"I swear, Gran and Papa are always buying a new car!"

So, Saturday we all waited all day for my parents to arrive with the surprise car for the girls' graduation gift. They pulled into the driveway while we were playing a nintendo game, and I paused the game and said, "We have to go help them bring everything in." And Elizabeth replied "Can't we finish the race first?" I said, "NO! Come on!"

So, out we traipsed to help my mom and dad and as soon as we got to the door Elizabeth said, "Did Gran and Papa buy a new car? I swear they are always buying a new car!"

Then she walked outside and said, "Why on earth would they bring TWO cars to visit us...this doesn't make any sense."

All this time Alyssa is looking completely perplexed.

My parents finally came over and told them that the car was theirs as a gift for their graduation and Alyssa was speechless and Elizabeth started shaking. They eventually got excited and couldn't be kept out of the car and are now driving all over the place! Today was a reality check when they realized how much taxes, inspection stickers and the like can cost, but they are the happy drivers of a beautiful white 2007 chevy Cobalt.

What I did after I got back from Europe until I left for the Quilting Bee

WOVE!!! It was so fun weaving gifts for everyone and seeing their faces when they opened them up. I hope everyone enjoys their gifts, USES them if they are a useful item and lets me know how they wear and tear!

Here are some pics of the things I wove and gave away at the quilting bee.


I made napkins to give as a hostess gift and to use during our 50's dinner.




















Then I made some towels to give to aunt Janice. They are made using a sponge weave pattern and are very thick and wonderful feeling.




















Then I made Aunt Carolyn a scarf in pink and turquoise soysilk and alpaca. Wonderful--shiny and so soft.

Then there were more towels for Laura.

And three scarves on the same velura warp. Alyssa's is dark green, Elizabeth's is purple and mom's is dark green and white. Mom's was finished at 9pm the night before I left. I was worried it would be dry in time, but it was.

Everyone modeling their scarves. BJ's and Kirby's scarves were completed before the trip and I can't seem to find my memory card with all the pictures on it, so I don't have a close up to show of them. They've been posted on the blog before.

And Betty modeling her placemats that were completed earlier.

Finally Doreen received some towels, which unfortunately are on the same memory card as BJ's scarf so I don't have a picture of them to share. They are also on a previous blog entry though. M&O towels, they are called. In gold, green and rust.

Where I've been and what I've been doing...

I promised pictures and desciptions of the trip and I failed in delivering that, but for very good reasons which I can't divulge until after the quilt bee. The girls and I leave REALLY early tomorrow morning for 3 days of fun family time and THEN I'll describe the trip with pictures...I promise!

Oh, and I'll also have pictures of my "secret" activities of the past two weeks :)

Spargel

More specifically Weiss Spargel...or white asparagus in English...was in season when we were on the trip and was available as a special for every single meal that we had. Many of our group dinners started off with cream of white asparagus soup (talk about wonderful!). I ate it in spaghetti carbonara, as a side dish to pork or fish, raw in salads, pickled with the saurkraut, and my favorite, deep fried as the main dish. One of our vegetarian options (which I didn't get) had asparagus with a butter sauce served over potatoes...it looked heavenly. I even saw some white asparagus desserts, but didn't try any being too tempted by the other seasonal produce--strawberries.

The Europeans grow their asparagus either underground in caves, in ditches along the side of the road with holes dug out for the plant that are covered by black tarps or in rows in vast fields covered with black tarps. These coverings, of course, keep the sun from developing the chlorophyl in the plants and results in a beautiful spear that is creamy white and very very tender. Some of the spears I ate were a minimum thickness of about 3/4" and were about 10 inches long and tender all the way down. Tasty and wonderful.

My Buddy's Poem about Me

As part of the tour group experience, you get a buddy. Your buddy and you are responsible to make eye contact with each other everytime we meet back together as a group or get through a particularly crowded or hairy situation when we're together. This allows us to keep an eye out for everyone and not lose people along the way (or leave them as the case may be when the bus is ready to pull away). We did introductions one afternoon on the bus, and my buddy wrote a poem to introduce me. I thought it was charming enough to share.

Leslie Butler
The time has comethis travler said to speak of many things
Of Leslie Butler and her life
To David great joy she brings.

She's earning a PhD in seems in higher ed research.
Her dissertation yet to write,
This trip could leave her in the lurch.

She has twin girls of age sixteen, so clever and so sweet.
In just a year they'll graduate,
And that is quite a feat.

She hails from mighty Mississipp, from Texas just before
And Leslie loves to watch football
And cheer her team to score.

She quilts, she reads, cross stitches too.
Of that you can be sure.
She also weaves--makes scarves, no less, of yarn alpaca pure.

So smart she is, so clever, too,I'm sure you will agree.
And Leslie makes a great tour friend
And buddy mine, yippee!

Down Time Activities on Tour

While there wasn't a lot of down-time, when there was some, and I read. I didn't take any needlework on this trip, probably for good cause as I don't think I would have worked on it at all.

At any rate, when I did have some down time, plane time, or train time, I read and then left my books as I went along. I finished: Kiss Me Annabel, Taming of the Duke and Pleasure for Pleasure (all by Eloisa James) and The York Princess by Anne Easter Smith. I started Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James, but haven't made it very far yet. All of the books were great. Especially the James books. She is a great writer and so much fun to read.

I also wrote post-cards to family and friends. The girls will have one from every day of the trip except for one. I wrote in my trip journal and David labeled his pictures (something I did not do and hope I remember everything I saw!)

Outside of that, we slept in our rooms and visited places...pictures and more details beginning tomorrow.

A Near Perfect Vacation

I never excpected this vacation to be as near perfect as it was. David and I had such a wonderful time, saw such amazing sights, experienced some really moving tours, and ate some quite yummy food (and some not-so-yummy, too, but that's ok). Our flights were all on-time (every single one, go figure!). Sitting in first class (we upgraded with our miles) was such a great idea--roomy, attentive service, much quieter. The only thing that wasn't absolutley perfect about the entire trip was the heat the last week, but that did finally abate on our last full day in Vienna.

Then we came home and got a stellar report from the teen-sitter. The kitties were happy to see us, the house was mostly clean, the clothes washed. AND there were flowers on the counter. Amazing.

I'll have city-by-city blogs in the next weeks...as I try to get over jet lag and organize my mail and the photos it may take a few days to get started.

vienna

vienna is beautiful and I cant wait until we actually get to go out and see stuff. today we drove over from hallstadt stopping in the concentration camp of maulthausen. it was a very emotionally difficult thing to visit. terrible place.

after lunch we drove into vienna and visited the shonbrun palace. its modeled after versailles and is really quite beautiful. cant wait to show you the pics of the outside...couldnt take pics on the inside unfortunately. it may be a second stop if we have time sometime on Wed.

looking forward to coming home in a few days...

Hallstadt Austria

Hallstadt is a beautiful little lake town in the Austrian lake district. we are relaxing today and enjoying ourselves.



since i last wrote we went to murren switzerland--in the alps. loved it. so pretty. then we went to munich where it got really really hot, so David and i bought a fan and have been doing ok since. we had a nice time walking all over town and seeing lots of stuff. great museum there.



salzburg was beautiful, if hot. We went to a mozart dinner conert last night which was great.



Tomorrow we head out to vienna and then we will be coming home shortly thereafter. i think im ready! see you all soon with lots and lots of pictures!