Bike rides

I had a marvelous 24 mile bike ride today.  Temps were in the low 70s, and the weather was perfect.  The ride was fabulous!  I almost wished I had mapped a longer route!

It's supposed to rain for several days.  I'll be hitting the gym for those days, as much as possible.  I am planning a 30-mile-plus ride for this weekend, when the weather clears.

I also signed up for another ride, just a week after the Seacoast Century.  This one is the Cranberry Harvest Century, on Sunday, October 1, and I signed up for the 50 mile route (but might consider the 60+ mile route, depending on how I recover from the Seacoast Century).  Hope they are both as much fun as today's ride was!

2017 Seacoast Century

is less than 3 weeks away!  It is the weekend of Sept 23 & 24.  I'm already registered.  I'll pick the day with the better weather; I am planning to do the 50 mile ride, but seriously considering the 65 mile ride, as I have not yet done a "metric century" (which, technically, would be 62 miles - 100 kilometers).  I am ramping up my exercise levels for the next few weeks in anticipation.

Also getting used to using this Thule trunk rack.  I went for a ride with youngest son on Saturday.  I knew the bike directions were supposed to alternate (handlebars to the right for one, to the left for the next).  I have found that it's easier to get both bikes on if I remove my trunk bag and pannier.  Also need to go through my pannier and removed some stuff - that sucker is heavy!

New Gear Day!

Today I went to Renaissance Strings in Nottingham, NH and got to pick out a new violin!  This was a reward from hubby for a lot of stuff we've been going through lately.  Jim at Renaissance was wonderfully patient as I tried out half a dozen violins and finally made a decision.

I got a lovely case, with hygrometer, violin blanket, and room for two bows.  It is brown suede, and has two straps.  You can attach them to one or both sides of the case, to use as a shoulder strap or backpack-style.

Besides the case, I got a Kun shoulder rest, and a new bow!  (Hubby was amazingly generous.)

The violin is made by Savannah Strings, with boxwood pegs, tailpiece and chinrest, and ebony fingerboard.  I love the antique finish!

It has a one piece back with gorgeous wood.

This is my marvelous carbon fiber bow.  It feels so smooth and well-balanced in my hand.

I am beyond delighted and can't wait to go practice!

Yousician Guitar progress

Last night I finally made it through the Yousician songs Moon Hop (in pitiful fashion) and Don’t Rust Alone, to complete Cowboy Chords 5: F & Dm in Level 4.  I will now be working on “Unlock Level 5” for both the Lead & Rhythm paths. Seems I’ve been working on J.S. Bach’s Bourree forever (Lead path); I’m up to about 70% speed. Really enjoying that one, but it’s taking so long! Now I’ll be adding “Close My Eyes” (Rhythm path) to that practice routine as well.

Thank God for the new challenges every Thursday, to give me some new stuff to work on while I try to get past the Unlock Level 5 songs!

I also just got some of the Hal Leonard "Aerobics" music books.  I started with Bass Aerobics and Ukulele Aerobics last night.  I have Guitar Aerobics coming in the mail, and a couple of new violin books as well.

These are the new violin books.

The Fiddle Time Joggers book is recommended by Alison Sparrow of The Online Piano & Violin Tutor.  The Fiddle Time Runners is the next book in that series, and The Magic of Irish Fiddling is supposed to be suitable for beginners as well.  I do have a bit of a book problem!

With my violin, I've been working on a small piece of Folk Dance (a Beethoven piece) in the book Simply Strings Violin Book 1.  I'm also working on Jingle Bells from the same book, and My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean (a simplified version, downloaded from online).  I do feel like I'm making some progress!

Just back from PA

I actually had a 3-day vacation to Pennsylvania!  (Does it count as 3 days of vacation if two of those days included driving 7+ hours to get there and back?)  Regardless, I went and I had a great time.

I left on Tuesday, and drove to Reading, PA where I stayed in Candlewood Suites hotel.  I must say, I loved the accommodations.  Bed was lovely, the pillows were awesome!  (We have stayed at places with entirely inadequate pillows, in both number and quality.)  The room was great.  It had a small stove, some cookware and dishes, a microwave, a coffee pot, even an ironing board and iron.  I believe the only thing I used was the coffee maker, but I was delighted to have it at hand.

A high school friend, Lauranne, met me at the hotel.  We had dinner out, then spent some time getting her set up to learn some bobbin lace.  That was all for day 1.

Day 2 was our busy day.  We went over to the IOLI convention in King of Prussia.  What an incredible experience!  The display room was almost overwhelming.  The opportunity to see so many different types of handmade lace in person was amazing.  I found myself drawn to Tonder lace and Point Ground (as well as the Torchon of which I am so fond).  I didn't take many pictures, but I did get a few.

This is a piece of Paris Lace, by Helena Fransens.

The following three are all Tonder lace.  The threads are incredibly fine (I believe the person showing the lace said it was size 140.)

After viewing the display room (which was much larger, but those pieces were among my favorites) we spent a good deal of time in the sales room.  I came home with a few small things from Van-Dieren Bobbin Lace (some divider pins and some bobbin holders).  I also got a variety of bobbins from several vendors.

This photo shows the bobbins with a business card (from a bobbin maker/vendor) and a stick pen, for scale.

After our trip through the public spaces of the convention, we travelled to Kitchen Kettle Village in Intercourse, PA.  This is a little touristy outdoor mall of sorts; a bunch of different shops, a few eateries, etc.  We had lunch at the Kettle Cafe, where I had a turkey wrap (with fries), with a cheesecake burrito for dessert!

We also shopped for souvenirs, and took a carriage ride & farm tour.  Our tour guide was terrific, and told us a lot about Amish & Mennonite history & culture along the way.

Lauranne & I returned to the hotel to work on the bobbin lace some more.  She returned on Thursday morning and we went out to breakfast at a local diner.  After that it was all lace at the hotel until check-out time at noon.  The drive home seemed far too long and totally dragged, but fortunately I had audiobooks to distract me during the drive.

We take very few vacations; in fact, we've taken more this year than during our entire 23-year marriage.  They have all been long-weekend, or one-night-away, but it has been wonderful.  I was so happy to get home.  I missed my family and dogs so much!  (Amazing how the cats don't seem to miss me as much as the dogs and even the goats!)  I spent the morning so far catching up on stuff and still have a few more things to do before I can pull out my lace or cross stitch and get back to my regular activities.

Back to "Master"

So the last time I worked on "Master" (around March 23 of this year, apparently) I had just finished doing one color across ten pages (two full rows) of the chart.

I changed my mind about having that much going at once for a couple of reasons.  I was worried about getting "lost" on the chart, especially if the faint blue lines I have separating my fabric into "pages" gets covered by stitching.  I am also working on keeping track of what has already been done.  As I was finishing page 3 of "Migrant Mother", I felt like I was getting very good at tracking.  I'm using one page; I color one symbol with a highlighter, and color it in with a Sharpie when those stitches are done.  I have found I prefer orange and pink highlighter colors (makes it easier for me to see where I need to stitch next) and I'm using a fine-point purple Sharpie to color them in when done.

Last night I pulled this project out again and spent some time figuring out where I was, finding the floss (which has a Tyvek tag with the project name on it) and the chart print-outs (all in a large tote bag with some other stuff).  I finished the symbol that was already colored in to be done next, filled those in on the chart when done, and colored in the next symbol to be worked.  I am going to proceed by finishing one page at a time.

This is page 1 right now, with the light blue I finished last night - top left corner, framed in by faint blue lines.  The project is being done on 20-ct "Easy Count" Aida, purchased from Heaven & Earth Designs.  I love this fabric!  I may have to order more of this for future projects.  (Migrant Mother is being done on 18 ct Aida that I marked my self, with blue wash-out fabric marker.)

A Little Cross Stitch

I was working on Stillwell Bookmark #2, with spiders, and the spiders were not behaving so the lace is in a time-out for now.  I am going to Pennsylvania the week of July 17 anyway, to visit an old friend, get her started with bobbin lace, and visit the IOLI Convention.  I'm sure that will prove enough enticement to get back to the bobbin lace.

In the meantime I picked up a cross stitch piece again.  This is Migrant Mother.  The chart is from Artecy Cross Stitch, based on a Depression-era photo by Dorothea Lange.

The first two photos are from the last time I worked on this in early May.  I had done all of the black and one or two other colors all the way across the top row first, then decided to finish each page individually.  I was worried about getting lost otherwise.

Page one was done, and page two was about half done.

Working on the mother's face.  The gray at the top indicates the edges of page 2.

After I picked it up again for this round.  Finished the mom's face, working on filling in the rest of page 2.

Page 2 done!  Embarking on finishing page 3.

Down to two colors on page 3.  One is the block at the top that needed to be filled in; the rest is the scattered stitches in the hair, which will be all one color.  I no longer need the charts at this point; all I have to do is fill in with the correct color of DMC.

Down to one color!  Just need to fill in the rest of the boy's hair.  After that I think I will be going back to the other cross stitch I have in progress.

This is the other piece I have in progress.  According to the date on the photo, I last worked on this around Dec 30 of last year.  The chart is "Master", from Tilton Crafts Cross Stitch.  It is based on a piece of artwork by Tsuneo Sanda, but I believe the chart is retired.