Time To Go Home

Hello Folks.

Well, my month with Mr Clicky in Chicagoland has come to a close and what an odd month it has been.   My flight on Sunday has been cancelled and I am now flying Saturday.  I am a little apprehensive about flying, I'm not sure how you can social distance on a confined plane and I'm not sure how it will work in the terminals but we'll see.

When I get home Master Clicky and me will stay well apart; he is still going to work and luckily our house is large enough for that to happen.

There have been a few ups in these strange times.  I have no problem staying home indeed, I am very happy with my own company.  I have taken part in a virtual fitness session with my class back in the UK, one I could actually do with the time difference.  I found it to be a little problematic, for several reasons.  I didn't want to crash around too much as downstairs might think there was an elephant coming through, and the carpet was tricky to work on.  I shall carry on when I'm back home.

I have also enjoyed some gigs from my favourite indy singer/songwriter Gaz Brookfield.  I have seen him live twice in the past.  He usually gigs on a Friday or Saturday night so with the lockdown he is unable to work.   I have enjoyed three Friday night gigs so far all from his house in Bristol shared on FaceBook; watchers can give a paypal donation if they wish.  Here's Gaz projected onto the telly.

I knitted Mr Clicky's Fair Isle jumper like a demon, I finished the body, one sleeve, and was half way up the other before I ran out of yarn.  The yarn was subbed, I usually buy an extra ball but completely forgot do that this time, so it is going to come home with me.  I already have more yarn waiting thanks to the amazing folks at Wool Warehouse.

I have also completed another embroidery ~ a botanical hoop.

I have not sewn leaf stitch before, I really love the effect.

This plant was made up solely of French Knots, I must admit they are not my favourite stitch.  I had to do this in several sittings.

It will join the other hoops on our apartment wall, I didn't have any more fixings in the drawer unfortunately, so it'll have to wait for now.

Before the stay at home order was issued in Illinois we dropped into Jo ann's one day as we passed.  I bought two jelly rolls in muted tones to make another quilt top.  As it is, I haven't used them yet, so I'll leave them here for my next visit, whenever that may be.

We usually go out for a meal or breakfast on my last day before returning home but obviously that won't be happening this time.  Mr Clicky isn't coming into the terminal when he takes me to the airport, just chucking me out at the door.

I am looking forward to getting home, and back to my garden which is in it's first year after the construction last year.  It will be really nice to plant and weed rather than cement and construct.

I'm hoping I don't pick up Corvid 19 on my journey,  hoping the measures that have been put in place keep everybody safe in these testing times and I am hoping that you are safe too.  

Bye for now......Clicky Needles

My bag is packed and I'm ready to go................I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again.

2 Have fun in Portland and meet friends

Hello Folks!

Back to the second part of our adventures.

Portland is a very nice city.  It is compact and like most cities has a mix of new and old.

We wandered around and down to the Willamette River, not Williamette as I read it.

Don't be fooled by the blue skies, it was bitterly cold and the wind was biting.  We found the 100 cherry trees we'd been advised to see.  They are in Tom McCall Waterfront Park and were a gift from Japan in 1990; read about it here.  As they were only just coming into flower the petals were staying on not blowing off in the wind.

The Portland White Stag sign.  A stag in some description has been up here since the 1940s.

We went back to our hotel and waited for our ride.  It was Teresa and Dayle.  We couldn't come to Portland and not see them!  Teresa had very kindly offered to show us The Columbia River Gorge and all the sights that so familiar to us all from Teresa's blog.

First stop was their farm.  It was so weird seeing things for real that we 'know' so well.

She has lots of bird feeders which were covered with birds and a large woodpecker.

We carried on and upwards.  Dayle and Mr Clicky found lots to talk about in the back and Me and Teresa nattered away too.  

We arrived at this stunning view point.  The wind was blowing so much we could barely open the car doors.  Dayle told us it is an east wind that blows down The Gorge.  Brrr.  Can you see the Vista House?

Here we are, zoomed in. 

It is truly breathtaking.

A short drive round to The Vista House, it was really busy here but Teresa knows where to pull up to get pictures!

We drove on and took the road to the bottom of The Gorge.  There are several waterfalls down here, this one was called Latourell Falls.  They are 249 feet high.

I love the moss covered trees around.

We drove on to Multnomah Falls.  Wow!  They were so much more impressive and bigger than they look in photos.  And so noisy!  They are 620 feet high.

The spray had iced up on the rocks.

The mosses and lichens at the bottom were so vibrant.

At the bottom is the visitor centre where Teresa volunteers.  She is very lucky to work in such a stunning part of the world.

Then on to Horsetail Falls, smaller but still impressive.

As we drove along we could see scorched and burnt trees from the fires in 2017.

Next stop Bonneville Dam.  All along the Columbia River there are dams for electricity generation.  They are huge.  Little did we know we would see this again.

Next onto Cascade Locks Marine Park where Teresa and Daryl used to keep their sailboat.  There were barn quilts on the port buildings.

Teresa declared it was time for an ice cream so we went to the drive in.

My, they there were big!

We parked up to eat them, and gaze at the river.

All too soon, we turned back to Portland and our hotel.  Teresa and Dayle are the nicest, kindest people and it was brilliant to meet them after 'knowing' them for so long.  

When they dropped us off Teresa had presents for me.

How lucky am I?  She gave me a lovely pair of faux tortoiseshell needles from Australia which are beautiful.

A Multnomah Falls poster, which is coming  straight home with me to go up in my craft room

and one of her darling crochet hearts.  I was well and truly spoilt, thank you Teresa.

Our flight out was lunchtime the next day so we had a leisurely breakfast and caught the Streetcar to the airport.

We went over Steel Bridge, yes, it is called that, that we had seen the day before.

We could see the flat top of Mount St Helens in Washington in the distance.

And got a really good look at Mount Hood.  It had been cloudy the day before, so we hadn't seen the top, but today we had some amazing views of it as the plane taxied to take off.

The planes in front are Alaska Air in case you were wondering!

Actually we flew over it too!

Along The Gorge and over the Bonneville Dam that we had been at the day before.

What a trip. 

I settled down to more glove knitting as the sun went down.

I need to thank Teresa and Dayle again, for being the best local guides and the kindness that they showed us, you really were great.

When we landed things were quiet and strange.

I'm still rocking from the train but I'm hoping that will go soon.  

See you soon........Clicky Needles.