Bingo and Donuts

My aunt is in town because her birthday, my birthday, and my grandmother's birthday are all within two weeks of each other, so we decided to get together and do something fun. In this case, that means playing Bingo! My high school marching band did fundraising by volunteering at a bingo hall that I just so happen to have just moved in right next to! (It still looks exactly the same inside.)

I was a little concerned about the residual smoke smell getting onto Poe (it's non-smoking except a large smoking section in the back walled off by a floor-to-ceiling glass wall, but after decades of smoking being allowed everywhere, and the volunteers walking back and forth from smoking to non, it's still present), not to mention the ever-present danger of dauber ink (it was ALL OVER my hands... really took me back to my high school days), so I left him in my purse for safety's sake.

However... we won $10 worth of instants! (For non-bingo players, they're like these little lottery tickets but instead of scratching them off, you pop open panels on the back. They're VERY addictive, especially for tactile people! If you like pulling off the perforated edge of notebook paper, you'd love instants.) Poe helped us pop them open:

We didn't win anything off of them, but it was fun anyway!

Since the game started at 1:30, and I live right next to the bingo hall, I offered to make lunch for my aunt and grandmother. My aunt brought the dessert... Duck Donuts! (I was hosting another LV when Duck Donuts first appeared in Virginia Beach, and I don't think I've taken one there since... But I should; they're delicious!)

Poe, politely asking if anyone else wants to split the last donut.

Tulle Much Fun

Poe has been helping me work  on my Halloween costume, which so far has meant lots and lots of strips of tulle. Here he is modeling the skirt! He looks like a tiny ballerina! Unfortunately, he won't get to see the finished product, because it won't be done until much closer to Halloween.

iPoe

This is the last day of the last week of intersession for us, so we've had non-stop faculty development, meetings, trainings, etc. to prepare us for the beginning of the fall semester on Monday. One of the biggest deals - from my perspective - this week was the mock class I taught in our new iPad-based classroom to show the librarians how it will work and what it will be like to be a student in there. Poe was a big help in preparing:

Here we are testing one of the apps I'm using as a class activity. (Since it seems to baffle/worry everyone at work, don't mind the glove on my hand... it's an old color guard glove that I'm wearing to keep my hand from touching the screen when I try to write with the stylus. Very effective, but apparently very similar to something I might wear if I sprained/broke something in my hand.)

DC Drive-By

We went to my best friend's baby's gender reveal party yesterday, and it was in Arlington. Unfortunately, since it took us 5 hours to get there, and we were leaving at 6pm (which means we got home at 10pm because traffic was relatively kind to us), we didn't have time to see the sights with Poe. But I-395 goes right past three fairly interesting things: the Pentagon, the Washington Monument, and the Air Force monument. So I did my best to get photos on the way past.

The Air Force monument is the curved upward lines... it looks truly amazing in person.
It's extremely well-designed. It looked like it was turning as we drove past it, but it wasn't.

The Pentagon is the low beige building, and the white stick behind it is the Washington Monument.

So, it's not proper sightseeing, but it's the best we could do yesterday.

Poe in Idaho

We went to Idaho for four days for a family reunion and funeral. Being from Virginia Beach (large, dense, humid, and green for the most part) it was... small, sparse, dry, and beige.

Some deer wandered pretty close at the state park after dinner one night.

Outside the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, they put fake tracks in the cement
so you can see what the trail would have looked like.

This is the ferry that the town, Glenns Ferry, was named after.

Poe reads about the ferry.

Poe samples a beer in the Oregon Trail Cafe and Bar.

Still thirsty? Huckleberry soda (huckleberries are big out there).

Sign recognizing the pioneers who braved the Oregon Trail.

A real live telephone booth! I don't know if any of you still have these around,
but I certainly haven't seen one in my adult life, so I was really amazed.
It was right outside our 9-room motel.

Close-up of Poe in the telephone booth.

Ruts made by the Oregon Trail, still there to this day!
(It probably helps that people walk down them to get to the ferry site.)

A map of the local falls. We visited Shoshone Falls Park (far left) and Twin Falls Park (far right).

Shoshone Falls. It use to be a whole horseshoe shape, but irrigation projects have
taken away a lot of water upriver.

Another view of Shoshone Falls.

One more of Shoshone Falls (the horseshoe used to extend to the right of what's there now).

Reading about the expansion project.

Twin Falls. There used to be two (thus the name) but one is dry now
(see irrigation projects upriver above).

Reading about the history of Twin Falls.

A recreation of a Conestoga wagon like those used on the Oregon Trail
(and painted in University of Oregon colors). The one to the left was built
for the bicentennial in 1976.

It was not easy getting home. (Have you ever had a flight delayed because you didn't have enough CUPS on board?... and then you left after an hour delay, still without the cups? And then, because of the whole cups debacle, you sprinted across the Atlanta airport only to arrive at the gate two minutes after your flight left two minutes early? Well, we hadn't either, until last night.) But we made it, and we're back to work now.

"Fireplace"

There's an unusual space in our library that we've had lots of great ideas for since we opened nearly two years ago, but for various reasons, none of them worked out. An aquarium would require too much upkeep and extra technology installed; a real working fireplace required too many changes to meet fire code requirements, and because of its location in the building, is not easy to keep an eye on. For a while, the space served as a display case for a local history collection of objects, but now, it's a "fireplace" made of glass pieces by a local artist. And it's beautiful!

That's about 2/3 of the case (there's more to the right). I don't know how many glass pieces are in there; I haven't asked (or counted).

Blood Drive

There's a blood drive at our library today. While Poe couldn't donate (the Red Cross didn't need stuffing donations today) he helped me through my first blood donation.

The only Poe-sized sticker was the calendar reminder sticker for the next
time I'll be able to donate! But it works... "Give Blood Today!"

You can see my red bandage on my arm, which matches nicely with my
Scarlet Witch (Age of Ultron) costume - we were encouraged to dress as
heroes to honor the blood drive - and my bigger-than-Poe-sized stickers!
(Actually you can also see the little hoop I got from Mountains & Clouds
in the last LV swap on my office wall, too!)

To Broadway and Back

No, we didn't go to NYC... we went to Broadway, VA, which is a little town near Harrisonburg. We helped our friends put up a fence in their backyard. I wouldn't let Poe help, because there was so much danger for an LV: red clay everywhere, sweat and sunscreen, wet concrete, power tools, plus so many bugs. But he enjoyed the car ride!

A scenic view of the Blue Ridge Mountains
(we've never stopped at this in all the times we've gone this way!)

Another shot of the Blue Ridge Mountains

Poe's seat in the car

From the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel
(usually I'm driving, so I can't get a good LV picture here!)

Heading into the tunnel

Hold your breath!
(The tunnel goes under the water, so that was the game
we played as kids... try to hold your breath through the tunnel.
It's 3.5 miles... we never succeeded.)

Here we go!

Fence building is very hard work, so we're taking it easy for a couple days, but this is actually a pretty busy week! Let's hope we remember to take pictures of all the fun things coming up...

Spoiler-Free: Game of Thrones Season Finale

We've been hanging on to a bottle of Three-Eyed Raven (Ommegang's season 5 beer) so we cracked it open for the finale last night.

Cheers!

The NorVa

We have a small music venue in Norfolk called the NorVa (Norfolk VA). My brother-in-law's band played there last night in something called the 757-804 Mashup (some bands from the 757 - Hampton Roads - and some from 804 - Richmond).

I drove, so I let Poe have my "over 21" wristband.

It's difficult to get a good shot of Poe in a dark venue!
The drummer is my brother-in-law.

Outside the NorVa. The top line of the marquis says "Tonight: 757-804 Mashup."
And you can see the mermaid on top (Norfolk has locally-decorated mermaids everywhere.)

It was a fun time! I haven't been to the NorVa in a while (and the last couple times I've been, I saw Opeth, so it was extremely loud... this was a little more chill, rock-meets-country).

BattlePoe

Well, we've begun the super-exciting, super-fun adventure of packing up our apartment in preparation to move! We aren't going far (just up the street) but we'll have more space, which as you Craftsters know is very important. (I don't have any space in this apartment large enough to cut dress patterns!)

To start with, Poe found this little chainmail shirt my husband made several years ago... a little big, but not by much! I assured Poe he wouldn't run across any orcs in our apartment, so we've packed it away.

TWCC and TCC

My goodness, we're behind on sharing adventures!

Well, Tidewater Comicon (TWCC) was last weekend, and we had a great time. Although I didn't get a lot of photos with Poe, because I was too busy having my own photos taken (ah, the life of a cosplayer). I did get a couple, though.

Outside the convention center

Helping me get ready by preparing my quiver
(I was Sera from Dragon Age: Inquisition)

The admission wristband fits! Albeit a little unconventionally...

Veterans' Memorial outside the convention center

Then on Wednesday, we had a big college-wide library training day at the Portsmouth campus of our school (TCC). I started off working at that campus, but I haven't been back in about two years, and they have a new statue of Fred Beazley (who, among other things, donated the land that campus was built on) so we visited that.

Poe can't... quite... reach... the hat...

...so he gave up and posed on the base.

Marauder's Map Dress

Poe and I spent a large portion of our weekend making a linen dress and starting to draw on it...

You see, Harry Potter Day is a week from today, and we're having a program at our library. It's my night to work, and I do cosplay, so I can't NOT dress up! So I'm going to be the Marauder's Map.

Here's Poe inspecting our drawing work so far:

Still a lot of work to go, but Poe is keeping a close eye and making sure it goes smoothly!

Meeting Gimli

Our kitty, Gimli, loves Little Visitors... a little too much. Since none of my LVs so far have been interested in getting bitten, we have to catch him sleeping to introduce him to them. Poe was no exception.

We did wake him up, though.

Sewing

Poe helped me learn how to sew a garment yesterday. The fabric with the vines was our first attempt, but we put the yoke on inside-out, so we stopped and switched to the blue one as a morale-booster because it was easier.

Cutting the pretty batik

Sewing on the yoke... inside-out, we would come to discover.

Moving on to a different project, which means we start cutting all over again

Switching projects doesn't mean we didn't make more mistakes!
Poe learns how handy a seam ripper is.