Surprise!

No, not "Surprise! I'm blogging today!" Although, that probably does surprise you. I got a surprise in the mail yesterday.

It's from my lovely sock camp friend, Angela. It's Acero (wool, silk, viscose) yarn from Brooks Farm in Texas. The three fibers each take the dye differently, so the colors seem to shimmer. And, it's soooo soft. I'm not sure what I'll knit with it. Maybe I'll just keep it as a pet for awhile. Thank you, thank you, Angela!

I have been busy getting my shop and house in order, and my Christmas decorating and shopping going. It's a bit early, you say? Well, that's because, surprise! I'm going to Australia (woohoo!) the Sunday after Thanksgiving for a little over two weeks. Larry (bless him for retiring and finding himself a sweet part-time consulting job) has another gig. This time it's three one-day meetings in Melbourne, Sydney, and Hamilton Island. Those of you who know me well, know that I am crazy about nature--birds, fish, animals. Australia has always been on my "I have to go to" list of places for amazing flora and fauna. We have just finished up our itinerary for the free time we have between and after the meetings. First it's a Birding Tour in the Newcastle area. Then snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. Then, we wrap up the eco stuff with a three day Wildlife Tour east of Brisbane. I'm so excited about the wildlife tour, I can hardly stand the wait! I keep re-reading the email Ronda sent me about the lodge we're going to stay in--it sounds like heaven to me:

It is a beautiful room with a very comfortable bed , and in the morning you can just step outside onto the verandah to watch the birds - lorikeets come for a feed each morning, often joined by satin bowerbirds, sometimes koels and others, and you are also looking out across the forest and the valley, so you get to hear a lot of birds and often see cockatoos, eagles etc. flying past. ... There are often koalas nearby, and in the late afternoon, early evening and early morning you'll often see pademelons, wallabies and if lucky bettongs. Carpet pythons often make a showing as well.

I don't even know what a bettong is, but I can't wait to see one :) And of course, there are lots of sheep in Australia, and I hope to see some. And knit shops...anyone have any suggestions?

I've started a wee bit of Christmas knitting. I'll share some of that in my next post.

Cheers.