From a hotel in Spokane

Here I am, at the Holiday Inn Express on Mission street in Spokane Valley. It's a pretty nice place: the usual emenities, as well as a dog in the lobby...cookies and milk served nightly...and special dinners three nights a week. On Tuesday, they serve nachoes. Wednesday it's a barbeque and Thursday, it's pasta. Not very good for Tom's diabetes, so we'll probably skip that one tonight. Our usual fare is a large dinner salad, which I get daily from the Safeway across the street.

During the day, I hang out here at the hotel and sew (having brought my wee Janome and LOTS of fabric) Other days I wander off to explore my environment. Yesterday I did just that and ended up logging over 16,000 steps on my pedometer. That is well over 4 miles. Note to self, next time wear more sensible shoes. I did manage to get a blister, but ohboy, Safeway had "blister therapy" bandaids! There were three quilt shops along my route, so it was all worthwhile. I went down Mullan Street to Sprague, where I found a Heart Like Yours Quilt Shop. Unfortunately, I was there at 9:35 and they don't open until 10 a.m. No place to wait--a bench or a piece of shade would have been good, but alas...I will have to walk back to that one later. I continued on, to Simple Kits Quilt Shop, which is on Bowdish St. It's a tiny old house with lots of small rooms and creaky floors.
Carrie, the owner, is very friendly although her dog, Buddy, not so much. Not that he barked, but he did give me a fuzzy stare, with his bottom teeth showing. Not his fault, poor thing, he has a terrible underbite. Carrie's shop has lots of fabric stuffed in there, particularly 30's. I found a few things that came back to the hotel with me! From there, I continued north on Bowdish to Mission St. If I had gone left, I would have been back at the hotel (in another mile) but ohh dear, there was the Quilting Bee a half a mile to the right! You know, of course, I chose the right. ;-) By this time I suspected a blister was forming, but I was so close! The nice ladies there gave me a bandaid (hey, they asked if there was anything I was looking for!) Quilting Bee is a Bernina dealer and a bigger shop than Simple Kits. LOTS of fabric!
I had a good time there too. The walk back to the hotel was almost a hobble at the end, but once I heal a bit, I think I'll go back to the Quilting Bee. (they also gave me a bar of chocolate....definitely the way to my heart! lol)

Meanwhile, Tom left at 3 a.m. this morning, just like yesterday, poor man. Long days at the radar site at Mica Peak. We'll be here, all total, for 17 days.