More Pics

Yesterday, we went to the Museum of Ventura County and saw the most amazing doll displays. The artist is named George Stewart, and he has a rotating display of wonderfully life-like and accurate portrayals of historical figures. This month's exhibit is on Queen Victoria, and the costumes are so perfectly styled and detailed that they made this doll-maker's heart go pitter pat (no pics allowed, of course).
 We were allowed to take other pics though.

We had a picnic at this spot- the view was pretty spectacular. Also the wind, which has been South Dakotan in nature on this trip (read: constant).

I'm not sure I'll ever get tired of looking up at palm trees.

Or plants that flower in January.

This gorgeous mural was on the wall at the Ventura Museum. It's made of bits of glass. Thousands and thousands of bits of glass.

There are fountains everywhere in SoCal. This one was at the St. Bonaventura Mission. So cool. So relaxing. So lovely.

Ventura itself is also lovely- so many interesting shops and restaurants. I'm sorry to say that the the dark chocolate sea salt caramels were out of season at the chocolatier, but we made do with other delicacies. There were street musicians, and the echoes of many languages up and down the avenues.

And there was this sign...

We only have a couple more days before we head out. It's been amazing, and far too quick. Soon, we'll be back in the snow (or the not-snow, whichever the SD Winter Gods decide to throw at us).

Mostly Pics

This vacation has been comprised of almost total relaxation with almost no time at the computer. My Kindle Fire does many things well, but writing Blog Posts with it is not one of them, so I've been a bit lax in that department.

So mostly, I'm going to post pics and talk about them a bit. We have a few more days here, but time is winding down very quickly.

The Pleats from Hell look pretty good blocked. In fact, they look fantastic, which is why I decided to knit this pattern in the first place. The sweater is one that I made a couple of years ago, from handspun yarn. The necklace was one of Voracious Reader's Late Christmas Gifts.

Here's the start of the Doll Sweater Which Is Not From Hell, But Will Also Probably Not Be Finished By Thursday. It's going to be gorgeous, and I'll have to mail it back to VR when it's done.

Ever wonder what a Brewer's Beer Fridge looks like? Wonder no longer.

I have no idea what this tree is, but I thought it looked very Ferny and Prehistoric.

Or this tree either, but the bark is beautiful.

Same tree, looking up.

Yesterday, Voracious Reader and I crashed the Ventura County Handweavers & Spinners Guild demo at an elementary school Winter Faire. They were so friendly and welcoming, and we had a lovely time drop spinning with them (and exploring the rest of the Faire, which was pretty cool). We both made new spinning friends, and VR was invited to come to the next Guild Meeting. I hope that their schedule coincides with my next visit so I can go too. 

From the It Sounded Good in Theory Department: I learned that winding handspun yarn on a cardboard tube and then trying to ply it to itself by spindle, isn't as workable as it seems... Luckily VR wants to learn needle felting, so she can use this has a base.

We've eaten at some absolutely wonderful restaurants, but I'll save that (and the thousands and thousands of calories) for another post.