Baby Pictures...

This is a young King Penguin. All penguins have to stay on land until their down falls off and their feathers are all grown in. They aren't water proof until their feathers all come in. When explorers first saw these rookeries, they thought there were 2 different species of birds. They look so silly - especially the ones who just have bits of down clinging to their heads or backs.



Not a baby, but a full grown female Elephant Seal. The naturalists called them 'blubber slugs.' They don't move very fast on land, but they're quite elegant when they swim. This one got a little crabby, but put her head back down and went back to sleep right after this picture. Poor thing was just worn out.



From our stop on Prion Island in South Georgia, a gorgeous Wandering Albatross. This bird was sitting on its nest when we came up and its mate flew in right after we arrived. They do a bit of their mating dance to make sure they really know each other and then the one sitting on the nest flies away to feed. This bird was unfolding its wings in preparation for flight.



Demonstrating the wingspan of a Wandering Albatross - they can get up to 11 feet wide! Unfortunately, this bird was dead. Chris (the one in the middle holding the bird) came across it while we were wandering. It was an apparently healthy, young bird and there were no signs of trauma to let him know how it died. He carried it back to the ship as our next stop was Gritviken (a former whaling station) and they had a bird specialist there. The Albatross population is shrinking and there doesn't seem to be any definitive reason why.

Okay, last gratuitous penguin shot:



This is a Gentoo Penguin. Don't you just love his crazy, orange feet?

Slowly, slowly

I have finally put all my pictures in order and I'm actually showing them to people. I really don't like obligating people to look at my vacation photos, but I think it was such an unusual trip that people are genuinely interested (or maybe I'm delusional). In any event - here are a few more:



A view of some of the homes in Port Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands. It was a lovely warm day when we were there, but it did shower on us while we were walking about town. We managed to snag some Falkland's roving at the woolen shop and even found some handspun to take home.



These were my first icebergs (on the right). Actually, it's one big iceberg (in the middle) - you can't see in the picture, but they're connected below the water. The land masses are called Shag Rock. There's a huge colony of Shags that live and breed here. I couldn't help giggling everytime they said "Shag Rock" over the intercom. Yes, I'm the mother of a 13-year-old who loves Austin Powers.



These are fur seals. Yes, they look cute and cuddly. Yes, clubbing them over the head for their pelts is wrong. Make no mistake, these are the nastiest, smelliest creatures on the planet. We had a huge lecture about these animals before our landing on this beach. We were going to see a very large King Penguin rookery, but first we had to land about a mile away and hike over the beach - through the fur seals to get there.

The naturalist told us "It's not the fur seal in front of you to watch out for...it's the one behind you. Don't back up when they charge you." As a result, I was terrified. These things will snap at you for even looking at them cross eyed. Plus, they'll chase you. Was wading through all that worth it?



200,000 breading pairs...you bet it was worth it.

Pictures!

...just not of knitting. I finally am organizing the photos from my trip and thought I'd share a few with you.

This was the view from our hotel room.



We stayed in a place called Las Niras in Ushuaia, Argentina. The morning we boarded the ship was a clear, sunny day - but cold. Even though it's their summer, the wind sliced right through us. We expected summer temperatures and weren't really dressed for the weather, but we were so excited about leaving that it didn't really matter.



The view from the dining room at the hotel - this is the Beagle Channel that leads to the Atlantic Ocean. I fell in love with mountains when I visited Colorado about 10 years ago (yep, J - it's been that long!). The Andes are younger than the Rockies, so they're sharper looking. Every view was breathtaking.


Once we left Ushuaia, we sailed for almost 24 hours toward the Falkland Islands (those seasickness bands - not so great for the swells of the Atlantic - ask me how I know). Our first stop was New Island.



This is a Rock Hopper Penguin and Black Browed Albatross colony. Here are a couple of the inhabitants:



Every time I heard someone say the name of these birds, I heard "Rock Opera Penguins." I figured they were called this because of their crazy yellow feathers. Felt like an idiot when I finally figured it out and was very glad that I never actually said "rock opera" out loud.



I must clarify here that I am not a birder. In fact,I could quite happily live without birds. However, I fell in love with this bird. It's a Black Browed Albatross. They are the most graceful, gorgeous birds I've ever seen. They have a wingspan of around 8 1/2 feet. Watching them unfold their wings in preparation for take off is an amazing thing - they just keep unfolding and unfolding.

Here's where I fell in love:



This is another colony on West Point island. There was a ton of tussock grass that grows up a bit from the ground and the ground between the tussocks was muddy and peaty and difficult to walk on. I stayed on the fringes of the colony and just enjoyed the sunshine and wind from the ocean and snapped a few pictures. An albatross took off from the colony and was flying toward me. These birds glide on the currents of air coming up from the ocean. As I watched it flying, it dipped down a bit and I could hear the force of its body cutting through the air. The bird was so close to me that after I heard the whoooosh of it passing, I felt the wind hitting my face. It was one of those lifetime nature moments that I'll never forget.

I'll leave you with my friend Frieda:



She's a Striated Kara-Kara. It's an extremely rare bird that has been somewhat domesticated by one of the families that lives on West Point. She was very interested in us, and the expedition leaders warned us not to leave anything out in the open, as these birds will steal anything not nailed down.

Oh. My. God.

It was the best trip ever. I had no expectations about this trip - I figured whatever happened was going to happen and I was going to let it. The bottom line is, there are 2 people on the planet who, if they asked me to go anywhere (hell included), I would drop everything and go - no questions asked. One of them is my friend Nancy - who asked me to go with her to Antarctica. I never had any desire to go there. Please, it's all ice and snow and cold. Who in their right mind would consider it? Seriously...Best. Trip. Ever.

Among other things, I learned to tell the difference between these:



and these:



and these:



Those aren't my pictures, you understand. I didn't take the digital because I couldn't face carrying all those batteries. My photos are being developed now and I'll post a few when they come back.

I'm still in the throes of unburying my desk (over 1400 e-mails, most of them spam!). I have many stories to tell - you'll be sick of hearing about them. Best. Trip. Ever.

I'm Off

I'm on my way to Antarctica today. No phones, no e-mail, no boss, no children. Yessiree Bob - three weeks of heaven. Play nice while I'm gone.

Happiest of New Years

to everyone!! I hope you all had a safe, fun celebration last night. I wanted to take a picture of my mother's kitchen this morning, but she wouldn't let me. Let's just leave you with the image of everyone playing Texas Hold 'Em until 2:00 am and not cleaning up a thing for at least 4 hours before then (which has to be a record for my mother). At least we had a good time!

Doing My Part

Here are the 2 newest members of our little club:



That's Michelle on the left and Britt on the right. We were discussing knitting at our holiday party last week and Britt mentioned that she'd always wanted to learn. I told her that I'd be happy to teach her and a knitting circle was born. We had quite a few people walking past the conference room stop and chat about knitting.

I was very sad to hear one nurse talk about her fear of knitting circularly. She said, "Oh my friends told me that it's just too hard. So I want to knit mittens, but I can't." I told her to come next Tuesday and I'll get her started. Too hard! What kind of teacher says that??

Here's what I've been working on:



The picture is a little disappointing - you can't really see the depth of the pattern. This is the Lisa Knits scarf. I'm knitting it in the Canadian singles I bought in Baltimore. It's making a lumpy, bumpy scarf that's really interesting. The yarn is a little harsh, but I think washing will work wonders.

I need a new, big project to take to Antarctica with me. Jillian and I are taking a trip over to Threadbear next week. Should it be a sweater? I imagine I could get quite a few pairs of socks done. Nancy wants to knit these. I'm sure one or two of them will come home with me.

I guess he can stay - but no crackers in bed!

So I get home from work last night and the Hub immediately begins to tease me. "I bought your present. I bought your present," in the sing-songy voice that makes me crazy. I figured I'd shut him up quickly and said, "I'll give you yours if you give me mine," thinking he'd nix the idea right there.

To my surprise, he said, "Sure." Then I remembered that I'd sent his gift to my mother's house (wrapped) ready to slip under the tree for him to open on the 24th. He wanted me to have my gift so badly that he said, "Just tell me what it is and you can have yours." This is what he got me...



Is that a little small? Here's a bigger picture...




He told me, "I looked at the 40 gig ones, but they just seemed too big." ! Then he said, "but if you want to upgrade, here." He pulled out cash from his pocket and handed it over. What a guy! I'm a little frightened about what toy he might bring home next. Brochures for these have been showing up around the house lately.

I can breath again

On Friday, I took the GRE. For the uninitiated, that's the General Record Exam and almost every graduate program requires that you spend $115 and 2 months of your life in preparation. It's all computerized, so I got my score right away (600 verbal and 560 quantitative - if you're interested). There's also an analytical writing section which won't be graded for a couple of weeks. Overall, I'm pleased with the score and really, really, really glad it's over.

To celebrate, I bought some of these:



I love dark chocolate - the darker the better. Whenever I travel, I try to find the darkest chocolate in the region. My favorite up to this point has been Finnish. Scharffen Berger is now officially the best damn chocolate I've ever had. I also got a bar of the baking chocolate and showed Little Big Man the brownie recipe (he's a slave to brownies). He wanted to bake last night at 10:00 pm - I made him wait.

On the knitting front - Clapotis is done. She's just waiting for a bath and slight blocking. I love Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb. I have 8 skeins in a lovely brown that I'm eyeing. I don't know what I'll do with it, but I want to work with it now.

I also started the Victorian Lace Scarf from Lisa Knits. It's a 28 row pattern, but is fairly simple - just what I need right now. I must say the pattern is extremely well written with easy to follow instructions. I will be knitting one of her patterns again.

Happy Thanksgiving (and 3 day week) to those of you in the US. Pass the pumpkin cheesecake!

Best Little Yarn Shop in Michigan

Okay, so it's not so little, but Threadbear is really the best yarn shop I've been in (and I've been in a lot of yarn shops). Never mind that it's the biggest yarn shop I've been in. Rob and Matt carry all my favorite yarns and quite a few of my least favorite too! I think it's a shop that would make any knitter happy.

On Saturday, I tripped up there with Jillian and Amy to attend a signing of KnitWit and hang out at the shop. Here's J waiting patiently for her total:




And here's Amy - who only likes candid shots of herself:




And who else was there? Shannon of Bitter Girl fame:




I also met the Cakers' mom, Marcia (of Purls before Swine fame). A very nice woman. Go have a look at her blog and see her progress on a very Knitty scarf.


Here's the image I can't get out of my head, Rob dancing around with 3 skeins of incredibly lovely Lion & Lamb, singing, "She's gonna catch the Clap, she's gonna catch the Clap!" Here's what I've done with the first skein:



This is the very beginning of Clapotis, another very Knitty scarf. I love the feel of this yarn. It has a bit of a funky smell, but feels divine. It's the first real knitting I've done in months. I think being in the shop, surrounded by all that yarn and all that creativity just made me want to knit again. Whatever the reason - I'm glad to oblige the urge.

Baltimore

Has a very nice yarn shop called A Good Yarn. It is the tiniest shop I've ever been in, but it's packed with stuff like this:



What you see is 4 skeins of lovely Canadian single-spun yarn and a skein of Noro Iro (75% wool and 25% silk). The Canadian yarn is sheepy smelling - very yummy. I picked up a skein of it to buy and then went around looking for a pattern to go with it.

I must say that everytime I picked up a skein of yarn, Phyllis (who was working at the counter) showed me something that she had made from it. I was impressed with her knowledge and her knitting skills.

When I asked where I could get a bite to eat, Phyllis checked with Lorraine (the shop owner). Lorraine pulled Floyd (her husband) out of the back room to walk me over to their favorite beer and burger joint - Kooper's. She said, "This lady is from out of town and we don't want her walking over there by herself - do we?" Floyd and I had a nice chat and the Guinness and burger were terrific!!

I was in Baltimore for a work conference and really dreaded going. I remembered it as being dirty and not a nice place. I'm happy to say that my opinion has changed. The people in A Good Yarn were absolutely lovely and the cab drivers that took me back and forth that night were chatty and friendly in a good way. I'm not clammoring to go back, but if I have to - I know where to go.

Baryshnikov

On Saturday I took Sassy to see this man:



dance. I expected ballet - silent leaps, powerful arabesques, classical music. I got something better. We saw Forbidden Christmas or the Doctor and the Patient.

Initially, I must admit that I was a little disappointed. The sets and costumes were very simple (a car was painted on a backdrop and was dragged across stage on a set of wires - when the car reappeared to travel in the opposite direction - the painting was still facing the original direction). The action was a little slow and even though it was only 90 minutes long, I was worried that Sassy was getting antsy.

The play has a very Russian sensibility. Once I realized that, the simplicity of the sets made sense. For me, it's a feeling of not only making do with what you have, but creating something extraordinary. Because I was not distracted by amazing scenery and costumes, I paid more attention to the actors and what they were telling me.

Forbidden Christmas refers to the way the Communists tried to stamp out any signs of Christianity in their people. They actually cut all power on Christmas Eve, thinking that this would stop people from celebrating. I have to admire people who continued to believe despite the obstacles.

It was worth sitting though the dogma just to see the grace and beauty Baryshnikov brings to the stage. I'm very glad we went and even more pleased that Sassy enjoyed herself so much. If you have the chance to see the show - go.

Driving in Michigan

This:




Plus


this:




equals approximately $5,000 in damage.

It happened on the way into work on Monday morning. Sassy was in the car and didn't see a thing, but heard the horrific noise. She was pretty shaken up and cried a bit, leading me to think she hit her head or something. Once I figured out she was fine, it was all okay. No airbags went off, but the left front quarter of the brand-new-only-made-one-payment-on-it vehicle is toast. Thank the goddess for decent insurance.

It's no secret

that when I get interested in something that it becomes almost an obsession. For some reason, I've been checking in on the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam several times a day. I'm in the Eastern time zone, so when I get into work the vocano cam is pretty much black - sort of like this:



Does this stop me from checking every morning? No. The camera updates every 5 minutes, so it's several hours before I can actually see anything, but I continue to look anyway. For some reason, this whole eruption thing fascinates me.


I'll share one more obsession this morning - Tyler Hamilton. I can't believe that after everything he's gone through to reach the pinnacle of racing success that he would knowingly jeopardize his career and his life. I hope these allegations are cleared up quickly and he can get back to the business at hand. I'm looking forward to an epic race at the Tour next year.

Send me good vibes this evening. What's the probability that I'll forget everything I've studied in the last 2 weeks and fail my statistics exam?

Reports of My Death

are greatly exaggerated. I'm not dead - just exhausted. Every September, I brace myself for the chaos that is "back to school." This year, I had the outlay of cash well in hand, but couldn't get myself into schedule mode. We have ballet, ice hockey, homework, various social groups, etc (you know it doesn't look like so much when it's written down...). I also have taken the plunge and am taking a Statistics course to ramp up to graduate school. I want to transfer the grade, so I'm being extra special anal about doing all the homework and being teacher's pet. I'm quite sure everyone in the class hates me - do I care? (okay, maybe a little) Anyway, there are dirty dishes all over the house, the laundry isn't done, and the dust bunnies are very threatening. Go check out Curlypurl - she's done a few entries that could have been written by me (if I were that together).

As a result of the chaos, I haven't been working on much. I do have a finished sweater! Okay, it's a baby sweater that I started back in May - but it's progress.



It's for my newest friend Bobby (here's where I would insert the picture of a very cute baby, but my e-mail's down right now - maybe you'll get to see him later).


I also dyed the silk fabric I got for my Lance handbag.





The fabric on the right was dyed with weld and those on the left were done with Osage orange. I love the clarity of the weld, but the Osage has such depth. I think that will be the inside fabric of the bag. Now, I need to get busy and re-work the top of the bag to fit in the handle I bought. Will it be done before the next Tour de France? Stay tuned.