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October 15, 2006
Vegas, baby 
I'm back from Vegas.
One thing is clear. Before I go back, I need to train. Walking around with women in their 70s wore me out. We did manage to see a lot of the Imperial Palace, Caesar's Palace, the Mirage, the Venetian, the Wynn, the Flamingo, and the Bellagio. In one day.
I was fascinated, and still am, with the civil engineering involved in Las Vegas. Indoor canals, outdoor lakes, unending waterfalls, S-curving escalators: how do they do that, really? The whole imposition of fantasy upon the desert. The idea that if you wish it, you can make it so.
And that could be a good way of describing my experience. I had a fantasy, but in the end, it was a desert. It was a buffet where the fish was old, and nothing tasted good. It was just crumbling infrastructure, a lot of flashy exterior and not much real.
I'm glad to be back. But I've been in a funk ever since. My dreams are all Vegas, baby.
...
Yesterday was my darling's birthday, so I was going to save a long walk for today. Great idea, except today is seriously blustery and rainy. We need the rain, heavens knows we need the rain, but I need the walk too.
So I'm stuck with indoor activities. Cleaning, trying to get the evil smokey smell out of all my clothes (there appears to be no smoking laws in Vegas. People smoke everywhere. Even clothes that stayed in my luggage and never saw the casino smell like smoke.), knitting, doing homework. Yes, I know the homework should come first. I know. I'm just not there yet.
I'm still working on a gift for Velogirl and her peanut, and I started making a cowl/gaiter out of the gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill yarn I got in Coos Bay at My Yarn Store. The cowl is going slowly, as you might expect with #2 needles and a 25 inch diameter, but I love how it's knitting up.
Right now I'm obsessed with creating a felted satchel. On the MAX train coming back from the airport, I meet some folks that I instantly wanted to adopt. They had come to Portland on an elderhostel, to do a cruise up the Columbia-Snake rivers, from Astoria (OR) to Lewiston (ID). They were adorable. They could have taken the elderhostel shuttle to the hotel, but instead, they chose to take the MAX. They had been boning up on Lewis & Clark Expedition history in preparation for the trip. They were just so excited.
When I pulled out the in-progress cowl, the man mentioned that his wife was quite a knitter, beaming. And she was beaming too. She had made her carry-on bag, which was the apple-green color that is in now, felted with some slubby-shiny-viscose-y yarn knitted in, and she had trimmed the bag with upolstery trim. It was adorable, and she was adorable.
So I think I could recycle the yarn from the Olympic shrug which was gorgeous but so itchy, and make a satchel of it. That's the plan now..., subject to change like everything else.
Posted at October 15, 2006
Comments
I have a small felted pouch a friend made for me - I love it! It looks really unique, and its quite sturdy.
Sounds like your trip wasn't all you hoped - I'm sorry. :-(
Posted by: neca at October 16, 2006 6:47 AM
It was good to run into you, too!
Did you ride in today (Monday?) Ye gads it was raining like crazy when I left, but if there was one positive in this grody morning, my little red bike did swimmingly (heh) in the rain! Do you have an Official Bike Commute Rain Strategy? i'm still working on one... Next item: FENDERS. *eyes rooster tail*
Your darling and my darling have the same birthday.
Posted by: hollie at October 16, 2006 8:55 AM