The Train they Call the City of New Orleans

Like a lot of people, I'm watching the news of the storm headed for New Orleans tonight and hoping fervently that no one is harmed--that somehow the storm misses everyone. We went to N.O. in 2005, a few months before Katrina; BF's company paid for the trip. We went because we were expected to and hadn't planned to like it much, especially since it was already steamy. It was an incredibly interesting and charming and dangerous place. Even back before the flood, it was an unsafe place to be; I'm comfortable, if aware, in cities--New York and DC in particular (notwithstanding the dead body they found in the parking garage of my office building last week)--but there are some small cities like N.O. and Providence in particular, that raise the hair on the back of my neck. But good heavens, the art galleries, and the music and the food. Oh, the food...

This has been a spectacularly unproductive weekend for pretty much everything but needlework. I woke up yesterday realizing that I'd forgotten a small but crucial task at work, so we dashed into DC so I could complete it. I tried to talk BF into hitting a museum or a good restaurant, but it was hot, so we headed back to VA, stopping at the new Wegmans. Wegmans is an amazing store--more food court than grocery store. They had Wianno Cape Cod oysters at the oyster bar (I mostly don't take a chance with oysters on the half shell--if you've ever gotten a bad piece of raw seafood I don't have to tell you about the violence of that particular sickness. Besides, there's no "r" in August.) There was Indian food and Thai food and every kind of seafood, baked good and pizza by the slice. It was crowded, and we were overwhelmed, so we limited ourselves to a few treats: some good bagels and cream cheese and nova for me; some sake and ale for BF.
Other than those things, we've stayed indoors mostly and puttered in the house. I've entertained myself by vacuuming under the sofa where Little Friend seems to live and retiring to the bedroom to stitch and nap. Little Friend sheds like a bear.

Lemon Tree is coming along.

And I stitched until 3 a.m. on this last night.

I also placed an order with Attic Needlework in Arizona for Scarlet Letter's "Country Life." I've been meaning to buy it for years. I think I will plan to start it at Christmas. Or Thanksgiving. Or maybe my vacation in October. It's only 9 inches high, but it's 36 inches long. How cool would it be to have the 4-foot vertical ATS and the 3-foot horizontal Country Life? Yeah, I should live so long.

Happy Labor Day, all!