Indianapolis trip

 Thanks to autumn craft fairs, about 60 embroidered dish towels were sold over the weekend leaving me with just 24 Christmas light towels left! I need to bolster my inventory because the huge ARC fundraising Trivia Night is coming up on November 14th and there are at least three additional craft fairs between now and Christmas. I already had 21 unmarked towels and Jessica ordered 3 dozen more towels and this past week was spent pre-washing and marking towels and creating "kits" to pass out to my talented Afghan artisans. I am so grateful that this embroidery project is successful! Here are the five patterns we are selling (although the Arch proved to be too time consuming and will not be continued):

Beckie asked if I could sew her a white caftan for her Bride of Frankenstein costume this Halloween and I worked on it Monday and Tuesday. I found myself having a difficult time figuring out the pattern instructions at a few points and I wonder if it is because I haven't sewn from a pattern lately or because the instructions are not as good? Happily, it was just for a costume! 

The first part of the week was pretty ordinary: lessons, orchestra, etc. I spent all day Tuesday moving the hose and sprinkler around the entire back and front yard because we have had so little rain. 

Thursday morning, I met the three other "old" cellists in the orchestra (Jennifer, Jayne, Nancy) at the zoo. It was Jayne's 82nd birthday and that is what she wanted to do. She had hoped we could see the new baby elephant but, sadly, he was not out. It was a gorgeous morning and it was nice to be out walking in it. 

(above: Jennifer, Jayne, Nancy, me)

I left the group after an hour as I had a couple of errands (post office, bank) to do before leaving for Indiana in the afternoon. Beckie came over late morning to pick up her costume and it was good to visit a bit with her. Steve and I headed east for Greenwood after lunch and a nap and we arrived at Julina's a little after 8:30 (we stopped at a Terre Haute Culver's for dinner). 

Friday morning, Steve and I drove up to the Indianapolis Temple in Carmel (a 45 minute drive away) to spend the morning. The St. Louis temple is still closed. We got home at about 1:00 for a late lunch and a nap and I spent the afternoon marking dish towels. That evening, we watched Oblivion on the TV downstairs. Steve had not seen it before - I had - and it was a good watch for both of us. 

Saturday's plan was to visit some of the many covered bridges in western Indiana but the daytime care giver for Alex could not come which meant someone had to stay home with him. That fell to Steve. Just Julina and I spent about five hours driving and admiring covered bridges. We also went to Cataract Falls - my third time but only the first time for Julina. Autumn color was gorgeous and we had a lovely time.

This is not a covered bridge but it is the "Haunted Bridge"

This is Baker's Camp Bridge

This is Rolling Stone bridge

Dunbar Bridge

And finally, the covered bridge at Cataract Falls. It is a pedestrian bridge only while the other bridges we visited allowed cars to drive through.

We returned to Greenwood mid-afternoon. Steve had helped Alex start installing a surround sound system up in the master bedroom while we were gone. We took advantage of the Smith's subscription to Netflix and watched Remarkably Bright Creatures that evening. I had read the book and it was a very well done movie. It made me happy cry. 

We will attend church with Julina this morning and head back to St. Louis in the afternoon. Sally comes with us, of course, on these trips and has, for the most part, been a well behaved dog. Of course, all trash cans have to be placed out of her reach as she LOVES to chew up tissues. I actually just replaced two bathroom trash cans back at home with ones with lids. She certainly keeps us on our toes!