A Good Yarn

I like to knit. That means I also like to shop for yarn. So while I've been traveling, I found a couple of fun local yarn shops. A great find on Prince Edward Island was Northern Watters Knitwear. There was only a small selection of yarn and but all of it was made in Canada, perfect for a souvenir purchase. (Yep, there was one shop we visited in Mahone Bay that sold exactly the same yarns I can buy here at home. No fun there even though it was a nice shop.) So I brought a couple of skeins of sock yarn home.

But Jessica may have purchased the better souvenir---one that doesn't require her making it. She bought a sweater that was knit there at the store while we were on the island. We stopped in one day to check on the progress and got to see the finished pieces. The sweater was assembled and ready before we left for home. Now Jessica just has to wait for cold weather so that she can wear it.  She will be enjoying this sweater for a long time while I am trying to decide what to knit and then it will likely take me forever to finish something.

But I did do some "travel knitting" while we were gone. One scarf on the flight up and then another scarf on the trip home. And both are done!

 Lacy Baktus
The Fibre Company Canopy Fingering, 2 skeins
Size 5 needles

I'd seen many photos of this Baktus and thought it looked easy enough to try on the plane. Turned out to be a great choice.  I might even get to wear this as a light wrap on a cool evening and not have to wait for winter.

I was almost done with the Lacy Baktus by the time I was packing for the flight home, so I cast on another scarf to keep me busy on the return trip. The January Scarf was a fun pattern and easy enough that I had finished half of it by the time I got home. Hope I don't have to wait until January to wear it.

January Scarf
Arucania Ranco Solid, 1 skein
Size 5 needles

I would be knitting this morning but I left my knitting bag at Baby Sister's house yesterday when I went to stay with her so that Mommy could take a nap. Seems that Baby Sister's souvenir from the beach was a cold that kept her up for a couple of nights. She's better now, thankfully.

Oh...there is a great yarn shop at the beach, too. But that story will have to wait.

Beach Blanket Baby

Saying the words "family vacation" could bring to mind something similar to a Chevy Chase movie but this trip could not have been better. The weather was perfect--which was a miracle given our extreme heat this summer. Everyone stayed in good humor for the whole time. Another miracle when that includes a baby and a big sister. I was happy to spent some extra time with the girls in the evenings while Mommy and Daddy had some time to themselves. Both girls were so tired that putting everyone to bed was unbelievably easy. They were ready to go to sleep. It should be so easy at home!

After eating delicious northern Atlantic seafood a couple of weeks ago in Canada, this weekend it was time to indulge in our southern seafood--crab cakes, fried shrimp, shrimp gumbo, and flounder. And don't forget the hush puppies! Our favorite restaurants did not disappoint. Every bite was delicious. 

This was Baby Sister's first trip to the ocean. She loved it. She loved the water. She loved the sand (except for the handful she ate.) She loved the breeze in her curly hair. And we all loved watching her. In fact everyone around us was quite entertained. She is a real people person already.

Big Sister was more adventurous with her boogie board. 

Digging in the sand was fun, but if you look at the pink knees, you can see Baby Sister liked crawling in the sand just as much. She took off lickety-split toward the ocean. We wondered how far she would go, but after she had gone a good distance she looked back to see where we were. She went another couple of feet, then stopped and thought about it. And crawled right back up the beach to us.

I did manage to sneak out by myself just after the sun came up one morning to enjoy watching the waves break and to listen to the ocean's roar. Glad I am an early riser by nature because I love it when the beach is nearly empty. I will never get tired of this.

Thank you Mommy and Daddy for inviting me to share a few days with all of you.

What a wonderful way to end the summer.

Farewell Canada

What did I miss most while I was gone?

This little one. I was happy to babysit first thing when I got home and get put her down for a nap. "Down for a nap" literally means face down at the moment.

Here is the last part of our time on Prince Edward Island. We didn't have a particular plan for our days on PEI, other than our ukulele day. So each morning we asked at the hotel "what should we see." Fiona at The Great George was wonderful at giving suggestions and directions. It was nice to have time to see things leisurely. And to enjoy some unexpected stops that we found when I missed a couple of turns along the way. It's a small island, so you couldn't be too lost. 

We rode to the tiny village of Victoria-By-The-Sea one day and then took the scenic route back to Charlottetown.

We saw the red sand on the shore at Victoria.

I was amazed that farms and sea sat side by side.

We had lunch at an honest-to-goodness tea room.

It was as lovely to look at as it was delicious. The entire tea room held about 12 people.

Bright colors were the norm everywhere we went. Maybe in winter's gloom, it cheers everyone up.

And a trip to Green Gables  at Cavendish is a must for all visitors. We love Anne of Green Gables--the movies and the books, so it was fun to see the farm that inspired author Lucy Maud Montgomery. The farm belonged to cousins of her grandparents with whom she lived as she was growing up. It was located nearby the grandparents, so she would have spent time here. It is now a national park.

I had heard about the red sand beaches and we saw a little of that in Victoria, but there are real beaches--the wide kind we have here in SC--at Brackley Beach and up that shore. The sand felt just like our beaches but it really is red.

We wish that our PEI friends could see the land near our farm. It is as red as this road here on PEI, but ours is red clay instead of red sand. Maybe this is one reason I felt so at home.

David and Diane took us to Summerside one evening to see Highland Storm, an evening of Celtic music and dance. But the surprise was a stop at Frosty Treat on the way to enjoy the best fried clams on the island.

The soloist in Highland Storm is a member is the ukulele group, SMUG, on PEI. We had met her the day I played with their group. This was a wonderful show. I discovered in the gift shop adjacent to the theater, where all things Scottish were sold, that the names on the mugs, plaques, etc. sounded just like the names in my community--Armstrong, Campbell, Robertson. Those are names of our neighbors!

As we rambled around we ended up back at the beach. Glad we did because the first time we did not see Dalvay By The Sea, a beach resort where Prince William and his new bride Kate stayed just weeks ago.

And we just couldn't leave without saying goodbye to our new friends, David and Diane. A visit with them the night before we left gave us one more opportunity to play a little music. Music just makes for instant friendship.

We will forever be grateful for their hospitality. It was a wonderful adventure. Maybe they can come visit us in the South one day.

Great George! Great Trip!

When I got to see Baby Sister this weekend, she literally leapt into my arms! Now that makes a grandmother feel terrific. Only problem was it was Granddaddy's arms she was leaping out of. Her hair had  grown about an inch in the two weeks I was gone.

I'm still enjoying going back through vacation photos. Here are more from our trip...the part of the trip where we reached Prince Edward Island, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

We stayed at The Great George, a small hotel but a beautiful one. It's actually a collection of buildings surrounding the main part of the hotel shown here.

The piano in the lobby had photos of their famous guests. We didn't see anyone famous while we were there, but we did find surprise guests in the lobby one evening. When we heard the strong Southern drawl, it was a sure thing that these folks were from home. A tour group from South Carolina were staying here for a couple of days during our visit. We had fun talking to everyone in the group and discussing a little Gamecock football!

Charlottetown is a lovely small town. Great restaurants everywhere. We went to the Confederation Center one evening to see Anne Of Green Gables--The Musical, an excellent production that has played for 40 years.

And I've never eaten so much seafood! But in this part of the country shrimp, crab and flounder are not on the menu. It's lobster, mussels, clams, fish & chips, etc.--all delicious. (McDonald's in Nova Scotia even has a McLobster sandwich on the menu.)

As beautiful as everything was, what actually brought us to Canada and Prince Edward Island was a ukulele group. I am the leader of the Yesterukes, an all-ukulele band here in South Carolina. And a few years ago, the leader of SMUG, a similar band on PEI found us online and we started emailing and exchanging ideas. So one day was devoted to ukuleles. These folks were nice as could be and we enjoyed our time with them.

And then the best part of the trip...  The SMUG leader invited us to his home for dinner. It's hard for me to imagine living where you run down to the corner store to buy lobsters, but on PEI, that's what you do.
It was THE best food of the trip. Thank you, David and Diane!

And as I posted this last photo, the phone rings with a "Mom, can you come keep Baby Sister while I go to the dentist?" It's good to be back and be needed.

"Darlin', It's Your Lucky Day!"

I will baby sit tonight and get to see Baby Sister for the first time in a couple of weeks. I hear that instead of crawling now, she zooms! Better put on my running shoes. But before I completely return to grandmother mode, I want to post more vacation pictures. For you it might be like friends who want to show you slides of their trip, but for me it's a great way to put the photos where I can find them later.

We spent one day enjoying the waterfront area in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The city is very old and reminded me a bit of Charleston as I drove around lots of one-way streets but Halifax sits on a hill.

The Maritime Museum was wonderful--large enough to tell the story of Halifax but small enough that I didn't get tired of looking at exhibits. I had no clue that Halifax was so tied to the history of the Titanic disaster. The people of Halifax were the ones to respond to the event. Hundreds of Titanic victims are buried in Halifax, pulled from the sea by Halifax sailors.

We also toured the Alexander Keith Brewery and learned more about the city's history.  I learned that Nova Scotia means "new Scotland." There was also singing and dancing involved in this tour. Fun!

Jessica had booked a harbor sail on a tall ship. This was great way to see the city from the water. The weather was perfect for it.

Then we enjoyed one of the best meals of the trip at McKelvie's, just across from the waterfront. A 30-year-old restaurant in a 100-year-old building.

The next day we traveled to Prince Edward Island, our actual destination. Charlottetown, PEI is about three hours from Halifax. We planned to take the 1:00 PM ferry over to the island. We got to the ferry site at 12:30 thinking that was plenty of time. We were in one of about 8 lines of vehicles and watched as cars and trucks from each line were directed onto the ferry. Our line started to move, a few cars at a time and we inched forward, waiting for our turn to board. You could tell the ferry was nearly full because they started measuring trucks to see which ones might fit.

They came back to our line of cars finally, now loading them one at a time as they figured out the jigsaw puzzle of vehicles. It looked like the car ahead of us was not going to make it on board but they figured out how to add just one more car--the car AHEAD of us! Someone shouted that was the last car. Oh no! I asked how long it was until the next crossing. One hour and 45 minutes!

Then a walkie talkie crackled and the man directing the cars waved at me and said, "Darlin', it's your lucky day!" They squeezed just one more car--OUR car--on at the very end. Had to park almost sideways so they could close the gate. It WAS our lucky day. This is the end of our rental car, about 20 inches from the gate...

An hour ride on the ferry, carrying its four decks of filled with cars, trucks, RVs and people and we landed on Prince Edward Island. Yep, it was my lucky day.