Just a few random thoughts for a Monday

1. The United States is big....really big.  It amazes me how much space is still out there and as long as you're not traveling though one of the megalopoli, you can drive for hours and hours and see almost nothing.  (Clarifying...when I say "nothing" I just mean not a lot of people, towns, stores, sidewalks, houses...the kind of stuff that I see on a daily basis.  There is, however, beautiful scenery with farms, rolling hills, rivers, green valleys and just lush, lush,lush trees and undergrowth. No wonder people in past centuries preferred navigating by rivers -- by far the clearest path to anywhere.)  When we drove up to Bar Harbor from here, we drove through just hours and hours of rolling green hills and mountains.  Going east from Rochester, there's really nothing until Syracuse, then nothing, then Albany, then nothing in the Berkshires (old, so very old worn green mountains), then quite a lot for a couple of hours around Boston, then nothing, then Portland, then nothing, then Augusta, then really nothing, then Bangor.  Then just a bit of civilization along the narrow corridor along the route to Bar Harbor.

2.  I drove to Washington DC and back this week (again, a lot of not much until you get within 2 hours of DC) and, I still can't quite guess why there is such a profusion of "adult" bookstores in Pennsylvania.  I'll ponder that another time.  But they herald the limits of almost every town on your way in and again on your way back out.  Now, the sight of "adult" bookstore don't usually make me chuckle but one enterprising owner actually had me laughing out loud.  On the marquee out front, that usually has such pithy enticements like "private booths", instead this one proclaimed in bright red letters "Christmas in July sale!!!".    Um...<chuckle> enterprising.

3.  Oh, and there has been knitting too. Here a couple of the latest projects:

This one is for a DS (dear sister) who shall remain nameless... (Hope you don't mind a preview DS)


It's actually really hard to see the detail so here is a close-up of the cable detail:


Here are the other knitting type details:
Pattern: Cable Rib socks by Erica Alexander
Yarn: Knit Picks donegal tweed custom dyed by me with Wilton cake dyes in purple, burgundy and periwinkle
Needle:  US size 1

Also Mike really like his last set of hiking socks so I decided to make him another pair:



First one is done, the other is still in progress.
Knitty details:

Pattern: Eesti Trail Hiking Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Cascade 220 (wool) in mallard, white is Elle Rae
Needles:  US size 4

5.  One more note about the drive between here and Washington DC....you really do see some interesting things when you're in a car by yourself for 16 hours.....

This was in front of a school bus dealership north of Harrisburg....



'cause nothing says "Buy a bus" like a purple and turquoise dragon.  (?????!!!)