Traveling Son Report

For those who have been reading this blog for a while, you may remember that my oldest son Tim took a 3 month, (make that 6 month, now a year) trip to Australia. Having had me as a mother for 27 years, he eased me into the length of his stay by gradually increasing the time he planned to be away. I just received an email from Tim telling me he was on a bus on his way to Shangra-La. That sounds so romantic.

Thank goodness for Wikipedia. Geography is not one of my strong suits (if you want to beat me at Trivial Pursuit, choose Geography as my final category), so I turn to Wikipedia to see where Tim is. His adventures have included the east and west coast of Australia, Tasmania (he didn't see a Tasmanian Devil), Kuala Lumpur (the capital of Malaysia), Hong Kong to get a Visa to enter China (like New York City on acid), Shanhai to visit a friend (lingered there longer than expected due to a lost ATM card) , to visit Leaping Tiger Gorge (I have advised him to take the low road, not the high road-it's safer) and Shangra La (a stopping point on the trip to Leaping Tiger Gorge). The next stop on his itinerary is to travel to Thailand to meet up with a friend. I am so proud of Tim because one of the reasons he took this trip was to push past his fears and things that were holding him back from exploring the world, and he certainly has accomplished his goal. It is especially amazing to me that he is undertaking this journey by himself. I think that he must now know that there is nothing that he can't do, which is a wonderful lesson to learn at such a young age. And I have grown too, because I no longer assume he is dead if I haven't heard from him for three days. If you would like to check it out, he has written a few posts about his adventures at Tim Out: Australia.

Tim and his host Hunch in front of Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. I guess you can figure out that it's Tim on the right. The red beard is a new addition

In more mundane news, I have added some new yarn and fiber to my shop. I dyed some worsted weight yarn in some colors that make me wish I had a little girl to knit for. The first makes me think of a field of wildflowers in the spring and the second was inspired by one of my favorite flowers, Gerber daisies. They are such bright and cheerful flowers.

I've also been dyeing a little fiber.

"Jewel Box" in superwash bluefaced leicester. A member of my spinning group wanted jewel toned fiber to spin and knit socks for her daughter.

And "Ocean Blues" in Merino/Tencel fiber. I guess I'm anxious for summer to arrive because it seems that I've been dyeing colors that make me think of warm weather and sunshine.

Time to remove the sleeping cat from my arm and take a shower. Speaking of sleeping cats, here is a photo of Seamus sleeping after becoming totally exhausted the last time my spinning group met at my house. There is something very exciting to the cats about all that fiber and the ten spinning wheels that were here.