C is for Cross Stitch

Cross Stitching is an old-fashioned hobby for sure, but I love it.  When I lived in Connecticut, I spent many a fall and winter evening stitching up a storm- cute country themes, kitchen wall hangings, dish towels....everything.  I don't know why, but cross stitching feels like it should be done when the weather is cooler, with a nice mug of tea nearby.

When I moved to Florida 15 years ago, I kind of let the hobby go.  It just didn't match the tropical weather- not something you could pack to work on at the beach, for instance.  Last year when I moved to the mountains of NC, my mother came to visit in the fall and was leafing through a Country Living Magazine when she found a pattern for a little log cabin.  She asked me to help her with it, so I went through my old basket filled with cross stitch supplies to find her a hoop to borrow. The basket was filled with memories for me...little alphabet girls that I stitched for my baby daughter, patterns I had finished for the walls of my house in Connecticut- all of a sudden, I had an overwhelming urge to start a new project.  After all, it was FALL in NC- the start of cooler weather!

We spent the next few weeks working on cross stitch projects together.  Mom finished her little log cabin and I stitched up a masterpiece for my sister's Christmas present.  I felt like I found an old friend. I worked on a few more projects before it was time to go to Florida for my winter job.  I did pack a project to work on but alas, Florida won again and I never even picked it up.

Flash forward to the end of my work season here, I'm leaving to go back to the mountains tomorrow, and what's on my to do list?  You guessed it- the cross stitch project I never touched while in Florida!

Being "Stephanna"

Last night was the final gathering of our Comedia Del'Arte troupe for the season and it was amazing! After much mead and merriment, we set about to do a read thru of next year's performance for the Florida Renaissance Festival.  Our leader, Richard, penned an abridged version of Shakespeare's The Tempest for our troupe, and we sat back and enjoyed each others portrayal of the characters.

I was happy to find myself  cast as the comic relief of the piece- and playing what I do best, a drunk!  My character, Stefano, is usually performed by a man- but not in this production- "Stephanna" will make people laugh this time.  I can't wait until next December when we will begin rehearsing for the season.

Merry Meet~ Merry Part~ And Merry Meet Again!

And...I'm giving this A to Z thing a try

Looking back on the handful of half-hearted posts I have made to this blog, I decided to chuck it all and give this a try.  I'm in Florida right now, typing on my laptop on my makeshift card table "desk" at my Mother's house.  I've been here about 12 weeks, working on the weekends at the Florida Renaissance Festival as an actress in the Shakespeare/Comedia Del'arte troupe.

I moved from Florida to the mountains of North Carolina last year.  My husband and I were brave enough to take a chance on a big change- moving from our 15 year residency in FL, back to change of seasons and beautiful mountain landscapes.  Before Florida I lived in New England for 40+ years, so living in North Carolina is like returning to a missed memory of Fall leaves, Spring flowers and pretty Winter snowfall (but not too much snowfall, thank goodness!).

I have 3 more days here in the tropics, and very soon I will be packing everything up and reuniting with my husband.  I miss my family here already, but they will be visiting when they can.