Knitting, Singing, the Universe and all....

Yesterday morning, we said hello and goodbye to nephew, Austin as he stopped on his way through Montana going back to college in Vermont....then we put daughter Stella on the plane back to Portland. then we prepared for an evening with Mr. Wan and his family and friends as they were passing through here on the way back to Vancouver and Hong Kong. Here are me, Rosita, Mr. Wan & Jon, with Cassie and Norman standing. Of course, we had tea - pu'er tea was the favorite this evening. and fruit, and we baked some triple chocolate cookies, and had great time catching up :-) We got out the Penguin soda maker (you can see it on the counter in the picture) and added a splash of our recently decanted Raspberry Liquor (bottled in 2007, and made with our bumper crop of raspberries that summer). It is so clear and pretty - you can see the damask pattern through the bottle! And, added to the sparkling water = a heavenly refreshing drink. Mr. Wan brought us the Ganoderma Sporo-pollen that is so...

Jon agreed to let me have a China adventure all to myself so..... we went to find the yarn district !!!! Yes, China has sheep and wool, and it turns out, sable, angora, and bamboo and soy yarns! Every other storefront was closed, as it was a Sunday and the week before Chinese New Year so people were beginning to "go home" for the holidays. It seemed a bit deserted and rather forlorn when we arrived. The cab driver didn't really believe us that we meant to go to the address we had requested.(after all, we were two gui lo tourists wandering about an area that might be construed as a bit dangerous!) then, we turned a corner and there they were! women sitting and chatting, winding the swifts full and laughing: Baskets and boxes and bins and more boxes of 100% sheep woolen yarns - all rather fine- from very delicate fingering weights to DK to a light worsted. I don't think "chunky" has entered their knitting vocabulary just yet :) I ended up purchasing 7 boxes of...