Kathy Sends Greetings from Washington State

Kathy is safely back home after her travels from New Mexico to Washington. She sends us this view from her back porch, taken at 8PM. We are so much further south that our skies are quite dark at the same time in the evening during this part of the year!

Where Kathy D. Shops When She is Away

Take a look at Wild Fibers in Mount Vernon, Washington. Just get yourself to the home page and watch the automatic slide show for a whole lot of great ideas!

Helen Sends Greetings From Here, There, and Everywhere

Bill and I caught up with Helen at Katie Downs Tavern and Eatery in Tacoma, Washington, where we spent some time sitting out on the waterfront deck together. 

As you know, Helen and Fred are now living in Reno, Nevada. As far as I can remember, and I hope I get this right, Helen has traveled lately to Virginia, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania for family visits and for her high school reunion. When we saw her in Tacoma in mid-June, she was spending time with her son's family and enjoying her grandchildren. She and Fred are now on the road again, back in Maine for a visit with more family and friends. 

But that's not all the traveling this summer - Helen is off to London in a month or two to do some exploring with her sister and brother-in-law. You know, I don't believe we talked much about knitting at all!

She shared this very special photo of a much younger Helen and Fred. Please forgive the quality of the image; it is a photo of a snapshot, taken outside with resulting reflections. But it's certainly a wonderful peak into the past!

Clair Sends Greetings from Washington State

Dawn arrives along the Columbia River

This is the view from the little patio of our hotel room in Richland, Washington. Bill did a great job researching and choosing places to stay. Below are pictures of our room at the historic Weatherford Hotel (est. 1897) in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Here is what I've learned on our trip so far: Everyone else but us has lots of water. And everyone else moves way, way faster!

~Clair Z.

Kathy Reports in on the Bridge Collapse in Washington

10:50 AM

5/24/13

Was there anything in your news about the bridge collapsing on I-5 between Mount Vernon and Burlington? No one was killed, only 3 people injured. 

Mike had driven over it less than an hour before it happened and was stranded at his model RR club between here and Bellingham. However, being a local he knew alternative routes and made it home in 40 minutes (usually 25-30 via I-5). 

Apparently an oversized load hit some overhead beam. The truck went on across and the span collapsed behind it! This will make a mess of traffic for months. 

On the news they said 70,000 to 80,000 cars cross the bridge daily. How can that be possible in a little corner of the world like this? It IS the main route between Seattle and Vancouver BC but that sounds like a huge number. 

We are already seeing many more trucks on Hwy 9 that runs past the bottom of our driveway.

Kathy

Kathy Wins Big in Washington

From Kathy D., May 18, 2013:

I would love to have dragged our whole knit group along these past few days. I visited 9 yarn shops and barely scratched the surface. I had broken my self-imposed budget by the second shop... This was the annual Local Yarn Shop tour ("Destination Yarn") of 24 shops from the Canadian border to south Seattle. 

Next year my friend, Nylah, who came to the knit group with me, and I have planned to hit the Seattle shops. Her daughter is now living there so she has an excuse to come up from Oregon. Each shop has a free pattern for a one skein project and gives a 10% discount on the yarn they are featuring for that pattern. Most of the places I went had both a crochet and knit version, or two different patterns. Shawl patterns were a big thing this year in the places I went and a couple had mittens or fingerless gloves. If one visited 8, 16 or all 24 shops, you could get in on a drawing at the end of the four day event. Wouldn't that be fun to win? (I don't even know what the prize is but it is YARN.) 

Once again I was struck by how different the ambiance is in each shop, how friendly knitters are, and how many different yarns are out there. That should be some comfort to those who buy yarn in case one day there is a shortage! Whew! all this and I get to hear the Skagit Valley Symphony tonight. 

On another subject, I found, among the tall grass, 3 more little hollyhocks looking for sun, so I transplanted them out of the vegetable garden before Mike rototilled and they look quite happy. Not blooming but leafy. I have gorgeous iris this year and some years there are very few. Who knows why?

*****

May 19, 2013:

P.S.: I had a call this morning from a shop in Bellingham called Apple Yarns to say I won yesterday's raffle! Me, who never wins anything! She told me it is a knitting bag with a set of sock needles (several sizes), some special Crafters Cream, and something else I've forgotten. 

I am taking pictures of some of my flowers. I haven't taken the iris yet because the weather has been so overcast and/or rainy since they started blooming.