Here’s how it looked when I received it in mid-July:

Here’s how it’s looking today as I send it off to Catherine:

My goal was to finish one orca. I believe I did that.

I’m on a six-day vacation week. After four days of rain, the sun is shining and I’m ready to go out and enjoy the weather. The day is on pause only because Erich had an eye appointment this morning and they dilated his eyes. It’s a bit bright out there for him today (ironic that he’d have been fine the last four!) We’re hoping to do some local Rhody food exploration today – the two locations we have in mind are Kenyon’s Grist Mill and Wright’s Dairy Farm which are nearly on opposite corners of the mainland here in Rhode Island. BUT… it’s such a small state that it doesn’t matter!

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Afterward, we headed a bit further down Route 1 to Quonochontaug Pond and wandered through the salt flats on the southern side of the pond for a couple hours. We saw several crabs, tons of minnows, jellyfish, and a horseshoe crab. The water was wonderful – I honestly wish I would have had my bathing suit so I could have gone deeper. At one point on our way back from a little rock shoal in the flats, we tried crossing through a cut path in the reeds – but I quickly sunk to mid-calf in some very stinky mud… so yeah, backed out of there and continued trudging through the water instead. On the mud trail, we did see lots of bubbles against the water – we’re thinking it was a well-populated clam bed. Several people were walking around with buckets and nylon bags, and I’m pretty sure I saw Quahogs in those bags (a local really, really big clam for those who are unfamiliar).

It’s a fantastic place – the water is brilliantly clear and a great temperature (not too warm, not too cold, with some neat swirling eddies of both temperatures). Great for little kids because there’s no real tide to worry about. There were plenty of people there, but it didn’t feel crowded or chaotic – just a bunch of very friendly people enjoying a gorgeous little nook of Rhode Island on a gorgeous summer afternoon. Can’t beat it!

Matt got very sunburned, and I’m a little toasty feeling – but I think both of us should be okay tomorrow. Erich is just fine – I’m envious of the native blood in him. He just tans.

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I’m redoing some pictures for the Postcrossing of the Day cards – I wasn’t happy with how they photographed (they look very blurry to me). Once I get some done and cropped, I’ll start back up with the feature. Probably will get at least a few done this week.

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Stitching, stitching… it’s been a wild week! On Sunday, I got together with a few fellow stitchers from Rhode Island for our first official Rhode Island Stitchers get together. We hit it off immediately and had a great time. The next meetup is scheduled for Saturday the 14th at the Warwick Public Library (open to all, so please come down… info is on the Facebook group).

I’ve been working on two projects this week – Spryntz‘s RR piece and Astrology Sampler.  I decided to restart Astrology Sampler on Thursday.  The original fabric I’d chosen just was NOT working as I’d hoped.  Even Erich looked at it and went “ugh… no, that looks bad.”  So rather than have fun with Silkweaver fabbies on this one, out came the Aida tubes.  I’ve restarted it on good old-fashioned 14 ct black Aida, which is what the sample piece is on, I think.  It already looks much better.

Spryntz’s piece is coming along slowly but steady.  I’d planned on getting some of it done tonight, but I’m too tired after being in the sun.  I’ll work on it tomorrow.

Speaking of Robins – there’s a new UFO Round Robin starting up soon, if anyone’s interested.  Go over here for the information.  Right now it’s in preliminary sign-ups.  The plan is to kick it off sometime in September (I’m guessing probably late-ish September).

That’s it for me… time for bed.  :)

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So today I leave work at three, get on the 3:30 boat, and it heads to Hingham. Erich called me while I’m on the boat. He’s out on the water with our friends Carge and Anthony in Boston Harbor to go fishing. I jokingly say “come to Hingham and pick me up.”

So they do.

And we spend the next three hours enjoying picture-perfect weather in the harbor fishing. Everyone caught something. I, however, didn’t catch fish:

I caught mussels. With classic worm on a hook.

Heh.

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My house? Is okay. Two inches of water in the basement, nothing to worry about.

But getting anywhere near my house is hell. I-95 is closed because it is now part of the Pawtuxet River. (two exits south of my house). The road less than a mile south of my house is closed due to the Pawtuxet. The secondary road I’d use to get around said closed road is ALSO closed because of the Pawtuxet.

Basically? The Pawtuxet has taken over Rhode Island. Or at least a good portion of it.

I couldn’t take the commuter rail home last night because it couldn’t make it through the floodwater on the tracks. The commuter rail train cars are double-deckers, and the lower level’s floor would have been literally at or below the water line. So I took Amtrak home.

I watched a train create a boat wake last night. The water was ABOVE the rail.

9 inches of rain in two days. Sixteen inches of rain since two weeks ago.

So. Sick. Of. Water.

If you’re curious – here you go. Enjoy the psychotic photos: http://www.projo.com

/rant over

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OM NOM NOM.

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Even though the snow is blowing today, I have proof that springtime is, in fact, right around the corner. I found these little pop-ups in the beds of the new parkland that divides Atlantic Avenue.

For those who’ve been to Boston, but not for a few years… this park is where the elevated portion of I-93 used to be downtown… the highway was put underground during the Big Dig, and a long stretch of parkland now runs the city from North Station/Hanover Street all the way to South Station. It’s fantastic.

Anyway… I’m thrilled. They’re only about an inch tall so far, but there are tons of them – and since Mother Nature knows best, I know that warmer weather is only a few short weeks away.

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[Charlie Brown] I got a rock… [/Charlie Brown]

On Saturday, I met up with for a day of S.E.X. (Stash Enhancement eXperience) in Plymouth, Mass (approx. 50 minutes drive from my house). Lots of stitchy stash was had, as well as a short experience in a scary towny bar, followed by a much nicer experience in a better bar. It was a good, relaxing afternoon. Only thing we didn’t manage to do was fit in high tea and scones (with real clotted cream!!!) at the tea room on Court Street.

On my way out of town, since it’s not tourist season, plus it was dark and quiet and cold and a perfect solitary time, I swung around the corner to go look at the rock.

Yeah… THAT rock.

So here ya go… here’s Plymouth Rock, in the… quartz… as it were.

It’s really nothing exciting, sadly. It’s a big ol’ rock with 1620 stamped into it, and a repaired crack running through it. It’s on the beach, covered with a nicely lit little stone pavillion thingy.

I think the glorified American history I was taught as a child made it feel like it was supposed to be a cliff or something. It’s funny how those far-away places we’re taught about as children seem so much smaller and tangible when you see them up close. Sometimes the illusion is a far better picture.

But still – it does exist, which is kinda cool when you think about it.

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I’m a bit late starting mine due to some work craziness, but this was a project kalleah suggested. I think I’ll do mine on Friday nights, just to make it a bit easier on myself. Starting next week, I’ll be doing new photos.

Galilee, Rhode Island is a teeny little village within the town of Narrangansett. It’s a very active fishing port with boats coming in and out of the harbor all of the time. As you’d expect – great, fresh seafood restaurants – and foodstores.

During the first weekend of May 2009, Rhode Island was having an absolutely perfect spring stretch. We were craving fried clams (of which there is in abundance in RI… but not all are worthy of long drives!), and decided to head down to Champlin’s Seafood for a good feast. Afterward, we wandered down onto the beach for a bit – even daring to wade a bit into the water (which was numbingly cold).

We watched many fishing boats like this one leave the harbor, heading out into Long Island Sound – or, in some cases, out into the open Atlantic. It was a picture perfect day at the seashore – and I’m looking forward to springtime when we can go back there without freezing.

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My plan for today is to stay curled up and stitch.

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