Michigan and old friends

I was very, very happy to be able to spend my week in Michigan with one of my oldest friends. She was very gracious about running me into the University every day and bringing me coffee and food to keep me going. The days were full of research (mostly – I did take a morning off to go with her to a local elementary school to talk to the Kindergarten kids about Australia), but in the evenings I got to do a bit of sight-seeing.

One of the first places we visited was Lake Michigan. Biggest lake I’ve ever seen.

These two got married at the end of this pier(during summer time several years ago), so we took a walk. Despite the cold, it was a beautiful day.

I was glad to have my hand-knits.

I loved the ice formation on the lighthouse.

I also made sure to stand well clear as large chunks of it were melting off.

After our walk we had hot chocolate to warm up.

My most decadent food for the trip

I was delighted that there was snow while I was there.

I suspect I was the only one who was happy to see it. lol

This last photo was actually taken in Nebraska but I thought I’d share it since it is something that we never see here.

This was my travel knitting. I had to finish it when I got home because I ran out of yarn while I was away and had left the coordinating yarn in my stash.

I love how this has turned out.

But I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to wear it. Right now it’s safely packed away with my other winter woollies waiting to make it’s debut.

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Hello

So, I’m back from the USA, and currently sweltering in the unrelenting heat and humidity that is Papua New Guinea. We took a very long plane ride. Port Moresby, PNG to Brisbane, Australia (you have to fly to the US from Australia and we needed to drop Gorgeous Girl with relatives). After an overnight stay we then flew to LA, US, and then caught a much smaller plane to get to our destination. I did some crafting on the planes.

 

I’ve had problems getting knitting needles through security at Brisbane International Airport in the past, so a small quilting kit is my go to travel project. I did pack knitting for my US flights as the TSA there has different rules.

My foot held up really well while we were in the USA, though I did get wheelchair assistance at the airports. I knew there was no way I could walk the mile between gates during our Minnesota-St Paul transfer, for example.

The first stop was Lincoln, Nebraska where Gorgeous Man and I were to attend a conference. Gorgeous Man presented a paper, but I just attended the sessions.

On our first morning there we woke up to this.

This was taken on the grounds of the university we were visiting.

Given that it was late March in Nebraska, I think that Gorgeous Man and I were the only ones smiling about the snow.

At one point I may have spun is circles crying “Wheee” but it can’t be proven

We had a full day before the conference began and I managed to sneak in a visit here. This is one place I’ve always wanted to visit, but never thought life would take me to a small town in Nebraska… funny how things turn out.

The quilts were amazing, and as a historian I found the thought behind the exhibitions and the history that went with them really interesting. What really struck me about a lot of the quilts was that they weren’t perfect, but they  worked. They were stunning and the imperfections didn’t really matter – and a lot of them couldn’t be seen from a distance.  It seems that modern quilting has become very fixated with the perfect 1/4 inch seam and precision points. I’m hoping that this revelation will see me spending less time with my seam ripper.

This quilt was a great case in point. (Photography was permitted, as long as the flash was switched off).

The centre of this quilt had a diamond that was a full quarter inch out of line. It would have had me running for my seam ripper, but from a distance, you can’t tell and the quilt is visually stunning.

After the conference, Gorgeous Man headed back to Australia and I caught a lift with some academics to Michigan. The friend we were staying with (who also happened to be one of the conference organisers) had put me in touch with them and vouched for their sanity…fortunately, the driver of the car turned out to be very funny and a delightful travel companion and the 9+ hour trip didn’t seem that long at all. I also broke out some knitting for the trip.

I was to visit archives in Michigan to find evidence for my thesis. A bonus was that I got to spend a week with one of my oldest friends (we met in high school in Australia) who now lives in the area. I’ll bore you with pictures of that visit in my next blog post….:)

 

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Horses

One of the options at the farm was to go horse riding. I haven’t been on a horse since I was a teenager, but Gorgeous Girl was very keen, so we agreed to go for a gentle ride around the farm.

Gorgeous Girl was thrilled. They found her a very quiet and sedate horse.

And away we went.

She started off with her horse being lead by a guide rope, but soon insisted that she be in total control of her horse. We have a very independent five year old…

The view around the farm was amazing.

We saw armadillos from horseback, but they were too small for me to get a good shot of with my little point and shoot camera.

This rhea was big enough to get a good shot of though.

We will return to regular crafting soon, but in the meantime, the grandparents are enjoying the holiday snaps…

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A drive and another boat ride

After arriving at the farm in the Pantanal we were treated to a truly outstanding lunch. One of the best meals I’ve eaten. Beef kebabs and salad. I think it may have something to do with the fact that the beef came from the farm and was processed on the farm, making the journey from field to kitchen a very short one.

After a few hours siesta we were taken on a late afternoon/early evening bush drive. Basically you get driven around the farm in an open topped jeep looking for interesting things to see. Fortunately for us, the other people in the jeep were also bird watchers, so they were happy to stop every time Gorgeous Man spotted a new and interesting bird.

One of the first animals we saw was a capybara. There were hundreds of these around, and I think they are really cool animals.

We were very, very lucky to see this little creature.

This is a lesser ant eater. It was the only one we saw the whole trip. Apparently it’s very unusual to see them out during the day. This one, however, was completely unfazed by our presence.

Gorgeous Man and our guide were able to get very close.

After an early breakfast the next day we opted to take a trip down the Rio Negro. This time it was a beautiful day.

Gorgeous Girl was very interested in these floating river plants.

So there was an impromptu science lesson to show her how they float.

Little cell pockets of air…

Gorgeous Man got to take lots of photos of birds.

And we saw the first of many, many caiman.

In real life since we’ve been back things have been rather hectic. I’ve been sneaking in a little bit of crafting, but not much. I managed to spin and ply a braid of corridale (I was able to use both feet on the wheel for about half of the process, so that is a huge step forward). Unfortunately the reason why I had the time to spin was because Gorgeous Girl was home from school sick with tonsillitis and all she wanted was to sit next to Mummy on the couch.

I have some writing deadlines for my thesis coming up – the year seems to be sprinting ahead of me! and so crafting time is very, very reduced at present. I’m trying to get as much done as possible in the next 2 weeks because Gorgeous Man and I will be attending a conference in the USA at the end of March. He is presenting a paper, I’m just attending the conference and then I’m heading off on my own to visit some archives for my research. The conference is being held in Lincoln, Nebraska which is where the Quilt Study Museum is. I’m hoping to sneak in some time to visit the museum while I’m there. I’m also very excited about the week after the conference. One of my very best (and oldest friends we’ve been friends for the past 22 years) happens to live very close to the university in Michigan that holds a lot of archival material that I need to access. So I’m going to stay with her while I research.

Gorgeous Girl is going to go back to Australia and spend the week that both of us are away with some of her cousins. We have to fly to the USA from Australia anyway – there are no direct flights from Papua New Guinea (lol) so it’s not an extra flight, and we don’t really have anyone we could leave her with here in Papua New Guinea.

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Onwards to the Pantanal

After leaving Iguazu Falls we travelled to the Pantanal.  We were hoping to see lots of wildlife here and we were not disappointed.

We had booked in to stay on a farm in the Pantanal. To get there we had to get up very early and catch a plane, then transfer to another plane and finally we arrived in Campo Grande.

We were met at the airport by the pilot who was to take us to the farm. We drove for 1.5 hours and then arrived at a little airstrip.

The men moved the plane to fill it with avgas.

Then we took a huge stack of some pictures

and it was time to go.

The runway.

The view from the plane was amazing.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous on this flight, there was lightening and thunder and in a small plane (this one seated 4) you feel every puff of wind. Gorgeous Man thought it was fabulous and Gorgeous Girl was so worn out from our early morning start, that she slept the whole way and didn’t wake up until after we were on the ground and the engine had been switched off.

 

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A trip down the river

On our last morning on the Argentinian side of the falls we decided to take a boat ride down the river. We checked out of the hotel early and stored our bags and headed back to the falls.

We saw more coatis on our walk.

At the boat shed we were pleasantly surprised to discover that as she was under 6 Gorgeous Girl was free.

Waiting for the boat. By this point in the week Gorgeous Girl was pretty sick of me taking photos of her…

It was a simple inflatable boat and we perched on the sides. The river was very calm.

It was very peaceful and relaxing.

Then the sky darkened

and the heavens opened. This was not a light rain. It was buckets of water pouring from the sky. Cameras were hastily packed away. Gorgeous Girl protested mightily about getting wet and a peaceful boat ride turned into an epic of endurance.

By the time we got back to the hotel we were sodden. We left a trail of water on the shiny floor of the hotel lobby. Because we had checked out of our room we were forced to retrieve our bags from storage and get changed in the public toilets.

The plan had been to go back to Brazil, check into our hotel and then head to Brazilian side of the falls (we had a very early flight scheduled for the next day and so needed to be in a hotel closer to the airport). However, the rain didn’t let up and so we just checked into the hotel in Brazil and stayed put. I’m sad that we never did get to see the falls from the Brazilian side of the border.

 

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More Iguazu

A picture of Gorgeous Girl and I at the falls.

This was as close to the falls as we could get to take a picture. The rest of the space was filled with crowds and professional photographers.

This is the view from the hotel balcony.

We took things fairly easy at Iguazu. Gorgeous Girl enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool when it wasn’t raining.

In fact she quite wore herself out.

(We’re still battling those two fingers in the mouth…mostly when she gets tired).

Gorgeous Man came down with a throat infection while we were at Iguazu. I can now ask for a pharmacy and antibiotics in Spanish

We went into the nearby town to find a chemist and had a very delicious lunch in this cute little cafe.

Gorgeous Girl really enjoyed her steak and salad sandwich.

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Iguazu Falls

After finishing our course, we flew to Iguazu Falls. The falls are on the border between Brazil and Argentina and we elected to stay in the park on the Argentinian side of the falls. The hotel in the park was a little more expensive than we would have liked, but it meant less walking for me with my foot, so that was a good thing. We had a carpark  jungle facing room. These are slightly cheaper and don’t have views of the falls. However, for this birdwatching family it meant views of toucans roosting in the trees and so that was a bonus.

To get to the falls from the hotel there was a short walk to the little train station. Along the way we saw coatis.

These creatures had me thoroughly charmed.

Then we caught a train.

After a short ride we had to walk on a raised walkway to reach the falls. The river was beautiful.

Along the way a butterfly decided that it wanted to spend some time with Gorgeous Girl.

The falls were magnificent.

This section is known as the Devil’s Throat.

The experience was somewhat marred by the hoards of people and the fact that Gorgeous Girl was in major meltdown mode due to the spray from the falls making her wet But they were still pretty spectacular.

All up, the walk out to the falls and the walk to and from the hotel was about three kilometres. My foot managed the trip, though I was pretty sore by the end of the day. I have to wear trainers (with everything) for the forseeable future and I’m being very faithful with stretching twice a day. There is improvement, but I think it’s going to be a long road to full recovery. At least I’m no longer walking with a cane…

 

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Photos

Gorgeous Man takes fabulous photos. He says he doesn’t do people (though he does occasionally turn the camera on Gorgeous Girl with spectacular results) but he does wild-life. I thought I’d share some of his pictures that he took while on the campus for our seminar and during one day with a bird  guide on our ‘free’ weekend.

This is an unidentified beetle.

A dung beetle.

These burrowing owls were everywhere.

A Campo Flicker

And finally my favourite. A red-legged Seriema.

These birds seem to have real character.

Since my last post we have travelled to Argentina and visited Iguazu Falls. We are now in the Pantanal. Staying on a lovely farm.

More on that when I’ve had a chance to sort out my photos. I suspect I’m going to be creating a large scrapbook from this trip…Mind you, I still need to fully scrapbook our trip to the Netherlands and the USA in 2010… I’m so far behind.

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Brazil

Our trip to Brazil started by flying out from Brisbane to Sydney, where we were to spend the night and then fly out to Brazil the next day. We arrived on the hottest day on record in Sydney. We only had the afternoon and over night in Sydney, so we holed up in the hotel. Our Gorgeous Girl, who lives in the tropics has decided that she’s never going back to Sydney as it’s just far too hot.   I made use of my time by preparing some more hexagon blocks.

I sewed a fair few on the flight to Santiago and during our layover time, but for the last two flights I was too tired. I’ve been so busy for the last few weeks that I haven’t touched the quilting at all and have only knitted 2 inches.

We then flew Sydney to Santiago, Chile. Santiago to Rio, Brazil and then Rio to our final destination Campinas. By the time we had made all our connecting flights it was a very long trip. Once we arrived at our destination we sat Gorgeous Girl down while Gorgeous Man collected our bags. Within a minute she was fast asleep on the floor.

Fortunately, there was someone from the university to meet us (even though it was after midnight) and we were driven in comfort to our lodgings.

Gorgeous Man and I have been busy with lectures and homework and lots and lots of required and discretionary reading, as well as a few assignments. There is a children’s programme for the kids who have accompanied their parents and so Gorgeous Girl has been doing fun things like riding on a cart.

One weekend we did manage to get off campus to a local market. Gorgeous Girl tried her first churro.

Not the best photo, but the only one I have that doesn’t have other people’s children in it. She wasn’t real impressed when they filled it with caramel sauce as Gorgeous Girl doesn’t really like sweet things too much. But she ate it all up.

We had fresh pressed sugar cane juice – with a half lime added..

Really delicious.

We also ate pastels.

These were seriously good.

But we didn’t buy any piranahs for supper (the fish on the middle shelf).

Our course is nearly over and we will be heading into the actual holiday part of our trip soon. I don’t know how much internet we will  have from our different destinations.

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