We met at our usual restaurant, but found it so crowded and noisy that we decided to go elsewhere. Sue was aware of this little tea house up the street, and oh my goodness. What a charming place! They had an astonishingly complete menu of teas to choose from. I don't think I knew there were so many different teas before this. Not being a connoisseur of teas, I ended up choosing a caffeinated one with a pretty name. Sue did the same. (Coffee is also available for die hard coffee drinkers, but I figure...when in Rome....)
Then, we were directed to pick out a teapot and a tea cup. Also, they serve breakfast (link to the menu) and we each chose Julie's breakfast bowl. The breakfast bowl was just the right amount of food, and very flavorful, and we both enjoyed the whole experience. It would be a great place to spend a Valentine's Day morning or Mother's Day or a birthday...or just a Friday, or any other day of the week. We will definitely be returning.
After that I went home for a few minutes (just a few minutes) before heading out the door again to physical therapy. Picture this:
I don't have many pictures of my own, so I'm just shamelessly stealing pictures off the internet today. And I'm happy to say that the small improvement in my knee seems to be sticking. A few days ago, I was feeling pretty discouraged, but today I'm feeling much more optimistic for a good outcome without surgery. It still has a long ways to go, but any improvement is a welcome change.
Then yesterday, we drove to the other side of town to look at campers...the kind that fit in the bed of a truck. Our 5th wheel trailer is great, but it's also monstrously big. It needs to be since we sometimes live in it for months at a time. When we were in Moab last month, we were missing having our ATV's with us because Moab is that kind of place.
Obviously, we can't tow the ATV's and the 5th wheel. So I sort of casually mentioned that if we had a camper for the truck, we could load the ATV's onto our flatbed trailer and bring them along. For a short trip, a camper would be great. And then, I sort of forgot about it until a couple of days ago when Mike informed me that he'd been looking at them.
We have a joke between us that when Dad starts bringing home brochures, I know we're in trouble. Brochures have been replaced by internet links these days, and so when he sent me a link to a used camper he'd found, I knew we were on a road from which there is no return. Our plan was to drive down to Eugene (a couple of hours south) to see a used one, but as it turns out, that one sold. Not to be undone by this momentary set back, we went looking at a couple of dealers yesterday. I think we might actually do this, but we haven't found The One yet. We'll keep looking.
So all of that to say that I haven't had much time for sewing the past couple of days, but I did get a little more quilting done on my White Trees quilt. (Still haven't given it a name beyond "White Trees". Any ideas?) I have the middle row of blocks finished now.
I'm hoping to get the bottom row finished today. And I just want to say right here that smarty pants Teresa in Music City astutely observed in one of my previous posts that I wasn't using my straight stitch plate for free motion quilting and suggested my tension problems might improve if I did. And, Teresa, you were right! It did make a huge difference. It hasn't completely cured the problem, but it is a lot better. Who knew?
Also, you know that I've been trying to get a picture of the Northern Flicker that visits our suet feeder. Yesterday I caught him...or her...actually, I think this is a female because it doesn't have the bright red eye mask.
Also, I caught this scrub jay raiding the suet feeder too. When the peanut feeder is empty, they don't mind eating the suet. Peanuts are their first love, however.
I think this bird is a camera hog, in addition to being a suet hog. And a peanut hog. And, in general, jays are just hogs. Period.
Erik and Mae have been moving into their new house this weekend. Mike is heading over there to help them this morning. I'm not a whole lot of help with my knee problems, but I'm trying out a new recipe for German Winter Stew. There will be puh-lenty, and so I'm going to make it here at home and then take it over to their new place to share. On the way I'll stop and pick up some rolls or something, and probably something for dessert. It'll be fun to see their new place with their furnishings in it. I happen to know they went to Ikea to look for some rugs last week, and so I'm curious to see what they came up with.
Other than that, quilting, quilting, quilting. I want to get this finished so I can move along with my October to-do list.
How's your weekend going?
17 comments:
The breakfast place sounds fun and I love a good choice of teas. I'm pleased your knee is starting to feel a little better. Here's hoping it continues as I'm a great believer that surgery is best avoided if at all possible. Great bird pictures as well. Jays just hog everything plus they make such a noise but they do look lovely.
I would love to find a tea shop like you describe here! Lucky kids -- who doesn't love an excuse to shop IKEA?! Your white trees quilt is looking fabulous. And so are your birdies! You've definitely got the hang of it now. So glad to hear about the knee improvement, now you can really enjoy planning those new adventures.
I'm glad to hear your knee is doing better. That is definitely a plus for you. Love your white tree quilt, it sort of reminds me of Oregon in the winter. I did spend one winter at U of O and there was lots of snow. I do enjoy seeing the birds from your bird cam. I should have a squirrel cam here in So. Cal. they seem to love messing with the hummingbird feeder and the other bird feeders I have hanging. My dh and took our dd and 3dgs to do a corn maze yesterday, they had lots of fun. My knees didn't enjoy all the uneven ground so spent the night in pain and discomfort. Now I know not to do that. I'm glad PT is working to improve your knee.
The Tea shop menu looks very inviting! Always nice to find such a great place to eat.
The snowflake quilting is looking good. I was given a baggie with 60+ 5inch Christmas charm squares at guild this month. I played with laying them out yesterday, but just couldn't get myself to the sewing machine for some reason.
That German winter stew sounds delish! I would never have thought to put apples into a stew - how did it come out?
A camper, huh? You're going to have enough beds for a full-on quilt retreat soon! :D
Always lovely finding a new place and Medley looks great. That tea menu sounds superb. I hope you continue to try them all. I discovered a lovely apricot and passionfruit tea the other day that is my current fav. Thinking about the White Trees quilt, a perfectly good name already but perhaps (if those are red cardinals) Cardinal Rule? Very pleased to hear your knee is responding to treatment. x
Great bird pictures! Glad your new breakfast spot turned out to be a treat.
The quilting on white trees looks great. I'm not great with quilt names, but one that comes to mind is "Winter Wonder Land".
Yay for knee improvement! For the tension, also try leaving the feed dogs up and setting the stitch length to 0. Cover them with something (I just leave my supreme slider over them). This made a huge difference for me. Now I want a straight stitch plate too.
Glad to hear your knee is improving. Hoping that as you do more PT, it will improve more and more. I ended up doing 8 PT sessions for my knee and it feels like new. I do keep up with the exercises at home. Surely don't want the pain to return.
Just a thought about the name of your quilt ... how about Snow Birds? Although I do like the name Kate gave above too.
Love the bird cam!
Glad to hear the knee is improving. I'm waiting for the bird cam to catch Smitty in a flying leap!
They used to have a tea house at the quilted crow which was nice since we traveled to get there, but that is gone. Bill said he wants a motor home since the price of a truck and trailer is high too, dream on, haha. Jays are greedy and mean, we get about 3 pairs in the winter and they are noisy but fun to watch.
Debbie
Oh boy, I'm with Sharon! I want to see the Birdcam catch Smitty mid-air - LOL!!! So glad the Pt is doing some good for you - pain is the pits and seriously gets in the way of FUN!!! Also glad my suggestion of switching plates helped - I know I was amazed when I saw how much it improved my FMQ :*D
As for your White Trees quilt, I think it interesting that none of the trees are actually white :) "Winter Trees" might be more appropriate, but if you wanted to go with something more evocative, how about "Oregon Winter", or "Winter Sentinels", or "Nature's Shelter"?
Now I am hungry! The menu lookes wonderful and so did the stew. I printed it off and may try it! I think it will not be too many Weight Watchers points!
Looks like a cute place to have breakfast! It's great that you found a new favorite place. Glad that your knee is feeling better. Good luck finding just the right camper. Both the birds are really pretty! Cooking for the movers is a great way to help with the move.
After all of the hiking you did, I'd say an improvement, even slight, is a big step.
Give yourself credit, cooking real food for the exhausted moving crew is a wonderful thing.
Therapy is wonderful; glad your knee is doing better. After looking forever, off and on for over a year, our neighbor wanted to sell his and gave us a great price. Hope you find what you want.
I picture those trees with the birds in them (or one of the kitties!!). LOL!! Glad your knee is doing better.
O wow, I think you're married to my husband too! He's always window shopping online, looking at different vehicles and campers. My kids and I tease him, because he's a much bigger online window shopper than me. Must be an engineer thing!
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