The black hole (with some travelogue)

I just don't know where anything is: time, yarn, my brain. The dozen or so pictures that Blogger claimed to be uploading earlier today but which I had to upload again this evening...It's all a blur.
Recently

I'm nearing the end of two weeks of home alone. I miss my husband (hi cutie!) and I've learned many things. One, I don't exactly turn into a hermit when left to my own devices, but I greatly minimize the number of errands I run. Food decisions have been made largely on the basis of what's readily obtainable from the nearest grocery store, because I'm not going to more than one. I cook something large every few days and eat lots of leftovers. Consequently, I've gotten a lot of spinning and knitting done. Two, I'll keep the kitchen clean and do the laundry, but vacuuming? Not so much. I figure I'll hoover up the great clouds of dog hair right before Trent returns on Thursday. Three, taking care of the dingos by myself is exactly as exhausting as I thought it would be. They need walks and play and exercise and treats, and I'm the only source of all this (except for Nancy, who saved my life by providing doggie day care on Thursdays when I have to be gone for 12 hours). But the girls and I have had a good time. Here we are headed to Lake Washington:

And here's the pleasant aftermath.


Ah, tired dogs. Notice the pile of yarn to Stella's right? That's what happens when you leave the knitter alone for two weeks - the yarn comes out of hiding and takes over the house.

I'm knitting on long term projects that don't make for exciting photography. But here's a picture of the socks I knit mostly in England:


The Travelogue continues

I'll finish blogging about my vacation by, oh, next summer, I swear. I totally can't remember what part # I left off on. (Look, I ended a sentence with TWO prepositions!). When last I discussed England, Trent and I were exhausted and staying at the delightful Yoredale Teahouse B&B in Aysgarth. We woke up reasonably refreshed and left our packs at the B&B so we could take the short walk to Aysgarth Falls unencumbered. There are 3 falls, actually, but here's our best picture.

And, of course, there were delightful warning signs.

After a stop for ice cream, we stopped by a church. I can't remember the name, but I loved this churchyard for many reasons. The graveyard was fenced so that they could use natural lawnmowers, but it was too damn hot that day for the sheep to do anything except rest.

(As an aside, isn't this much nicer than those horrible sterile modern cemetaries in the States where all the headstones have to be flat so the lawnmowers can go over them while keeping the overly fertilized and pesticided grass homogenous?)

The church also had a dog hitching post outside. Awww.

We were back in Aysgarth with some time to kill before we hopped the bus to Hawes. We split a ploughman's lunch, and for the first time in my life, I found myself enthusiastically eating cucumbers ('cause it was HOT, y'all). I was not entirely delighted with Trent for making a big deal out of it.

We headed into Hawes, where, having secured a cheap B&B, we decided to stay for two nights. After the wee villages we had been through, Hawes seemed like a bustling metropolis. There were several pubs, more than one bank machine, and a library with public internet access. Much to our delight, one of the houses on the main street had a wall with two border collies perched on it. One of them liked to drop the ripped remains of a soccer ball at my feet so I would toss it back up.

While in Hawes, we visited the Wensleydale Creamery (I'll be honest - mainly to stand in their air conditioned sales room and eat cheese samples). We also admired the town's chicken population, which roams the street mooching french fries from tourists.

During our full day there, we caught the bus back the way we came to visit Leyburn so I could visit the Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Shop. It turned out to be in a wee tiny place 4 or 5 miles out of Leyburn, so after some dithering, we took a cab there. At that point, I HAD to buy yarn, right?

Trent handled it with his usual good humor, and consoled himself with a beer afterwards.

I bought yarn for 2 sweaters, a couple of gifts, and some wool for spinning. All of this was mailed to me, surface mail, nearly 6 weeks ago. Everything else we mailed (also surface) from England is here. I'm nervous. Where's the yarn? I'm afraid the black hole got it...