Full Thread Ahead

My 2nd 25th Birthday…..

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:30:56 +0000

Tonight I’m going to party at the store like its 1983 (the year of my first 25th birthday). Jennifer and the gang are throwing a bash for me. I’m so happy to be going out, I rested up all day for this. (oh, yeah - I forgot I hadn’t updated my blog - I had more abdominal surgery about 10 days ago, so no sitting up straight, lying down straight or driving).

I have, however, been knitting. I finished HWHCNS’ Big Mac sweater and we took pictures but then himself left the camera at the store, so I’ll have to post on it tomorrow. I’ve also been working on 2 cute scarves and an opart blanket from Knitty.

Pics next post if I can remember to take the camera back home. I’m sure I’ll be back on almost bedrest again tomorrow.

It Was Quite a Wakeup (Crash) Call

admin — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:34:30 +0000

Sunday morning I was catching a few minutes of quiet reading before our usually nutso day started, when I heard a HUGE crunch, a few more crunches, and a brief spurt of car alarm. I ran outside to see this:

This was at the far side of the house next door. The white truck you see there? It was parked in front of our house. It was pushed, flipped and swiped.

There was only 1 person in the Audi and he suffered only a minor cut on his hand. Extremely amazing when you consider the front of the Audi looked like this:

The truck is a total loss:

The divit on the grass is where the truck ~~rolled~~ bounced over to land at the far end. Note the back end displacement. Here’s a little pic of the front where it bounced:

And now for some knitting content. Princess Costs-a-lotta is starting her final plans for her Bat Mitzvah in early February. We found a darling dress, but it is sleeveless; so we decided on a bolero to wear in the sanctuary. The dress has a leaf motif, so we wanted something leafy for the top as well. We decided on Venezia worsted, because the brown color is perfect with the dress (and 4 other dresses she owns as well). I did a simple top down design with an i-cord trim and a leaf border (from Nikki Epstein’s knitting over the edge series):

Here’s a closeup of the leaf border:

It looks darling with every one of her dresses (after all she modeled them all for us ;}).

In other knitting, I only have about 8 inches on the sleeve for HWHSNC’s Big Mac sweater. I’m keeping at it in the hopes that I will be completed by Bev’s finishing class this coming Sunday. Pictures to come soon.

The Bailout Bill Buffers (ok, I ran out of alliterations)….

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:16:41 +0000

Someone on Ravelry pointed out that the bailout bill actually has provisions that is directly related to yarn and yarn business:

SEC. 325. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF DUTY SUSPENSION ON WOOL PRODUCTS; WOOL RESEARCH FUND; WOOL DUTY REFUNDS…

Here’s a link to the bill, section 325 starts on page 296.

Now, aren’t you glad it passed?

Yet another use for a knitting needle

admin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:07:42 +0000

Anybody catch Private Practice premier on Wednesday? Complicated storyline - long story short - 6 month pregnant woman induces labor by breaking her water……with a knitting needle. Must have been metal straights (maybe size 2)? Addi turbos aren’t sharp enough; Clover and Lantern Moon woods might have left splinters.

Ravelympics: I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

admin — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:12:18 +0000

There has been knitting going on, and projects being finished (amazing what an event like Ravelympics will do for encouraging you to get things done ;}). BTW, did you see the Ravelympics article in the Town Crier?

I had a little deadline knitting within the event; a friend and phenom photographer got married and I knit up a shawl for him to give to his bride. Princess Costs-a-Lotta modeled it for me before we delivered it.

I hope they liked it; they’re currently enjoying the beach in Bali.

While I had the camera out, I glanced over and saw this:

Agua loves coming to the store with us and it’s obvious she’s not concerned about completing events during the Olymipcs ;}.

I’ve also been working on the single skein project for the Peninsula 2 Pier Shop Hop (Sept 18-21). I’m very excited about the yarn, Marinella, a silk/sea cell blend, from the fabulous Lucia. I have the main body done and am working on the knit on border - it’s a race to finish by the end of the Olympics and before I run out of yarn.

Back to the needles. Have a great weekend.

A giggle for the day….

admin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:33:20 +0000

I love this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhGm1KKQO3c

I don’t know how to actually insert the video here, so click on the link.

Royal Resorts Rock!

admin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:29:08 +0000

The COO of Royal Resorts has already responded to Prince Eats-a-Lotta’s email:

“Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are very concerned and supportive of all nature and wildlife issues. The Royal Resort turtle protection program has save thousands of turtles and I am sending your message to our operational and security managers”.

He responded in less than 24 hours and included the names and emails of all the operational managers to follow up. This was very typical of the excellent customer service we received all week.

The Disappointing, The Fabulous, and the Ugly

admin — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:03:25 +0000

We had perfect timing for the sea turtle nesting season in Cancun. The beach directly attached to our resort is one of the prime sites for turtles to come up and lay their eggs. In fact after hurricane/tropical storm Dolly there were 5 to 6 at a time coming up at once to deposit their eggs. Here’s an excellent article on the sea turtle conservation program and its attendant issues.

The disappointing:

On Tuesday night around 11pm we went out to search the beach for turtles. Within minutes; this beauty had come up on the beach directly in front of us (and most obligingly directly under the light - sorry, for the blurry pix, no flash allowe):

Unfortunately, after moving around for a while, she headed right toward the area where the eggs laid previously had been buried on the beach (more later on why, oh, why they hadn’t blocked the area off?). So the security guard on duty had to shoo her away. She headed right back out to sea. Hopefully, she’ll come ashore somewhere else later and not lay her eggs in the water (which means certain death).

The Fabulous:

Right after that, one of the other guests came running up to tell us a female was at the base of the stairs at one of the sister resorts, the Royal Mayan, and had already completed digging her holes. The laying was already under way:

You’ll need to look closely - the turtle is in the upper left hand side of the picture. In the foreground, the security guard “midwife” taking the eggs out and placing them in the bucket. After more than a 1/2 hour, she’d laid 180 eggs:

Unbelievably, some of the guests were running up to pull the eggs out of the bucket and handle them. I hope they didn’t do any damage to them.

And now for the ugly:

(Note: I sent this letter on behalf of Prince Eats-a-Lotta, who felt so strongly about the events described below that he wanted to go down to the beach and confront the crowd. After I advised him confronting a group that doesn’t all speak english and has the “authority” of the hotel personnel behind them wasn’t necessarily the most effective form of communications, he spent part of his vacation time composing this letter which I sent on to the Chief Operating Officer of Royal Resorts).

“Hola:

            This is my first visit to Cancun and I have loved it here at the Royal Caribbean. I am a 14-year old boy, here with my mother, father and sister from California, USA. Your services and resort properties are amazing. You have done a great job creating an atmosphere that is “A Home Away from Home.” Your concierge service has been excellent and they have suggested a number of restaurants and tours that have been fabulous.

            However, I am very disturbed about an event that occurred on Wednesday, July 30, 2008. Around 11pm my family and I were in front of Royal Caribbean observing a female turtle coming up on the beach to lay her eggs. The turtle promptly found a place to dig her hole. When she was about to lay her eggs she abruptly left and continued down the beach. At this point we were concerned that the crowd, of about twenty, was getting too noisy and disruptive. After moving down the beach she started to pace in circles trying to get up the stairs to the Royal Caribbean and then turning when it was obvious that the stairs were not the appropriate place to lay eggs.

During this time, people began to sit on the top stair in plain sight for the turtle to see. The turtle looked up at them a couple of times and turned around to get privacy. During all this, people were disturbing her by walking along the beach (one set of young girls actually ran around the turtle and up the stairs agitating her further). This made her feel unable to find a good private spot for her nesting. Then, when she was no more than 3 meters away from the stairs that she was circling, the security guard told the people that they could go down and take flash pictures. The security guard must have figured the turtle was leaving. Over 20 people ran down the stairs and made a semi-circle around her. As the flashes went off the female turtle retreated away from them. She did this very slowly however, seeming that she did not want to leave the beach. Every time the flashbulbs went off the turtle would go a little bit closer to the water and then stop. Each time she moved closer to the ocean the crowd of people came closer to her like paparazzi; closing her in. Finally she went into the ocean, and the crowd of people left while looking at the pictures they took. It was obvious to those of us watching from above that the turtle was agitated and being forced out by the photographers.

            The one thing that disturbs me the most is that fact that the security guard was in on it too. He was the one who let the people take pictures before she had laid her eggs scaring her off. Another thing is that all the people were closing her in the shape of a semi circle so she was forced to leave the beach.

            I believe that this was really sad and disturbing at the same time that they couldn’t be quiet enough to let her dig and disturbing her when she was going to find another place to dig.

            I realize that per your materials, your security guards are trained in the retrieval of eggs; however, I don’t believe it is enough to insure the safety of the turtles. I would like to make a number of suggestions to improve the chances of the turtles successfully laying their eggs:

Better signs for guests and members taking a midnight stroll; warning them about possible turtles around. We did see a just a few signs and they were facing the resort not the beach.

Roping off areas where a turtle has come so no one will interfere with the turtle. As soon as the turtle has come up on the beach, the security guards should put ropes up so people strolling don’t accidentally disturb the turtle.

Protecting already laid eggs by putting barriers around them so other turtles don’t dig them up.

More information posted around where the turtles are so guests and member know what to do if they see one

More security around the tri-resorts because many people were being loud, smoking, and disturbing the turtles

I think your turtle conservation program is excellent and its great to be able to share it with the resort guests, however, the guests are not all thoughtful and willing to put the turtle’s safety and comfort first. So it is the responsibility of the Royals Resorts to educate the guests and take steps to protect the turtles. I hope that these suggestions would help to do so.

I really enjoyed my time at the Royal Caribbean (and all the other Royal Resorts) and hope to visit again soon.

Thank you,

Sincerely

Prince Eats-A-Lotta”

And, yes, I’m extremely proud that he has such strong convictions about the world around him.  More on the dichotomy of the Mexican eco program in the next post.

The Busiest Day Ever….

admin — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:06:01 +0000

Warning, very picture heavy post ahead…..

Monday morning dawned bright and early in Cancun and so did we. We were picked up at our hotel at 7am by Edventures for our tour day. After a 2 hour drive, we started our first tour, Tulum, a mayan ruin. It was extremely hot!

After Tulum, we met up with Rico, our guide & driver for the day. Since we were the only ones doing our particular itinerary, we had him all to ourselves, a very private tour. Being with Rico, is like spending the day with extended family - he took care of us as if we were favorite cousins; taking us to all his private local spots. We stopped at a shop on the side of the road and bought a few souvenirs. Then onto Dos Ojos for cenote snorkeling (cenote is spanish for sinkhole and is an underground river. The water was cool and refreshing, and extremely clear.

All 4 of us at the beginning of the cenote tour.

The kids and I swam through a section where the stalagtites and stalagmites have joined to form ceiling to floor columns

Then we swam from one cave to another called the “bat cave” - a pitch black cave with bats all over the ceiling. The stalagtites were so low that we couldn’t raise our heads when snorkeling under them. Luckily we had Rico to guide us and he posed with us at the far end of the cave:

After the cave, we made a brief stop at a small Mayan house on the way out of the jungle. There we met a spider monkey who ate hot corn nuts out of our hands:

And we were visited by a young member of the racoon family:

Then is was on to Akumal for snorkeling with the turtles and exploration of the coral reef. I don’t have the pictures from the waterproof camera yet, but we saw barracuda, squid, rainbow fish, and much, much more in the clear, warm waters. I’ll post pictures and update when we’re back in the states.

After that it was lunch in Half Moon Bay (the one in Quintana Roo, Mexico; not San Mateo County California ;}) on the beach. The waters here were also pristine, but the coast was very rocky. La Buena Vida was picturesque and the guacamole tasty.

Does the view get any better than this?????

After lunch, we drove the short distance to Yal-ku Lagoon, which Rico described as a pool with fish. Boy, was he right. The water was refreshing, clear, and very calm. We sat on a mossy rock and the fish swam right up to us. We could have spent the whole day here in the water:

Catch a glimpse of Prince Eats-a-Lotta swimming through one of the natural caverns:

It was an amazing day and we were all exhausted. We took one last picture with Rico, and our trusty chariot, The Pearl, before we left Yal-Ku. We defintely want to come back again and spend another day with our new “cousin”. See you soon, Rico and thanks again for a wonderful, wonderful day.

PS: If you are someone, like say my parents ;} (or Ricco or other interested friends), and want to see more of our pictures from Cancun - go hang out at the Cancun Flickr set and see so much more.

Next entry - our encounter with the huge female sea turtles as they come up on the shore to give birth.

Hola de Cancun, Mexico

admin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:28:15 +0000

Hola, Amigas y Amigos! We arrived last night at the Royal Caribbean and after an early dinner retired for the evening. This morning we were up with the sun(rise):

Here’s our view from the veranda:

The kids took a walk along the beach:

Then it was time for pool and beach at the Royal Sands. Check out the live webcams and see if you can find us! (Hint: Don’t look on Monday, we’re off to Tulum and snorkeling).

While we were there, Princess Costs-a-Lotta and I went native. Getting cornrows on the beach:

I’ll show off mine in the next post. At dinner we watched a wonderful sunset on the lagoon. There were so many clouds that the picture doesn’t do it justice:

I love the pinks and blues. It was the perfect companion to the coconut shrimp and mojito I enjoyed at Captain’s Cove.

Tomorrow we head off to a very full day - Adios por ahora.