Knitting in Transit

I am sure you are all just waiting to find out what I read while I was on vacation! I finished reading, "Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball's Longest Game " by Dan Barry. What a great read. Even if you don't like baseball or know anythjing about baseball, you could still enjoy this book from a human interest perspective. Sure, it helps to understand terminology such as "ground out to 2nd", "caught looking", and "batter's box", but it isn't necessary. I was pulled in by the telling of people's stories: the batboy, the first-baseman's wife, the kid that made a pact with his dad to stay until the end of the game, no matter what (little did he know). This is what made this book one you didn't want to put down. The Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings played for 32 innings, until 4:09 a.m. Easter Sunday morning, before the game was mercifully suspended until it could be completed two months later....

Tomorrow David and I are heading to Florida. Perhaps I mentioned how utterly exhausting our trip to Spain was and how while we were still there I was desperately imagining white sand, a beach chair, some sort alcoholic beverage beside me, and a book. This little long-long weekend getaway is our answer to this. This leaves me wondering...what book should I take? There are two books I am currently reading. David and I are both working our way through the Harry Potter series (he for the first time, me for the second). I could easily finish "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", but it's quite large and a library book to boot and if it were left behind someplace I would be angry. I am also about halfway through "The Year of Endless Sorrows" by Adam Rapp. I picked this up at the Guthrie gift shop when we were there for a play (Rapp is a playwright as well). It's about a guy from Minnesota who moves to New York, gets work at a publishing company, has...

Last night, I went to the the "Travelers Circles" program sponsored by the MN Council of Hosteling International. My friend Jon coordinates some of these programs and I volunteered to go and talk about Spain. I was so nervous! I was sure this would be a group of very well-traveled people (I was right about that) and that I would not be interesting enough, or have beautiful enough pictures to give an adequate presentation (I was wrong). I had so much fun speaking with them, and everyone was so friendly. Many people afterwards complimented me on my presentation and my pictures. One woman was so sweet and told me how much she enjoyed my energy and how I wouldn't have even needed photos - just listening to me was enough. It was a wonderful evening. I would love to go back to hear some other presentations or even present again. Those of you that know me well know that I really enjoy public speaking, so this was right up my alley. So, where will David and I go next? Well...

We left Spain on a Tuesday. We had to get up bright and early to get to the airport. Kym, Kyle, Alan, Erin, David, and I were all on the same flight. Lea and Amit were on a later flight, and Kelly an even later one. The six of us were up pretty early, putting all the beds and mattresses back in their proper places, as quietly as possible so the others could continue snoozing. Sigh. It was sad to leave. It is always hard to see a vacation come to an end. This one was particularly so because I felt there were so many things I still wanted to see. We didn't get nearly enough time in Barcelona or Madrid. I didn't see the bull ring in Sevilla. I wish we'd eaten more tapas. And seen more Flamenco. And we didn't get to see the market in Barcelona. So many things left undone. But, it was time to go. Fortunately, getting to the airport was relatively quick and painless. Sure, my backpack weighed about a million pounds, what with the wine and olive oil inside. But, we had a v...

Surely, you are thinking to yourself....nay, you are muttering under your breath, "seriously, Michelle. Finish up with the trip already." And...you'd have a good point. And, I got to use the words "nay" and "mutter" in the same sentence. Clearly, I'm sort of losing my mind. There won't be any pictures with this post. This will be where I finish up writing about Monday in Madrid, which I have mentioned before was one of my most favorite days on our Spain trip. Madrid is just an amazing city. Knowing what I know about life, I'm sure I'll be back there someday. Because life is good and lovely. And I'm an optimist. So, after my little shopping trip, I tried to take a little nap. As I recall, this wasn't too terribly successful. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but the bed in the apartment in Madrid was very noisy. The slightest movement set off a series of squeaks and groans that would only be rivaled by the ominous ...

Doesn't that sound awful? Monday continued...as though Mondays aren't bad enough already. Well, if you are in Madrid though, it isn't so bad. We left the park. It was sad, but we had to do it. I really wanted to see the Plaza Mayor , and we had reservations for a Flamenco show that night that didn't start until 10:30, dangerously close to the "Michelle would rather be in bed" time zone. Okay, SMACK DAB in the middle of that time zone, so I was hoping to get in a nap in the afternoon. That, and we were kind of hungry. When is that never the case? So, off we went. Here are some random street shots to tide you over. A building in Madrid. Another building in Madrid. There were far less people on scooters in Madrid than there were in Barcelona. Getting to the Plaza Mayor involved another Metro ride. Yippee! I really did enjoy riding the Metro. I liked checking out people's shoes and occasionally there was a musician on board. Amplified and ev...

I've gotten to the point in blogging about this trip where I have to actually go to my husband and ask him, "What did we do for lunch that day? Did we eat lunch? I don't remember eating lunch that day?" and then he has to really think and then say, "Oh...we went to that square, and there was the nice waiter". Oh, yes! How could I forget.? This is even more troubling since you all know how I love to eat. All in all, it is good that I have finally arrived at our final, full day in Spain. I think I will divide this post into two or maybe even three separate posts. We'll see how it goes. This was one of my most favorite days of the trip. The others would be our first day in Lisbon; the tour of the winery and olive mill; that first day in Barcelona; and now this last day in Madrid. It makes me feel good that when I look back on the best days, there were days we spent with the entire group - days we spent with just a couple other people - and a day we...