Finally Fall
10:33 a.m. - 2014-10-16


I pretty much lost September since we were on a three-week road trip to the Midwest. My MIL grew up in Wisconsin and served in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the war, so we were taking her back to visit those places and see old friends. Because she is almost 90, the fact that she still has old friends to visit is a good thing. We had fabulous weather for the whole trip with a few breaks for exciting weather tantrums. We stopped in Winnemucca the first night, and when we were headed out to dinner from the motel, my MIL and I were waiting on the side porch for my husband to bring the car around when lightening struck in the field next to us. I squealed and jumped, but my MIL had been standing behind a pillar and missed it. We didn't see really good fall color until we got to Wisconsin, but the best color was in Michigan. There were some goals I had for the trip: eat frozen custard, eat a 'Friday night fish fry, go to a giant fabric outlet in Minnesota, experience a 'supper club', and make sure my MIL stayed safe and healthy. All accomplished.

We ran into snow on the way back in Yellowstone Park. I have only seen pictures of Old Faithful geyser before and so I thought of Yellowstone as fairly ugly. I was so wrong. It was very very beautiful, and it is interesting to see steam coming out of the ground in odd places like the concrete curb in front of the visitor center. Plus, there are buffalo right beside the road here and there.

The spouse and I were pretty tired when we got home, having driven about 5500 miles in three weeks, so we have been resting up. Before we left for the trip, I had been on a roll with the sewing, so I was afraid the break would kill off the mojo. I am trying to get back into it by sewing some shirts for my sister to use up some UFOs that were originally cut out for A. I have also become interested in the Sure-Fit Designs system for drafting patterns. It turned out that I already owned all four of the kits having picked them up at the thrift store in Sebastopol a few years ago, but I stuck them on a shelf and forgot about them. When I was reading about SFD on a sewing blog, I suddenly remembered those four boxes in the sewing room, so I dug them out and was delighted to see what I really had. I contacted the company to see about updating the kits (because I have the original 1982 kits), and when I found out what I needed,the spouse got me the manual, stylus, and a new pants kit for my birthday. The fit is supposed to be great on the patterns from this method, so I want to try drafting pants, too.

It is finally cooling down, so I think I will go get the last of the basil and make more pesto for the freezer.