Harley Baubles

I've been a little distracted with soldering projects lately. Last night, I designed a ball chain Harley scary skull bracelet that matches my riding jacket. The bar and shield pendant is a gift for the girl next door. I'm soldering and I can't stop...

Angelique Rides

I borrowed mom's bicycle for Angelique so that she could ride around with me for the day. It was already hot and humid at 7:00 a.m. when we took off for the Donut Whole. Then to the farmers market where I found a great handmade pottery flower vase. Our last destination for the majority of the day was at Twist for Worldwide Knit in Public Day. There were contests and drawings while we knitted the afternoon away. I think it was close to 100 degrees when we had to make our way slowly back home. I sure enjoyed spending time with you, A!

Angelique is in Town

Look who's staying at my place this weekend and hanging out on my patio -- it's my dear knitting friend, Angelique, from Shiprock, NM. We're all happy she's here to visit for the weekend and I've missed the comfortable friendship we have. There will be lots of laughing and knitting going on!

Mom's Western Flyer

Both of my parents have been talking about restoring their old bicycles. Mom's Western Flyer (remember Western Auto?) was sitting in her garage with flat, crusty tires and the metal was just covered in rust. I picked it up and took it to Tom Saywer for new tires, tubes, tightened spokes, chain lube, etc. It cost about $130 for a complete overhaul. They said vintage bikes are their specialty and many people are choosing to restore over buying new. In fact, they referred to the rust as a nice shade of patina. You know, vintage cool and that made me smile. When I brought it home and started washing it in the driveway, husband came out, grabbed an SOS pad and started rubbing the rust away like magic. Not long after that, I took over and now Mom's old bicycle sparkles like new.

Firefly 4 Ginger

I made this Firefly scarf especially for one of my coworkers (Smile Director) Ginger. She's a quilter and wants to learn to knit someday so I took her to Twist, introduced her to the Wednesday gang and she picked out the yarn for her own Firefly scarf. She picked out Hempathy in Eucalyptus. The color looks fabulous on her and I'm hoping she takes up the hobby soon.

Destination: Lake of the Ozarks

I was supposed to be riding my bike to the lake this weekend but instead I'm driving the "snack mobile". Ordinarily, I'd be kinda down about my bike not running but decided to make the best of it and it wasn't all bad. I opened up the sunroof, rolled down the windows and was still in the wind singing along with Pink, Miranda and Jason Aldean. I was happy my girls Shawndra and Sharon got to enjoy a warm sunny day of riding.

4 Days = 8 States

I was running with the big dogs (husband's friends) this holiday weekend. We rode from Kansas to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The trip revolved around riding the Natchez Trace (a 440 mile curvy parkway spanning through Mississippi, Alabama & Tennessee). It was a lot of riding for a total of 1,800 miles of fun and adventure with overnight stops in:

Memphis, TN - Saw Graceland at night and walked around the dowtown district with the masses partying on Beale Street

Tupelo, MS - It was inevitable I would find a terrible Waffle House but the magnolia trees were beautiful and the wild turkeys were everywhere

Shreveport, LA - Rode while the sun set in Louisiana with cool, humid smells that reminded me of childhood camping and fishing trips

As we were coming home my steel pony, Sinister, started to sputter and cut out. I made it off the turnpike just in time for her to die as I coasted into a parking lot so very close to home. It was sad. She tried her best to get me home after such a long journey.