I left for vacation (more about that later) on the 21st so brought 22 - 24 with me. I revealed 22 but here are the last two.
I ordered a 'Christmas Mystery Box' from Simona Bussiglieri of Mani di Donna back in October.
She just mailed them at the beginning of December which, of course, was the middle of our Canadian postal strike. I am still waiting for its delivery.
On another topic, I was intrigued by the Flannel Scarf I saw on the Gusto Wool Facebook page
so I ordered the pattern today.
Now comes the delicious task of deciding what yarns to use. I remembered I have this Paintbox Gradient bunch of mini skeins that I purchased at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival eight years ago. It's from Fiber Optic Yarns and is Bitter Lime to Rose 0715 colourway. There are 15 thirty yard mini skeins for a total of 450 yards.
It's 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon.
I plan to use this raspberry-coloured yarn for the contrast.
I believe it also was a Rhinebeck purchase lo those many years ago.
The scarf only uses 50g of each yarn so I'm not sure how I'll use the gradient - half of each colour? I want to work all the colours but don't need a scarf 12 feet long. I may get this cast on tonight.
Yesterday I returned from a week in the Dominican Republic near Samaná at the Bahía Principe Grand El Portillo. I was accompanied by my niece Rosa, her husband, Darryl, and their two adult offspring, Derek and Andrea. Also with us was Andrea's fiancé, Chris, his parents, Jane and Paul, and his two cousins, Sam and Alex, and Alex' wife, Amanda. 11 in all. I was invited to join the group right after Skip's death so didn't have to worry at all about how I'd spend Christmas.
We all gathered at the airport on the afternoon of December 21, at our departure gate. Chris' family arriving from east of Toronto had arrived first. We had been messaging back and forth that week - excited about our upcoming trip and looking at some Facebook photos, I was able to recognize them. They said they had hogged reserved a couple of tables at the gate. I introduced myself to my new friends and shortly thereafter the rest of the gang who had come from the west showed up.
Earlier that week we had received notice that our flight was changed from 7:30am to 3:15pm. The good news was that I needed the airport limo (an SUV, really) for 11am rather than 3am. The bad news was we lost the complete first day at the resort and arrived in the dark.
When I checked in online 24h before, I was able to switch my seat to an aisle seat near the front of the plane. The rest of my companions were closer to the rear of the plane.
I was very glad to have my own room. I could get up whenever, nap whenever, watch TV whenever and not bother anyone. My lodgings were very near the lobby and buffet restaurant - very handy. Sam was next to me, Alex and Amanda were downstairs from Sam, Jane and Paul were in the same building and Derek was in the next building.
The beach was lovely with many lounge chairs and either palapas or palm trees for shade. There were also lots of chairs around the adjacent swimming pool. I preferred the beach and was usually able to find a place to sit or lounge in the shade. It was a very relaxing time.
It did rain a lot, though. Most days either the morning or afternoon it rained and last Thursday it rained all day. We had planned a boat trip to a secluded beach for that day which had to be cancelled. The beach was pretty deserted in the rain so I just parked myself under a palapa, listened to an audiobook, and generally vegged out.
The entire week was very relaxing. The members of my multigenerational group were all very interesting and affable folks. We all were happy to be in an idyllic setting for the week.
Darryl, Derek, Jane, Paul, Alex, Amanda, me, Sam, Chris, Andrea, Rosa
Our return yesterday went pretty well. Once in Toronto, we all got through Customs and Immigration thanks to our ArriveCan apps on our phones. All our luggage made it, too. I bid farewell to my family members and new friends and headed for the train to Terminal 1 to get on the UP Express to Union. It was right there when I got to the platform. 25 minutes later I arrived at Union Station. Because I had a suitcase, I wanted to find an elevator to take me to track level at the GO station. I knew there wasn't an elevator to track 12 at the York Concourse so walked over to the Bay Concourse and found one to take me up to track 11. The train was already there so I located the accessible platform and just rolled onto the train.
When we got to Rouge Hill, the train didn't continue on right away. We were delayed there for about half an hour - not what I needed after travelling all day. Then we started moving again but it was announced that after the Pickering station the train was going to travel express to Oshawa and not stopping at Ajax and Whitby. Those wanting to go to those two places would need to get off the train in Pickering and wait for the next train which would take us to Ajax and Whitby.
At Pickering, I rolled off again. After about 15 minutes, the next train came and took us the rest of the way. All this time I was texting my kind neighbour, who was going to retrieve me from the GO station in Whitby, about the delay. Finally I arrived in Whitby, heaved my suitcase into my neighbour's car and she drove me home.
I really enjoy travelling but like the saying goes, "There's no place like home".
I stayed in bed, dozing off and listening to an audiobook until almost 11am this morning. It was so cozy. I had breakfast and did a bit of unpacking. The house is in disarray and it will take me a couple of days to get things somewhat back in order.
This afternoon Alexa had our Tuesday night group over to her house for a get-together and to get caught up on what everyone has been doing. Tomorrow is stitching in the morning but first I need to call my dentist. His office is closed but hopefully there is a number of an on call dentist who can help me out...
Let me back up a bit. I was supposed to get a crown put on a couple of weeks ago but because of the postal strike, the couriers were overwhelmed and the crown didn't arrive on time. The temporary had come loose so I went in anyway and had the dentist secure it more firmly until the permanent one arrived. The next week (the week before my trip), a hunk of the adjacent tooth broke off, leaving a sharp edge that lacerated my tongue. When I called to have it fixed, I learned my permanent crown had arrived so I went in the next day to have it put in and the sharp edge on the adjacent tooth smoothed out. It was determined that that tooth also would need a crown which would be started in the new year.
Last Tuesday at the resort, while I was flossing my teeth, a huge hunk of filling broke off the same adjacent tooth, again leaving a razor-sharp edge. Thank goodness I had brought a bunch of sugar free gum because I used wads of it to fill the gap and cover the sharp edge. Unfortunately when I was eating or drinking and the gum wasn't in place, I couldn't talk as it was too painful. For once, I was a good listener during our conversations at meals. The rest of the day, I had gum filing the hole, even overnight.
Once at home, I located some orthodontic wax left over from when Skip had braces almost 20 years ago. Ahhhhh. It really helped the situation. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of it and again, when I'd start to eat, the wax would dislodge and I ended up swallowing it with my food.
Long story short, I have ordered the same brand of orthodontic wax on Amazon and it is arriving tomorrow evening sometime. I tried a Shoppers Drug Mart and a Dollarama this afternoon but they didn't have it in stock.
Hopefully some dentist will kindly interrupt their vacation this week and file down the sharp edge so I can be pain free until the process for the crown gets underway. In the meantime, I'll tough it out with the orthodontic wax.
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