It is a mystery

monday, I drove 2.5 hours each way down to a meeting for nutrient management credits. The one state has decided that consultants don't get to do online programs for credits anymore, so I need to go to in person meetings now. Its not the worst now that I live closer. I made it down and back in plenty of time, the meeting was fine, I got a decent amount of knitting done and chatted with some folks from my old company that I haven't seen in years. 

Tuesday I cut and split more wood, my dad brought down more trees. I filled a wood bin full and got it under cover. 

Wednesday, I drove to Ohio. This trip was originally to purchase and pickup a used donut machine for the farm. Late last week, the ebay guy bailed on me, we had been negotiating prices in messages and abruptly, the listing was gone and he stopped responding. Not sure what that was about because he said he had two of them, but whatever. Since the donut machine was in Ohio, in the city where Tyronicbob (A- from crafting night) lived, I arranged to stay with her a while ago. When the ebay guy bailed, I let her know but figured it's February, I didn't really have anything urgent going on, I could totally drive to Ohio. 

I never did anything irresponsible or impulsive in my 20s, when I feel most people do their silly impulse trips, so why not now? 

It was a 7 hour drive which on the way down, I hadn't slept super well that night and the drive dragged, I was Too Aware. I stopped several times and took at nap at one rest stop just to make sure I could keep going. Snacks and podcasts got me to A's house by 4:30 or so. I have learned that Ohio culture is putting the name of the town on the overpass bridge in case you don't know where you are and all the other signs aren't helpful enough. The city A- is in had some traffic but overall, the drive was quiet. I didn't have any long haul driving buddies which always makes me a little sad. 

When I arrived, I was pretty tired, but we settled in and chatted and watched some olympics events as background noise and then we ate tacos that she had made ahead of time and put in the fridge. We relaxed, watched some stuff and chatted more, then we got talking about the podcast Kill James Bond and Abigail Thorne's writing/directing/performance of The Prince and A- put it on the tv. It was phenomenal! What a cool play, cast and performance. The recording is on Nebula, not sure if a subscription is required, but wow, super worth it if you do have to pay. The plot is that people get stuck in Shakespeare performances as the characters and are trying to escape. It's so full of feelings and it's so good as a recorded live performance. After that, sleep time for me. 

A- did some funky stuff to adjust her sleep schedule enough to be awake and aware during the daytime and we watched some hockey before heading over to the conservatory. It was absolutely so cool! There was beautiful glasswork interspersed with the plants and they had an orchid greenhouse on display with all sorts of winding paths and absolutely bursting with plants. They also had a desert greenhouse and a butterfly greenhouse although the butterflies were only just hatching and being released. Extremely cool and the colors of plants and different shapes and layouts, the rocks, the paths, the glassworks. Super cool and really awesome work. 

Then we went and ate lunch at a nearby market, which had a bunch of small food stalls inside a big warehouse building. We got somali food, which was stuff on rice, absolutely delicious and warm and filling. Then we got ice cream, which was from a local place, smooth and creamy and delicious. A- drove the long way everywhere we went to give me a tour of the city and all the neat things, then we headed to a historic neighborhood to an incredible bookstore. 

This bookstore is in two back to back connected uhh, closest thing I can describe them as is triplexes, but really they took these buildings and opened up some doors between them and created just a labyrinth bookstore. The website says it has 32 rooms, but they're all small and narrow and weirdly laid out and there's nooks of shelves everywhere. It's so cool. It took us over an hour to find our way up to the third floor where the scifi and fantasy section was. All the books they carry are new but they had a ton of more obscure books. Really cool. I bought a bunch of books, some nonfiction, some fiction. 

A- was starting to get tired, so we headed back to the house and I settled in to watch some snowboarding and she took a nap. We ate lunch leftovers for dinner and then watched more olympics. We created a delightful game as we watched the pairs ice dance free skate replay. So pairs figure skating is mostly about having dramatic feelings (love or tragic) and most of the music is pretty boring. So instead of listening to the music, we created better romance stories for the pairs based on an element of the performance and hashed it out to a movie plot. It was so much fun. For instance, the USA team had the flamenco/matador inspired performance, so we decided that the plot was actually about the movie that was being made about matadors, the woman was the talent scout for the local area, the man was the local bull wrangler who loved his bulls very much. The movie was a disaster due to the director's conflict with the lead actor and the talent scout pulled the bull wrangler into being her local guide and help until she got frustrated with the director and just shoved the bull wrangler into being the lead in the movie. He does it under protest and that's his only acting role ever. The talent scout decides to stay in spain to stay with the bull wrangler because he just wants to go back to taking care of his sweet little babies (the bulls) and she's a bitch with a clipboard (h/t to Sonnet from craft nights for this phrase/person type) and can wrangle people in spain who need wrangling and they live happily ever after. 

The only ones we didn't make up stories for were the Cleopatra performance (look ma, no hands was the absolute best lift ever), the matrix performance, the Dune one and the scottish performance (so oddly done that we didn't think they really thought it through. they could have changed the music and the costumes to be so much better, We Had Opinions). We came up with first mate/captain on the high seas Moby Dick style, jewel heist, spy romance, research historian/archivist, godzilla attacking the city and only the jet fighter/nuclear scientists could stop it but it's a tragedy so godzilla won in the end, an alien invasion blows up paris and they have to flee and he's secretly a parasitic alien and they blow up the other aliens and fall in love, and some others that I can't remember right now, but what an absolute delight to banter back and forth and build a little story out of pretty meh music. The performances were all great but honestly, dramatic/tragic feelings is very boring at this point. I wish I could find photos of everyone competing since that would help me remember all the stories, but I can't find a good feed for just photos and the replays have been removed, so oh well. 

I went to bed after that because it was responsible of me to do. 

This morning I got up around 6, ate breakfast and was on the road by 7am. A- did some split sleep to see me off and so she'd be good for work tonight and I drove home. I did have a tractor trailer driving buddy for a couple hours on the highway which was nice. I got into a good driving zone today, let the podcasts roll and the time passed quickly and I wasn't too aware of it which was nice. 

I got in, went and laid in bed for an hour, went to take a shower and my dad accidentally let the outdoor burner go mostly out so the water was cold, so I went and got that started back up and took a shower at my parents house instead. 

It was an absolute delight to hang out with A-, she is so sweet and fun and great to hang out with in person, not just on the internet. Her cat was a chatty little goof too. It was so nice and I'm so glad I went even though it was a long drive and a short trip. So much fun! That's 3/3 internet friends being absolute delights in person, so I'm on a roll. 

I had a lovely weekend. 

saturday morning, we got the plastic on the tunnel. I had been working on this on and off over the past two weeks. It was half of a high tunnel that we had tried to use to help along the blackberries but it didn't really succeed. We took half of it away (apparently I never posted about this and it is a very funny thing we tried and failed at but it was fun) and left the other half where it was without plastic. The blackberries are not a success. It's a combination of things: wrong varieties, wrong location, lack of attention, disease issues. So I mowed them all down this year and the tunnel is now more storage, especially for wagons because we can pull them through. It was hot and sticky that morning, but we got the plastic on and almost all secured by 10am after starting at 8 and I ran off. Tossed all my stuff in the truck and hit the road. 

I took the trip slowly, because I have been driving on my spare (it's a proper tire, just old) and the check engine light had been on for low oil (I added more oil and it turned off). I made my way up to C's place, where I picked up 15 lbs of garlic and left money and cornmeal shortbread cookies. They were away on a camping trip, so I missed seeing them but it was lovely to see the area again and look at some of their farm projects. I got ice cream. Then headed to B's, stopping to pick up arepas on the way. I arrived around 6pm, we nommed food and sat around and chatted, then set up my tent and popped all my stuff in it. Then sleep time. Well. Reading a book, then sleeping

I didn't sleep particularly well, there was some amount of critters poking around and at the tent and a door on B's cabin slammed at 12:30am for some reason, but it was fine. I slept in a bit and wandered out around 8am. We ate breakfast and then wandered back out to the cabin. Did some crafting, chatting which was lovely and relaxing. I read a book for a bit. B worked on painting some outlet covers. When we went in for lunch, A asked if we could run for canned beans, which were needed for refried beans for dinner, so B and I went to the grocery store first, picked up beans, snacks and split an extremely good lunch of guacamole, chips and spicy california rolls (I had been complaining about the lack of guacamole available in the grocery stores by me). Then we stopped by an ice cream place. This was about the time some clouds rolled in, taking the temps from 90F with so much humidity to not blazing hot and just merely uncomfortable. 

More crafting, reading and relaxing in the afternoon. knitting for me, painting for B. Just the nicest to be able to do that with a friend. B is a delight and it was so great to see her in person for the first time in six months and just get to hang out either chatting or crafting. I love some chill time with friends. I think it's interesting how the way I spend time with her is very like how I spent time with former roommate J who I still miss living with three years after we parted ways. Lots of quiet relaxing time together, watching things, chatting, occasional outings places. Hmm. I took a 20 min nap, which helped a lot with the sleep deprivation but since I napped in my tent without a fan, I woke up damp with sweat which was gross. But some time hanging out in the cabin in front of the fan fixed that and a fresh tshirt before dinner also helped. 

Dinner made by A was absolutely delicious tacos with fixings and the wind picked up around 5:30 and dropped the outside temperature 20 degrees in about an hour. It felt cold, but super nice so we sat outside to eat. Z had friends visiting, so there was chatting with total strangers but it was good fun anyway. they all went for ice cream while B and I headed back to the cabin. she worked on her novel and looked at art and I read a book until sleep time. I slept fantastic that night, it got down to 50F and was so cold and nice. I had a sleeping bag and blanket and woke up much refreshed. We ate breakfast, then I packed up while B started work. She loaded me up with eggs and I refreshed my delicious meats supply. 

Then I headed to my old house with a brief pit stop to fill my tire (the spare on). I had left some wood, some misc supplies and a bunch of pieces of fencing there and never managed to make the trip. That morning, I remembered why I had originally planned to bring the big farm truck: most of the wood was 12 feet long and would only hang 2ft off the bed of the big truck. but my truck, it would hang 4.5ft off the back. So I scrapped taking the wood. I offered it to B or if F wanted to offer it to any of her relatives, they could have it. Otherwise, when I come up in November, I'll bring a circular saw and chop the wood to fit in my truck bed and take it with me. It is on the wood rack I build, so I'm not too worried about it being in the way. As far as I can tell, F has not touched a single thing in the shed since I left. I got all the wire fencing rolled up, figuring out an efficent way to do it, then chatted with F about the goings-on. So pleased with myself, I strapped down my load and left, only realizing I left my multitool in the driveway 20 mins into my trip. I turned around and went back for it. I should probably get a second one in case something like this happens again. 

But that turnaround cost me the time I had allotted to stopping by the co-op to pick up baking supplies I'd been having trouble sourcing, so I just hit the road. I stopped for gas, snacks and a quick load check and then drove home. I arrived in good time, right around 4:30pm which left me enough time to put away a few things, lay down and read a book before crafting. 

I feel so good today that between the fantastic weather (only 77F today!!!) and my time away, I accidently worked from 7am to 8pm and am not particularly tired. I won't continue that, but man, getting away was great and to spend time with a friend was also great. Goals for next year: I get away from the farm once in June or July and once in August

I am back from my trip and it was a delight for almost all of it!

Thursday, I spent the day packing and doing a tiny bit of work stuff. I spent a long time debating on whether to bring my knitting or not, right up until I got to the parking lot of the train station and then pulled it out and left it in my truck.

I got on the train to NYC which was relatively quiet and I didn't have a seat mate the whole way, but it was more of an express train than the ones I usually catch. My luggage total was my backpack, a lunch bag of snacks/sandwich and my small rolling suitcase. I wish I could have carried less things but I used basically everything I brought so it was worth bringing everything.

I spindle spun and read a book on the way to NYC, didn't touch my computer at all. Jade met me at the train station and we took the bus to her place in Jersey City. She's such a fast walker that I just end up incredibly sweaty all the time, but that's how I end up every time I'm in NYC, so like, so be it. That's why I brought so many changes of clothes. We got Indian food that night and crashed.

Morning train to Raleigh left at 7:30am so we were on the bus by 6am just in case. We stopped to grab food in Manhatten at a place that's open 24/7. It didn't have a ton of choices for me and I didn't know if the granola had wheat in it or not, so I basically ate a fruit salad for breakfast except it was weird, so like, 2/10 didn't really enjoy. Train loaded up no problem, we were able to sit together since the train conductors set aside row seats for people traveling together which was nice. The train was sold out at various points, so we really did need the set aside seats.

( this is very long and rambly )

I really had a fun time with all the travel and the trains were a lot of fun to take, way better than driving and flying and cheaper than flying. One way tickets from NYC to Raleigh were $75. Now I want to take trains all over the place.

I really was glad to spend time with Jade again too, I missed her a lot. I miss living with her a lot too, it really was good. But her goals are way different than mine, so it made sense to split up. It was almost like no time had passed at all when it's been over two years since we last met up. Although we do watch baking shows together some weekends online. It was so good to see Z and catch her up on the parents nonsense and how that's all going. I ate so much delicious food. 10/10 would trip again

Saturday morning, I got up nice and early and headed to the train station. NYC bound! I went to see this exhibit on Andean weaving and to see my sister. I got to NYC around 10, thoroughly enjoying my train ride. I spindle spun cotton the whole way and it was just lovely. I was also on the river side and got to enjoy the view.

I got to the city and did a little walk down to a bakery that I've gotten delicious south american breads from (gluten free!) and nommed them while I waited for my sister. My train was early and she was running a little late, but I had bread so I was happy.

After she got there, we took the subway up to the Met. The security people were unimpressed by me bringing my travel bag with me, but they looked through it and begrudgingly let me through. They didn't like my spindle and almost took it away but thankfully they didn't. Coat check took our bags and we went looking for the exhibit. It was buried in the back of the contemporary art rooms, actually relatively difficult to find.

The Andean textiles were INCREDIBLE. They were so beautifully made, the yarn was so beautifully spun and fine, the weaving was so precise and so well done. It was amazing. Here's a photo of one, where the yarns and weaving combined for 300 picks per inch. I didn't take a picture of the plackard, but I think it was from 1200 or so.


( rambling )

 I've been wanting to go down to the MD Sheep and Wool festival. I was planning to do the trip in 2020 so I could see friends and get lots of sheepy things. Obviously that didn't happen. 

It is back on in person this year and I keep thinking maybe....

But I don't think it's going to be a good idea this year.

It would be for four days, train travel down to BWI and then rent a car to drive out to the fairgrounds. Mara would need to stay with someone, I would need to rent a hotel room. It is at the beginning of May when everything is busy. I'm literally trying to buy a house and if we managed to find something soon and the whole thing went well, it could land closing right around that weekend. 

Ugh. I want to go. 

Me and Jade went to Montreal for the weekend (and friday)! It was great!

This was a trip we put together within the past month, which is very quick for us. I definitely am a plan waaaay ahead person, and she tends to follow my lead on planning way way ahead for things. The most important thing was booking the dogsitter and after that went through, it was easy to get everything else done. We played it by ear a lot more than we normally would and it worked out great.

Friday, we loaded the car and drove up. I was driving because Jade was not going to do that. We wanted to take the train but it is literally 8 hours on both ends of a trip and we couldn't take that much time off work. But driving also meant we could see things outside the city and our first stop, where we spent the afternoon was Fort Chambly, which was pretty rad.







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I spent the weekend in Buffalo, visiting dragonlady7 and it was lovely!

I left Friday morning and drove to Ithaca.

( Cut for length of rambling and pictures )

All in all, a super fun weekend that was really cool to see a lot of New York State and Buffalo and it was a really lovely time! It was great to spend time with friends!