Tripping along

No pictures because my camera batteries went dead. I just charged them, too, so I don't know what's going on with them.

I'm on vacation in sunny (hot) Texas. I love Texas and would totally move back if it would agree to cool down a little bit. Since we haven't been able to reach that compromise, I remain a sad expat.

The trip down is kind of long but I always enjoy it. I worked it so that I got into Tulsa early enough to visit a yarn shop - Loops. It's in an old and upscale part of town so I enjoyed looking at the architecture as I made my way there. The yarn shop was pretty ordinary with the standard lines of yarn but the ladies in the shop were so friendly and welcoming that I might just stop by on my way home. They did have one kind of cool thing. They have a project wall. It's got yarn in cubicles which are arranged in columns (about 10 columns across). At the top was a pattern and a knitted sample then below are all the yarns needed for the project. They have a big to-do when they change the wall and it sounds like a big party. I'd never seen that before.

Down the road in Oklahoma City, I stumbled across one of the best yarn shops I've ever been in. I was looking for a Half Price Books bookstore and came across them in their new location. Evidently they only moved in about 6 weeks ago but it was wonderful. I told one of the clerks that I would move to Oklahoma City just so this could be my local yarn shop!! It was nice and spacious with a wide variety of yarns - some of which I'd never come across before. Not that that means a whole lot but it doesn't always happen. They've got a nice large area with couches and chairs where you can just laze around knitting or spinning and, the best thing is that it's not in front of any yarn! No having to crawl over knitters to look at yarn. Champion. They also have what looks like a large class area off to the side. It was just such a great vibe and I can only say kudos to Gourmet Yarn Company for such a wonderful place.

For a number of reasons, we didn't make it to West Texas for the cotton so I'll have to get it by mail if I get it. But we did go to a display at Texas Women's University showing dresses from Texas First Ladies and other dignitaries. They had poster-sized bios and descriptions on one wall with the the gallery of dresses and other period items along the opposite wall. I did get some pictures and will post them when I get home. I really enjoyed some of the dresses, the earliest of which was around 1850, I believe. Gorgeous.

We then went on to the campus library that had a very interesting display on the accomplishments of women, particularly Texas women with loads of artifacts, pictures and displays. Very impressive but we weren't finished yet! TWU has one of the largest ever collections of recipe books. We thought it was going to be another museum-type display but it wasn't. It was actually row after row of library stacks filled with every conceivable cookbook. We didn't stay too long but it would certainly be an absolute hoot to go and spend the day researching! The earliest cookbook I found was an 1840's Quaker cookbook. How fun is that!

Time is winding down, which is always a little sad and I'll be back on the road tomorrow. But it's been a good time.