Hello everyone and happy 2019! I’ve been in Holiday mode since Thanksgiving and I must confess, I’m a little exhausted! My excitement about this brave new year trumps a little fatigue, though.
Lots to share this week, first of all, our glorious trip to Costa Rica. It was sublime. The countryside is gorgeous, the people are lovely, there’s tons of wildlife and the beaches are heaven.
It’s very quick and painless to get there. The flight is not long or expensive. We landed in San Jose which I think is the biggest city, and were scooped up by a really great tour guide/van driver. We drove about 2-1/2 hours to the little unpaved surfing village of Dominical.
This is where we stayed, Casa de Pina, a little B&B run by some friends from New Orleans. I sat up on this deck on our first day and wrote a knitting pattern! Weird!
Miss Laura and I were in the water pretty much the entire vacation, from beach to pool and back again; I don’t think I was ever completely dry!
We happily sampled (and re-sampled!) the delicious Chiliguara, the unofficial shot of Costa Rica!
We hiked an easy trail through the rainforest where we saw two kinds of monkeys, howlers and capuchins, a coati mundi, a flock of toucans, red macaws and some kind of weird crab. (I possess no photos of that day because my iPhone 8 – Apple’s biggest mistake – was acting up). But, check it out! Yes, those are crocodiles.
We arrived back in New Orleans late on Christmas day so there was still plenty of party going on in the ol’ town. I had a fantastic New Years Eve, the best in years! I always think of it as overrated and usually stay home. New Orleans has become a top destination for New Years travel and this year I thought I’d take in some of the fun during the day, then get back home before the madness began. That’s not what happened.
After a lovely lunch with my bestie, Bubba, at the brand new Elysian Bar, we took in the Sugar Bowl parade, popped in to the Spotted Cat for a tune from the magnificent Monty Banks and had cocktails with sweet Susie at Johnny Whites. I thought I’d top it off with a visit to the Artisan Cafe, perhaps sticking around long enough to pick up Laura from work. That’s not what happened either. I wound up staying and ringing in the New Year with champagne and friends and fireworks. It was magic!
So what’s next?!? How ‘ bout a new hat pattern? The True North Hat is finished, blocked and tested and ready to be published on Friday! I’ll be offering a big discount so don’t miss it!
It’s super fun to knit with just a little bit of easy color work to keep things interesting. It’s the perfect first color work project. I hope you’ll stop by Friday and pick it up! For now that’s all the news that’s fit to print. Til Friday, happy knitting!
Cheryl
ps. Did I mention that the town’s on fire because our beloved Saints have top seed in the playoffs?!? WHO DAT!
