The 3 day vacation was lovely.
Florida smiled on us with quick rains that blew in just long enough to cool things off and melted into the sky. The ocean was warm, the water like thick green bottle glass, clear enough to see the outline of your feet but opaque enough to hide the fish. The waves had built a sandbar about 50 yards from the shore. We’d swim in it, walk around in shallow water, and hop over the waves.
In the evening, the sky turned pink and gold, and clouds built magic cities with towers and castles on the horizon. We watched them from our balcony until cloud beasts came and swallowed them whole.
At night, it stormed, pink lightning strobing far off shore.
It was lovely.
On day 3 I decided that I missed the dogs, the cats, my bed, and my computer. So the vacation did exactly what it was supposed to do – refreshed us enough to want to go home.
As you probably read on this blog, HEB is a popular grocery store chain in Texas. Not only it’s clean and well-run, but whenever there is a disaster, HEB is there with water and supplies. It is beloved by Texans. The saying goes, “Be grateful for the HEB because one day you might find yourself in a Florida Wal-Mart.”
While there are some nice Wal-Marts in Florida, the one we went to was not one of those. We bought some hoodies – Gordon and Kid 2 purchase clothes wherever we go and even I bought a hoodie, because it was so soft – and we needed backpacks to split our new load for the plane. The backpacks were locked with a cable. We had to buy them on the spot, the receipt was stapled to them, and we had to completely unzip them at the door to be allowed out of the store.
Next trip is to Raleigh, NC, probably in July. We are still looking for the summer escape from Texas. I know you want to tell me that Raleigh is hot and humid. As I type this, Raleigh is enjoying 76 degrees and 72% humidity, while we are sitting at 81 degrees with 87% humidity. Texas, not all of it is dry heat, heh. Raleigh would be good for Kid 2’s boyfriend, who will be looking for a job once he graduates. I hope I can actually grow things.
Although I am so tempted by the summers in Midwest. They sent us on a book tour some place, possibly Wisconsin, and I remember summer being just glorious.
In other news, I am almost finished with Willow Cowl. Big thanks to the people who linked it and mentioned it in the comments. It was a great one skein project to take with me on vacation. I just grabbed a random ball of Malabrigo from the stash. I did not do the picot edge. I might just crochet-finish it.
Now, of course, I have to pick something else. Also, for reasons of normal life and stress, I have spent too much money. Some of it was on yarn. I hadn’t bought yarn for several months, I was so good, and then I fell off the wagon.
I blame Wendy’s Wonders. You know what you don’t see that often? Well-dyed gradient yarn. There are a ton of variegated colorways, but gradients are usually found on cottons. Wendy dyes gradients on wool and silk. They are pretty.
I don’t like Wendy or her pretty yarn. It’s bad for my bank account. Now I have to find something to do with beautiful gradients.
I cannot buy yarn anymore. I need to make money to make up for all the money I spent on the damn yarn. Maybe we will do a short story collection and instead of calling it Small Magics 2, we will name it Magic Bought Too Much Yarn And Is Sorry.
On that note, I might have something short for you on Friday. Can you guess who is talking?
German Shepherds were the best dogs ever. Period.
Of all the German Shepherds in existence, none were better than Ophelia. She was smart, brave, loyal, and awesome in every regard.
Except when she conned Leon into giving her a slice of his pizza.
My cousin had a pathological need to be liked by everyone. It’s not that Fel didn’t like him. It’s that he had a tendency to barge into my house without warning, usually agitated because some injustice or an exciting event had occurred, and my dog took exception to that. Fel liked things to be calm and orderly. She never attacked him. She just smiled until he calmed down.
Leon had resorted to bribery. His own dog, Gus, a massive boxer, was extremely food-motivated. His real name was Augustus, which meant majestic and venerable, and if you caught Gus at the right moment, for example when he dramatically stared in the direction of a weird noise, he actually embodied the name. Unfortunately for everyone involved, that lasted exactly two and a half seconds, after which Gus reverted to his normal state of being a hyperactive goofball with the attention span of a squirrel on crack.
Happy Monday!
What? Where are all the comments?
Oh :D. Sorry, I have suspected some technical malfunction.
The photos are meditation inspiring. Thanks for sharing.
*vibrates in the key of Baylor*
<3
First?
Second. 🙂
Second — Closest ever. *does happy dance*
And thanks for the presumed Arabella snippet. Love that family!
Glad y’all had a good mini-vacation.
Arabella? Thank you. Perfect description of a boxer. 😂
Arabella?? Love the snippet! I needed pick me up this morning, thank you!
+1
Very happy that you had a relaxing break!
I’d just like to point out that the Lexington/georgetown area of Kentucky offers four beautiful seasons, good gardening, several lovely yarn stores within easy driving distance and a variety of interesting, vibrant job markets. Cost of living is low and there are excellent schools for those in the early stages of planning a family. And thanks so much for the snippet! I’m almost done with the Graphic Audio of Sweep of the Heart and I’m having anxiety about getting to the end of my House Andrews rereads!
I think it’s Matilda 🙂 she considers the Baylors as older sisters so Leon is her cousin???
Glad you had a fantastic mini vacation!
Ditto I thought Matilda too, tho last we knew she had Dobermans not shepards..so 50/50 shit I figure of her or Arabella…either way squeeeeeee!!!
Ahhh go figure my typo of SHOT goes to R rated sorry modR!!
It’s good to hear that you had a good vacation. That yarn is gorgeous! I don’t know what you’ll do with it, but I’m sure it’ll be beautiful. It might make a nice throw pillow or blanket. The snippet makes me so excited!
Totally Matilda. That “smiles at him” part is the same as when Bunny smiled for the picture on the ID.
Arabella?
Glad you had a good break.
Arabella and Leon? More please! 😉 Glad you enjoyed your vacation and are feeling refreshed. For a summer home, my coworkers mostly live in Michigan (Detroit) but they say vacationing near Lake Michigan is beautiful. As far as I can tell Detroit’s weather is too close to my STL weather to make it worth it, but it is definitely cooler than TX.
Arabella!!!!
Arabella. . .I love her. Hope someday there’s a book series from her pov.
Quite a few of us do hope that. In the interim, besides what’s already been promised, I would quite like a story about an investigation involving strictly Leon and Bug.
I was just thinking it’d be neat to see the family from the outside. So a female POV, but the love interest is Leon!
It would have to be a super strong woman to take on this crazily powerful family and Leon. I would pay big bucks to read that.
Also: thank you so much for the snippet!!! 💕💕💕💕💕💕
Thank you for sharing cloud pictures, they are my favorite!
So glad your vacation was a success! We are heading to OK from VA next week to celebrate my dad’s 85th. It will be a car trip testing out my new sedan, and will have four adults(me, husband, son & daughter) so not exactly a vacation, but family trip….my husband & I head to AZ in August for a true vacation!
That’s almost a coincidence! We just went to Va from Oklahoma! 😂 It’s a super long drive, but with lots of places to stop and explore. Enjoy the drive and be safe!
As a Florida resident, Florida Walmarts … bleh.
Vacation sounds like it was magical, and now I want one even if I spend too much money on yarn. Since I don’t knit, can I just send it to you?
Welcome back!
thank you, pleased you had a good time and bought lots of yarn 😄
Glad you guys had a great vacation!
I think its Arabella!
Florida and NC felt the same to me in the summer. We were on the Coast in Jacksonville NC though so I might have had more ocean air. But my son lived in Charlotte for school and he said the same.
A friend of mine moved from NC to Tx and she says TX is waaayyy worse. So I think you would enjoy Raleigh if you plan to go
Tomato’s and peppers!
Another vote for Arabella!
The cowl looks lovely.
I’m so excited that you’re going to visit Raleigh, NC! It’s a great place to live and work. Raleigh is more of the college party life. Durham is good for after work life (breweries), and Chapel Hill is good for families. Take some time to visit the Carolina Tiger Rescue! It’s an amazing rescue that puts a lot of work to help out animals. Stroll through the Duke Gardens. They’re amazing and gorgeous all year round. You can also visit Falls Lake for some lake beaches or to hike. I hope you enjoy your visit!
Many years ago I spent a lot of time in Chapel Hill/Durham for work. It’s a beautiful area, and with two major universities, lots of things to see and do.
From a local, glad you enjoyed DAB. We had a nice few days last week, really hot the week before. My company has an office in Phoenix. We always have the same conversation this time of year — which is worse? Dry desert heat in the 100’s or FL heat, which runs in the high 90’s, with humidity in the same range. Coast is nice though, there’s always a breeze off the water.
“Raleigh is more of the college party life”!?! Yeah, I guess if you are in college. I’ve lived, worked, and raised a family in downtown Raleigh for over 20 years. No college party life for me. However, there are lots of great local places to eat. AND it is a great place to grow things.:)
The NC Art museum is a favorite for our family and folks who visit us. In addition to the art galleries, they have outdoor movies and concerts, which are always an hit.
I adore the NC Museum of Art. I’m a patron and get there often.
I also don’t do the college party scene- though I suspect that if my college aged son were here instead of Charlotte, he would enjoy that scene.
July is sticky and warm, so we always try to break of the day with inside and outside fun. Or the pool. It’s doable- I’m actually taking a trip to New Orleans in the middle of July, and questioning my sanity as I do so.
Durham also has the largest lemur colony outside of Madagascar! It’s a very cool place if you are interested in lemurs (if you want to throw down a good chunk of money you can also paint “with” them).
There’s tons of good places to eat in the area, and we all have AC. Though if you really want a cool temp vacation in NC, I’d say Asheville is your best bet.
Oh please oh please let that be Arabella!
We vacationed in Wisconsin a few years ago, beautiful and good weather! This year we’re taking a short vacation (4 days) to San Diego in July to see the All Blacks play rugby against Fiji. Can’t wait to get away from Ohio!
Have fun watching the All Blacks vs. Fiji game!
May the weather be nice and comfortable for you. 🙂
You know we all want more Kate and Curran!! You could totally extort us for yarn money!! 😅
Take Curran to …….🤣
I would eagerly pay $6 or more!!
hehe
How fun! Love the All Blacks and San Diego is divine but don’t even think about buying a house…
You should try Green Bay, WI
Or Duluth, MN
MN can be very hot and humid but not always.
So can WI. Voice of experience, from vacations in the Northwoods. It’s just that the window for very hot and humid is shorter there than other places. Not always short enough.
I would totally buy “Magic Pays for the Yarn Stash”
Yarn stash monster
I have a friend who moved to Milwaukee and loves it so so much it may be their forever home. It’s a delightful city. Not too big. Not too small. Easy to get to Chicago for Big City things. The lakes are seriously lovely, and I encouraged them to visit The Dells in winter because it’s super fun to water park in snow when you are sad and tired of the gray skies.
+1 For Milwaukee as a surprisingly wonderful urban area, Door County WI for rural-lite, Winnetka IL for best suburban area. I’ve lived Midwest, both coasts, multiple countries on four continents. These midwestern areas are my top picks for living long term, hands down.
Yay!! Also for vacation we are in Oregon right now driving to the redwoods and it’s a lovely 50 degrees!
Here in Raleigh we’re supposed to have a heat index of 105 on Saturday. :/ Summer is starting to hit hard too early.
Right? I left the desert for cooler climes. did not expect 105 when I moved here
I grew up on the NC coast. After H. Floyd, I moved to Charlotte. My only complaint is that by August, some nights do not get below 75 F. Raleigh is nice but the traffic is murder. After Covid, so many people moved there that the housing market went nuts. Fayetteville is better…
My son’s chamber group has w residency in the triangle area,they are there several times a year. He said it can be very humid in the warmer months, but said compared to Houston ( where he was at at Rice for 3 years) it isn’t as bad.
He said travel could be a problem, that often there isn’t a straight route between places and you spend a lot of time on back roads
On the other hand he said there is great food of all types ( his group is good driven, they rehearse like 7 hours a day,then it is ‘what is for dinner’ and they eat together.
I have heard it has gotten expensive. While remote work is dying off pretty rapidly, it likely will remain expensive.
Delaware can get humid but has some nice coastal areas that get a sea breeze ( never lived there, only what I have been told)
Apostle Isles in Northern Wisconsin. great summer visit. interesting national park.
thanks for snippet!
yarn is beautiful. I haven’t any ideas for you. maybe an acrylic box of “yarn too pretty to use”? (works for art glass!)
Arabella I think. Which knitting needles did you end up getting? Did you like them?
Ohhh, love beaches — especially warm ones with very few people. Thanks for sharing the pics.
Hope your NC vacay is equally lovely.
Texas summers definitely make you contemplate moving. One more year until my youngest graduates and then as a flight attendant, the moving possibilities dazzle. Your yarn pics are so pretty it tempts me to learn. But I think I’ll just keep that money in the book fund. Happy summer
I think it’s Arabella and I open both kids thought I was having a heart attack.
*know
I love this! My dogs name is Augustus and we call him Gus 😍
I know! We brought home a puppy right before the debut of ‘Gus Bunnyson’ and he’s also an Augustus/Gus.
I’m a former wisconsonite and current minnesotan. Here a lot of folks “snowbird” – they spend the winter months in Florida, Texas, or Arizona (November-May unless they have grandkids and leave on boxing day), then head back north as it gets warm. Often to a lake place. The real trick is spending six months plus a day in Texas or Florida to maintain their tax residency.
This year we did spring break in Arizona with the family – it felt like my brother’s entire neighborhood was in Phoenix.
ARABELLA!!! Sorry got a little excited there for a moment. I have been really hoping for some Baylor action, but then I look forward to anything you write. So glad you enjoyed your vay-cay.
Open your merch store with a fifty cent yarn tax price increase! Yarn buying vacations = happy author lords = more writing = happy BDH.
😂 I love this! I say the BDH would be on board with this extra tax. We all know it’s what keeps HA happy, & whatever Ilona wants, Ilona should get!
Yes! Happy to pay a yarn tax!
Nevada?
Yes, that is a good description of a male boxer. Hyperactive goofball with moments of majesty. Add 25% more brain (or maybe thought before action) and you have a female boxer.
🙂
Glad vacation was restful and rejuvenating.
My son’s name is Gus, and you described him perfectly. 😂
Glad you had a relaxing break, with all the joy your hard work gives the BDH. I commiserate with the yarn also books. Thank you in advance for the Friday treat. Anticipation….
Arabella! We have missed her, although I’m sure she lurks through her puppet social media accounts.
The Florida beaches are sublime—one of the few things I missed about living there.
Texas heat is already brutal in Houston, too. We are hoping for rain and no flooding this week.
Excited for my copy of Innkeeper Vol II! The general link is up. I just got the email from Subterranean in my inbox.
Sounds like Arabella talking to me.
You can’t have too much yarn. I am however on a purchasing moratorium until I use some I have.
I live in Raleigh. I rode my Harley 19,000 miles in 29 states in 2014 to decide where to live and moved here in 2015 from MN. I also did a bunch of computer research on things like jobs, shopping, education, medical, taxes, etc. The weather compared to MN is interesting. Here the temperature range is 20- 100F. It’s only been above 100 maybe 5 days in the 9 years I have been here. I have 3 seasons for gardening. You say the humidity is 78% which in the morning it is but in the day / afternoon it is 45-55% so really not bad. In MN the humidity was very high in the summer. The temperature ranged -40 to 110. It was -10 to -25 for the HIGH in 2013 from Dec 28 to March, for the HIGH! They cancelled the first 2 days of school Jan 2 and 3 and then realized they would have to have school even though it would be dark and -25 for the bus runs. I love Mpls and lived there 35 years but I love the longer gardening time here in NC, 3 gardening seasons and the narrower range of temps. We have more months of the 60-80 temps I enjoy and very short ranges of 50 day / 30 night. July and August are hot and sometimes humid. Plus I am equidistant to mountains and ocean here only 2-3 hours. I do wish I had Durham’s library card instead of Wake County (for free) because Durham has significantly better library system. So go for a Durham suburb rather than Raleigh / Wake County.
I agree with the Horde. Hi Arabella!
I also agree that minivacations are the best.
So happy your vacation was all you wanted. Welcome back.
I think I first jumped at it being Arabella, but now it feels like it could be Catalina. umm. Catalina, final answer. Because of the explanation given for the name Augustus – Catalina is the one with the random fact spouting thing going on. (I’m probably wrong. Timeline wise it’s Arabella that makes more guessable sense)
+1 thinking it’s Catalina, hoping it’s Arabella
Arabella’s short would have paid for ALL the yarn 😉
But seriously – I totally get why Russian themed story may not be on your plate for foreseeable future. Hope the Sanctuary will at least partially fill the “yarn gap” ‘cause your handwork is very inspiring!
I grew up in Winston-Salem, NC and went to university near Raleigh (Durham). I’d recommend looking for homes in Winston-Salem, Highpoint, Asheville, Boone. Nice big houses with yards/hedges/garage houses in Highpoint, I was up there recently for a family event and saw a very handsome house with an enviable yard.
Take a day trip to Seagrove while you’re there. It’s the largest pottery community outside of Japan, about 45 min drive from Raleigh. Stop at the welcome center for a map and a showroom with some small selection of the artists in the area (don’t buy yet, trust me, you can come back to the showroom), then explore the rural roads to find dilapidated old farmhouses with rough wooden shelves packed full of unique ceramic masterworks. Keep telling yourself that you’ve bought enough (you haven’t).
This detail is one more reason to love BDH! Thank you for sharing about the pottery community!
“Magic Bought Too Much Yarn And Is Sorry” mwahahahahaha!
My version is “I bought too much stationery and art supplies and I am sorry/not sorry.”
And – Catalina, because Leon, calm and orderly, Arabella would nip Leon’s drama while applying cosmetics. Also compound that is not Rogan’s. Other guesses are Matilda or Bern.
Glad you enjoyed your vacation – thanks for sharing the lightning and pretty ocean viiews.
I’m so glad you had such a good vacation. My sister and I are both Texas climate refugees. My sister has moved to north of Detroit so she can be closer to her children and I have moved with my adult children to Centerville Ohio. It’s beautiful it’s green and it’s not too hot. This coming week will be in the 90s, but that’s the first time that it’s been in the 90s this summer so far. The gardening here is lovely. and our winter wasn’t too cold or too rainy.
Oooooh, Arabella?!?!?
I’m a sucker for gorgeous gradients – I have a whole category in my Ravelry favorites dedicated to projects that work well with them. Dangling Conversation by Mindy Ross is one of my favorites I have saved – I had planned to start that as my next project, but then I saw someone’s gradient knit of Dotted Rays by Stephen West and am seriously considering doing that one next instead, haha (it was a project saved by emohbe called Gradiated Dots).
Can’t wait to see your GORGEOUS gradient knit up! (Some of my gradients have been languishing in my stash for a decade so no pressure for a quick post, LOL.)
THANK YOU FOR THE SNIPPET!! I’m so glad you and Gordon had a great vacation. 🙂
Thank you for the snippet. I think its Catalina 🙂
Aw! Love the Hidden Legacy snippet with doggos! 😍
My niece lives in Raleigh, NC. So far she and her new hubby like it a lot. If you want to consider the Midwest, visit Door County in summer and then again in autumn. Mid-October is absolutely magical. It’s on Lake Michigan so the water imperative is covered.
Glad you enjoyed your vacay!
That’s Door County in Wisconsin (forgot to include the state. lol). Fish Creek, Egg Harbor, Sturgeon Bay, to name a few quaint little towns.
Give the Pacific Northwest a shot. It’s cooler, although I am still able to raise tomatoes, peppers and summer squash easily. Lots of lovely beaches. No hurricanes, and the occasional hail is small, like God intended it to be. Temps in the 70s-low 90s, once summer gets going.
Asheville is known for its art, if you have time to visit when in NC. It’s located in the mountains so the climate is slightly different than Raleigh.
So glad you had a good vacation. if you are interested in the Midwest, I can only speak to places fairly near to me. Galena, IL is fantastic. Wisconsin has Lake Geneva, which is also great and, if you ever wanted to come this way in Fall, Door County, WI is incredible.