Vacation Wrap-Up

The Powers That Be decided to give us a week off after the holidays, so I got to hang out in Junction for a few more days after my siblings left.

It was a nice chance to get things done with a bit of companionship.  For example, it was far more pleasant to get my car fixed up when my parents could pick me up and take me to lunch than to sit alone in the shop for a couple of hours.  (Although an oil change, realignment, new battery, and four new tires cost more than an opera weekend in New York, the recent snows which make me slide while going 5 mph around a corner into a parking lot and nearly run into street signs while Jason suggests gently that I "try slowing down" have suggested that driving in Colorado in winter on bald tires may not be the best trade-off for a weekend trip, at least not one that doesn't include a guaranteed encore from my man Juan).

My mom also used her expertise and her mat cutter to help me frame the two prints I received for Christmas.  One, a gift from Ben, has already claimed the spot above my fireplace:

I haven't found a home yet for the other, a scratch-off travel map from my parents.  I am also weighed down by the question of how much to scratch off.  The other countries are small enough that scratching off the four locations of my Thailand trip, for example, essentially reveals the entire country.  But Russia!  Do I leave it as is, or check off the entire country?

O, the huge monarchy!

Or former monarchy, I should say. My travels look so meager as they are.  I don't feel right scratching off all of Canada for the sake of a weekend jaunt to Vancouver - Eastern Canada is, after all, on my To Do list.  But while I may return to Russia, I do not plan on visiting the whole of Siberia.  Should it remain forever gilded?  Should I add Vladivostok to my high-priority list and then "connect the dots"?  Should I base all future travel plans on what would make the best aesthetic decision for this map?  Decisions, decisions.

In the evenings my parents introduced me to some odd characters while I helped my dad prep for his work week:

and I finished my first weaving project:

The final border

The unfurled length

Two of the finished (cut and hemmed) products

I have a few more tasks to accomplish back here in Denver before the end of the break (Renew my teaching license! Shake my fist at Wells Fargo! Buy groceries! Finish rereading Lord of the Rings!), but it's been a lovely winter break that makes me feel almost ready to dive into the craziness that is Juanario.