In which I see my sister and get a cold…plus a little Twinkles

This weekend Martha came to Minnesota to see her son, my nephew, Alex, who goes to Carlton College in Northfield.

See? There they are.

I worked and worked so I could take last Friday off without taking any vacation, but last Wednesday I started getting a little sore throat and by the time I got to Northfield on Thursday I was into a full blown cold! Well, maybe not full blown, but the first stages of a full blown cold, which was like someone turned on a faucet in my nose.

This is the pile of Kleenex I kept by my side at all times.

But we still managed to have a pizza dinner on Thursday (pictured above), and then to the cities on Friday, which was a beautiful sunny day.

First we went to the Mall of America to-where else-Nordstrom. I wanted to get a couple of pairs of pants for work, and Martha needed a new dress.

Sorry for the blurry picture, but you get the idea. This is a very cute dress and, best of all, wrinkle proof. 

We went to the Yarnery in Saint Paul.

I was good and didn’t buy any yarn.

Then we went to the Bread and Chocolate store and got the most delicious pumpkin cookie and lattes.

Then off to Borealis

Where I broke down and bought some bright green Paca-Ped sock yarn to make a little shawl like this

It is a Stephen West design called Herbivore. I downloaded the pattern yesterday.

We then went to the Textile Center and saw a great exhibit. Martha bought a skein of yarn that was about a zillion yards for a ludicrously low price. And I signed up for spinning at the Weaver’s Guild, located in the bldg.

 

By then we were somewhat exhausted so we headed back to Northfield-just in time to miss the Friday afternoon traffic.

We had a couple of hours to kill so we walked over by the athletic fields where Alex was at Frisbee practice, and then to the arboretum.

I didn’t realize, but Carlton has a huge arboretum, complete with river and hills and trails. It is called the Cowling Arboretum and is 850 acres. It was a very nice day for a walk. For some reason I didn’t take my camera, probably because I was in a little bit of delirium because of the cold. I stopped the next day and took a picture of some of the flowers and the river.

 

There are lots of little blue flowers.

See?

Of course, on Saturday AM the sun wasn’t out so the colors aren’t so spring like.

Anyway, we walked there for a couple of hours then on to dinner at Chapati’s.

It is an Indian restaurant and delicious, although I couldn’t taste it all that well…..

Right inside this building…

Is where we ate.

After that we were tired, so we went back to the hotel, via the Dairy Queen, and enjoyed a little knitting and TV.

Here’s Martha’s knitting, and mine by my bed-

Saturday I left early and Martha was off to have breakfast and spend the day with Alex. Not only was I into the horrible runny nose, I now had a slight hacking cough developing which kept me awake much of the night.

I took a few naps and worked on some knitting. I finished, finally, the beaded socks from over a year ago!

WooHoo! Off to finish the travelling roses. I wasn’t sure that I would have enough yarn, I barely made it.

I used an apple as contrast. Clever, eh?

Sunday was the Fools Five Road Race, but I just couldn’t do it. I thought maybe I could walk the 5 miles but thinking about it now, there was no way. So I stayed home and took another nap.

I was really bummed out that I got a cold this weekend, of all weekends. I am glad it wasn’t so bad on Friday so Martha and I could have fun. Saturday and Sunday, not so much.

Last week at work our big bird came and landed really close to our window.

Can you see him? I take these shots and then when I post them they aren’t as clear as on the camera. Either way, it is a big bird.

Laura was to the farm and look what she got for me

Yes, it’s our girl Twinkles. Look at how she’s grown. Now, if Laura had been thinking, she would have put Twinkles next to something for contrast, like my yarn and apple. She should have tried to hoist Twinkles over her shoulder, like here

so we could compare the actual growth. Now, that is good in theory on this blog but I don’t think I’ll bring it up in person. Because, well, let’s just say there was a LOT of eye rolling just to get another picture. Even Laura’s mom rolled her eyes.

Seriously, who could not love Twinkles?? I even put her on my phone.

Sigh.

So, I am recovering from my illness now. Tomorrow is another work day. Whoopeee.

Here’s to good health and happy April!