I'm Back! And Have Pictures!

Oh! Did you realize I was gone? Well, I was...I left Friday to wend my way to Washington DC (or rather nearby, in Alexandria, Virginia) to visit my Big Sis and spend a day doing something I've wanted to do for months. (Please forgive me this is photo-heavy)

Saturday morning we boarded the Metro (which, btw, thanks very much, WMATA, for scheduling maintenance on the track for the VERY weekend I was there!) and rode to the Metro Center stop, then found the Shuttle they were running (free, but that's the least they could have done) and after a bit of a misstep - yes, WMATA, you'll hear about this from us - finally made it to the Federal Triangle stop by way of the L'Enfant Plaza stop (don't ask, those of you familiar know that the stops don't work quite that way)...and then, braving 50 mph wind gusts, we scurried down the street and around the corner and into - oh, wait, I forgot lunch in the basement of the Old Post Office and the neatest little Indian stall...oh it was wonderful, dal curry and rice...yum!! - but I digress. We scurried into The Smithsonian Natural History Museum for The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef show:

The main display is huge...

and colorful...

with "Please Do Not Touch" signs all around it (do you have any idea how hard it was NOT to reach in and touch?)
Then surrounding the main reef were several cases with smaller reefs...

Including this totally amazing one, of all heavily beaded coral (I love the ones down in front, all purples, blues, and forest greens)

It's so hard to describe all of this, and the photos first of all, don't do near the justice the exhibit deserves...

Not to mention that my camera batteries were dying...I was shutting the camera off...letting the juice settle, then turning it on to photo again...whether that affected the reds/yellows/oranges or whether it would have done that anyway (the colors don't do well on camera, that I know), please forgive that the true colors aren't all here...

Then there was the white, dying reef...

with this incredible starfish...

And my sister had to take a photo of me, you know...in front of the reef:

My very favorite reef, tho' was this little one

set down in the bottom corner of one of the cases. I am very sorry this didn't come out as clearly as I'd have liked it to but the batteries were almost dead, and after this shot, gave out completely.

After the show, we found our way back to the Metro Center stop, ran into Macy's and spent a little money on some clothing my local Macy's doesn't carry...and then off we went to Old Town Alexandria, for dinner at La Madeleine's...

On Sunday we shopped fabric stores galore and then ran by Fiber Space which is totally new to me. I was devastated when I learned that Knit Happens had closed, but I'll be delighted to stop by Fiber Space whenever I'm in town - what fun, and thank you Leslie for showing us around. Oh, by the way, they have Jared's Shelter Yarn which is just yummy, and many more yarns that called out my name...I was good, and only bought one skein of sock yarn (yes).

My sister and I had a delightful weekend and I left mid-day today (after shopping a few more places for fabric)...as I drove down the George Washington Parkway headed towards Mount Vernon (which I'll rethink if I'm ever there on President's Day again!) I stopped long enough to snap a shot (new batteries!) of the skyline over the Potomac River:
a front moving in, bringing snow to them tonight, colder temps to us in the morning tomorrow...

OH! I almost forgot:

I finished the Meeting St. Mittens last night, just in time to warm my hands in the chilly damp weather today! YAY!

If you have the chance and can get to the Smithsonian? Go see the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. It's there into April.