It was great!

I am home after 30 hours on the train and good fun in between. It wasn't a good time to be on the train what with the huge wreck in LA and all but I am safe and aside from being really late both to and from, I had a good trip.

It was a wonderful chance to get to know my future SIL. She has proven to me that she is everything I might hope for my brother and as my sister. After several deep and treacherous conversations there was no judgment for my past life style and only gentle encouragement for the future. I am overwhelmed, appreciative, and very blessed to be adding her to my life.

I also got to know eight other very wonderful ladies who welcomed me into their homes and their thoughts and expected me to forage at will. (I got a little hungry before I realized that they really did want me to just take what I needed)

We played some silly games but not anything too tedious. Each of us bought two pairs of panties in the brides' sizes (yes there were two brides) that we thought were representative of ourselves and then the brides had to figure out who each pair was from. We had great fun hanging them on a clothesline in the middle of the campground until they made the correct guesses.

We made toilet paper bridal gowns which I thought sounded ridiculous but ended up being funny. Especially when Tami decided to reenact the scene from Cinderella in which the step-sisters rip Cinderella's dress off of her saying, "Those beads! That sash!..." That had us rolling.

The last game we played was a version of Newlyweds...The organizer had sent emails to the two grooms with a list of questions. The brides had to guess what they answered. Each incorrect answer earned them a gumball that had to be chewed. By the end both brides had rather large mouthfuls and we knew a little more about their relationships and their backgrounds. It turns out that both brides had future SIL's there to whom they turned to beg hints for some questions.

I was the oldest there but only by about 3 years. We ranged in age from 17 to 34. Three were married and three were engaged. The only time my age became an issue was on the hike where I declined to hike the .2 mile trail that went up 400 feet over that length. I'm old, fat and asthmatic. I suggested the easier trail. All the uphill hiking was slow going for me but I managed it eventually. Tami hung back with me and helped me keep going.

We had two run ins with raccoons. They apparently stole the two bags of tri-tip out of the cooler (Opened the cooler and everything) on Friday night. And Saturday night they stole a loaf of bread out of the locked box, which wasn't locked because we were still up and sitting within 10 feet of it. They were bold little bandits!

Before I left, Tami got to wrestling with the dog and kicked me in the head. I'm fine but I've got great teasing material now. ;>D

I spent my awake time on the train (which admittedly wasn't the whole 30 hours since both trips were overnight) working on my knitting. I cast on the SKA September mystery sock. I finished the first clue but then wasn't certain how to proceed. It's my first toe up sock and I wasn't sure how to interpret the directions regarding the gusset in the second clue.

So I stopped working on it until I could get clarification and cast on the 9-5 sock instead. I ended up frogging part of it and going down a needle size to get the gauge I wanted. I like the way it's turning out, although I'm still worried about the size.



I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. Partially because of the frogging on both socks. Still it was productive. I now have two KAL socks in progress. Now let me see if I can finish them too.