E is for...

Expedition

Last week was Daughter's spring break. Rather than spend the week lazing about the house, or jetting off to a warm and exotic location we decided to take a trip north and visit Mom & Dad. This particular expedition requires a drive of 375 miles pretty much due north from Chicago. This journey is all about getting to the destination, as there's not a lot to look at on the road. There's Wisconsin:

Which consists of farmland, farmland, farmland, Milwaukee, farmland, farmland, farmland, Green Bay, farmland, farmland, farmland, Marinette.

Then there's the U.P.:

Which can be described as Menominee, woods, woods, woods, Escanaba, woods, woods, woods, Parent's house. Normally I bring a book on CD to listen to in the car, but I didn't get a chance to go to the library before we left, so I could either search for a decent radio station (which in the rural areas we drive through is difficult) or let Daughter listen to her portable DVD player without the headphones. I spent a week humming songs from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

No visit to my hometown is complete without visiting two local establishments. The first is a fast food restaurant that I worked at for 3 1/2 years.

They make THE best french fries that I have ever had. They do not, as some have asked, serve kangaroo meat. I don't know where the name came from, but I do know that there is a loosely related chain in the Rockford, Illinois area. My personal favorite meal is the steak and cheese-no onions-extra cheese, medium fries, medium drink. Daughter likes the kids meals because instead of a toy, kids get a free soft serve ice cream cone.

The second must-have food on a Marquette trip is a sub from Togo's.

All of the displaced yoopers that I know feel like they have to have a Togo while they're home. Opinions on what to have vary, but the majority of people go for the #16, unless they're in the mood for something hot, in which case the Torpedo is the way to go.

It only just dawned on me while taking the above photos that I apparently like foods best if the sign for the establishment has a picture of a goofy looking person holding the food in their left hand. I didn't take a picture of Big Boy, but I have to stop there as well, because my high school friend is a manager there, not necessarily because I have to have the food. But there again, goofy guy holding food up in left hand.

Mom told me that there was a new (to me) knitting shop in town, so one day Daughter and I went in to check out Knitter's Niche. Shockingly, I was not able to get out without spending a little money.

Some Tofutsies to make a pair of socks for Daughter.

Some Happy Feet for me.

And a skein of cormo wool from a UP farm, milled at a UP mill. After all, it would be bad form to visit the place, then not stimulate the local economy, right?

D is for ...

Delayed

At Christmas the gift I got from Husband was an envelope with a picture of my present in it. It hadn't actually come in yet, and was delayed until recently. I finally received it the other day and can now enjoy it.


It's a Kindle, which is an electronic book reader. It uses a wireless internet connection to download books from the Amazon store, or I can download books to my computer and then put them on the Kindle with a USB cable. It's a nifty little gadget, and Daughter is very taken with it. She is now doing her required 20 minutes of daily reading on it, and she usually ends up spending more like 45 minutes. The trick is going to be making sure that she doesn't figure out how to download things or we'll end up owing Amazon $5,000 in no time flat.

Also on the delayed pile are these socks.

These were made using the Yarn Harlot's basic sock recipe and one of my Sock Gang skeins. I received the wool 3-6 months ago, but I was delayed in making them up.

And last but not least, these socks are also delayed. I got the wool (Fleece Artist Nova Socks) from the Fibreholic when she came to visit last summer.

This is what the skein looked like:

This is what the ball looked like:

And this is what the socks look like:

Only they're actually darker. The sun (which has also been delayed) is finally shining in Chicagoland and now that it's warm enough to go outside to take pictures the sun is washing all of the color out. I now have a quandry. These are supposed to be for the woman who leads one of my study groups but I really like them a lot. Would it be wrong to hope that her feet are hideously misshapen so I have an excuse to not give them to her?