Rolling an 8

Remember back at the beginning of the year when I made a list of projects that I really wanted to get stitched and my “magic” 20-side die? Well, last night it was time to roll for a new start. This morning I had everything together,

The project is The BarnHouse by Cottage GardenSamplings. It is part of last years House series (I stitched the first 4-5 right away). Have the rest of the patterns in the series along with all the supplies. Now to stitch them up.

Anyway – here is the start – The fabric is obviously 18 ct Vintage Stormy night and I went ahead and indulged in a silk pack from BeStitchMe. To this point, I am all of 1100 stitches into the pattern. It is mostly Barn. There is a lot of barn. A couple of small animals and framed by some sunflower appearing flowers on each side. Did I mention that the barn is big? I think I have about 4500 more stitches to do on the barn.

In further progress, I stitched the center section of February this evening –

Hanging hearts, a couple of kids, mailbox, flowers and grass. It was the widest but least stitches section. Tomorr0w – the second pink house.

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Second Feb House

Two days in a row – amazing… meeting goals that is.

and here it is – a pink house.  Looking at the two mini-villages, it occurs to me that there is going to be a definite designing trend. Obviously, four houses, a center themed section and there will be the month name in the middle. But… there is the matter of the decorations on the two more centered houses. – branches in January, hearts in February. Then there is a matter of the trees which I had been think of as “on the roofs” but I think are meant to be behind the houses.  Taking a break – I went to look at the Country Cottage Needlework site – seems like there are a lot of series of houses, cottages, villages. Oh, duh.

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A House a Day

This is the start of February – in the mini-Village series by Country Cottage Needleworks, Obviously started below January as I am stitching as many as will fit on this piece of fabric. The floss is all Classic Colorworks. My plan, obviously is to stitch a house a day. That means for days for the houses, one day for the center section and the last day for the name, clouds, and the greenish grass. Does that mean I get to rest on the seventh day?

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Winter Phoenix

which was started in the SFO Airport on the 30th while waiting for the first leg of our journey to Morocco. The pattern is by the Blue Flower and came as hard copy as part of a kit from ForbiddenFiberCo.

Finished it today with plenty of floss left over.

In other news, our Eldest had a birthday today.  Some days I can bring back memories of her as an infant, toddler, and extremely independent young girl. Now I mostly see a mom with two very busy boys…

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Quarzazate

And no, I still don’t have a clue on how to pronounce it!

But it was our end destination as we traveled now on roads with the bus ( rather than what felt l8me random directions in the 4x4s). Tinejdad was one of those stops.  A location where the Jews fleeing Spain & Portugal settled. The museum where we stopped provided signage in English, French, German, and Spanish for those obvious western heathens unable to read the local language .

The basic buildings, most of which have been restored date back more than a millennium.  Lunch was at a lovely outdoor terrance before once again reboarding  the bus,

Our overnight (x2) accommodations are in a restored fifteenth century building.  George & I look a quick look at a photo album set out on a table in the lounge. It was amazing, the starting from bare damaged walls compared to where it is now.

And, good food, heat in the rooms, and hot showers,,,,

 

 

 

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Camel Rides

No, I did not go camel riding. Been there, done that, see no need to repeat stupidity.

Instead, since the camel riding group was leaving from near a hotel/resort, instead I sat on one of the outside terraces and enjoyed the sunshine. The information we were given ahead of time had mentioned that we would be traveling in 4x4s I. The desert.  Most of us had these visions of soft topped dirty jeeps with roll bars.  Instead, nice white SUV’s with a paint job that matched the bus we have been traveling insincere we started. 

Then there was a visit to the Gnawa musicians. A tribe that entered the Moroccan area centuries ago as slaves. Drums were involved. From there it was on to traveling thru the desert till our trip leader located the nomadic tribe we were to stop at next.

I have no pictures of this portion of the trip.  When I might be feel8ng more charitable about cultural norms, gender roles, and poverty I might be better able to deal.  Reading for me was a better alternative.  

Lunch was back at camp, followed by some much needed quiet time .  Did I mention that it gets cold at night. Night being defined as the minute the sun goes down? Now if you are from the northern tier states or have spent anytime out and about those area, no problem. But this is not a group used to sleeping in a tent with no heat. Meanwhile, I am thinking how nice it is – running water & flush toilets in the tents.  I don’t care if the water is solar heated meaning showers only in the afternoon. No port-a-loos, no shower tent shared by several hundred of your new very best friends.  Bed with sheets, duvets, and extra blankets instead of bunks with sleeping bags? No problem. 

It does mean that evening discussions end shortly after diner when everyone heads back to their tents. No WiFi but there is electricity so reading on a iPad works just fine  

 

 

 

 

 

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Tented Camp

Apparently tented camping for a couple of nights is pretty standard part of Moroccan tours. We are somewhere in the Sahara Desert. Please remember this is January- cold at night, decent during the day.
it wasn’t a bad drive, first on the roads, stops for a fossil “business “ and lunch before arriving at the camp. These are not standard tents, rather pretty close to permanent housing with floors, toilets, walls, showers. Oh , yes, lights and outlets. Seems like everyone travels with multiple electronics.
Right before sunset, after visiting a date farm (fruit, people) we headed to the sand dunes to watch the sunset.
it really isn’t that cold. Especially compared to Afghanistan in the winter, but few in this group grew up in cold weather climes.

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Atlas Mountains

We left Fez at what I felt was a more than reasonable hour. But apparently it was earlier than makes everyone happy. Over all the group is pretty reasonable, cheerful, and willing to help keep an eye out for a couple of the member who are easily distracted  

In the US, Canada, Australia driving a distance of 300 miles, even in a bus just isn’t all that big a deal.  Here, once we transitioned from city to the rural areas, the roads, while paved, are narrow, just slightly more than one and a half lanes wide.  The transition also went from city to the spread out small simple brown clay appearing buildings that I remember from southern Iraq.  Or for that matter, many of the rural Arab areas I have seen over the last 25 years.

Our first stop was a nature preserve to see the Barbary Apes.  Remembering them from Gibraltar, no way was I getting close or feeding them.  In spite of signs and warnings, there were young enterprising men selling bags of food for the Apes.  

Another stop a couple of hours later for snacks and toilets.  A lunch stop which featured fish, then we finally pulled into our hotel for the night late in the afternoon.  

The landscape transitioned from the Atlantic coast fed greenery through high mountains with snow to high, arid and rocky desert .  We gathered for dinner a a reasonable hour, then headed off to get some needed sleep (? Isn’t that what you do on bus rides?]

Tomorrow we head into the Sahara for a couple of nights.  There may be marginal international phone connectivity, but no WiFi   Gee, just like it used to be.  Expect a post again in a couple of days   

 

 

 

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Volubilis & Meknes

We elected to take the optional tour today. So think Roman ruins  some restoration started in the 1920s by the French who mostly took anything interesting back to France.  Essentially nothing of which has been returned.  Surprised? Not really. But there is remains of the aquaduct, homes, baths, temples  More recently serious restoration has started  Not surprisingly, a serious amount of damage also occurred here secondary to the 1755 Lisbon quake  

Then and on to an excellent lunch in the city that was the capital for a short time. That time being contemporary with Louis XIV.  Much of what one might want to see is currently under renovation. But we walked through the local market which felt much closer to the community markets of Spain, Portugal & Italy. Clean, well lighted, and actually enough room to get through the isles. At the same square was a museum of musical heritage featuring instruments from the various enthic groups of Morocco  

A drive pack to Fez for our last night  We leave early in the morning for a long drive

 

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Souks

We started our day after breakfast as always with a hike back out of the warren of lanes to board our bus.

On our way out and about the city, we drove past “the royal palace.” Although obviously it is one of (number corrected) 22 locations.  It occupies a rather large chunk of real estate.  This was followed by walking, way too much time spent taking pictures of themselves & others by the group and more walking.
Next up was walk through the old Jewish Quarter.  There had been extensive renovations, much funded through UNESCO .  Perhaps 90% of the Moroccan Jewish population made Aliyah mostly in the 1950s-60s.  This did not mean giving up ownership of their property which is pretty much rented out.
And then it was ride & hike through the souks. If you have been in the souks in old Jerusalem, Istanbul, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain – they are pretty much the same. Dark, narrow covered passageways crowded with small shops selling while customers push through and haggle for daily supplies as well as the occasional treat. Notice that I left out the new locations in the Emirates & Dubai which can feature wide lanes, glass skylights, fancy internal shops with display cases definitely oriented toward those with money.
We had lunch off a small passageway which led down to a lovely covered courtyard.

Then there were more souks to traverse with a stop at a tannery in business for about 11 centuries. Yes, you read that correctly. Little had changed except for plumbing instead of hauling buckets of water.

We wove through even more crowded spaces late in the afternoon on our way to the bus.  Tonight’s dinner was a home hosted meal. Since I am still coughing, I skipped it.

We have an excellent guide (local, well educated with degrees in linguistics & tourism. Additionally, there is a local guide who joins us to provide information unique to that area.)

 

 

 

bet

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Fez

Or Fes as it is known/ pronounced here.  We were reminded that fez is a hat, familiar to many from the Shriners. No fez were seen today. 

We departed our hotel right after breakfast, boarding the bus which is nice, modern, comfortable and seats 42. Since there are only 14 of us having enough room isn’t an issue. 
Our first stop on the way east the cork oak forest. At over 200,000 acres, the batk is harvested from the main trunk ever 7-12 years depending on the particular tree. Most of the cork is turned into wine bottle corks. No surprise considering the French “protectorate “ from 1912-1956. 

A short while later we made a quick rest stop for toilets, drinks & snacks before driving the rest of tge was to Fez. Seeing a portion of the city from the bus (the old town – Medina, the Jewish quarter, both of which are walled and the New town – neuveaux ville – which is not, falling outside the walls. 
From the bus which dropped us off about a ten minute hike down twisty lanes to our hotel. Converted from a 1700s villa, the central courtyard has bern roofed and now serves as lounge & dining area. We were served lunch before having a couple of hours downtime. In case you were wondering, porters with hand carts hauled the luggage to the hotel, then up to our rooms. 
Of note, just about everyone is what I would consider a reasonable packer as 19” suitcases seem to be the norm. 
our afternoon jaunt took us for a drive, up the side of a hill opposite of the city to a porcelain workshop/school. All the work is done by hand, from pottery wheel to painting, to hand made & set mosaics. 
From there, driving we passed the massive cemeteries outside the city. The headstones are white, some plain, some highly decorated but all face east to Mecca. Then, after driving through a portion of the new city, we were dropped off at the edge of the souks, walking through them back toward our hotel. George & I skipped the optional dinner in a restaurant in favor of an early night and sleep  

Besides, I had chocolate  

 

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Rabat

Tour of the city this morning. Officially the capital of Morocco. Wiki lists it as the seventh largest city with a population just over ½ a million and a metro area of around 1.5 million. As a Constitutional monarchy, there is both a two chamber parliament (with the Prime Minister appointed by the king from the majority party) and something like 15 palaces across the country. The palace here is the Administrative Palace with all the people, guards and bureaucracy that implies. The military has its admin HQ here as well but isn’t at ministry level (something about not allowing the military too much independence & avoidance of coup attempts.) 

From there we went to the Mohammed V Mausoleum. Also on the same grounds is the Hassan Tower and what was to be the largest mosque, not finished with the top half of the tower destroyed by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake  

Passing along the river –  both the new symphony / ?Opera? center & business tower are easily visible. 

A walk through the Kasbah (old walled potion of the city) was followed by a stop at the Jewelry Museum (yes, it has a new name) 

It is mid afternoon and I am back at the hotel  As it turns out, just traveling it’s the iPad is turning out not to be the greatest decision. I have limited ability to edit photos, I can’t easily resize them nor does copy & paste  Argh. 

 

 

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Arriving in Casablanca

Via France. Of course via Paris & CDG airport since we were booked on Air France ( by the trip folks through Delta which made it even more complicated) .  Our arrival was on time, about the almost completely packed flight, the less said the better. No screaming kids anywhere near me which was the only positive thing I can say.
We had about three hours between flights.  Our last flight wasn’t completely packed , but I had the screaming kids across the isle from me; George has the seat kicker behind him.
Immigration, Luggage arrived. Just about the last two suitcases, but hey – luggage.
Found two others in the travel group outside the terminal. The OAT rep found us & packed us off to Rabat where we start tomorrow. Dinner   Bed.
Did I mention that I am still coughing which is not going to make me popular.?

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Long flights

Both of us were packed last night and ready to go. AC transit site for bus schedules is well less than useless. Starting and ending times on the routes are clear, but when they arrive at ending particular stop? Guessing is about your best bet. We planned on catching the 65 leaving Grizzly Peake around 0900. Walking out a couple of minutes before nine, we were barely at the bus stop when it sails by! Hand waving was noticed by the driver, he stopped and we managed to board. 
From there it was ride to the last stop, walk the block to BART, ride the RED Line to the airport before the next stage of fun kicked in. Neither of us could get the self check-in kiosks at Air France to work.  I gave up since we were more than 4 hours before the flight,  Coffee was higher on my agenda. George received help from one of their clerks & checked in while I was gone. Returning, the machine happily accepted my new passport, kicked out both luggage tag and boarding pass.  Off to Terminal A. 
And waiting and more waiting. 
Flight leaves on time. Allegedly there is WiFi. We are not seated together. No clue. I am stuck in the very back row. At least the seat does tilt back some. 

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If it is Tuesday

it is not Belgium. (reference – the 1969 movie – two links for you – Wiki & Internet Archives.  Instead this is packing day. We leave tomorrow for two weeks in Morocco, so not Belgium either. But first – the easily explained absence.

It has taken a lot more time to recover from this particular bout of covid followed by pneumonia followed by weeks of coughing and total exhaustion. I don’t know if I can blame anything in particular. Perhaps my immune therapy? Perhaps everyone in the family? In any case it hasn’t been particularly fun.

I am just trying to take it easy at this point. I am not hauling a lot along with me: iPad rather than laptop, limited amount of clothing. shoes on feet and one pair in the suitcase, two small stitching projects (which I may/may not get around to stitching).

I will try to send an update when I have Wifi as we travel. More likely it will be a compilation once we get back….

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A small start

This is my second start of 2025 – it is just about 400 stitches, which isn’t much in the world of full coverage. Since the smallest Owl is in the middle and the other two around it, that made bottom center the logical place to start. Removing the background and one Owl takes it down to a reasonable number of stitches to accomplish in the next month. The fabric is 16ct lagoon from Fiber on a whim. The floss is DMC

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The Peacock Tree

Designed by ModernFolkEmbroidery

the two greens are #12 Perle Cotton from Theadworx and the Ocean Blues is also Threadworx but embroidery floss. Stitched on an 18ct aida from stash.About 42xx stitches. Easy peasy. I also finished Part 4 on the Secret Grove SAL.

I finished it yesterday and didn’t get around to posting about it. Something about being aggravated by automated menus….

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Phone do-loops

There are a number of Filk songs about computer programing, stupid programing, and getting stuck in an endless do-loop.

And then there is the VA phone system. First, you have to listen to about 2 minutes of “gratuitous mental health information and referrals” followed by information on the Pact Act and the Mission Act. Finally, you get dropped in a menu system that lets you pick 1-6. None of which were what I needed. Hitting 0 got me to an operator, who dumped me into another do-loop at the Dental Clinic, none of which were the options that I needed.  Since this, at least, is not a voice activated system I was spared the indignity of attempting to convince an AI of what I needed.  But it also means that stating “help” “help” “help” doesn’t short cut the menus like it does with my bank. After three tries at getting though the system and wasting 45″, I solved the problem by calling one of the few extensions I had and asking the receptionist for the favor of connecting me with the Dental Clinic.

Then I was connected to an answering machine. Ok, desperate, I left an extremely clear message about wanting Louisa to call me back about rescheduling Friday’s appointment.  I was stunned when she called me back – someone actually listened to the message and passed it on. Considering how much I am still coughing, I didn’t think Dr S really wants to see me on Friday.  Even better, I got rescheduled.

Otherwise it was a few errands this morning and stitching for the rest of the day

 

 

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Octopus

I have new towels. Ordered from Calamityware during one of Don’s kickstarters. I have a number of their fun things and have purchased more than a few items for gifts. The quality is excellent, but I find their shipping costs a bit much. You have been warned.

My towels –

They are a lovely neutral, jacquard woven, not printed, and soft.

Oh yes, and I have to remember that we are now in 2025. Thank you for not pointing out that particular blunder.

Sometimes it is the little pleasures isn’t it?

 

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Kiting checks

I was thinking this morning,  which is always a dangerous thing to do. I was placing an entry in my check register this past Tuesday and thinking out how infrequently any of us use a checkbook anymore. And certainly not writing checks when there isn’t enough in one’s bank account to cover the amount.  We (those of us who were adults back then) certainly were writing checks in the 60s, 70s, and probably 80s. Knowing how much one had in their checking account was critical A $20 overdraft fee was painful – especially in an era when you could fuel a VW beetle for about $3.50.

I am not exactly sure when credit cards took over from checks. We were living in Europe from 1993-2015. For the first decade or so, Germany was still pretty much a cash economy, at least at most stores. Even this past summer, I noted more people using cash than cards when we were visiting George’s cousin.

In today’s world, between credit cards, PayPal, Venmo and various other monetary transaction methods I think it might be even more difficult to manage money, plan a budget, and know exactly where one’s money is at any one particular time. For some of us, we have enough of a cushion that it might not be critical. For others? Every penny, cent, or centime is critical.  And if you don’t live in an area where cell phone coverage is ubiquitous, keeping track of finances  can become even more challenging. Rural areas, remote areas, traveling don’t lend themselves to easy (or at least reasonably priced) cell phone coverage. Banks now assume that we are all connected 24/7 which simply isn’t true. Log in? They want to txt you a code.  Doesn’t work if you have Wifi but not cell phone coverage.

It is way too easy, as a result to not check on bank status on a regular basis. When was the last time YOU checked your banking app?

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