travel time

Thank you for being so nice about the pictures! I am feeling pretty self-conscious lately about body image; just got put on some very low dose thyroid meds because things seem out of whack. (like, when I eat tons of fruits and veggies, avoid bad stuff, and gain weight?) Hopefully this will help.

Now, on to the good stuff. Off to Colorado soon. I'll be seeing Cathy for lunch, and also hope to meet Donna, Tara, and Deb while I am at Estes Park Wool Market. These in-person meetings are one of my favorite parts about travelling to a lot of festivals!

This is my 5th trip away from home since the beginning of May. The last one was a long drive, but all the others are planes. I'm getting practiced at this plane stuff. Here's how the packing goes:
Consider knitting. Professor's sweater? I'm on the last sleeve, 22 inches in. No way am I toting that through airports.

Instead, meet completely boring travel sock. If I'm on a roll, I'll finish it this trip..and I've got another ball of sock yarn in the suitcase. If not? No pressure. I'm not wearing socks much these days--sandals only when the temps rise above 80!
Next important consideration is the spinning project. On a normal set of airplane flights, I won't have time for this. However, this is crucial if we have big delays. My frustration seems to multiply with regular knitting, it keeps me anxious, I knit tight, my hands tense, my heart races. (stranded two color in two hands, well, hey, I'll forget to get on the plane with that, but who needs that alarming level of calm?) Note Bedouin spindle here. The X has a hole in the middle. I will reassemble if necessary. This bruise colored alpaca gets my fingers dirty; I appear to have left some dye in it, but hey, that's what airport bathrooms are for. Washing, etc.

Next on the list is the book selection. I would never leave home with only one book. Nope, that is tempting fate. If you do that, you'll be stuck in an airport with no reading material for 5 days or something.




I'm reading The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat for the professor. He's teaching a fall term freshman class and he wants to be sure the book is interesting. Sure, of course I'll be willing to audition your book on penicillin! After all, you're travelling all over the place with me, right? (He's thrilled to be going to Colorado and Oregon. No grouchiness about that, don't let him fool you!) Then there's backup reading--Virginia Woolf, in case I feel virtuous and intellectual. Diane Mott Davidson for, well, again, if there's a long delay, and it's late at night, well, this is the junkfood book equivalent! (As an aside, I just finished Tasting the Sky by Ibtisam Barakat and highly recommend it. Stunning, thoughtful, serious memoir)

I miss tending to my garden, sleeping in my own bed, cooking and eating at home while I'm gone, even while I'm loving the new experiences elsewhere. Even though I know they are safe, sometimes at the kennel, sometimes at home with the dog sitter...The hardest part about leaving home, hands-down every time? Leaving my guys, Harry and Sally.