On the left is the Old. The Waldo-Hancock Bridge, built between 1929-1931. It was one of the first two bridges in the US to use Robinson and Steinman's prestressed twisted wire stand cables and the first bridge to use Vierendeel trusses in its towers (a later example of a bridge that used this design element is the Golden Gate in San Francisco). For most of my growing-up life, there was an osprey's nest on the top of the tower on the Verona side of the bridge (seen here). In recent years the bridge was deemed unsafe for the weight of modern traffic. They added to the structure to shore it up temporarily, but ultimately it was decided to push forward to build a new bridge, next to the old one.

That New bridge is the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory, on the right. It's a very interesting piece of engineering, with its cables down the center of the bridge deck, so that the traffic actually drives on lanes cantilevered out over the river below. There is an elevator that takes you up in the tower on the Waldo County side of the bridge where you can look out and see the mountains in the area as well as a beautiful view along the Penobscot River. It is a great vantage point for photos, and it makes for lovely, interesting photos itself:

Now, I like bridges. I like old bridges, I like new bridges, I am fascinated by the engineering work that makes them support (or not) the traffic that goes over them. But, I am highly sadden to see the old bridge go. The state in which it exists now is a much dilapidated shadow of the proud, green bridge we drove over to visit my grandfather, to get to Ellsworth to meet the bus that would take me back and forth to school my final two years of high school, to get to Blue Hill for soccer games or the Blue Hill Fair. And the preservationist and Lover of Old Things in me is devastated at the impending loss of this pioneering example of bridge engineering. I have not yet seen any kind of a plan for the old bridge, although I did search the internet to see if there were plans for a pedestrian bridge, or greenway, or the other kinds of things that old bridges tend to become. Once the paint is gone from a metal surface, the rate at which it corrodes snowballs, and the point where it becomes un-salvageable can happen in not much more than a blink of the eye.

While in California, a friend took us to Napa where we found this gem. "A Man's Store ...for work and play", selling such things as Zippos, Wranglers, Swiss Army and Leatherman. The typography (and totally unnecessary ellipsis) really makes the storefront for me.

I think only 1/2 to 2/3 of the total diameter of the tree is showing in this photo. And I am not a tiny girl by any stretch of imagination. So, this tree is enormous and awe-inspiring. It was also located in a kind of creepy place, surrounded by chainsaw-cut bear sculptures, eerie silence and no sign of other people, save that there was a gift shop with an open door.

I finally finished editing all of the photos from our trip to California. I haven't gotten them all uploaded yet, but I found this one, and thought it would be prefect for sharing. On our way home up Highway 101, just north of Eureka we came on a herd of elk strung across the road. And then another 50 yards or so up was this lone buck. He was a beauty. I'd never seen elk before moving here, New England is moose territory and moose and elk don't live in the same places.

Back in July, on our California roadtrip, we were able to stay with TheAmpuT and her son for far too short a visit. On our one full day there, she took us into Napa and up to one of the best kitschy tourist attractions I've been to in a long time: Old Faithful of California. Geysers are pretty fascinating to me and this one did not disappoint. The schedule was off a hair because of seismic activity but it was pretty awesome. There weren't too many folks there, and it erupted for quite awhile. And there were fainting goats and llamas! What more could one want?!

See the whole set from Old Faithful of California here.

Short post today because we're expecting company and we need to finish the tidying of the apartment. This happy otter put on quite a show for us at the Monterey Bay Aquarium during our visit in July. D and I love aquariums so we love to visit them when we travel. A little tip for this one--you can buy your tickets in advance, online and print them. This means you can bypass lines getting in and spend more time looking at the critters!

A big part of the reason for the timing of my trip south was to be able to attend Stitches West. I have been purchasing much less than normal in terms of fiber for the past few months to prepare for this. Armed with some saved monies, and a vague plan, I set out. I didn't really plan to hit any shops, instead saving my funds for Stitches, but on Thursday my doppleganger suggested that we hit Article Pract in Oakland. On our way there we had a run-in with a loud-mouthed idiot, because it takes time to remove one's crutches from the back seat in order to get out of the car. Apparently, this woman felt that TheAmpuT should be magical and just hop out instantaneously. Luckily, her nine year old son didn't really catch the string of expletives that was exchanged and we were able to go on our merry way without too much pause.

Article Pract was nice enough although the customer service was not the greatest. Mostly the folks working seemed to have a bored disinterest in the folks in the store, which doesn't bother me while browsing, but it did mean that I spent a lot of time standing at the counter waiting to be checked out. At any rate, I walked out of there with this:

Two ounces of 50/50 tussah/cashmere blend hand-dyed by Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks in Peacock Plume.
Later that day, at Paper Source, I picked up these:

Clips in the shape of sheeps! I'm going to make photo holders with them, I believe.

On Friday, my friend Kelly and I ventured over to Artfibers. All I can say is that this place is fabulous! Absolutely the best yarn store I think I've ever been into. The lovely Kira was working and she was super friendly, and very very helpful. I walked out of there with this:

The one on the left is Alfabeto in color 02. Tsuki on the right. I also bought some Artfibers Miso [spinning fiber] but it didn't make it into the photo shoot. The tsuki is more turquoise than cyan like it looks here. The Alfabeto is 76% silk 19% superkid mohair 5% wool and the Tsuki is 40% silk 60% superkid mohair. They'll both become scarves, the Alfabeto scarf is already in progress. So gorgeous, so soft, so shiny. And everything in the place is swatched. It's great! Really helps to see how things are going to look.

And then came Stitches. I bought a few things here:

Two skeins of Southwest Trading Company's Tofutsies which is made from 50% Superwash Wool, 25% SOYSILK brand fiber, 22.5% Cotton and 2.5% Chitin [which is made from shrimp and crab shells]. Apparently the chitin makes it antibacterial. The pink skeins is winging it's way to my favorite [newly married!] Miss Rachel M. The other skein will likely be made into something. We'll see. For now, it's stewing.

I also picked up this wonderful skein:

This is 50/50 Merino/Tencel sock yarn from Ellen's Half-Pint Farms. It is so soft and so shiny!

I visiting with Morgaine at the Carolina Homespun booth and walked away with these gems from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks:

It's 4 ounces of Merino/cashmere fiber in the sangria colorway.

And last, but finally not least. Two! Yes two! Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep to Shoe kits:

It's Lucy in the front and I have no idea what in the back. My only complaint is that they are not marked with their colorways. I keep meaning to email Blue Moon and see if they can help me out.

All-in-all I spent much less money than I intended to and also bought a smaller amount of high quality items. I have a big enough stash that I'm not looking for huge amounts of things. Besides, my favorite purveyor of half pounds of goodness [Crown Mountain Farms] doesn't travel for Stitches. At least not this year anyway.

We also saw some great Jacob Sheep including this one with 5 horns:

Just like a starfish...Sort of.

We then met up with another girl from here in Eugene and hit the vendors. I may have come home with a large bag full of fibers:

The top layer is a Grafton Fibers Poof, some silk caps, a second poof, and then a mystery batt which is a merino/silk/angora/flash blend. The middle layer [the reds and pink] are all from Crown Mountain Farms, corridale pencil roving to the left and two superwash merino rovings. Then we have some various bits, including a chibi, some short double pointed needles [size 2] a sheepy tape measure and a back issue of Interweave Knits. The last bit is some grey angora/merino blend.

On our way out of town we saw this place:

We stopped to inquire after their spinning wheel and got nothing but dirty looks for our trouble.

We also saw a bomber on sticks:

and a statue of liberty:

The random things you see on Oregon Highway 99!
See the rest of my OFFF photos here!