We're back from Milton-Freewater, Oregon, located at the base of the scenic Blue Mountains.

Blue Mountains seen here. You can sort of make out the mountains in the distance. They are, in fact, rather blue. My MIL tells me that the green in the foreground is winter wheat, so called for when it is planted (winter), rather than when it is harvested (spring). She's an M-F local, so I'll take her word for it.
Here is our trip in a nutshell:

Denver. Flat on one side...
Rocky Mountains on the other.
Pasco, Washington as seen from the window of our airplane.
Easter Sunday breakfast at the Longbranch Saloon in Weston, Oregon.
Pictured is half (half!) of the side order of ham and biscuit that came with my eggs over medium. The biscuit itself was the size of a small badger. Never have I tasted a better or larger biscuit.
Interior of the Longbranch. The taxidermy on the wall supposedly promotes digestion.

A trip out to Harris Park on the South Fork. The threat of rattlesnakes always brightens my day.

Back to Denver.

Not pictured: Walla Walla, Touchet, Lowden, Hermiston.

Remember Rainbow, the fish that was not yet dead? Still not dead, but not looking so good.

Rainbow has been hanging out at the bottom of the fish tank. Camera flash doesn't even move her.

I'm concerned. This does not seem like healthy fish behavior.

A fine vintage

We're preparing to go out to Milton-Freewater for a visit with the MIL. Mr. Brewguy has been out a few times this past year, but I haven't been out since the great moving-unmoving fiasco of March, 2007.

Brewguy's grandmother was from Sweden. As the story goes, her mother used to walk the halls of the family estate working on crochet or tatting as she strolled. The finished work was then applied to bedlinens, tableclothes, napkins, and handkerchiefs. Sheets and pillowcases were stored with the decorative borders facing out so they could be matched by the staff.

Here are some of the surviving Swedish treasures:

These are hand-loomed tableclothes and napkins with what I think are tatted borders.

Crocheted lace. I need a camera that can handle close-up shots.

The pieces on the right hand side are machine made. What a difference!

Linen needs to be ironed. I spent a lot of time ironing. I cannot imagine trying to keep all these ironed for daily use.

There will be swearing

My PDA was "removed" from my office today. And by removed, I mean pilfered. I'd like to think I just left it in a conference room but no, I left it connected to my PC. It was not connected when I returned from my meeting. The USB cord remained, untethered to its home like a woebegone umbilical.

Secure Federal Building. Ha!

I really liked that PDA. It was a Christmas present from Mr. Brewguy. A real step up from my old Palm 510. This one connected to the internet and everything. Now I have to change all my passwords and try to resurrect my calendar.

Dear Cursed, shit-eating, thieving rat bastard,
DIE! DIE DIE DIEDIEDIE!
Love and hate, Brewgal.

We've been doing a bit of renovating at Chez Casa de Brewgal. I've been wanting a little breakfast nook in the kitchen for a while, but the only space available was under my wall-mounted cabinet. For some strange reason, Brewguy objected to putting a table and chairs under a 50 pound cabinet filled with glassware.

So we moved it to the dining room.

I think it looks great. That left space for a table in the kitchen. It also revealed a hidden gem.

Original wallpaper, circa 1974. I had forgotten that we installed the cabinet where a shelf hung. The first owners had clearly put the shelf up over the wall paper, then removed all they could reach when the painted the wall.

Wow. Can you imagine the entire kitchen papered in this stuff?

It's all about me

Our division is moving to a new building on campus this weekend. I've spent the week packing. Ugh. How do I accumulate so much stuff? In addition to the regular work crap, I found three boxes of granola bars, four miscellaneous balls of yarn (white, blue, oranage, and neon green) and two crochet hooks in my office. I suppose I was thinking ahead in case we were forced to shelter in place.


Anyway, we were given leave yesterday so that the movers and IT folks could set up our offices without us milling about and generally getting into trouble.

A whole day to myself. A vista unspoiled. A blank canvas, awaiting the touch of the master’s hands. You get the idea.

I briefly considered then immediately discarded the idea of housework. Here is what I did for me:

1. Fiberworks, for their Leap Day 29% off everything sale. I am looking for a size 8 circular needle with a short (11”) cord. I've been using double points for the arm of my Strikke-Along project and I constantly feel as though I am wrestling with them. I was unsuccessful in that regard, but did come home with some Frog Tree Merino.

2. Quick run by Roots Market for organic poptarts, dried strawberries and walnut-raisin bread.
3. Second Story Books used books, where I found the following gems:

Copyright 1968. This has some great charted designs. I believe I can modify them to work in tapestry crochet.


A book to help me with my color combos. I'm trying to branch out in the color field beyond blue.


Amish Quilts are cool.


And patterns are great!

4. REI, to look for more Smartwool microweight shirts. I LOVE these. They’re light and warm, just what I need for my I-hate-the-cold layering self. No luck, but I did find an on-sale, small one-shoulder backpack I can use as a large purse.

5. Home, to make tea and watch the last two episodes of Project Runway unmolested.

All in all, a fine day.