etc.

Yes, November! How did that happen? We’re back from a lovely 10 days in California, and what better way to ring in November than to relive the best of October?

- Weather! Glorious weather! Not a day without sunshine over the entire 10-day trip.
- The conference was brilliant. I think I’ve mentioned here before that this is a conference I’ve “watched” from afar for a few years (conference blogging is a wondrous thing) and it was such a delight to actually be there this year. I gleaned at least one new tidbit from every session I attended and I got the chance to meet and hang out with some super people, some for the first time, others not. Rock!
- Fresh clam chowder in sour dough bowls and salt water taffy on the pier in Monterey.
- Driving from Monterey to Big Sur in a convertible. I reserved the car on travel points a few weeks before the trip and when the customer service person suggested a convertible, my initial reaction was “you’ve got to be kidding me!” (I’m not much of a convertible type). But then the mister said, “hey, yeah, let’s get a convertible” and I’m so glad we did. Did I mention the glorious weather? Have you seen the pictures?
- In San Francisco, early morning cable car rides to Fisherman’s Wharf.
- A relaxed, happy, funny mister by my side the whole way. He’s had a wickedly stressful few months and he’s been looking forward to this break for ages. It was so nice to have a relaxed mister again!
- A sign (above) on a subway car in San Francisco that read “Thank You Knitting, Needlepointing and Crocheting Riders!” Brilliant!

So, back to November. If you’ve been visiting these pages for a while, you will know that I’ve spoken about NaNoWriMo before, more than once, in fact. Guess what? I’m not doing it again this year! But, guess what? I am doing NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month for those of you who are click-lazy, like me)! I’ve been hopelessly neglectful of this blog for far too long and I miss it, so how about a commitment to daily posts for the next 30 days? I’m going to have a real go at this, with real, coherent, appropriately strung-together words posted every day (no picture-only posts! Although that’s not against the rules) because I really want to use it as an opportunity to write (just write!) again, something I have been dearly missing for a while.

Content, imagine! If you think you can stand it, why not join me? Because the opposite of misery? It loves company too!

You know how I’ve been complaining about being too busy to blog, craft, knit, breathe? Well, part of that busyness was due to this conference I’m at in Monterey at the moment. I know, poor me. It’s beautiful here, the weather has been marvelous, my preconference workshops went well, the rest of the conference is proceeding swimmingly, and (apart from the loss of one of my two camera batteries, grrr), life is just swell. Swell, I tell you, of the stress-free, I can breathe, life is good, and the world is a beautiful place variety. We’re recharging, oh yes, and what a perfect place to do it. Watch the Flickr photostream for photographic evidence and more stories soon.

Hello, Friday. The mister and I returned yesterday from a 2.5 day road trip to London, Ontario, where I spent 2.5 minutes introducing the course I’m teaching to a roomful of MLIS students, and where we spent the rest of our time tooling around campus and town, rediscovering some of our old haunts (we both graduated from Western and haven’t been back in nine years). More pictures here.

And now, pardon me, but I am off to turn this house upside-down, with broom and dustpan in one hand, and garbage bags in the other. I am determined to rid us of the junk and detritus that has been piling in our corners for too long, making me feel generally bogged down and sick with unease. Onward!

A perfect weekend. Relaxing, inspiring, restful, indulgent. The “unplugged, unwired” part was a good idea, although I did, at the very last minute, grip my laptop with white-knuckled desperation and announce to the mister that maybe I should take it with us after all, but he assured me that the internets would survice quite nicely without me for three days, and of course he was right.

We spent the weekend at The Roycroft Inn in East Aurora, New York. Remember how I was talking about my recent fascination with all things retro, the Arts & Crafts movement included? Well this weekend fed that fascination amply since East Aurora is home to a wonderful little A & C utopia, established in the early 20th Century by Elbert Hubbard. I spent the weekend soaking up the atmosphere, talking to the Inn’s docent, reading all the literature I could get my hands on, and even watching a 58-minute video in our room on the history of the Inn & the Roycrofters (who ever watches the complimentary in-room video? Can’t say I usually do!), and I feel like I have returned suitably educated in the Arts & Crafts philosophy and aesthetic. My mind reels still! Minutes after we got home yesterday, I was plying search engines for as much information as I could find (while the mister did laundry. I am spoilt!) and happily stumbled over the Roycroft Campus blog and Elbert Hubbard’s published writings on Project Gutenberg. The immersion continues!

So, anyway, there are pictures of course. General weekend & Inn pictures are here, and a couple of other local curiosities: East Aurora fire hydrants and garbage cans! I can’t say for sure what the story is on these curiosities, but if I were to guess I would say that the painted hydrants are probably a result of East Aurora’s identity as “Toy Town, USA“, and the inspirational quotes & epigrams on the garbage cans are probably thanks to Elbert Hubbard’s reputation as a master of the quip. The title of this post is my favourite Hubbard aphorism (uplifting, isn’t it? Love it!).

I’m home to-day and I have a plan: more reading, a bit of sewing (an idea has been brewing in my mind for days & days and I can’t wait to give it a go!), a walk to the library to return a gravely overdue book (will I ever have a year without fines?) and pick up a hold, and a lot of lounging around with my computer on my lap while I read my aggregator dry and listen to The Weepies. This is my last day of unfettered relaxation before I have to buckle down and start preparing for the Fall and I’m determined to enjoy it!

No SPT this week, instead a picture of Emerald Lake. It rained 4 out of 6 days I was there, this was taken on the last day (blue skies!). The thing about stunning mountain scenery is that it makes one look like a talented photographer when, in truth, you couldn’t take a bad picture there if you tried. More lake/mountain pictures are here.

And the reason why it’s a DC sock is because I finished knitting it & photographed it in our hotel room in DC. It’s a lovely sock, if I do say so, very comfortable and a pleasurable knit indeed (yarn: Lorna’s Laces in seaside).

I’ve been in DC for the past 4 days for Blog University, more info on which, including the talks I gave, is here, in case you’re interested. And if you’re not, here are some pictures to look at. More from home, to-morrow. Cheerio!

later: can’t sleep. redesigned blog. going for simplicity. more tweaking to come!

In the mood for images of island bounty? Here you go! I have two of three galleries up. The third will be up sometime next week, when I get the rolls of real film back (real film! what fun!).

I wish I had grand, eloquent tales to tell of our 7 days on an enchanting island (Cuba really is enchanting, I’m just not feeling particularly eloquent), but instead I have a brief, unembellished round-up of the week to offer instead. Don’t let this uninspired summary fool you into thinking we did not have a good time; we had a very good time, we are very well-rested, generally well-bronzed, and pleased to be home. Now you read on while I leave you for my mojito and an afternoon nap (oh no, wait…).

Saturday: arrive 4pm to clouds, rain, a bit of sun. Bus to resort, check in, lots of singing and dancing in the lobby, check out room, unpack, buffet dinner. Hot. Humid. Mojitos.

Sunday: wake up 7:30am to singing birds. Look over at crack in curtains, see sun, smile. Big buffet breakfast. Hot. Humid. Get beach towels, hit beach. Snorkel lovely reef 100 meters off beach. Beach volleyball for the mister. Burgers for lunch on beach. Hot. Nice breeze off water. Move to pool. Nap under umbrella, mojito in hand. Room, shower, dinner at Cuban restaurant. Room, HBO, sleep.

Monday: wake up 8.30am. Look over a crack in curtains, see sun, smile. Big buffet breakfast. Hot, sunny. Hit beach, swim in ocean, read on beach. Mohitos by 11am, lunch, afternoon nap. Hot, humid. Move to pool. Pool volleyball. Room, shower, buffet dinner. Table tennis with the mister. Room, mojito, sleep.

Tuesday: wake up 8am. Look over at crack in curtains, see sun, smile. Big buffet breakfast. Table tennis with the mister. Hot, humid. Beach, swim in ocean, read on beach. Beach volleyball for the mister. Lunch, read on beach. Mojitos, nap. Room, shower, Mexican dinner. Room, read, mojito, sleep.

Wednesday: wake up 7.30am. Look over at crack in curtains, see sun, smile. Big buffet breakfast, buy bottled water, board bus to Havana. Walk old Havana, mojitos at Ambos Mundos Hotel, bus tour of new Havana, stop at Revolution Square. Back to resort, swim, shower, dinner, mojitos, sleep.

Thursday: wake up 8.30 am. Look over at crack in curtains, see sun, smile. Big buffet breakfast. Hot, humid. Beach, swim, beach hockey for the mister, fruit for lunch, mojitos. Shower, table tennis, dinner, mojitos, sleep.

Friday: wake up 9 am. Look over at crack in curtains, see sun, smile. Big buffet breakfast, early morning snorkelling. Beach reading, mojitos. Lunch, nap. Shower, mojito, dinner, mojito, sleep.

Saturday: wake up 8 am. Look over at crack in curtains, see sun, smile. Big buffet breakfast, beach, swim in still morning water, read. Shower, pack, check out, mojito, lunch, mojito, bus to airport, wait, beer. Fly home.

Tomorrow: pictures! Bless you for reading that through.

You’ve been so busy while I’ve been away! I have stories to tell and pictures to share and blogs to catch up on and deliriously happy cats to play with and e-mail to respond to. I need more time! More soon. Or soon-ish.

Forgive me, for I am a bit distracted. I have been doing very little sewing, minimal knitting, and very little of anything else at all. Apart from noodling around the interweb, looking for sarong patterns, and hoping that my recent eBay-fabric-splurge is waiting on my doorstep for me when I get home so I can make one.

Did I say sarong? Yes. Yes, I did. You see, I will be needing a sarong soon on account of the fact that the mister and I leave for this place on Saturday.