not available or checked out of the local library. Hers is this one and mine is this one.

So overall, for me at least, it was a pretty good weekend. Hope yours was good too.