Snowing again in Philadelphia

Ok not much to post. I was going to go to the museum,but got snowed out. found a great tea shop though just off 4th and South st called House of Tea.

Also check out this link this is really funny it is a art exhibit on knitting! I see myself in several of the photos. then i thought someone had to knit that stuff wow that is seriouse committment for an photo. I think you will love it

Compulsive Knitting

Queit Foggy Day in San Francisco

I know a lot has been said about the weird weather in San Francisco. Mark Twain said " The coldest summer he ever spent was in San Fransisco". We arrived Wednesday night and I kid you not it was clear sultery evening. We where wearing short sleeves on the roof of the hotel.( there is a beautiful observation deck on the eleventh floor of our hotel)

That is why it was so surprising to wake up to a cold and fogy day. Don't think I am complaining, after I went back to my room and added some layers, I was off. The weather matched my mood completely, I find San Francisco often does. I was in a quiet contipaltive mood. I decided to do some spirit renewal and balancing.

My friends on the ravelry, the bay city knitters and the men who knit group, had recommended the Yerba Buena Gardens. These gardens are just beautiful in the middle of a crowded urban landscape. The San Francisco museum of modern art SFMOMA is right next door( I am going to do that another time I didn't want to much stimulation) Also, surrounding the gardens is the Museum of Craft and Folk Art. http://www.mocfa.org/

My destination was Samovar Tea Lounge http://samovarlife.com/

It sits overlooking the gardens and is a nice place for quiet contemplation. It wasnt crowded so I tucked into a nice corner spot loaded with pillows. I ordered a nice pot of soothing tea and let the knitting fly!!! Ahhhhhh....

after enjoying my pot of tea and my meditative knitting(there is something to say about quiet knitting in surrounded by people yet still anonymous)I decided to head off to what I consider one of the most sacred spots in the country. Grace cathedral
Wait! wait! Oh well I guess I am walking......


It is quiet a hike, since Grace Cathedral sits at the top of Nob hill. It is so worth the effort. The church itself is beautiful and awe inspiring. The rose window, the stained glass, and the soaring ceilings, but it has two other things that make it a destination site for me.


First, I am an avid fan of Labyrinths. The labyrinth is an ancient pattern found in cultures around the world in many different forms. Similar to a maze,but without any dead ends. the oldest known examples date back five thousand years. Grace Cathedral has two copied after the labyrinth at Chartes Cathedral.

People use Labyrinths for quiet contemplation, meditation, finding balance. I find they help me focus my meditation and prayer.
If you are interested in Labyrinths check out this site and find one in your neighborhood
http://labyrinthlocator.com/



http://www.gracecathedral.org/

The other thing I find so inspiring at Grace Cathedral is The AIDS Interfaith Chapel
It is a little chapel just to the right of the main cathedral. It is a place of mediation and remembrance for all who have suffered, or are fighting, and thankfully surviving this disease.


I spent another good hour and half walking the labyrinths and sitting and meditating (with knitting of course)

From there it was back towards the Hotel and Chinatown.


Now I am going to give away one of my favorite things. Every time I am in Chinatown I have to pick up my organza knitting bags. They make the greatest project bags. You can color code the projects you can see though them and they are as Strong as iron (needles poke holes and the things self heal)The best part is they are cheep!!! Three bucks a bag. They make great gifts for your knitting buddies.

While in China town I had to stop at my favorite Vietnamese pho shop. Yum Yum noodle soup!!

back at the hotel I had to snap this picture of the Trans America building

Thanks for spending a quiet foggy day in San Francisco with me...

Broken Cameras and cold weather!

It has been almost 5 days since a post. I have been to Boston . Oh the best of plans i had........I arrived in Boston on Monday morning, after flying all night. It was downright cold( I am from the desert you know) I had to take a good 4 hour nap. when I awoke the weather was getting worse.I looked up the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Musuem . I have been wanting to go there ever since I read I read the book Strapless( http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/apr/17/mxreview78844/

The woman the museum is named after was one of John Singer Sargent's biggest patrons. ......oh to my dismay It is closed on Mondays......dash it all. Next best thing would be to go to a knitting store! I looked one up on my darn broken camera phone( I know I am really whining about this camera thing)and saw there is a knittting store I haven't been to, in Cambridge, near Harvard Square. So I was on my way

I walked out of the hotel and the sky was spitting unsweetened slurppey at me... Yuck it was cold wet and miserable.......So I changed my plans again I walked down to the public library and sat in the beautiful reading room on the second floor and just knitted for a while. If you have never been to the public library in Boston I highly recommend it. The murals on the third floor where done by John Singer Sargent. I believe the other murals were done by Edward Abby. The reading room is an Architectural gem of America( This was how it was described to me by the dean of architecture for the Boston school of architecture)It is a spectacularly restful and beautiful place... Its also warm and dry when the sky has turned into a wet slurppy machine!

After some restful knitting in a beautiful place I was off for a yarn fix, to my favorite yarn shop in Boston, Newburry Yarns. It is located on Newburry street. The owner Aldritch is just a delightful breath of fresh air on a wet winter day! Her little shop is like a French atelier. with high windows and walls of yarn. I was coveting a wool crepe by Schafer yarns only 100.00$ a skein ( she has more affordable yarnbut I just have champagne taste with my beer budget wallet)

After a wonderful chat and yarn fix I was in desperate need of tea.. The perfect place Tealuxe on Newburry street.They have probably 200 different kinds of tea. I settled in with a big cup of almond rooboos(no caffeine I must sleep tonight) and a big biscotti. A little knitting and it was back to the hotel to try and get some sleep for the long day ahead...........