...and a wonderful time was had by us! We needed a break - so I have been saving up money, a little at a time. And I'm not kidding, either - a nickel here, a dime there - whatever change I could scrounge up (or find on the sidewalk!) - and taking canned soup for lunch every day for two months. I "casually" mentioned to D that it would be nice to take a long weekend and go somewhere - say, Friday, July 8 through Sunday, July 10 - and he agreed. I jumped on that and asked him to pick a destination and be sure to ask for the time off.
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I had several suggestions for him, but he knew his own mind - and he picked Toccoa, Georgia. Does that name sound familiar? It's where the
Palmetto Tatters Guild held our annual tatting convention in 2010, and will
again this year (and next). I asked where he would like to stay - I could make reservations at any number of inexpensive (cheap) motels, or a hotel, or
The Simmons-Bond Inn (a lovely B&B right in town). He said whatever I thought was best, so I went for the B&B!
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Elizabeth's cake models
displayed on the piano |
It's a lovely old home - a 20-room mansion built in 1903, the proprietors offer five different guest rooms (each with private bath). Breakfast is phenomenal and will keep you going until well into the afternoon! Elizabeth does the cooking and baking, hubby Ron books guests and does general maintenance, Todd (Elizabeth's dad) served our breakfast each day ("Hello, I'm Todd, and I'll be your waitress today") with good humor and panache, and Sheila kept everything tidy. Rounding out the staff were Elizabeth and Ron's daughters, Chloe (age 10 and a really nice kid) and Rosie (4 months and a doll-baby).
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Stained-glass window
over the staircase |
All the guest rooms are named after women in the family; we stayed in the "Tiffany" room. Each room is decorated and furnished differently with lovely antique furniture (mostly purchased from auctions). After breakfast, any guests who care to may hear some history of the house courtesy of Todd (who is quite a good storyteller). We really enjoyed our stay - we stayed two nights with them - and plan to go again later in the year, after Tat Days but (hopefully) before snow starts to fall!
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| Toccoa Falls |
We didn't do much in Toccoa - too blasted HOT! The B&B is blessedly air-conditioned, though, so we mostly hung around there. We did go to Toccoa Falls once - D took the walk and the picture while I sat inside the gift shop, admiring their cold A/C and talking about knitting with the young lady at the cash register!
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One thing I did do is look through the two Mary Konior books I took with me. I tried a few patterns, and have decided on her "Forget-Me-Not" edging. Here is a sample I tatted out of some thread that was left on two shuttles. I did adjust her corner to my tatting, as well as the small chains before and after the flowers. Her original pattern is at the lower right; the long side on the left shows the changes I made. The pattern is in
A Pattern Book of Tatting, on page 28. More on what I'm tatting it for
later!
And why did we go this weekend in particular? Because tomorrow is a special day for us, and Mondays are so busy for both of us, it might be tough for both of us to get away tomorrow. July 11 is our 35th wedding anniversary! Elizabeth gifted us with sparkling apple juice and an assortment of her beautifully decorated cupcakes - yummy! It was a wonderful weekend!
And I can start a ring, but I can't close it - perspiration prevents it. It'll close later, when it's not so hot (September, maybe??). This is just a practice piece, anyhow, for something I hope will work out the way I want it to (I think it will) and will be an entry in the South Carolina State Fair in October! The actual piece will not be either of these colors, and will have beads. I'll post a picture...eventually!
DEAL OF THE WEEK: Stanley 12" Soft Base Tool Bag, $10.00 at Walmart. It comes with a tool roll up that's held on the outside of the bag with Velcro strips. Inside, there's a long zippered pouch and several pockets. One of the pockets opens out to almost the length of the bag. If you don't zip it closed on top, you can slide in a pattern book. It's begging for some tatting to decorate it!
