Marsbarn Designs...

The need for knitting speed

For 2 1/2 weeks, I was separated from my sewing machine. And if I had had my sewing machine, I might never have left the beach. One of my grandmothers actually had her husband build a sewing machine into the glove compartment of her car. She would sew as he drove. (I swear this is true.) But, being separated from my addiction gave me time to knit.
At home, I normally only knit when I watch TV. And I just don't watch that much TV anymore. So I did some serious knitting while I was on this trip. (Drum roll please) I finished my sock. I completed it in California. And my husband's reaction?
"Great you can wear them now."
"Um no, I finished my 'sock', singular. Now I have to do the other one."
"How long did it take you to make that sock?!"
"Ah.. 3 months..." He was not impressed! Can you imagine? (Humph!) I immediately cast on the second sock. And I finished it (well, except for closing the last 8 stitches) at the beach house.
Sock one: 3 months. Sock two: 1 week. And then I started my second pair of socks. (Which will sit, unloved, until my next trip away from my sewing machine, or until Ugly Betty starts up again.)

a few of my favorite things

A week at the beach... what a delight.

In our twice daily walks admiring the beach, the rock, the water, and sorting through the flotsam to find little treasures, we spotted more interesting wildlife this trip than ever before; little blue crabs, gooseneck barnacles, star fish, sea roaches, hermit crabs (both large and tiny), sea worms, giant sand fleas, pelicans, cormorants, live olives (a mollusk that we normally we only as shells), a leather chiton, anemones, and lots of other wonderful sea shore life. Oh and beetles.. there were lots and lots of beetles on the beach; lady bugs, green spotted ones, black ones, and a lovely, large ten stripe June beetle I found dead in the high tide line.

The girls played in the shallow water of the lagoon and built sand forts with abandon (Castle Argh! will live again next year, I am sure). Bunny and Claude visited and joined in the merriment. And of course, any family week at the beach has to feature food.

May I introduce the 'S'more'. (Notice the capital 'S'?) I make homemade marshmallows to take the beach for masterful s'more-ing (oh, new verbage, I like that!). The powdered sugar on the outside carmalizes and forms a crispy sugar shell (think creme brulee) that shatters into oozing, creamy marshmallowy goodness! Just add chocolate and graham cracker.. and well.. little e had to have a bath after her first one (marshmallow up the sleeve and all). I tell you, more fun than you can shake a marshmallow encrusted stick at!

compulsion or art?

So during this vacation, I took lots (okay, hundreds) of photos.


Certain themes came up.... "Object held in hand" became very prominent. In the end, it became sort of a compulsion. "But could I take a photo of it in my hand?" I started playing with other people's hands. "Here hold this for me so I can photograph it." I noticed that different people held things.. well differently. I used my mother, my sister, my daughters.. I did stop short of asking strangers to hold random shells for me. But if I had been alone, I might have been tempted to do so. Were there other themes? Well yes. There were "objects lying on sand", "objects lying on weathered table", and personalized license plates (I nearly leaned out of the moving car window to photograph a Harley Davidson motorcycle with the plate "Sooeee", but he got away). I took photos of varying cloud, sand, and wave formations. Oh, and then there were the family photos... At the time, I claimed to be collecting images for collages. I was creating a stock gallery of things to use. But honestly, I think I was just collecting for collecting sake. Digital hoarding might be a better word.
Did I mention I also have three rolls of print film to develop? Is there a twelve step program for this?

But I don't want to go home?!

Day 3 of the trip back North.. but we weren't headed home. Nope. We were going to the Coast for a week with my Mom and sisters. I felt like a happy little kid. "I don't want to go home!" (pout) "I don't have to go home!" (YAY!)

After a leisurely stroll around Bandon, and a stop to refuel Sweetheart G's book needs and the car's need for gummy frogs and swedish fish, we worked our way along the Oregon Coast. (In one of those strange sisterly twists, G can read, write, eat, and stand on her head without getting carsick. G consumed 10 boxcar children books in the car during our trip... plus a handfull of other chapter books.)
For lunch we stopped at Lovejoys in Florence. Florence was our coastal haunt while Big E and I were in college. Lovejoys is an English Tea shop. It is a newer addition to the Old Town area, but still a favorite of mine. Judith, the owner, loves to tease Big E. ("Oh you don't want that tea. It tastes like tar.") With full bellies, we introduced the girls to Sutton Lake Park. Our favorite bit to explore has always been the creek that runs from the lake to the ocean. We saw salamanders in the water, Elk tracks next to the creek, and raccoon scat (thrilling, I know). The water was the warmest it has ever been, and we waded for about 1 1/2 miles. Little e slogged away, upstream, in thigh deep water (for her), against a headwind on the trek back to the car. "Dad, I can't go forward" she called, puzzled as her legs moved, but she stayed still. Big E hoisted her onto his shoulders and carried her back to the car. It was a perfect afternoon! And, even more wonderful, little e slept the rest of the way to Neskowin!

there and back again

After a fabulously relaxing time at my Dad's house, and a VERY hot July 4th, we headed back north. (Okay, so I am leaving a lot out here; family time, brew pubs, craft store, fabric stores, ribbon shop (with a going out of business sale), sock completion, etc. but I want to finish up the narrative of our grand Road Trip adventure.)

We hustled a bit and made it to Eureka in time to explore a bit.
This modest home was built by a timber baron in the 1800's. Now a "Private Club" owns it. Doesn't this look like the mansion where super hero headquarters are supposed to be? I was even able to visit a fabric shop in Eureka. They had fabulous things, but I had the grumpiest salesperson I have ever had in a fabric store. In stark contrast, at dinner we had the sweetest waitress at a sushi restaurant. She was fabulous!

My mind boggles at all the things we did the second day of our trip north. Big E sponateously found a wonderful rocky beach. I have never seen so many pieces of quartz and agate on one beach. It was windy and cool, but Sweetheart G was in her glory finding pretty rocks to look at.

Following the call of Big Tree, we stopped a second time before lunch to admire the Redwoods. After communing with banana slugs (the girls wouldn't taste one), confounding Japanese tourists (American's take pictures of slugs?), a sojourn to Big Tree, and admiring wild lilies we pushed on toward Brookings for lunch.I stumbled on to a Quilt Shop Hop that included 4 quilt shops along the coastline. We just 'happened' to stop for lunch next door to a quilt shop. (Suffer, suffer.)

After lunch Big E stopped the car to admire a view, and said "Hey what's over here? Come on." And with little e on his shoulders he took off on a goat track down a cliff. Now, he claims this was a "forestry trail", but.. well.. let's just say that after G and I made it to the bottom of the cliff Big E sheepishly said, "I can see a park entrance just down the beach." Realizing that climbing up a crumbling, steep trail with a 4 year old on your shoulders is much different than coming down, Big E climbed up alone, and the girls and I walked along the beach to the conventional entrance.

To even out the fabric shops, we stopped at Prehistoric Gardens just south of Port Orford. I have to say that the dinosaur theme park was much, much better than I expected. Little e had a fabulous time until she tripped and fell (you have to watch those dinosaurs...). The day ended back in Bandon with Big E's Mom and Dad.

Phase one complete

After spending the night in Arcata, CA, we sped south toward Marin County. We did take the time to travel along the Avenue of the Giants so we could ogle the redwoods. I love the redwoods. They make me happy. (Sigh) But, the small twisty roads didn't help our Little e. We finally resorted to dramamine. Which left us with an interesting dilemma as parents. Is it better to have a happy girl who vomits, or a grumpy girl who hates the world but doesn't vomit? Ya. Fabulous. Worried about dehydration we opted for grumpy. Next year, if we do this again, we have to find a better option.

On the Road, again.

We spent our first night on the road in Bandon-by-the-Sea. On the warf we explored a wonderful mural pathway done by Amber Shelley Harris. These wonderful swirling curves were filled with lovely suprises. Little e and Sweetheart G played an endless game of I-Spy. Big E's parents joined us in their camper for the night.

This is the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. The lighthouse is closed to the public when the winds on the point go above 50 mph, which is quite often. When we did the tour, we were allowed up into the housing of the light and were able to walk around the lens. The view was fabulous, but it was the lens that captured my admiration. So fabulous!

Of course we had to stop at Trees of Mystery and visit with Paul Bunyan and Babe.

I didn't realise until G was in the car, and Big E was ready to go, that if you shouted at Paul, he would talk to you! I was so bummed that we missed out!

ROAD TRIP

Back in "Before-Children-Days", Big E and I used to spontaneously (hmm... sounds like a foreign word now..) jump in the car and roam. In college, we would take any excuse to jump in Dent-auto (quite the vehicle for adventure) and whisk ourselves to the coast or to the mountains or even to San Francisco. (On returning from our first California adventure my uncle exclaimed, "You went in THAT?". Poor misunderstood Dent-auto.)

This time we planned our trip, with stopovers, and readied a more luxurious Sparkley Blue (the current mobile). Oh, and we brought a 7 year old and a 4 year old.

The beginning. No this is not our house. But isn't it grand? I love it. But, I will keep my Barn for now. At this point in our journey, little e had vomited once. Poor girl. I am sure that my yoga paid off in speed and agility when it came to whipping out The Bucket in time for its duty. And little e just bounced back each time. (Yes, it continued to happen.) "I'm g-ate" she would announce afterward, skipping that pesky 'r' sound.
This was our lunch spot. We climbed down the track that leads to a local fishing spot in Elkton, and found this lovely field of stone ledges next to the river. We played for over an hour.
This is the Umpqua River Lighthouse.
It was built in the 1880s, and is still in use. It has a red and white glass lens, making a 2 white, one red flash. We made the last tour of the day.

I'm Ba-ack!

We have returned! Here are Big E and little e.
We had a great vacation. I took lots of photos. (I love my camera. I am such a total convert. Prior to December 2006, I hated digital cameras. Film was the only way to go.. but now.. Well... I had to buy a 1 Gig memory card halfway through the trip.)
But now we are home. It is hot (yuck!), my cat keeps scolding me, and my thoughts are all a whirl. Our fabulous 2 1/2 week vacation ended sadly. On our last day at the coast, two teens were swept out by a riptide. One was rescued by Coast Gaurd helicopter; the other is still missing. So very, very tragic.