This and That

Hello my friends. It’s Wednesday and already June 12! Where is the time going? We have had a busy few days here.  I’ll tell you all about it, but first let me show you what has been on my needles. I finished these plain vanilla socks made with Paton’s Kroy sock yarn. Unfortunately I threw away the label before I wrote down the colorway. I’m very happy though, that I finally got a pair to match almost exactly.

Also, I gathered up a lot of my small balls of worsted weight yarn that I’ve never been able to throw away and I used some of them in another wheelchair blanket. I think it turned out okay. It does still need washed and blocked.

Next on my needles - this morning I started a new pair of socks, again trying to use up some of my scrap balls of sock yarn. Cindy at the "Delighted Hands" blog has inspired me to try helical knitting. When you knit this way, it doesn’t leave a jog between the stripes. The cuffs, heels and toes will be gray, that actually looks brown in the photo and a turquoise and purple for the stripes. I have also never used these tiny circular needles because they’re so fiddly, but the helical stripes are actually easier on them. They are 9 inch Hiya Hiya Sharps. They seem very short and tiny in my hands and will take some getting used to. It’s very slow going at this point. I'm used to knitting sock legs and feet fairly quickly and that's not happening. It's fun to learn a new technique though.

Our friend Jenny from Spokane has been on a cross-country trip. She flew to Maryland from Spokane to visit her dad‘s cousin who is 98 years old. There she rented a car and drove to South Carolina to see two of her sisters, then to Nashville to visit a friend for just a day. Then she drove all the way to Omaha from Nashville in one day and was supposed to be spending a week with us. However, a very good friend of all of ours passed away in Spokane and she had to leave a few days early to go home and do the PowerPoint and photos for the funeral. She left early this morning to drive to Minneapolis where she’ll catch a flight to Spokane. We are disappointed that she had to cut her time with us short as we had lots of plans, but we also know that it’s important that she be there for the funeral and to help with the plans.  We are disappointed that we won't be able to be there.

On Monday, Dennis took Jenny to the zoo and they spent over four hours there and actually were able to walk around the entire zoo! Because of the heat I wasn't able to go with them but they had a good time. If you remember, Jenny and her husband Neal went on the cruise with us in January. We’ve been best friends for over 30 years. She has heard so much about Omaha‘s Henry Doorley Zoo that she didn’t want to miss it again on this trip. 

Then yesterday, we had some adventures of our own. After we dropped Piper off in a town about 30 miles away for a 4H project, Jenny and I drove to Elk Horn Iowa, where there is an authentic Danish windmill. It was disassembled and each piece was labeled and was sent over to the small town where it was reassembled without any blueprints, just a small model. I think this was in the late 1970's. All of the people who rebuilt it were retired farmers, a retired engineer and a retired architect. Dennis and I visited it in 1982 when Mandy was only two years old. This was my first time back since then and they’ve done a lot more to the grounds. The windmill is fully operational and they still grind wheat in it. If you're driving down I-80 through western Iowa, it's definitely worth a stop.

There is a very interesting tour and a nice size gift shop. This is the room on the second floor, where the grinding is done.

I chose not to climb up to the top two floors, but Jenny was more adventurous. She kicked her flip-flops off and proceeded to go up and down the ladders. There was also a catwalk around the outside of the 2nd floor that we were able to walk around the entire windmill on.

They have a tiny, tiny church, where we were told actual weddings are sometimes held!

This is the inside with four seats and an pulpit.

This sweet little gnome house was in the middle of the lawn. I snapped a photo of it for Valerie at the "Wanderingcatstudio" blog. I immediately thought of her when I saw it.

They also constructed an authentic replica of a Viking house. Note the grass on the roof!

The inside of the house is set up as a Viking family would have lived. Everyone slept in the same room in bunkbeds, and the cooking was done in the middle of the floor.

This particular Viking was a blacksmith and he had his shop right outside the doors of the living area. The kitchen is to the right in the photo. There were lots of informational signs all over the property, telling the story of each building.

We also visited Boys Town for a very short visit. We were quickly running out of time in the day, so we just visited the museum and father Flanagan’s burial spot. We plan to explore further next time she comes.
This is also a must see place to visit if you're ever in Omaha. It's just down the street from us a mile or two.
I hope you're all having a lovely week. The world just keeps on getting crazier and crazier, but we just stay firmly planted with our faith in the Lord of Lords. He is our great protector and provider.

I'll see you all again soon.

Blessings and love,

Betsy