Amsterdam Memories

Amsterdam is a fun and interesting city! You've already seen our hotel and a couple of other photos, but since we spent several days there, we have lots more.  I will try to pick only a few.

Our hotel was right around the corner from the Museumplein, the huge square where several museums are located.  You can see the Rijks Museum and the enormous Amsterdam sign in the background.  Lots of young people enjoyed climbing on the sign for photo ops. We spent some time in the museum, specifically to see Rembrandt's Nightwatch painting again. It is BIG and takes up a whole wall on the top floor of the museum along with other classical paintings and is a popular spot to visit.

The buildings, both old and new, are all very beautiful.  I especially liked the concert hall.

This hotel had even higher narrow stairs than ours!  And among the flowers is one of my favorites, the black-eyed Susan vine.

Many of the houses have a hook at the top for moving furniture to the higher floors. The stairs inside are too narrow!

Flowers are everywhere in Amsterdam, even growing in the tiniest places, and sometimes out of a crack in the sidewalk.

We had fun trying different restaurants. This one seemed to have a permanent guest that was not interested in either spaghetti or pizza.  She was sound asleep when we first noticed her.

We took this photo for a choir friend.  When she was 17 and newly graduated from high school, she came to Amsterdam and worked in this hotel as a chamber maid. It's right across from the train station. Once, on her recommendation, we stayed there, but not this time.

After several days, it was time to leave this beautiful city, knowing we'd be back on our way back home to Seattle. There were many places we didn't visit because we ran out of time. Another trip perhaps? 

Next stop, Brussels. Stay tuned.

Settling In and Catching Up

We are finally back in this Time Zone!  It became fall while we were gone, and now we are settling in for the season, catching up with friends, doing chores and our regularly scheduled activities.  Ginger and Mocha are keeping a close eye on us and have almost forgiven us for being gone so long.

The fall blooming clematis is showing off. It would grow clear up the second story if allowed.

I finished a Pumpkin Hat for Stella and am working on some other projects also.

Great niece Maddy is getting acquainted with her little sister.

Becca and I had a delightful afternoon at Country Village which started with lunch next door. She sent this fun photo.  That scone was very tasty!

Traveling is fun, but it's also good to be back home, isn't it?  Life is good.  More travel photos soon. Get inspired with others' knitting at Patchwork Times!

Off Someone's Needles~

We have just returned from a wonderful two week trip to Europe and have lots to share! Our plane flew home directly from Amsterdam where our adventure also began.  Because it was daylight all the way back to Seattle, the views from the plane were amazing. 

We spent three days in Amsterdam exploring, eating, and getting used to the time change. Our hotel was located just around the corner from the Rijks Museum which was very convenient. You can see the narrow stairs, but they were nothing compared to the ones inside!  Then we learned our room was on the fourth floor, which in Europe is really the fifth floor as their system begins with the Ground Floor.

Looking up

and down!  Luckily there was an elevator, but even that was an experience. It held 3 people, two barely with luggage!

In Amsterdam most folks get around on bicycles, and as you can see, this one marks the spot of a nice little yarn shop called Penelope's. Every bit of the bike except the wheels was covered with knitting. Surprisingly, I didn't buy any yarn, but I did find some really cute buttons.

Flowers are everywhere in Amsterdam. These cheery sunflowers greeted us at the airport as we started our exciting days in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.  More photos later, I promise!  (Hope this isn't too disjoint as I am still pretty jet-lagged.)
Checkout others' knitting projects at Patchwork Times.

Happy Anniversary, Bob and Mary!

Now that the gift has arrived, or at least I hope it has, I can show it on here. In between the knitting this summer I finally finished something I'd been working on for Bob and Mary for a long time.  Their fiftieth anniversary gave me a goal for finishing, and I came close but was late because we had a last minute idea.  You know how that goes?

This is the top of a little oak box.  It came without glass, but we were able to have a piece cut to size at Sunset Glass, a local shop that's helped us over the years.  Then, we had another idea, to find a way to put a label on it like you would on a quilt.   Enter this online shop!  We were really happy with the results as well as their service.

We were together a year ago in June, minus our younger daughter and her family. (She was expecting Stella then and couldn't travel.)  Their two other boys' families were not able to attend either.) Bob and Mary are just off  center.

Fifty years have passed since they said, "I do."  And now their family, including grand kids, numbers 16!  September fifth was the big day, but they've been celebrating all year long! Next year, we plan to do the same.

The Rest of the Story ~

After we left the house in Grayslake, we spent another week with our oldest daughter and her family. We  also enjoyed a nice lunch with Kathy B., a blogging friend, and her husband. It was very fun to meet them both, and it was a most enjoyable afternoon. (You may have seen a similar photo on her blog, thanks to both of our husbands.)

In between helping Jill with household chores and playing with the grand kids, we managed to celebrate Sophia's seventh birthday----twice!  Once with Grandma and Grandpa T.

On her "real" birthday, the 19th, we had cake with a rainbow and purple and pink roses as requested.  And Mom made "rainbow jello".

See that black plate?  It was really really slippery, and there was a near catastrophe when we removed the plastic to place it on the cake stand.  Oma and Mom made a quick catch when it tried to get away!

Rainbow jello takes lots of time and patience to make, but smaller dishes help hurry the process along.

Sophia likes her Little House shawl, and it seems to fit very well.  We also gave her some Little House on the Prairie books to go with it.  This was the first time we've had a chance to celebrate a birthday with any of our Chicago grand children, and it was lots of fun!

Their backyard is visited by all sorts of critters.  This chipmunk had just polished of a choice cherry tomato.

The orange cat whose name is Charlie visits regularly and enjoys being petted. Daniel drops everything when Charlie arrives.  They are good friends.

And since we've left for home, the family had adopted four chickens.  Last year they came home from the labor Day weekend family camp with a guinea pig named Amy, and this year with four chickens.  It's your guess what they'll bring home next year!  Maybe a horse?  Or ?

Down to the Wire! And Still on My Needles~~~ (Updated)

Before the end of the month, in just a matter of days, this little gal is going to be a big sister, and we are going to have another grand niece!

Here's what's on my needles and almost finished.  As you can see, the hat needs some blocking, and the bootie needs its mate.

I'd best get crackin' Right?  But first I'm off to lunch with a friend. (Meanwhile, if you have a chance, check out Judy L's blog ) to see what others are knitting.

Update: Abigail Marie arrived Sunday morning, and yes, the booties are done and are on their way tomorrow.

Hurrah, the Camera Is Back Home! (Photo Heavy)

This afternoon a FedEx truck stopped here and delivered our camera! It had been accidentally left in a restaurant in the Denver airport on our way back home on July 21. We found out the next day that the restaurant had it, but we'd just about given up hope of ever seeing it again. We don't really know why they took so long to return it but just are very glad it's home.  We had so many photos on it that we just hated to lose.

When we left home, terrible fires were burning in Eastern Washington, and our plane flew right over the smoke cloud. After our plane landed in Denver, we headed north to Fort Collins and the Loopy Ewe . Unfortunately, we left our camera in the car, but it looks just like the photo on their blog and was much bigger than I expected. (And of course, I bought some yarn and fabric.)

Next we drove  to Boulder to visit our good friends the Liggetts and also Dick's friend, Art, from high school. Isn't that a beautiful clematis?

We took Bill and Nancy to a Boulder "institution" called the Sink.  All sorts of people have signed its walls, including President Obama.

Then we headed up to the mountains.  On the way to Rocky Mountain Park, which is all uphill, I counted 109 bicyclists!

We also saw a flock of bighorn sheep~~~

and watched them cross the highway just like the sign said.

They didn't mind stopping traffic one little bit! They also made walking up hill look so easy.

The Ranger said this was only the third time since May that he'd seen them cross the road, so we felt really lucky to see them up that close.

We made lots of stops to admire the scenery and look down on the winding roads.

On the way back down the trail, we noticed lots of cars parked on the roadside.

We quickly saw what everyone was looking at!

A large herd of elk was moving across the snow field to graze on the hillside.

We loved our stay in Steamboat Springs.  Dick "caught" a magpie preening just outside our condo.

The sunsets out our window were pretty, too.

Just as we were leaving Steamboat Springs for the airport, we had a special treat, a mama moose and her calf!  It's only the second time we've ever seen one, and little did we realize that we'd almost lose all these photos.  We are so grateful to have them, and the camera they were in, back home!