When Oregonians Travel To Sweden

I thought I would introduce you to how we travel.

I'm one of the few people I know who knows where all the fabric stores are in Maui. Other people stay at the resorts and soak up the sun and the MaiTai's, but I freckle and there are days when I cannot spend all day in the sun. The answer to how much rum one can drink has been answered but how much fabric one can stuff in her suitcase has not.

My husband has been a good sport about these non-touristy explorations. When I went to Ireland a few years back with my little sister, we stayed at a hotel right next to the Sewing & Knitting show in Dublin. I booked the hotel because it was near the show, which, coincidentally was during the time of our visit.

Our upcoming trip to Sweden & Finland is based on - 30 years ago, I was an exchange student to Finland. Last year, at my high school reunion, I realized I am never going to have the money to go back and I needed to figure out a Visa moment.

My friends there are finally on the internet  more (very expensive for personal use) and I have a plan of staying with one friend at the beginning (Goteberg) and another at the end (Helsinki).

After months of planning (dang airline travel sites), my husband finally jumped on board. He's going, but he was making me crazy with his non-involvement.

He has decided he wants to look up Stearman owners.

Turns out the guy who owns one near Stockholm has a camera mounted on his wing and has a ton of video on Youtube (look up  Kenneth Öhrn and Stearman).
He sounds fun and since I've seen all the sights to see in Sweden, barring the new museum dedicated to ABBA, I say, let's go vacation flying.

I'll get payback when my sole reason to visit Rovaniemi, north of the Arctic Circle and home to Santa Claus (joulupukki), is to visit the Ottobre store. Serious women's sewing design patterns.

Here's a Stearman flying in Sweden:

And another vid:



And because we wonder how much avgas costs in Sweden. . .

Everything's Amazing & Nobody's Happy

My son sent this video clip to me. You have to read my story first.

They talk about Rotary Phones in this video. Remember these?
I still have mine. For when the power goes out - it will still connect.

I remember having my niece over to do some serious crafting. We were playng with reverse applique with different colors of felt. Cute picture of a bird. To finish it off we did some embroidery plus some sequins, 'cause everything's better with glittery sequins.
Anyway, I showed her how to do the Lazy Daisy Stitch.
One time, that 's all it took.
This niece of mine is super smart.

Later on, before she headed home, we were in my walk-in closet, where at the time I did my sewing. (they make walk-in closets huge). We were going through some choice pieces of fabric for her to take home when she spied my orange rotary phone.
She stared at it. Baffled, she asked me how did it work. I replied, "you just stick your finger in the number hole you want and spin the dial over to the stop and let go."

Really baffled now, "how does that work?"

I went over and showed her how you stick your finger in the hole, take it over to the stop and let go. She was still struggling to grasp this simple concept.
"Let's call grandma, do you remember her number?"

She finally got a call through to Grandma, amazed at how much work one needs to go into to call someone. Nowadays, we have to add the area code too so it really is more work.

This whole episode just cracked me up. 8 years old and grasping complicated embroidery stitches but cannot conceptualize a rotary phone.

now, go watch this video.

Baby It's Cold Outside

I heard a new (to me) christmas song on the radio yesterday. Featuring Nora Jones - one of my faves and Willie Nelson - it was a re-make of "Baby It's Cold Outside".

Turns out, everyone has sung this classic duet.

Getting sidetracked (who, me?), I came across this classic funny skit with Dean Martin - (Dean sang, "Baby It's Cold Outside" with Doris Day) and Goldie Hawn.
Goldie has the loveliest giggle.

"That's because you're dumb like me."

Even the Glee cast got into "Baby It's Cold Outside."

While we are getting sidetracked - whatever happened to Susan Boyle?
She's still singing with concerts booked in the New Year throughout the UK.
She also might be the only singer not to sing, "Baby It's Cold At Night."
Here is "O Holy Night":

We are in a chilly weather moment here in the Willamette Valley and the only good news was this morning - we are starting at 32' hoping to clear 40'.
When I woke up, my google page showed it to be 16 degrees in St. Paul, Minnesota - finally, someplace colder than here (sister lives there (voluntarily)).

Impenetrable freezing fogs have been dogging our days this week with a low point of 24'.
We really did not have the fogs last winter and the 'smart' people who have forgotten to turn on their lights are testing the theory of 'survival of the fittest'.