The account in words of our trip to New York, Allentown, and Philadelphia is posted here; I don’t have pictures up yet.
Short version: Because Ted now has Diamond status and because the flights were very crowded because Dutch kids were on Fall vacation, we got upgraded to business class both ways. It’s so much nicer when you aren’t squished and get decent food! We walked all over Manhattan for a couple of days (we recommend the Belvedere Hotel – decent prices for NYC, comfortble rooms, fab location), then drove to Allentown where we spent far too much time sitting around the house where my brother and SIL. They live with her honorary aunt and uncle, as does her adult grandson; other relatives are constantly tropping through, hollering at each other, and there are decorations and collectibles on every conceivable surface. I found the place exhausting. But we did get lots of time with the baby sleeping on us and lots of time with my family and other assorted in-laws. Then we retreated to my parents’ house, which actually seemed serene by contrast. We hung pictures for my parents, which hadn’t been done since they got their walls retextured a few years ago, and only put one hole in the wall in the process. (The shared wall with the house next door turned out to be plaster over brick, not wallboard with a space behind it as we’d unconsciously expected. Oops. We spackled, and it’s behind a picture anyway.) Saturday we got snowed on, so we didn’t make it to the Halloween party I’d been looking forward to, and Sunday was my nephew’s christening. It was a bit hard to watch them Christianizing him, but my parents and brother will make sure he knows about both sides of his heritage, and he’ll make up his own mind later anyway. For all I know, he’ll end up a Buddhist monk. At the moment he is adorable but a bit boring, as he sleeps almost all the time.
I think I’ve gotten over my feelings of not knowing what I wanted to knit, and now I want to knit all the things at once – finish my current sock and then start a cowl from a skein of Kidsilk Haze I’ve had for years, and maybe a Moebius scarf out of some silk/alpaca I’ve had since giving up on the wrap it was supposed to be. (I judged the match of pattern and yarn badly; that pattern needed a yarn with good stitch definition.) I’m also hankering to make my nephew a Christmas stocking, but it’s a bit late to start now; maybe next year. The current sock has been going for a month, but that’s because when I started it I was still working on a skirt (which still needs buttons, as well as a ribbon to stabilize the waistband) and then I stopped to know a couple of cowls, which I’ve given to my mom and SIL. Both the Kidsilk and the alpaca yarn are reddish, but you can’t have too many red scarves, can you?
I’ve also started doing more serious research into RVs, for our planned year of travel around the US, currently planned to start at the beginning of 2013. That’s close enough not to feel like forever away, so the research is less frustrating and more fun. We’ll need a big-ass truck (F350 or something like it) and a fifth wheel toyhauler, because we want to take bikes, kayaks, and at least one rowing machine. We don’t know what kind of kayaks to buy, yet, and their length will determine how big a ‘garage’ we’ll need. So far, we’re looking at something like a Voyager – a bit fancy, but it will be our full-time house for a year. The hard part is all the contradictory requirements – we need the biggest possible living space and storage with the smallest possible length and weight, for ease in driving and finding places to stay. A tesseract would be about right, or a pocket claudication as in Diane Duane’s Young Wizards books or the tents in Harry Potter. Maybe the 2013 models will be equipped with one.
Oddly enough I am feeling the need to be ‘yarning’ too, except it being crochet. A big plushy snuggy sofa throw is on my list. I have some yarn that’ll do, but want to get something really luxe so every time I use the throw I’m rewarded by its texture and the work it represents.
Babies are wonderful and the heavenly weight of them sleeping on your chest is perfect, but as people they do get a lot more interesting when they can walk and talk. Age 5 is a really fun time. By then they’ve gone outward a little in their world view and usually can read so books are a shared pleasure and a jumping off point for some very cool discussions.
Mick wants to the wandering RV tour too but is leery of a trailer. His druthers are to drive the big camper/Winnebago thingie and tow a small ecno-type car and use it to get around when we’ve parked the ‘house’ somewhere. Of course our time to wander is about 8 years into the future. Once Wolf is graduated and grown and most of the pets have passed on. Steinbeck might have had a fab time with Charlie, but I really, really want to get out of the caretaking biz. Traveling with pets is problematic, if only for their potty needs. ~LA
Travels with Charley is an amazing book, but I can only read it just so often because of the searing scenes in New Orleans.
Ted seems to be of the opinion that a big truck with a fifth wheeler handles better than a motorcoach towing a car, though I don’t know much about it myself (neither does he, but more than I do). I did recently read that you can’t back up when towing a car. Hopefully by the time you do it, the US will have its head out of its collective ass and will make it much easier to get health insurance without being employed. I was really hoping they’d do that before we go on the road, but I’m not optimistic, though I do think it’s gotten a little easier.
Are you on Ravelry? I created a knitting pattern and put it up there (you can also get it from my blog sidebar – the Wombat Blanket) that makes an extremely useful sofa blanket, and it ought to translate easily to crochet. Basically, you make a big pocket about 12″ high for your feet, and then you make the rest of it flat. This means that it stays on your feet and keeps them warm, but it’s easy to get out of without getting tangled up if the phone rings or you want to get up to grab a snack.