Short But Sweet

Here we are, home again after a whirlwind trip. Thanks to all of you for your good wishes for our journey. Barbara did you order the lovely mild fall weather we enjoyed both in Holland & Germany? Thank you - it was great!!

After arriving in Holland Sunday morning we drove straight to Leiden & spent the day with DD & her DBF. Monday we drove to Hamburg, Germany where we spent the remainder of the day and the following morning visiting with DS. After that it was time for the business portion of the trip. Late Wednesday afternoon we returned to The Netherlands and spent an evening with our favorite Dutch cousins. Thursday we were able spend the entire day with DD and in the afternoon the three of us visited the exhibition of Rembrandt Landscapes at De Lakenhal. Of course we also had to shop for Sinterklaas goodies - YUM!! Friday morning it was back to the airport and the trip home.

It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with our children. Being with them in person is so much better than talking via telephone or e-mail. We were so very happy that both DS & DD were able to take time off work on such short notice and seeing them made this short trip VERY SWEET.

No stitching during the flights. Of course I should have known that would be almost impossible considering the crowded planes these days. Thank goodness I had brought along 975 pages of 'escape' in the form of Rosamunde Pilcher's "Coming Home". Her books are just like a huge plate of comfort food, something which is most welcome when you have four long flights.

While waiting for flights and during the time DH was taking care of business I did manage to get 'Winter Row' about half done. For those of you who know this pattern you will see that I've made a few color changes to brighten the piece up a bit. I'm stitching with DMC on 14 ct Mystical Midnight Aida by Heaven Lee Creations. Although Aida is not my fabric of choice at the moment this was such a pretty piece that I couldn't resist it. B5200 has been subsituted for whitewash, brighter orange 740 and brown 838 for the carrot noses and branches and for the lettering I've completely wandered from the path by substituting 3838 blue for the brownish 3021. I like it!!

Now I'm off to visit all of you and see what I've been missing out on this past week.