Long Beach

Long Beach should be called Flat Beach. There are no hills but we are on the 12th floor of the hotel so can see a bit of view.

Jo is happily in conference mode that leaves me free to meander.

Yesterday I took four buses and three hours to get to Mood Fabric on the other side of Downtown LA. It was interesting to skirt the VAST dock area here in LB . . . biggest port on the west coast. The bus goes on the freeway with bus stops!

Mood didn't have any pure cotton jersey either. The Fabric Barn here in Long Beach, which I visited on Monday to test the public transport, didn't have any cotton or linen fabric at all. Mood had linen.

They were very generous (a half to 2/3 yard extra on each cut) and pure linen was $14 and $15 per yard. Good thing I had to hurry back home to the conference reception so didn't have time to explore the rest of the shop. Their bolts are on racks 20feet high which is pretty silly if you don't take a ladder with you. They are moving to a bigger warehouse nearby.

 They also, kindly, gave me directions back by train which halved the journey time.

Seattle

Said au revoir to Sally who drove home to Vancouver then Geoff drove us down to Seattle to Sean's. We stopped at an outlet mall en route to get some tennis shoes for Jo. There are no tennis shoes just runners or sneakers which is odd in the week when the French Open is on TV all day long.

Went to Sonomish for dinner. This small town, on a river, was full of folk clutching wine glasses as they moved from antique shop to junk store.

Lazy day

Nothing to do except knit and watch the rain fall, tennis on TV and knit. Jo slept most of the day and has, with luck, got over the worst of his cold.

We had dinner at the Semiamoo resort wher Geoff's boat is moored.

Blaine

Geoff has a new toy: a ride on mower. It show how unwell Jo was feeling when he declined to take it for a spin. 

They are full of plans to sell this house a move, somewhere.

Must be us

Yesterday,

We had lunch with Janice in a very overcrowded restaurant, Founding Farmers. Cute name and self conscious food. Janice lives half the bear at Main Beach on the Gold Coast but we usually only get to see her in DC.  She reported a very sore tummy overnight and blamed the mushrooms.

After lunch we visited the National Art Gallery. Last time we were there the East Wing was mostly closed for extensions which have now been finished. They are impressive. The lift is an irregular hexagon. . . why not! One the top floor the gallery ceiling must be 20 feet high. It is a perfect place for their Rothkos. They were bequested a thousand Rothko paintings and will cycle them through his "room". Which is next door to the Barnett Newman room. (Lines of black paint on raw canvas 10 feet square).

Newman

rusty paintings in the 1950s by Mimmo Rotello, detail

We had dinner with Caroline and Richard whosaid that their cats needed us to stay with them . . next time. We chose a Syrian restaurant from the page-long list of places within a mile of the Bethesda Metro station. Richard had trouble reading the list and only realised in the restaurant that he had lost a lens from his reading glasses. The only difference from a Lebanese restaurant was the delicious lentil and rice mezze (we reordered it). 

We hopped back into the car and the battery was flat. So Caro walked us back to the Metro while the AAA man came. They got home at 11pm.

Today,

I schlepped out to Rockville to G Street Fabrics which used to be ourfavourite place (next to Price Club). It is nothing like what it was. So disappointing. There was only one pure cotton jersey that came in pink, orange or dark red. I got some pink that I will dye.

But the Renwich Museum was good 

Glass spinning wheel, Andy Paiko

and 

I found an truck that sells Ethopian food at lunchtime.

We have moved to be near the airport for our early flight tomorrow.

We are both coughing and blowing our noses so it was a cold I got, not allergies. I am getting better, Jo is feeling worse.

Was it us?

Yesterday was a perfect lane spring day so we walked across Key Bridge. That is Georgetown University in the background.

We had lunch with Richard and Janet beside their backyard waterfall. Janet is about to get hearing aids (hereditary but being in the army probably didn't help) and Richard has a new job (part time so it doesen't interfere with his travel plans). After lunch we walked to the bank on the corner where Janet's Zonta group (5 of them) was participating in a flea market. We had a little look, encouraged a couple of sales and as we walked away to catch the bus their tent fell down. We kept walking.

Get clicking while sniffing

I keep forgetting to take photos. Today's excuse is that my head is stuffed up. Yesterday while walking up from DuPont Circle I sneezed and sneezed. It felt like I got a nose full of allergens. . . . likely here in Washington. This morning I woke up with a streaming nose and a sore throat. It might be a cold, caught on the plane across the Pacific or allergies. Time will tell.

We had lunch with Lois at the same place that Jean took us last week. Followed by a frozen yoghurt that actually tasted of yoghurt. Lois is determined to keep ahead of technology and talks to Siri to get her around in VA (she is from across the river).

Then we had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, Present, with Vim, Charles, Shirley and Stan. Vim ordered, of course and the food was delicious. Shirley had a car accident this morning (pushed into a median strip by a speeding driver who shot off) and Stan did something to his rib(he heard it coach) when getting their pool ready for a grandchild's birthday this afternoon. I was amazed that they came out!