Falls Creek, 2014

We arrived on Monday evening, July 28 It was foggy but with lots of snow.

On Tuesady we stayed in the lodge because it was still foggy. 

On Wednesday we stayed in the lodge because it was raining. The rain absorbed into the snow but conditions were not pleasant.

On Thursday, the wind picked up to tempest rates. All the lifts closed, except for the gully chair. So we stayed indoors.

The weatherman promised snow onThursday night followed by a sunny, skiable weekend. 

It snowed foggily all day Friday. I could ski but Jo gave up after one run.

The weekend was glorious with clear, blue sky, crips air, a hard packed base with a light cover of fresh snow and all tows running. Of course, there were heaps of people but that gave us a rest in the chair queue.

But no wi-fi. I found one lodge that had wi-fi in it's foyer but no chairs. And the day shelter's wi-Fi didn't work. So I survived not only a week of variable weather at Falls Creek but also a week without Internet.

And I finished socks.

And almost another pair as well!

Jiggety jog

It worked. We got home without incident to an airport stuffed to the gunnels with sleepy passengers, too few customs officials and negligible quarantine bastards. It took well over an hour to escape to The outside. 

Now we are home. But tomorrow Jo flys off to Malaysia and Japan. I am staying put until we go to Falls Creek to ski at the end of the month.

Aborted flight

We got out onto the runway where we sat for ages while they sorted out a woman who didn't have the right papers to get into Australia. By the time we were back at the gate it was too late for the pilots to have the right amount of rest during the flight so we were shuffled into hotels with a $7 voucher for dinner! And another for lunch and breakfast today. Don't know where the execs eat but it can't be anywhere fancy.

We are feeling as though we only had three hours sleep. I think we got four!

When we booked i today, they had Jo in cattle class and me in Business. As you can imagine, he did not accept that. After a long time on the phone, the lady changed it so that he had a business class seat but on a different plane from me that would arrive half an hour later in Sydney. So we would have travelled like royals.

He wanted to talk "to the supervisor" about the mix up and the bad information given to customers last night (we were told that we would have the same seats on Thursday that we had on Wednesday, for example. The supervisor took it all on board and went off with out tickets to see what she could do. So now we are sitting together, in business class at last.

So far. . . . 

CWS done

It was exhausting and exciting. My brain has been stuffed with both complex and simple weaves.

At the Complexity exhibition. This one looks more complicated than it is because she has used painted paper rolls to create the gold zig zag within the loose twill vocen silk.

Woven on 2 shafts with an ondule reed which is a reed with very crooked teeth.

What Bonnie is doing now. She weaves multiple tie downs in a fancy network draft while a few pattern warps weave another complex pattern. The really nice thing about these is that you can see individual threads.

The shaping of this garment was woven in with the crinkled structure a la Diane Totten.

And the sun came out and the cloud moved away from Mt Rainer so it could peek over our hill.

Tacoma

A couple of days to explore Tacoma before the seminars starts.

 Sally, Geoff and Jo

our hotel is the block beside the dome.

The Art Glass Museum has an artist in residence program which invites 40 art glass artist to work with their team each year. Fascinating to watch even though they often create "installations" which need reams of explanations rather than being beautiful objects merely.

Some Chihuly glass from inside the Union Station.

And I finished another toeless sock.

I'm in

Got the good news yesterday was that I have a place at the Complex Weavers Seminars. Talk about a last minute cancellation opportunity! I chose my seminars randomly so goodness knows what I will learn. It is bound to be inspiring.

So we celebrated with French champagne, local salmon and too much wine. 

Today's weeding was a good head clearer. I even found some tiny blackberries in the mown meadow. I was looking for a fawn but the thought of deer ticks put me off.

We went to Bellingham and I spotted:

It is a spinning, weaving and knitting store on two floors. What bliss. I was dragged off with a bundle of Corridale roving in many colours (the woman said "are you making Dr Who socks?" -- he must have lurid taste) because even they didn't have a sock yarn that will give me half inch colour changes. I will have to spin it myself.

Their weaving yarn wall.

Blaine

Here we are in the cool North West enjoying Geoff's hospitality.

At Semiamoo

The view from the back patio, complete with coyotes in the meadow.

The big house.

A new to me artist

Jo's conference is finished so we did the riverboat tour followed by a bus to the Marian McNay modern art museum which is in the house she built in the 20s. She was lucky enough to be the only child of a doctor who discovered oil on his farm. She was an artist, patron and collector. The collection is very nice and even though the rooms of her mansion are air conditioned to freezing, it was a pleasure to see lots of old friends on the walls and make new ones like Ben Nicholson, a British painter whom I hadn't ever heard of. His painting there is great. Perhaps after seeing their temporary exhibition of contemporary baroque works (they were busy and loud) his work which is minimal/abstract/cubist was a relief.

The gardens are nice, too.

Back on the bus for lunch downtown, then some soccer/knitting and I have "finished" the toeless socks and started the new yarn.

The only non painted toenails in SA

The new yarn is not as nice as it is superwash merino with 25% nylon -- good for socks that will grow. The yarn just makes it around one row sometimes, or three at other times. I can't see the repeat yet. 

There may be another ball in my future.

Learning and walking

Yesterday I walked to a yarn store. I have almost finished one sock from the balls I bought in Vienna.

It is a toeless sock because I like to knit toe up except for the toe that I will knit toe down when I have finished both of them and decide which is the left and which the right. I should have enough yarn left for one, or two, fingerless mitts to match. But I really wanted a self striping yarn. This is more of a gradient yarn. So, I went to the LYS and bought:

The name says it all. I hope it comes out striped and not speckled. Or I may be forced to buy another ball or two in Tacoma.

On the way home I visited the Brewster gallery of Western Art. They have some splendid saddles and romantic views of cowboys.

Last night was the conference dinner and prize giving with a good speech by the recipient, Dr Alvin.

Today I have rounded out my Texas education by going to the San Jose mission where the Spanish civilised the local Indian tribes who, unfortunately died of European diseases before being completely Christianized. It was very picturesque with a good movie and explanations.

San Jose 

Cells for the natives.

One explanation board said that the Spanish taught the Indians to weave on European looms, as well as all the other trades that were usefull to the missionaries.

Fabulous scene

Flying across US on a clear day

Unusual route over Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado (South of Denver), Kansas

My idea off having an audio track available to passengers could be extended now that wi-Fi is available on the plane (for $2 0per hour.) there could be , and probably is already, a camera on the plane's nose. There could be a commentary from the flight deck....look left, look right. On cloudy days, you could see on screen what I saw today and you could add lots of songs, poems, reminiscences, readings from journals, information by geologists, archeologists, historians, etc, etc. wpoldn't it be great! Plus, the airline could sell space to get more revenue. Everybody wins and I don't have to ask the steward Where are we?" -- he has to check with the pilot.

Long walks

I have walked lots along the San Antonio river pathway which is nicely landscaped in the downtown area but gets a bit wild the further out of downtown that you get.

This is the SA Museum of Art where I saw a Matisse exhibition of works collected by the Cone sisters in the 1920-40 from the Walters Museum in Baltimore. I have been there and thought that I had seen them all 20 years ago. I had only seen a fraction of their collection. 

One of the most telling bits was a compilation of shots of his lady in a peasant blouse that he, typically, worked and reworked many times. The images were superimposed and hardly change so it is almost like she is breathing.

The museum also has Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Asian, Latino, etc collections housed in two buildings joined by this walkway. . . . .and I thought that I had lost my fear of heights!

Yesterday I went to the zoo which was full of little kids and their parents. The bear was bored, the snakes coiled but awake, lots of birds with out of date signs, sleeping big cats and a pair of Okapi.

Okapi

The Southern Tamandua (a tree climbing anteater the size of a cat) had a hammock!

And the flamingos (which are orange, not pink) had babies.

Potomac Craftsmen

Yesterday, Janet and I went to the Baltimore Weavers Guild show. It was impressive. The guild has around 160 members. There were 62 exhibits and the standard was generally high. The theme was Idioms and some were a stretch while others were quite apt.

Cut it Out

Hanging by a Thread

In the afternoon, on the way back to Silver Spring from dropping off the car in Alexandria, Jo and I went to the National Art Gallery. The East Wing is closed to renovations which made the WestWing crowded (the downpour didn't help, either.) We saw an exhibition of Andrew Wyeth's watercolours of windows, wind and walls. It was marvellous. Across the courtyard was a Degas/Cassat show that paled into uninterestingness.

Today Janet, Renata and I went to the summer breakup meeting of PC which is now called the Potomac Fibre Arts Guild because they have lots of quilters, fellers, etc, etc. They usually have a study group round-up but because it snowed on meeting day in January, the speaker who had been scheduled then talked to us today instead. She is a collage artist and teacher. She talked about the history of collage which started with Picasso and Braque. So, not only did I get to catch up with old members, I had a modern art lecture as well. It was brilliant.

Ruth, Jeanne and Janet

Floris and Lana

San Antonio

We arrived on Sunday to find the town in a tizz because the local basketball team was in the finals. Spurs memorabilia was brought out of storage, bought and worn. When the team won the town went wild. Horns blared as cars drove around and around until the wee small hours of the morning.

Lots of streets were swept on Monday morning.

The downtown area has been taken over by tourists and conference goers. The biggest conference going on this week is the Fraud accountants gathering. . . no surprise there!

I went to the Institute of Texas Cultures yesterday. Folk have come here from everywhere to displace those who came before. There I found this reminder of Andrew Wyeth.

Silver Spring

Moved to The Stollnitz' in Silver Spring and enjoyed an Ethiopian dinner in the rejuvenated downtown. 

No critters in this house, but lots of weaving.

At the Berneys

Those eggplants were rather too much. I spent an uncomfortable night and couldn't face much the next day. We joined Jo's old boss, Shiva, his wife, Charma, and friend Gene for dinner at an Indian restaurant in Bethesda. The food was notable because there were vegan items listed on the menu. Everybody else at our table was vegetarian and the local vegan internet group had a meetup at the next table. 

The Berneys have two new cats. The still have Nimmy.

Nimmy

And Merlin who, although he grew up on a farm, does not go outside. He was really pleased when I gave him some grass.

Merlin

Isadora is a cat they rescued from a breeder. She is a very squashed nosed Persian who is tiny and as sweet as honey. She is only 3 and didn't know about grass.

Isadora

And Tululla, a tortie who would rather be outdoors. 

Tululla

Another cat visits for meals but only in the warm weather. He is feral but has been caught, desexed, part of his ear lopped and released somewhere where he will be fed. I guess the locals don't value their native animals.

All the indoor cats got their nails trimmed as it is much easier done by two.