Rest in Peace, Smokey Joe

My dad calls all cats "Smokey Joe". I'm not sure why. A few years ago a cat showed up at his house who he called, yep, "Smokey Joe".

Daddy would feed Smokey and then tell him to "go home". I told him, "Daddy, I think he IS home." Smokey would come and go for a while. Over the last couple of years, though, Smokey pretty much stuck around.

Smokey had been around the block a time or two - nicked ears, scars on his neck - but like most cats Smokey appreciated a good head rub.

He was always at the carport door in the morning to greet Daddy and ask for breakfast.

This morning when Daddy went to feed him, he found that Smokey had passed away.

Tears filled my eyes tonight driving to my knitting group when Daddy told me on the phone. This beautifully marked cat who never was really family had still become part of our lives.

We'll miss you, Smokey Joe. I hope you find peace in kitty heaven that eluded you in your early life.

Stitches South 2010

Stitches South was this past week in Atlanta. On Saturday Lacey and I went up for The Market. Lacey drove.

You can't take pictures inside the market, so this is all you get:


Outside there was this big wall of yarn where you could get samples.

Here's mine:

Once we were inside the Market, we saw new Julie from our knitting group and met her friends from Pensacola who came up to go to Stitches with her. We found original Julie from our knitting group. She and Lacey had formulated some bulk purchase plan at one of the booths. I ran into Yvonne who used to come knit with us, but hasn't in a while. It was so good to see her. I also knit on "The World's Largest Sock". They're going for the Guiness Book of World Records.
At the Lion Brand Yarn booth inside the market, I met Zontee from the YarnCraft podcast. The cool thing was that when I said, "I'm Hotpink on ravelry," she recognized my name! I had to hug her. I'm southern, it's what we do. I met Jess and Casey
who founded ravlery. (I restrained myself and only shook their hands.) They are so awesome. I love ravelry. There was a lot of hero worship being bestowed on them by many, many conference attendees. I also met Mary Heather and Sarah who help them run ravelry.
I spoke to the famous Lily Chin, who was dressed in pink from her shoulders to her toes. I said, "I love your pink!" She smiled and thanked me. I saw Dianne who used to own a yarn store in Greer, South Carolina where I shopped on occasion with my friend Dawn. I also saw Margaret who used to own a yarn store in Anderson, South Carolina - my home town. She has a rabbit who stayed at the store with her. Daddy would play with the bunny while I yarn shopped. That bunny bought me a lot more browsing time. I took this photo of Lacey when we were leaving.
I should have snapped it a few minutes earlier when she had all her purchases spread out around her.
We left the convention center and drove down the street looking for something to eat. We saw this:
We kept driving, but ended up turning around, going back, and trying the "Crazy Chicken".

It was crazy good! This is what I had:
There's rice, beans, grilled chicken, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, pico de gallo, ranch dressing, and salsa in there. Man, it was so good! Lacey got quesadillas

in steak and chicken. She liked them a lot, too. It was a cool place with cool art.

Here are my take aways from the market:
Lacey and I really liked this pattern and had to buy it.

I love buttons and got these:

I bought this beautiful bamboo yarn:

Lacey and Julie were off buying some yarn and came back with this for me.

Wasn't that really sweet of them? I also got this.

Who knows what it is?
I had a great time. I was so worn out when I got home, I took a three hour nap. It was SO worth it. What a great day!

Wordless Wednesday (x 2) - Click the Picture for a Description

Trip to South Carolina

Last Saturday I went to South Carolina for the long holiday weekend. I drove through Atlanta:

I stopped at the South Carolina Welcome Center to use the restroom and get a map. this sign was outside:

and there was a lovely view of Lake Hartwell from there:

I also took a zoomed photo:

After church on Sunday, Daddy and I went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. We both had cobbler for dessert. His was peach; mine was blackberry:

Daddy said it was the best meal he ever had at Cracker Barrel. I said, "Because of the peach cobbler?" He said, "That was a big part of it, Hun."
We drove through downtown and I took some photos of beautiful downtown Anderson.
This is the old courthouse:

This is the new courthouse:

This is the Chiquola which houses condos now. A hundred years ago it was a hotel. All through my childhood, it stood in disrepair. A few years ago a developer bought it and restored it. As you can see, it's beautiful again:

This statue of William Whitner can be seen in the Old Courthouse and the Chiquola photos. Click on the photo to go to flickr and read about who he was and what he did:

There are tons of these fish in Anderson. They are some sort of tribute to Lake Hartwell.

On Monday I went to Greenville to visit my friend Dawn. The A.C. Moore in Columbus closed almost a year ago. It was a great source of yarn. Greenville still has an A.C. Moore:

It was so nice to go to A.C. Moore again.
Dawn's mom had these pretty pink flowers growing in her garden:

Here's a photo I took of the old mill in Piedmont on the way home:

You know how you always hear about the nation's fuel reserves? I think they're being stored in tanker cars in Anderson County:


On Tuesday we went downtown to a jewelry store to get a battery for my watch. We found this quote in the sidewalk outside the store:

Later in the afternoon I left to drive home. Driving through Atlanta the traffic was moving slow enough for me to snap this photo of the Olympic Memorial:

There was a very serious accident on I-85 that caused the police to close the Interstate. All four southbound lanes! They made everyone get off the Interstate at the Union City exit. I went in at McDonald's and used the restroom then sat in the car with my Georgia map and found an alternate route. I took US Highway 29 through some lovely little towns:
Fairburn:

Palmetto:

and Hogansville:

It was some slow going:

My normal four hour trip turned into a five and a half hour trip, but at least it was scenic and I didn't have to drive through the horrible construction zone on I-85 from Hogansville to Newnan. I call it "The Tunnel". K-rails on both sides. No shoulders. It makes me crazy. I would seriously consider doing this again just to avoid "The Tunnel".

Click on any of the photos to see them larger. It'll open my flickr account and you can browse my photos in there. (And hey, it raises the view count on my photostream.) Or if you'd like to watch the photos full screen as a slideshow, click here.