It's Been A While...

Aside from logging in books I've read to my book page, I haven't done an update in a while.

It's been busy...model stitching, travel, etc.

I, of course, can't show the model I'm currently working on but I can show a model that has been released.  It's "My Country" by Country Cottage Needleworks.  It's a sweet design and I really enjoyed stitching it.

As for personal stitching, I stitched a cute freebie by Hands on Designs called To The Beach.

I'm working on a stocking for our new grandson by Bent Creek called Santa's Train Stocking.

I've also been doing a good bit of traveling:

April/May we visited our daughter's family in the San Francisco Bay area for the birth of our grandson.  I was there about a month helping out with him and our 3 year old granddaughter.  Of course, our little grandson is the cutest ever baby boy and he has the best big sister!  We keep in touch almost daily via Facetime which is a great thing for distant grandparents.  I'll probably go out again for about a week when DD transitions back to work.



Next, we visited our son in CO.  He moved there last fall and we've been there once already but he wanted us to meet his girlfriend.  What a beautiful area and we almost instantly fell in love with his girlfriend.  Speaking of falling, I had a hiking boot dysfunction and tripped and fell on a hike.  I broke my arm again (the same one as last year but at a different location) but it was a much less severe break.  (I've decided there's an unfulfilled niche in the travel book industry...urgent care and doctor info.  Unfortunately I've done "research" in that area in the last couple of years.  Hopefully I don't do any more research.)

About a week after our return home from CO, I flew to HI to help my sister and BIL with entertaining, etc. their kids during part of the summer break from school.  (Both my sister and brother live on Oahu.)  I was there almost 5 weeks so consider that trip as my "living" in HI for a month.  Seeing as my trip is different than most tourists (i.e. driving the kids back and forth to the pool and their summer classes, taking them to get haircuts,  running errands to Target and Safeway, cooking, taking the car to the garage, letting the bug guy in the house, entertaining the kids), it definitely qualifies as living there.

Of course I had a lot of fun while there too spending time at the beach, swimming in the pool, paddle boarding, hiking, sailing on my brother's boat, etc.  My arm improved greatly during the trip so I went from wearing a sling to using it more and more as time went on.  (The orthopedic doc I saw here before I left told me to use it as tolerated so that's what I did.)  It was also great to be able to spend so much time with my HI family.  I am happy to report that I spent my time in HI unscathed.

My BIL is an amateur stargazer and one of my favorite things we did was to drive to the parking lot/observation area of a blowhole near "Eternity Beach" with Makapuu Lighthouse's light visible in the distance.  We set up his telescope, watched the sunset, and tried to see heavenly bodies through the telescope.  It was too cloudy to see much in the sky but we enjoyed being at the deserted area at this time of the day/night.  The waves were very high and it was fun listening to them and watching the blowhole.  The moon was full and we enjoyed watching the light reflected on the ocean as the clouds moved along.

I'd love to (be able to afford) living in HI and found a nice house near the beach.  It's listed for $3.5 million but exactly what I'd be looking for.  Dream on!!!!

Happy Stitching!