Portable Projects and An Excuse

There's only one problem with traveling and a portable project: finding time to open it! I'm guilty.

I was out of town for work for a week, came home, put the taxes in the mail, and immediately headed out of town for vacation. I'm always prepared for "down" time, but there never seems to be any when I travel--for whatever reason. In fact, I've had more rest since I came back to work earlier this week than when I was away on "vacation." But here's my excuse . . .

Photography. Just one other thing I like to do in my "free" time. In fact, my husband and I love to be outdoors and shoot so much, there's no cross stitch, rug hooking, or rest while on vacation. We are out the door before sunrise, on the go until well after dark, and taking advantage of every photo op at every turn. We are s-l-o-w. In fact, part of our vacation was spent in the Smoky Mountains. We spent one day on a trail brimming with wildflowers and 6 hours going the first 2.5 miles.

But here's part of the pleasure and the payoff. We ended our vacation at Cumberland Falls State Park for their Nature Photography Weekend. My husband has been attending and competing in the photo competition off and on since the 1980s. You have a little over 24 hours to shoot for the competition, and six photographs to select for six different categories. I've only competed for the last three years--first shooting slides and now shooting digital. Out of approximately 80 competitors, we both came away with two of the first place awards: my husband for wildflowers and mine for a "wet and wild" shot of a cascades that I converted to a black and white. We always enjoy the weekend, the nightly programs, and seeing the work of other photographers. We were both tickled and validated by the recognition. Now if I could only learn how to photograph my craft projects!

So . . . no project updates to share this week. Thanks, though, for your feedback on the Hannah Lancaster sampler. I will leave her as is. I have so much catching up to do with your blogs, and I hope you have had a more productive spring than I've had thus far. It's difficult tearing myself away from the outdoors. Happy spring and happy stitching!