A Musical Trip

I went on a road trip but I got to be a passenger this time instead of the driver. That was a pleasant change. My friend Elaine’s niece is a senior at a private college in Moscow, Idaho. Elaine and I went to her niece’s Christmas concert last year and had a wonderful time. (Niece sings with the concert choir.) We planned to go again this year, as did Elaine’s brother, Steve, and his wife. The four of us left Friday morning for the five-hour journey. We rode in Steve’s truck, which has a crew cab, so Elaine and I were very comfortable in the back seat. We knitted and played word games and visited. I finished three more möbius cowls. Elaine made winter hats to donate to local organizations.

We met Steve and Elaine’s sister, Alice, and her family at the Airbnb around 2 pm. They live in Seattle and had driven over on Thursday. Alice made dinner for all of us and then we headed to a nearby church. The concert was amazing. This college has a small but high-caliber conservatory program and the director does not shy away from difficult pieces. Alice and her husband have a solid grounding in music—as does their entire extended family—so afterward, we had a good discussion about the pieces that were included in the program.

We would have loved to have stayed for the entire weekend, but I am pianist and Steve is song leader and Elaine is the Zoom host, so all three of us had to be back for church this morning. We left Moscow at noon yesterday and were home by 7 pm. The weather and roads were clear in both directions. The four of us are the core of the worship planning team, so we also had an impromptu meeting about what we need to accomplish going forward.

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I am hoping for some dedicated sewing time through the end of the year. On Thursday, the other Janet and I put half a dozen classes on the calendar for early 2026. I need to make those class samples. I also need to start working on handouts and class samples for Sew Expo.

One of the classes we’re going to offer at the store is the Burnside Bibs from Sew House Seven:

These aren’t something I would wear, so I am going to make the sample to fit one of the girls that works at the store. She chose the fabric but I will make a muslin first to make sure they fit and to familiarize myself with the pattern.

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Another atmospheric river is heading into Seattle and will reach us around mid-week, but this time, we’re going to get snow instead of rain. Right now, it looks and feels more like March than December.

I am getting a new Jeep. I hatched this plan over Thanksgiving because DD#1 needs a better vehicle. The house they just purchased is about a mile off the county road and her current Honda Civic isn’t cutting it on the gravel road to their house. She had been thinking about getting another vehicle anyway and test drove a few last spring. I offered to sell her my current Jeep Grand Cherokee at a good price. It is a solid, safe vehicle and I have had zero problems with it. (A welcome change after owning The Diva for nine years.) I like it enough that I want another one. The husband contacted the fleet manager in the Seattle area who helped him with his work trucks and that guy found one for me. At some point, we’ll deliver my Jeep to her and pick up the new one.