A trip to Portland, Maine

I worked half a day today before we headed up to Portland, Maine for the trauma conference. I only had a few little stitches left to put in on Part 4 of the Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler, so I got those done during a morning break at the office. I love the Vikki Clayton silks so much for this sampler - they are so irridescent :-) Now, rumor has it, we will be stitching a verse in the center... just a rumor... but a friend who ordered the Vikki Clayton Premium floss was told to buy some in regular floss because there is some over one stitching to do next... sounds like a verse to us... we'll see....
I then worked on Quaker Garden while watching the Red Sox beat the Yankees tonight in our hotel room (well, they beat them at Yankee Stadium, actually... Mike and I were really the only ones in our hotel room!!). Anyhow... this one is also moving along quite nicely. I also found this one to be quite easy to stitch on in the car today - a pleasant surprise. (It only took us an hour and a half to drive from our house to the hotel, The Portland Regency). I figure I am about half done now... Then, off to bed pretty early... Friday is a work/"school" day for me!! We did have a nice dinner at DiMillo's Floating Restuarant tonight - this restaurant is aboard a ship docked at the pier in Portland. We had eaten there when I took a different conference in Portland about three years ago... we had no hesitations to go back there again tonight! Very nice!

But... before I finish for today, here are some spring blooms from my garden that I took pictures of over last weekend... had forgotten about them. Right now, we are in a cold, rainy spell, so it helps to post these now and try to at least feel like it is spring here! This one is a dwarf standard iris... I have decided not to let my OCD get in my way here to try to locate its name!

...And, another iris... may be a dwarf standard, may not be, may be an intermediate bearded iris... again, resisting the urge to pore through picture files on the computer to identify this one!!! It blooms every year, so all that is important is that it is here and makes us happy.... regardless of its name...

And, then, finally what I belive is a Rembrandt tulip, but no idea what color... no idea where I bought these bulbs... may even have been a school fundraiser for one of the children I see in therapy, or maybe from the local garden shop... or maybe also purchased on a trip into Boston... just don't have any gardening answers today LOL! For me, that is huge - resisting the temptation to go find the answers!

In a non-stitching (or gardening) related story... we arrived at the hotel and checked in before dinner time. Mike asked the desk clerk where to park the car, and she said they only had valet parking... or he could park on the street or go over to Public Parking. Well, just like at Fenway Park last weekend, we don't really want to give his new car to a valet. So, he grumbled and went outside to take the car to Public Parking. The valet intercepted him outside and graciously welcomed him to park in the parking circle in front of the hotel. I guess he recognized that Mike has a very nice car. What a saving grace this guy was! Well... to make the long story short... Mike gets in the car and backs up, then tries to line his wheels up to park along the curb... and crashes right into it! He messed up his pricey rim on his tire... and messed up the tire too! I guess it would have been better, after all, to just let the valet park the car!

Stitched on today: Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler and Quaker Garden