2022 Year in Review

 

I saw 16 movies. Went on 4 trips: Murell's Inlet with Karen, Ginny, Sally and Marian for 5 days in March; Biltmore on June 19th as my birthday present from Marian to see the Monet immersion show; Iceland with Karen Pharr July 7-13 paid for by Brother as her prize for selling machines; and New England with Marian September 24-October 2 with Country Heritage tours. All my trips were fabulous.

Eleven plays

Completed cross stitch projects: 13 

Sewing: 13

The biggest thing to happen this year:

New England Fall Foliage trip with Country Heritage Tours

 Day 1 - We traveled from home (Knoxville) to Boston. We had a very short layover at Dulles in DC. Fortunately we got in 30 minutes early. So off we went to Boston. The flight was uneventful except Marian's classes broke just as we arrived in DC. She had to wear her sunglasses on the trip to Boston. The problem started once we got our luggage and tried to find the Uber/Lyft area for pick-up. It was impossible to find. It literally took us an hour. Our hotel (Hotel AKA Back Bay) was cool. It use to be the Police Precinct. We walked up to our room and then headed right out to find someone to fix Marian's classes. We found See Optical and they fixed her right up. Then we came back to our hotel, ate a meal at the hotel restaurant. We watched the UT/Florida game while we ate. (UT won!!!!) At 7:30 we meet in a hotel conference room with our group. Scott Brodsky, the owner of the tour group is our leader. He lives in New Hampshire, so he really knows this area. Most of the group are from Fayetteville, Arkansas. They all live in a retirement village together. And most of them are not quilters. Strange for a quilt tour. 

Day 2 - We had breakfast at the hotel. We ate with two of the ladies in the group who are quilters. One use to own a quilt shop in South Dakota. Then we all headed to the bus. We headed to Lowell. Lowell is the town that started the Industrial Revolution with fabric mills. They have turned the town into a National Park, which is amazing. They New England Quilt Museum was our first stop.

 I was a little disappointed. They had an exhibit of quilts by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry, and exhibit of quilts made using a block of the month by Barbara Brackman and then a small room with some older quilts. The whole bottom floor was a shop. It was small and just okay. Then we walked down to the National Park Museum and watched a film about Lowell and the fabric factories. I purchased some toweling that was made just down the street at the mill that used the old machines. 

After leaving Lowell, we traveled to Pickity Place for lunch. This small garden and herb farm makes a 5-course meal 3 times a day at lunch. They change the menu monthly. The food was not great. 

Not my cup of tea at all. The farm was sweet. I picked up some scissors for the quilting group, and a cute towel for my friend Kathy. They had a fabulous old ash tree that was 176 years old before a limb fell on the house. Instead of just cutting it down, they made it into a beautiful Free Library. Amazing! 

Then we traveled to Fryes Measuring Mill. They use to make measuring cups. Now they make Shaker Boxes. They sell them to the Shakers to sell so they are a little cheaper. I purchased a small round black/brown box and a brown tray. Our last stop of day was at Lull Farm stand. We tasted some yummy Cider doughnuts and purchased some Braeburn apples. (my favorite) We are sleeping in Manchester, NH. After a quick dinner in the hotel restaurant (it was cold and rainy outside) we headed up to sleep. So tired. Tomorrow we head to Vermont. 

 

Day 3 – We left Manchester and headed to the Canterbury Shaker Village. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed so they brought in box lunches. The guide, Jim was magnificent. He really knew his Shaker history. We started in the meeting house, where the Brothers sat on one side and the Sisters on the other just like the real Shakers.

He told us their history and answered all our questions. Then we headed to the Chapel which was attached to the building they lived in. The building was expanded on and the chapel added. It was used when it was too cold to walk to the meeting house and for entertainment. It had a huge organ, an old gramophone by Edison, and 2 pianos. Then we headed to the laundry. They had huge washing machines in the basement along with wringers and ironing machines. The wet laundry was sent upstairs by a pully system to be dried using heat from the steam used to run the machines downstairs. We finished the tour in the school. 

After lunch, we headed to the town of Heniker, NH and visited Quilted Threads. It is a 3-story Quilt Shop. Lots of beautiful fabric, patterns and Bernina machines. After leaving there we drove to Vermont. Very rainy here tonight. Marian and I walked to Church Street which is a pedestrian only street with lots of shops and a few places to eat. We found a pub and had dinner and then walked to Ben and Jerry’s for dessert.

 Day 4 – Burlington, Vermont. Today we visited the Shelburne Museum. An amazing Museum set on over 45 acres. The original developer of the Museum purchased buildings to put on the land to fill with her collections. There are 39 distinct structures, each filled with beautiful, fascinating, and whimsical objects. Electra Havemeyer Webb of the founder. Her collections range from quilts, rugs, band boxes, duck decoys, glass wear, French Impressionist paintings and many more things. There is too much to visit in one day. We started with the Quilts. There was an exhibit of the quilts of Maria Shell. Amazing work. Very modern and bright improv quilts. She is from Alaska. Then we visited the glasses, pottery, glass canes. We saw the schoolhouse, the steam Boat (the Ticondaroga) and visited the folk art house and the French paintings. It contained the first Impression painting every brought to the USA. There were some Degas, Monet, Manet and Mary Cassatt. One of the Mary Cassatt is a picture of Electra as a child with her Mother. Her Mother and Cassatt were friends. She encouraged her to purchase the Manet, the first Impressionist painting brought to the US. We road a 100 year old carousel and saw a miniature circus parade. They build a special horseshoe building to house the entire parade.

 We had a group dinner at a local steak house. The meal was great and Scott purchased our drink and sat with us and we laughed and had a great time.

 

Day 5 – We left Burlington, Vermont today and headed to the Morse Farm Maple Syrup farm. They showed us how they made the syrup. The nephew of the owner told us and showed us pictures. He was so funny. Then we went into the gift shop, had maple ice cream and purchased a small bottle of maple syrup to share with Mom when we get home. 

Then we drove to Woodstock, Vermont. It is a beautiful little town we reached after driving through Montpelier and saw the capitol. We had some lunch at a deli which was just okay, not great. Then we wandered around town and shopped. Marian purchased a quilt kit from the Vermont Flannel shop. We drove then to Ogunquit, Maine. We got to our hotel, Anchorage By the Sea, which it is – right on the Atlantic Ocean.

 It is located at the beginning at the Marginal Way. The Marginal Way is a paved 1.2 mile walk-way along the Maine Shore. We will walk it tomorrow. Tonight we walked down Shore Street to find a place to eat. We had dinner at a nice place named Crew, with a horse tied up outside. Food was good.

Day 6 – Today we got to sleep in. We started with breakfast at 8 in the hotel restaurant. Scott brought some maple syrup and most of us had pancakes. Then I did a little shop hopping around downtown because we were not leaving until 11. We spent a little time sitting in Adirondack chairs right on the coast line and watched the waves and enjoyed the sun. Then we left for Kennebuck and Kennebunkport.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around this sweet town shopping. Then we drove by the Bush compound. Amazing! After getting back to the hotel, I walked the Marginal Way.

 It was a beautiful walk along the coastline. Then we did some more shopping downtown. At 5:30 we left for our lobster dinner. (we had chicken). It was a fun dinner with lots of laughter. Tomorrow we head back to Boston. On the way to the dinner, we stopped at the Cape Neddick Nubble Lighthouse and had a group picture made.

 

Day 7 – After a sunrise breakfast at the hotel, we headed toward Boston. Once we got into Boston we stopped at the Quincy Market to go to the bathroom. Then we went to the Old North Church. 

It was amazing. Then we drove around Boston – saw the gardens, Boston Common, tons of things. After lunch at Quincy Market, we jumped off the bus and headed to our hotel. Tonight, it is off to Fenway Park. Fenway was awesome. Seeing the Green Wall in person. WOW! We got to go into the Press Room and all over and our guide told lots of stories.

 

Day 8 – Today we were supposed to meet Scott, our tour guide from Country Heritage for breakfast at Mike’s pastries. He changed it to lunch and I cancelled because I’m feeling under the weather and I didn’t want to get him sick. We road around on the free trolley and Mr. Kelley, our very Irish tour guide was so funny. He worked for the airlines for 30 years, and has driven a trolley for 18. A Boston native, who winters in Florida, he had everyone laughing. It was fun driving around listening to his tales. We saw the apartment where JFK lived while he was  a state rep for Massachusetts. We also saw where he and Jackie voted. We decided after driving around we would head back to the hotel. But we ended up eating at the Black Rose, a true Irish pub established in 1976. Best surprise of all…our waitress was from Ireland. She had only been here three months. She came for the adventure and try something new. Then we walked over to Mike’s Pastries in the North End. Picked up some brownies and cream brulee. Back home tomorrow and very happy to get home.

Iceland trip

 Wow! What an amazing adventure. My friend, Karen Pharr asked me the Saturday before Memorial Day if I would like to go with her to Iceland. She won the trip from her company, Brothers International. The trip would be absolutely free to me. Unfortunately, my passport was expired. So on the Tuesday after Memorial Day I expedited my application to renew my passport. We sweated it out, but my passport arrived and off I went to Iceland on Thursday, July 7, 2022. The company wanted to fly me to LaGuardia airport in NYC, where I would jump off the plane, taxi to JFK to meet up with Karen. Karen decided instead, she would use her points and she flew me to Savannah, via Charlotte to meet up with her and we flew together to JFK. From JFK, we took an overnight flight to Reykjavik, Iceland. It was a 5 hour flight and we expected to be able to sleep, but as soon as we were in the air, the flight crew turned up the lights and fed us a meal. So no sleep for us. We arrived in Reykjavik around 9 am. After deplaning, going through customs and getting our luggage, off we went to the Blue Lagoon. The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal seawater spa. The Lagoon is surrounded by volcanos and cooled lava rocks covered in moss. The water of the Lagoon is blue because of the way silica, the lagoon's iconic and most abundant element reflects visible light. 

 (a picture from their website)

I took a few pictures outside. I was afraid to take my phone into the water. I knew I would drop it. 

 The moss covered lava rocks.

 My picture of the lagoon.

The view from the window while we rushed through the breakfast they provided us at the Lagoon.

Once we finished breakfast, we headed into the changing rooms and showers. You are required to completely shower before entering the Lagoon. The water in the lagoon was so warm and felt amazing after spending the day before traveling. We also got a free drink at the swim up bar. The had several mud applications you could take advantage of during your visit. We didn't have enough time to do that because by the time we got our drink and headed that way, we didn't have the hour you needed for each step. You had to be careful in the water not to get your hair or face in the water. The silica in the water makes your hair feel like straw for several days and can harm your eyes.

After the Lagoon, we took the 30 minute drive to Reykjavik. The views were amazing as we left the lava fields and headed into town. We stayed at the Marriott Edison Hotel. 

It was located right on the harbor next to the sea. Our window didn't look out over the sea, but it was a nice, if small room. We had 2 beds, a nice fur rug in the corner with a cute chair and beautiful wool blankets draped across the bottom of each bed. We had a walk in shower with a heated tile floor. 

(Our room looked like this without the water view.)

Because of the thermal waters in Iceland, there was always plenty of hot water. The tap water is very tasty. The natives are very proud of the fact you can drink any of the water in the city. I can't tell you anything about the television offerings....we never turned it on.

After a welcome reception at Harpa, a concert hall,  next door to the hotel. 

we headed back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep. Karen set the alarm for Saturday morning so we could walk around town before our afternoon spa appointments. Unfortunately, she woke up long enough to turn it off and I didn't hear it. I woke up at noon and she woke up at 12:30. Oops! We headed down to the lobby bar and had some lunch (fish and chips for me - fabulous chips, fish was a little greasy.) Then down we went to the spa. We had a hot and cold stone massage. The massage therapist was excellent and the massage was very relaxing. After our massage, we made use of the hotel's hot tub, sauna, and steam room. 

Our dinner that night was at a local restaurant. We were not offered options. You got what they fed you. Which in our case was beef. It was okay. I was unimpressed by the food choices. No bread was served with any meal. The main choices were lamb, but they also had some seafood, horse, and puffin. Vegetables were mostly root vegetables.  Breakfast in the hotel was an amazing buffet each morning. Best scrambled eggs ever!

After dinner, we were taken to the Sky Lagoon. Another geothermal spa area next to the sea. The view was amazing as you sipped your drink on choice.

 They had a lovely 7 step ritual you can take part in. Unfortunately, several of the people on the trip were acting like teenagers and the people running the event had to ask them to be quiet. In the sauna room of the ritual you look out over the ocean. 

Here are the 7 steps:

1. Embrace the soothing lagoon

2. Invigorate in a glacier-fresh pool (we missed this step)

3. Amazed by endless sea & sky (sauna in picture above looking over the ocean)

4. Refresh in an energizing mist (I disliked this step, but Karen loved it)

5. Rejuvenate with a cleansing scrub

6. Warm in a blanket of steam

7. Cleanse in a pure gentle shower

The funniest thing happened here - a 30ish young woman asked a spa employee to take a selfie of her and her friends. 

It was a lovely lagoon and very soothing evening.

Onto Sunday's adventure. We left the hotel after breakfast and set off in jeeps 

 that could change the pressure of the tires by remote inside the car. We drove for a couple of hours to a glacier. (pictures along the way)

 Our jeep got stuck at one point as we headed onto the glacier. Took about 20 minutes to get us off. Our guide, a delightful young local woman, kept giving our driver a hard time about losing his manhood because he got stuck. We discovered the Iclanders were very direct and said exactly what they were thinking. We all hopped onto a snowmobile. I doubled with Karen. I knew I would not be able to drive the snowmobile. We got instructions on what do do it you started to tip over. Most important point - do not try to stop yourself. Go with the fall. You won't get hurt. The glacier had melted a lot, so we had to go further up. (they said their glacier are melting due to global warming) We started up the glacier, Karen driving, in a single file line. It was quite overcast, wet and slushy. Five minutes into the ride and, yes, you guessed it, we tipped over. And what did we do? We stuck our legs out and tried to stop ourselves! Exactly what we were told to not do. The guides helped us back up and no injuries. We managed to make the rest of the 1 hour journey upright. 

Up on the glacier pictures. 

 Our selfie, which we did all by ourselves. lol

 The whole crew.

After arriving back at the bottom, we had lunch (no idea what it was) and drove back to our hotel. 

Pictures on the drive back: 

Then we dressed and headed to the Award banquet. It was for all the people who won the trip (including my friend, Karen who sold so much Brother stuff). It was held at a theater that is an event center and bar now. Very beautiful place. We had a wonderful filet mignon dinner with lots of wine and creme brulee for dessert. Then a live band that was wonderful. Brother really knows how to treat their best salespeople. 

Monday morning saw us taking a Whale watching, puffin seeing boat ride. 

Our boat

 View of city from the boat.

Protected Puffin Island (one of 3) The puffins meet here

and mate. They arrive in April and stay until mid-September. There are several breeds of puffin, but the one that comes to Iceland to breed are called Atlantic puffins.

The puffin mates for life, but if a mate dies, they can mate again. However, if the puffin male's mate does not return in Spring, they will pick a new mate. If the mate shows up again later, the male will kick out the new mate. 

Then it was off to see the whales. First we saw minke whales, which I had never heard of. 

The minke is the 2nd smallest whale. Then we started to see a lot of dolphins. They were especially playful. Then  the humpbacks arrived. One came within 10 yards of the boat, turned over next to us and then dove down. It was such a wonderful morning with these magnificent animals. After our cruise, we headed out to walk around downtown.

Here are some pictures we took around town and we looked for souvenirs. 

Sun Voyager art - bones of a Viking Church

Beautiful garden in the city.

View from the top of the street down toward the ocean.

Hallgrimskivkja - a Lutheran Church which is the tallest church in Iceland. You can walk to the top and see all over the island.

 These were outside the church. We weren't sure what they were, but they were interesting.

My favorite color for a house!

Our closing dinner was held at Videy Island - 

 a short ferry ride from our hotel, we were treated to a Viking battle to overtake the island, dinner, music and lots of wine. 

On Tuesday, we left Iceland at 11 am (7 am EST) and I arrived home at midnight. We flew to JFK, then Karen and I had to taxi to LaGuardia airport where I flew to Knoxville, a direct flight that diverted to Atlanta due to thunderstorms in Knoxville and then back to Knoxville. Crazy day!

It was an amazing trip and I will always be in debt to my friend, Karen for asking me along.