I'm Back

Ah, back in the valley again. I was going to start off today with a nice vacation recap when I remembered what happened on Friday evening. I'm closing up the drapes in the front room. As I walk across the carpet, my foot strikes something hidden by it's pattern, a five pound weight that kids think is a toy. It did this to my toe. In case you were wondering, yes, it's the same exact toe I broke a month ago. The break was definitely worse this time so I spent all Saturday with it up hoping it wouldn't put a cramp in our trip. Luckily I'd already learned how to work around this particular break so aside from it being stepped on by children, it survived the trip. No, this does not mean I will start wearing shoes in the house regardless of the wisdom of that behavior.

While sitting on my rump on Saturday, I began a new mask too. This one stems from a comment I received about my most recent mask. I mentioned the idea a bit too here before, it will be a sugar skull mask. Honestly, I don't know what the proper name would be, calavera seems too broad, I suppose I could just call it a Day of the Dead mask, or the same thing in Spanish. Anyway, I've gotten a whole mess more than this done, but didn't take any more photographs. It follows a similar design as the fancy one, with white being the primary color accented by red with just a touch of black at the nose. I figure once the tatting is complete, I'll add black embroidery and perhaps some colored crystals and maybe even some silver filigree bits. I have to hold off on it for a bit because right before I left for vacation, I got a special order for a mask on a stick. Hopefully, I can document that one a little for you too.

Last up today, the vacation recap. We were in Monterey from Sunday through yesterday. It was a cool, crisp 60º with heavy morning mist. Sunday, we stopped at the Dennis The Menace Park and then headed to the Aquarium which was ridiculously crowded. We left after a while, but came back later in the evening when the crowds were gone and had a lovely time, the puffins are a treat. We went on a walk Monday morning and saw a pod of dolphins in the bay along with the usual gathering of sea lions. The we spent much of the day at the aquarium and shopping. I got shoes. More aquarium on Tuesday and then on the way home we stopped at Casa De Fruta to have lunch, feed the ducks and ride the train.

I did try to blog using my phone the days we were gone, but without pictures it seemed silly to bother, so I obviously didn't. Today, there will be mask making and more mask making and hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things before the weekend arrives. There is just one month left before school starts again and I want to make good use of it.