Blue Monday

Pining for Tahoe.

I know I've had an epic summer of holidays, again.

Doesn't mean I can't still pine for Tahoe. I mean, who wouldn't?

Throwback Thursday

I've been thinking about our summer holiday this week.

Duriong our stay in Calistoga, we partook of a little wine tasting. I picked Castello di Amorosa because they offered dessert wine tasting; I wanted to get Tutt some dessert wine to say thanks for looking after the mitten.

It was kind of an unusual place. Very American. It has been built in the style of a Tuscan castle, using a million bricks that the owner had shipped over from Europe. Inside, it does look like a genuine Tuscan castle, down to the frescoes copied from Siena; only it has light switches and signs stating maximum room occupancy and the like. Slightly bizarre.

The tasting room was very busy. We had a French lady pouring our wines. She was grouchy in that way that French people are with English people. We tried several; I picked a dessert wine for Tutt. "Ahhh, La Fantasia!" she said. "I call zees, ze baby maker! Eet ees so feezzy and fun, you cannot 'elp eet!"

I did not tell Tutt that bit.

We also bought a couple of bottles of a very nice white wine to bring back with us, one of which we opened on Christmas Eve. It tastes very good: like elderflower. I was slightly surprised when I opened it up and it tasted as good as I remembered. In my experience, during a wine tasting my palate seems to adjust so things taste different to the way they do at home. Like, my taste buds are more clued in during a wine tasting.

It was a good day and a happy memory. I just wish they shipped wine overseas!

Blue Monday

A storm rolling in over Lake Tahoe from last summer.

We sat on the beach and watched it roll in for about half an hour. made it back to the car just in time for it to break, then got stuck in traffic looking for an ice cream parlour. Good times.

Throwback Thursday

I was reminded of this picture because I went back to bikram tonight after nearly 6 weeks off.

Mr Z took this when we were on holiday at Lake Tahoe last month (so I'm not throwing back very far). Every time I was in water this summer I took the opportunity to work on this pose, since the water did some balancing for me and allowed me to easily grab my ankle from the inside. At this point I was balancing on a rock to keep my chin above water. It was extremely cold but I persevered for quite some time: the activity made me warmer.

You'd think, with all the practising, that I would have got on alright this evening, but you would not be correct. At least I went back.

Holiday tales: Spa 1

I had the pleasure of visiting several natural hot springs whilst on my travels this summer.

The first was at the top of Napa valley, in a town called Calistoga. There's plenty of natural mineral activity there and I picked Dr Wilkinson's resort to stay in, partly because they offered spa treatments. There were three pools of varying heats, the biggest being like a hot tub for 36 people. I practised some yoga in it (that was a theme of the summer, really....large body of water capable of holding me up? Bow pose practice).

Mr Z and I had a muddy spa treatment, too. Although this was billed as a couples' treatment, we were ushered into separate spas, mainly because nudity was a requirement. The resort was built some time in the 50s, I think, and the decor had not much changed: white tiles and exposed pipes everywhere. I quite liked it once I had got over the feeling that it was like that place where Bricktop keeps his flesh-eating pigs.

Once naked, the attendant bid me shower. Then she helped me into an enormous vat of peaty mud. It was an indescribable sensation but of course I'm going to give it a go. The best analogy I can think of is that it was like crawling into a very accommodating, warm, heavy bean bag. I expected (hoped) to sink instantly but once I had gone a certain distance my body stopped; the attendant heaped mud over me as I tried to wriggle down further. It was quite peaty, rather than sticky. She placed cucumber over my eyes and a cold flannel on my face - the mud was pretty hot. It felt utterly strange. I started to enjoy it after a short while, as long as I didn't move too much: wriggling fingers and toes reminded me that it was something wet, not just a warm, weighty pillow.

After a while the attendant asked me to get out and scrape off as much mud as possible. Hilarious: I looked like Bigfoot. I wetly slithered towards to shower, clumps of the mud dropping out of crevices and creases as I went, and removed what I hoped was all of it. Next came a bath of the naturally hot water. More cucumber and cool flannels; citrus water to drink. I enjoyed this part so much I stayed in for longer than I was meant to.

Once out, it was time for the steam room: a tiny little tiled booth in the corner, with windows, through which the attendant could pass water and flannels. Those flannels! There was an endless supply. After this, another quick shower; finally I was taken to a little cabin where the attendant wrapped me in a light blanket, like a baby, adding yet more cucumber and explaining that it was important to rest to recover from the heat treatments. Fine with me.

I did enjoy the experience. The mud was, as I said, weird; my skin did feel quite soft afterwards, and I was super-relaxed. If I was them, I would more heavily embrace the 50s kitsch theme rather than putting modern accoutrements in, which made the original fixtures look a bit dated. But then, I mostly had cucumber on my eyes, so who really cares how it looks?

Stash Enrichment: Jimmy Beans

Once again, I managed to build in a trip to Jimmy Beans during our recent holiday in the States. I had planned to go on my birthday but it seemed I preferred to spend that day at the beach, attempting paddle boarding and getting bumped on the head.

So, we went the day after my birthday. We began with pancakes at Coffee &... in Truckee, as is tradition; then we drove an 80 minute round trip back to the campsite to pick up my purse which I had stupidly left in the bear box. Then we drove to Reno, to Mr Z's impossible golf course from last time. It was full of hares and reeds and weeds. A quick Google revealed that it had closed in June. Oh. Luckily there was another nearby, so after I had dropped him there, bought some sportswear at a nearby shop (I was looking for a new ski jacket but, unsurprisingly, there were none available in August) and eaten lunch at Whole Foods, I toddled off to the promised land.

It had changed a little since my last trip. Now there is just a little yellow square of warehouse available for rummaging; but when I asked in the shop I was escorted to the Lorna's Laces aisle and, from there, pretty much allowed to get on with my rummaging. Amazingly, the SA, Teri, remember me from my first visit way back in 2009 - how cool is that!

I tried very hard to be restrained. I did pick up another jumper's worth of Madelintosh, in Betty Draper's Blues, but I made myself put it back, mainly because I have a ridiculously busy 6 months ahead of me (the chances of me making 127 posts this year are exceptionally slim) and a lot of yarn I want to knit up immediately.

So, I ended up with two jumpers' worth of 4-ply yarn, both in blue:
 

At the top, Madelinetosh Dandelion in Blue Nile...that colour! Mwaahahhhhhh! And it has 10% linen in it. It's like, the perfect yarn.
At the bottom, La Jolla 4-ply by Baah! I had not come across this brand before. The colour is London Blue. Perfect.

Then I bought three skeins of Lorna's Laces Honor in Bold Red. It's a solid but for some reason it doesn't look that way in this picture. I have three skeins of this is Red State from my last visit, plus one of Stitch Red from my winnings; I had it in mind to tackle a Stripes Gone Crazy but then discovered this is a 4-ply cardigan. Doh. I see some people have knitted it in DK but I'm not sure if I can face the maths. I have been browsing patterns and think the Maxfield Cardigan might work, possibly...not sure. The red of Red State might blend too well with the background Bold Red. Hmm. I don't know. I need to rummage around with that some more.

Multicoloured reflective yarn! I couldn't resist, and I couldn't choose between the two colours, so I bought both. I still have about three skeins of this sitting around waiting to be turned into hats. I need to save them for an evening when I want to finish something quickly.

Finally, I bought a skein of Madelinetosh DK in Lapis. This is to blend with the remaining skein from my v-neck jumper, to make a Zephyr Cove shawl, as suggested by the imaginative Kat at Knatterers.

I also got a new project bag, of course. Well, you'll see why....

Calistoga Roastery

This afternoon, Mr Z has taken himself off for a round of golf and I'm enjoying the delicious offerings of the Calistoga Roastery while doing some preliminary book-ing. Such a lovely afternoon! This morning we ate breakfast at Cafe Sarafornia (Brannan Benedict, named in honour of the town's founder) then took a wander to an awesome bookshop where I stocked up on knitting magazines and resisted the urge to buy all the beautiful journals. After that we visited the spa - a post in itself - and now here I am, playing with my phone camera, drinking iced almond milk mocha and distracting myself from the enjoyable business of reading and page planning. An ideal way to while away a holiday afternoon.

The coffees are imaginatively named. I am tempted by Eva's bitch-in-a-bag, Darren's dark despair and Frank Sumatra.