Some necklaces I made recently with embroidery cotton and nice wooden beads from a local bead shop (tutorial here, by Jenny of Wiksten/Wiksten-made). I'm also keen to try some different styles of embroidery, like cross-stitch and sashiko. My new Martha Stewart book and the purl bee have lots of lovely looking projects.
(Oh, the possibilities!)
Here are a few photos from my first roll* (there were also a couple in the last post). Stay tuned for more, I've nearly finished my second.
* I was a little disappointed with the processing of this roll. I took it to a local pharmacy, and my film came back marked (see above) and creased. Oh well, lesson learnt, and better luck next time.
(On the road. Somewhere between BR and Houston)
(Galveston, Texas)
(Hello! from the NASA Space Center in Houston, Texas)
(Boots etc in Gonzales, Louisiana)
(Beignets at Coffee Call in BR)
(State Capital in Jackson, Mississippi)
(Dinner at Huey's in Memphis, Tennessee)
(Graceland)
(On the way to Shreveport, Louisiana)
Some photos from our mini road trips, and time in and around BR with Jon's family, who spent two weeks with us recently. It was really great to see them, and
a little more of this big, big country.
We managed to cover quite a few miles in their short visit. We picked them up from the airport in Houston, and spent a couple of nights in Texas (in Humble and strange, kind-of-beach town, Galveston) before heading back to BR for a few days. Over the Easter long weekend, we drove up to Memphis. We spent two nights there, and got to look around Beale St and Downtown, and fit in a visit to Graceland.
On the way back, we stopped in at Little Rock (Arkansas) and spent a night in Shreveport (Louisiana). We spent their last night here in New Orleans, where we
ate ourselves silly – red beans and rice, gumbo, jambalaya and beignets (too many beignets! Maybe... if there is such a thing?!)
It was so nice to have family with us for a little while. While their visit seemed to
go quickly, the time we spent together felt full, with all the things we got see and do. It was lots of fun. Thanks for visiting us, family!
San Diego was nice. We went as a group with other students and the supervisor from Jon's lab, for an aquaculture conference. It was nice to spend time (in another new place) with Jon, and for us to spend time with the others when they weren't at the conference. For the times they were, there was plenty for me to go out and see on my own.
We spent an afternoon in Old Town, the site of the first Spanish settlement in California. There were some nice shops and places to eat. After some time looking around, we found a place to sit down for happy hour drinks and tacos. This place had a large selection of chilli sauces, and after trying a couple on our tacos, Jon and a friend decided they'd do a 'hot sauce tasting'. There were a couple of habanero based sauces that really burned, but for the most part, they were pretty mild.
On our way back from Old Town, we ran into some friends organising a trip
to the other side of the city for tacos. We decided to join them. It took three different trams, and a while to get to (even longer on the way back), but the food was definitely worth the trip. And the smile/look of surprise on the lady's face as we
(a group of around 12-15) arrived was pretty funny! I was not very adventurous
with my choices from their menu, but Jon tried the lengua (tongue) and buche (esophagus), and thought they were great.
(My pastor (pork) and carnitas (slow-cooked, shredded meat) tacos)
On a day Jon was at the conference, I took the trams (they call them trolleys) into downtown San Diego. I walked around Horton Plaza and the Gaslamp Quarter, found a little Thai restaurant for a big lunch, and walked down to Seaport Village. Nice.
We had heard the San Diego zoo was a good one, so we were keen to visit. We made it there on Friday, our last day in town, and saw lots of animals. Lions and tigers and ... gorillas (no bears). And some nice-looking free range peacocks.
We were picked up and driven down to Ensenada Friday night. It was actually a pretty hairy van ride. I'm not sure if the driver thought we were in a race? He was going VERY fast, and not slowing down for the bends in the windy road. But don't worry parents – we are all OK!
Once we arrived, our hosts prepared us dinner. Tacos and quesadilla with BBQed beef, salsa and guacamole. After dinner, we walked to a nearby bar. They had a live band, and the grossest toilets ever. Dirty, kicked in doors and no running water! That's right folks – no flushing and no hand-washing. Eewww. Anyway, Jon and I called it a night after a couple of drinks, but a few others kept going.
In the morning we were brought sweet Mexican breads (like brioche rolls with
a sweet, crumbly topping) for breakfast. We were picked up and driven to the university/research centre for presentations, a tour and lunch. In the afternoon
we went into town for coffee and a short look at some of the local shops.
(View from the research centre)
We went out to a taco place for dinner. We could pick from beef, chicken, fish or pork, and could add chopped onion, coriander, cabbage, sauces, salsas and fresh lime. Delicious. Afterwards, we met up with some more people for drinks at one of the oldest cantinas in the area, Hussong's. It was a pretty cool place. The old timber floor was littered with peanut shells, and walls were packed with framed pictures. Groups of musicians would move around playing songs for people who were dancing and singing along. A few of us moved on to different bars. Jon and I ended up (with a few others) at a place with people lining up to sing karaoke – badly!
It was a pretty fun night though.
The next morning we had a 6am start for the van ride back to the San Diego airport. We had a different driver this time, luckily. It took us all day to get back to BR.
So when we finally got back to our apartment at 9pm, we were exhausted, got take away for dinner and hit the hay.
The end!
Of this mini adventure.
Of fun in San Diego and a taste of Mexico.
Next adventure in nine sleeps when Jon's parents and sister arrive!
(Taken in Old Town, San Diego)
Anyway, Mardi Gras was last Tuesday the 16th. It was also the day after President's Day, so Jon had the Monday AND Tuesday off work. Gotta love long weekends and three day weeks. On Saturday, we went to the Spanish Town parade in downtown BR. It was great to see so many people around, having a good time. There have been a couple of times we've gone in to the city and seen hardly anyone else around. On this day though, the streets were lined with happy people! We found lunch soon after we got in, then spent a while walking through parts of the parade route. The parade was fun, with lots of floats and bead-catching.
(I actually weighed our beads the other day, and we caught about 2kg each! Pretty heavy weight around your neck, I can tell you!)
We decided we'd head over to New Orleans on the Sunday too. We were a little worried about how crowded and crazy it might be, but thought we really couldn't not go. And we were so glad we did. The atmosphere was great. It was like a massive street party, with people drinking, BBQing, cheering, celebrating. There were lots of people around, but we still had plenty of room to move. We ended up walking along a large section of the parade route, and on our way back, ran into a friend (and New Orleans native) from Jon's work. We spent the evening in their tent (more like a marquee though, in case you get confused) watching the Krewe of Bacchus parade. The floats were much more elaborate than the ones in BR (some of which were trailers with a portaloo in the middle!). Each of the floats had themes, and all the people on them wore costumes and masks. There was also music, from marching bands. And plenty of beads, again! Such a fun day!
There are more photos on Flickr too.
I must say, I'm not really into sports. I don't know American football very well either, having never seen a game until college football started last September. Football is huge here though, and for the Saints to win – it's a pretty big deal.
So, I'm excited to be here for their win, and excited for New Orleans and all the Saints supporters. It's also Mardi Gras season here, so I'm pretty sure New Orleans will be partying like crazy! Speaking of which, these are some fun photos I found of people celebrating the Saints' win in the French Quarter:
(All photos are from the Times-Picayune – NOLA.com)
If you are interested, you can read more about the game on the NFL website.
Go Saints!
I looked around for some more Cajun and Zydeco clips. Found a couple of old ones, including this, of Buckwheat Zydeco (who won the grammy)...
... and this one of Dewey Balfa and his nephew, Todd Balfa, on the fiddlesticks (!)
It's been raining all day here, and I've been watching water run down the walls in our living room. It's actually starting to drip from the ceiling on to the carpet now. Let's hope the wall doesn't collapse or anything. Anyway, I'm going to put some cups on the floor to catch the drips, and bake some of these...
