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!
Yay for vacations! And you’ll have to let me know how Raleigh is, because it’s on Mr. M’s shortlist of places to move after we can’t stand eight months of summer anymore.
We only have 5 months of summer here, so it will be an improvement!! =)
Why would you go to a Walmart in Florida? I ask this as someone living in Florida! The only reasons to go to a Florida Walmart include: Publix is closed, you want some ‘people of Walmart’ pictures or Publix is closed.
You had a theme for names for Nevada’s and Catalina’s books. Yarn could be the theme for Arabella. 😉
– I Yarn for You
– Yarn and the Beast
– Yarn and the Restless
Ooooh, I can see it now: “Small Magic Yarns” – short stories of all HA denizens who knit and do magic. Kind of like Dina and her Inkeeper interviews, but with tales to … unravel! I will now show myself out.
+1000
We moved to the Raleigh area four years ago after living in Orlando for 30 years. Family brought us north but we love the area. It’s not too far to the mountains or the ocean. There are universities, festivals, arts, crafts, and healthcare. Yes, the summers are hot and humid but blessedly not nearly as long as in Florida. Check out Jim Putnam at Horttube for growing all things in the area. His videos were a lifesaver as I went from Florida sand to this lovely Raleigh red clay.
I lived next to and worked in Raleigh (downtown) for 22 years, 1982 to 2004. July in Raleigh is pretty much all humidity all the time except immediately after a rain, but air conditioning is ubiquitous! We moved east in the mid-2000s when all the parents started getting sick and needing help. I miss Wake County but it’s gotten quite a bit bigger population-wise. The area we are now, near Greenville NC, reminds me quite a bit of the way Garner/south Raleigh was when we moved there in the early 80s. If we were to move back there I really like the areas around Falls Lake on the north side, but it’s premium priced at the moment. If we were to uproot again, we’d probably move to a beach area somewhere between Morehead and Wilmington.
Arabella would love a big fluffy Germany Shepherd named Ophelia.
Great photos of the sky.
I’m glad you’re having fun.
I don’t know how to knit.
However, I do like the colours of the yarn.
My country is having extreme heatwaves these days, so, we go to the sea in the very merry morning.The water is crystal clear. Let’s have a great,safe summer 🌞!
this is gonna be Arabella. Are the dogs all trained by Matilda?
looking forward to Friday 🙂
Glad you had a great mini vacation. After seeing all the flooding in south Florida, I wondered how your vacation was in Daytona.
The gradient coloring is very pretty. Natural fiber yarn does great with color gradients.
Have fun in NC on your next vacation. I am laughing at your location since I am re-reading Magic Tides. 😀
It’s a 50/50 shot the speaker is either Arabella or Catalina. At first I wanted to say Arabella. Then I re-read the section. I think it’s Catalina.
First summer in Texas, my parents drove us 3 days to Colorado. No humidity and cold at night. OTOH, this was Beaumont, Austin are the dry highlands out to the West.
If the dog likes “calm and orderly”, I think it is Catalina’s, not Arabella’s. Otherwise, it is a very unhappy dog, which I think is not acceptable in the IA multiverse.
My first thought was Arabella, but this is the best argument for it being Catalina that I have seen here! Now I’m torn. I do think Arabella could have a dog whose personality is quite different than hers, though, and naming a dog Ophelia and calling it Fel seems like much more of an Arabella thing to do. So my vote is Arabella! Either way, yay for more Hidden Legacy!!!!!!
Yea! Arabella and Leon and their puppies!
Plus the photos are beautiful and now I want a beach vacation badly.
I would totally buy “Magic Bought Too Much Yarn And Is Sorry.” 🙂
Thank you for the Arabella snippet! I re-read Catalina’s trilogy over the weekend so this is just fantastic. Especially with Leon too. Squeee.
Beautiful yarn. Beautiful vacation. Maybe you could call it magic takes an expensive holiday?
I live in Raleigh! The heat and humidity can get pretty punishing in the summer, but it is limited to two months. July and August are bad but the other 10 months of the year are beautiful. And even in our hottest time of the year you’ll have a cooler day crop up randomly here and there.
Plus we’re perfectly placed in the middle of the state — you’re three hours from the beach and 3 hours from the mountains, so whatever your vacation preferences you’re perfectly placed for a day trip or a weekend getaway.
Thank you for the snippet. The pics are lovely. So glad you refreshed yourself,
I lived in Lumberton, NC for 13 years, my in-laws lived in Cary (right outside of Raleigh/Durham). We moved to West Palm Beach, FL. What I will say is North Carolina is great but you get temps over 100 degrees with literally no breeze. If you’ve been thru Lumberton – it’s right on 95 so a surprising number of folks have seen it – it’s a small town with lots of trees and there are weeks of what feels like 0 air movement. My mother in law is enjoying the fact that even though we are in the 90s in West Palm we get a sea breeze and she can sit outside.
Otherwise Raleigh is great. The universities and businesses in Research Triangle make for a diverse, well-educated population with access to museums, entertainment, lots of outdoors activities, bunches of great restaurants. It’s a great place
So glad you had a nice vacation. I love that you see cloud castles too. I love your writing – thank you for the sniplet 🙂
NC is great and I hope you come! For summer, may I suggest NC’s Blue Ridge Mountains area? Maybe Blowing Rock, NC? Because of the high elevation, it has beautiful (not hot or humid) summer temperatures, forests, waterfalls, etc.
On behalf of all Raleigh members of the BDH, we welcome you! There are some nice yarn shops here, and if you haven’t visited in a while, lots of new restaurants and whatnot.
Unrelated: I snagged a bunch of the Kate books during Audible’s big sale and am listening to Magic Breaks, which I read eons ago. I’d forgotten how foundational this book is to so many things that will follow and am thoroughly enjoying the revisit and refresh to my memory,
A few years ago I moved back in with my mom in order to take care of her (and let her take care of me). We had to combine households. At the time, I thought that combining the kitchens was going to be the hardest. But years on, and I’m realizing that I easily gave away my All-Clad to a young aspiring cook friend…and it’s our yarn stashes that are the problem. And both of us agree that supporting our local yarn shops is a moral imperative, so we keep buying. Now we can’t navigate the hallway leading to the sewing room – too many large bins of yarn. This really has to change. lol It won’t. We just need to knit faster, right?
Don’t know if I’ve said it here yet, but I’m really enjoying a new technique – a crochet corner-to-corner. Really fun.
I’m REALLY glad you guys had a good, relaxing time in FL. The cowl is beautiful of course!
Stay cool!
Yay, Arabella!! I’m next door in Oklahoma – yup on that 78% humidity and 95 in the shade degree temps.
Good luck with Yarn adventures! And I’m glad you got a good recharge.
As for the snippet, I’m gonna guess Arabella and proceed to get very excited!
It’s almost certainly Arabella although I kind of want to say Mathilda. If it was Mathilda though, there would be animals involved including their emotions etc. And yes I know they are technically not cousins but they are practically family at this point so I could see them referring to each other as cousins. I repeat, I want it to be Mathilda even though I know it’s likely Arabella 🙂
Beautiful pics, beautiful yarn; so glad you had a great mini-vacation!
Sadly, you can hit weird summer weather almost anywhere. You just have to hope for the best for that particular area, especially if it’s a short stay. It’s been a great spring here, but now we have a freaking heat dome. Ugh.
I’ll put in a vote for Matilda!
The yarn is lovely, and I’m glad the vacation was great!
I initially thought Matilda but then went to Arabella – whomever it is write it we will gobble it up. Wish us Canucks could convince you to visit up North – we have pretty summers too….especially Victoria, B.C. and a few yarn stores as well!!
Arabella? Please be Arabella?! Glad the vacation did as intended and hoping you make all the money… so you can buy more yarn 😊♥️
Glad you had a nice break. The wool is beautiful, I can’t condemn you 😆. Thanks for the snippet!
You were in Minnesota for one book tour. It’s gorgeous here just now, so you need to come back. Research cabins in MN woods and how bad the flies are (really bad) but the lush forests, clean air and scenic views are stunning. Or put the Mall of America in a story? Summer research!
When you go to NC, take a look at the town of Cary. It is lovely.
Money spend on vacation is the best. I went to Portland, OR for the weekend for my niece’s college graduation. Stayed for a couple days to visit the Troll Ole Bolle in the Nordic House, buy some books at Powell’s City of Books, and found Scrap PDX which is a reuse, recycle art thirft store. Money well spent. I have a JOY fund and it usually goes to books, art supplies and food experiences. Found a great hotel that has a restaurant that serves Brunch daily from 7-2pm. And a bar that had a pretty decent Happy Hours for both drinks and food.
For the snippet, I am thinking Catalina since she is a dog person.
Doesn’t Cornelius have a Doberman named Gus? Leon called him Gus Bunnyson if I remember correctly. Leon’s boxer could be called Augie doggie if his name is Augustus.
It depends when this snippet is in the timeline. Gus might be with the Big Doberman in the Sky 🙁 . He was getting old by Ruby Fever and we’ve been given to understand that Arabella’s solo adventures might happen 5-6 years after that.
My mind immediately went to it being a joke at Augustine’s expense, actually, but I’m bias because I don’t like him 😀
I was on the same page about Gus (Augustine) being named after Pancakes. 😉😊🧐
+1 😂
ohhhh! squiiii! thank you!
Mini beach vacation, snippet and a perfectly timed reminder to get my Innkeeper Subterranean volume. All good now. Thank you!!!!!!!
I’ve lived in Durham NC for 25 years. Great place, more affordable than Raleigh and Chapel Hill. And if you like it in July you will be set for the rest of the year, because July and August are the worst times of the year for weather – hot and humid. Winters tend to be mild, spring and fall are warm and lovely, and in the summer we are all grateful for air conditioning and swimming in the evenings.
Glad you had a great and relaxing time. Thank you so much for the photos and video of the storm. Made me so happy to see familiar scenes, as I am living here in Texas and miss those views.
PLEASE tell me you went to Cow Lick’s Ice Cream (across the street and 1/2 a block north from your hotel)? My aunt and uncle live about 1/2 mile south of there, across the street from the drive in church (beach side) and we always walk down to Cow Lick’s. Not sure what it says about how much time I spend there, since I looked at your photos, saw the pool and then the tennis courts and new exactly where the pictures were taken, LOL.
The snippet is awesome! Thank you, thank you!!
I lived in Raleigh for a couple years before I moved for a job, although that was 30 years ago. I liked the area. Only thing I didn’t like… they put vinegar in their barbecue. Total surprise when you grew up with tomato-based bbq.
i would absolutely by a short story collection entitled “Magic Bought Too Much Yarn And Is Sorry”
although i’m never sorry about buying yarn. i may be sorry that i don’t have money for food, though.
Raleigh in July will be quite hot and generally quitehumid. I mean not Texas’s hot and humid but still… On the other hand, I’m in the next town and would welcome you. We in the triangle are one of the several blue spots in the state. We’ve got good enough culture and good restaurants and I dunno, stuff. ( I don’t knit so I can’t comment) We’re a few hours from the ocean and a few hours from the mountains ( you’ve considered Asheville, right?). More universities than you can shake a stick at. College basketball it’s very important in the spring What else would be good to know?
Yes you spent $ on yarn but it’s your souvenir for the trip. That’s what you are working for – to be able to do/buy what you want! The yarn sounds lovely!
Y’all are authors… Could just call it Magic Yarns…. 😀
I will say Arabella because I don’t think Leon would barge in on Catalina unannounced so much.
Also, love the shawl…but anything done in Malabrigo is spectacular!
Wonderful to hear you had such a good vacation. The photos are lovely, thanks for sharing them. BDH would happily read “Magic Bought Too Much Yarn And Is Sorry”! Maybe you could start an imprint specifically for funding hobbies with other series titles from different authors like “Got Too Many Used Books at HalfPrice Books and Is Sorry/Not Sorry”, or “Did I Really Need All These Shoes From Poshmark?” and so on.
Any calm dog would likely be miserable with Arabella unless she matured a whole lot. I’m voting Catalina — can’t be Bern as he is Leon’s brother. Matilda would be a possibility if she divided her extra family like that but I don’t think she would. Nevada would be possible but I think the distance would be a challenge and the list of people who’s house you can barge into is pretty smaller and that brought me back to Arabella — I doubt Catalina or Nevada refer to it as their individual house. Has to be Arabella and she must have grown up. Final answer — Arabella.
Its Arabella. Without going into too much analysis:
“My cousin”. So it is one of the three sisters. But Nevada is busy HEA’ing and raising her son.
“German Shepherds were the best dogs ever. Period”
Catalina has Shadow. And doesn’t talk like that. It’s Arabella and she needs a trilogy stet.
Oooh, this is Arabella talking, right? Which means we ARE getting an Arabella trilogy, right, RIGHT??
I love the Baylors, one and all— and all their spouses and friends, too!
If it’s not on the Release Schedule page, it’s not promised! https://ilona-andrews.com/release-schedule/
We can hope and maintain fluffiness!
Oh, and, the yarn is lovely and I’m glad you had a wonderful (and well-deserved) vacation!
Sorry, my BDH impulses overwhelmed my manners there for a bit. I’m over it now. Well, no, I’m not, but I’m in control enough to hide my rabid need for more Hidden Legacy for the time it takes to close out this message. 🙂
Arabella? OMG! Please be Arabella!
This had me in stitches: Magic Bought Too Much Yarn And Is Sorry.
Glad you both had the vacation you needed! Weather looks beautiful. The Midwest is really hot right now, depending on your location, and full of mosquitoes. My fave time to visit though is late May/early June or Fall. So pretty and good weather.
You can also call it Magic Yarns; filled with short story snippets🥰
Thank you for the snippet.
I have a Boxer, (flashy fawn) he’s a big goofball. You got the energy level right! He can spring straight up in the air, like a kangaroo.
Glad you all had a great relaxation, you all definitely deserve it😊
Yes, Magic Yarns, the Stash Series! It could go on forever! You never get to the end of the stash!
1. I’m glad y’all enjoyed your vacation. The pictures are so pretty and I love your descriptions! (“…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.”)
2. “Magic Bought Too Much Yarn And Is Sorry” is a fabulous title. Much better than Small Magics 2 (teehee).
3. Arabella?????????!!!!!!??????!!!!!! Nope, I won’t get excited, I’m sure I’m wrong. But… Arabella????!!!!!
Also, “She just smiled until he calmed down.” Hahahahahaha, I’m sure Ophelia’s smile is heartwarming and makes Leon feel safe and secure.
Wisconsin is wonderful and beautiful in summer. Today it is 92F and 150% humidity. That’s okay though because it is still technically Spring.