Category: tierneytravels

tierneytravels

Springtime in Brooklyn

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

At the end of April my sister and I met up in New York City and spent a couple days together in Brooklyn, exploring the Williamsburg and Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-stuy) neighborhoods.

I always get a kick out of the “I love NY” sculpture at La Guardia airport where I flew into from Denver:

(if you check out this post you will see John and Tierney Beastie on this sign on our their way to Ireland a couple years ago – Guest Blog Post: The Beasties’ Ireland Travelogue (Part I))

I do love New York. Although I was born in Pittsburgh, PA, I grew up in New York State, living in Long Island and in Upstate NY. I’ve been to NYC a zillion times and I remember being 14 and taking the train with a friend all the time for the day from Long Island to NYC (I wonder if parents nowadays would let their teenage daughters do that?). I always feel like NY is my home state, it holds a special place in my heart. When my late husband Terry died, I did consider moving back to New York State and explored with my sister Tarrytown, NY on the drive back from the celebration of life with Terry’s family in Upstate NY. (For some not-light reading…me as a new widow in late 2018…about the road-trip across 7 states with my sister here is the post – Stories from the Road, Part I)

But it seemed Colorado was calling me and besides John was waiting for me in Colorado (smile).

While visiting the NYC area my sister and I stayed at an Airbnb apartment in Bed-stuy and we had these hysterical narrow and steep stairs to climb to get to our apartment. Here is my sister doing the climb (we got use to it after a while):

We spent a day at the Brooklyn Waterfront/DUMBO area shopping, checking out the Brooklyn Bridge, and enjoying delicious food.

We spent a couple days wandering around the Williamsburg Brooklyn area and found the best little tea shop (which we visited twice!) as well as a wonderful indie bookstore. We were naughty and enjoy some amazing pastries at an exquisite bakery.

We also explored the Bed-stuy neighborhood and had a wonderful breakfast at an outdoor French-style cafe as well as got to see Director Spike Lee’s original studio.

The name of this Vegan eatery in Bed-stuy made us laugh- Slutty Vegan!:

It was definitely Springtime in NYC and we enjoyed seeing lots of flowers (and lots of tulips). I also went for a walk through one of the parks in Brooklyn and ran into a woman walking two adorable miniature schnauzers on a beautiful Spring day.

One evening wandering around Williamsburg, we stopped at an Irish pub for a pint of Guinness and met this awesome Willimsburg based couple that we spent the evening chatting with and sharing a meal. They might be visiting Denver in the future and we plan to connect again.

New Yorkers are definitely my people – I connect so easily with other New Yorkers!

It was a memorable trip and I just enjoy hanging out with my sister!

I’ll close this post with a poster on someone’s window in Williamsburg that made us smile:

I did ask my dog Mike but he is not ready to start up his Presidential campaign just yet…

tierneytravels

Rock & Roll Icons’ Guitars and Outfits

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

John and I recently returned from a trip to to Miami and Hollywood, Florida. John had a poker tournament at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

I spent a day at the Hard Rock Hotel wandering about and donating some money to slot machines while John was in his poker tournament.

The hotel’s decor was a tribute to Rock & Roll and when you first enter the hotel they have guitars on their doors:

The also have a guitar shaped Guitar Hotel!

Image credit: kayak.com

The hotel had an AMAZING collection of Rock & Roll memorabilia, primarily instruments (mostly guitars) and outfits that Rock & Roll icons played and wore. For those of you who love music like I do, I thought you might enjoyed some photos of their displays.

The Guitars

Here is a selection of some of the awesome guitars on display:

In case you have trouble reading the sings below the guitars in the images above, they are in order: Lenny Kravitz, Tom Petty, Geddy Lee (Rush), Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, and Nancy Wilson (of Heart).

The Clothing

Here is a sampling of some of the outfits worn by Rock & Roll icons they had on display:

The signs might be difficult to read in the image above so here are the artists attached to the clothing in each image in order: The Supremes, John Lennon (The Beatles), Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, George Michael, Keith Moon (The Who), and The Temptations.

Of course the images I share in this post do not do justice to what the guitars and clothing looked like in real life. It was amazing to see the displays of Rock & Roll history in person.

The hotel and casino was beautiful inside and I really loved this entire wall of seashells they had on display:

More on our recent trip to Florida in another post, just wanted to share a little about my visit to this hotel/casino.

Thrift Shop Adventures, tierneytravels

Sisters’ Trip to Englewood, Florida

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Back in early January in the post 2023 Recap: A Year in “Makes” and WIPs Going Forward, I mentioned I might do a 2023 Recap of my travel in 2023. Since we are now halfway through February I decided to skip that 2023 recap, but I will share a trip I went on in early December 2023 with my sister that I didn’t post about in 2023.

So my awesome sister, who knew that December is always a challenging time for me (12/13/23 was the 5th anniversary of my late husband’s passing), came up with the idea that we should go on a “Sisters’ Trip”/do something fun in December to distract me.

She randomly selected Englewood, Florida because it is near the coast, had nice Airbnbs (she loves to stay in Airbnbs) and seemed to have a low touristy/laid back vibe. My sister loves to visit places are on not highly touristy but have a cozy vibe.

We stayed at a cottage above a garage at a house near the beach and was called “The Tree House”. The charming elderly proprietor lived on site and had decorated it in a quaint vintage “shabby chic” style with Asian influence:

The house’s garden was amazing and had a little pool as well as lots of scenic seating and wandering about areas:

And there was a garden kitty to pet:

We were able to walk everywhere including the charming downtown and only used our rental car a couple of times. One of those times was when we went on a thrift shopping excursion one day (my sister LOVES thrifting and introduced me to it years ago).

Here I am with a fantastic Marimekko purse I found for $5 at one of the thrift shops:

We visited a giant resale and flea market type of shop where we browsed for hours it seemed and ended up getting ourselves each a teddy bear as a souvenir of our fabulous time together:

It appeared to be a family run shop and we made the teenage boy running the cash register laugh when we were checking out our bear purchase, by making the bears talk to each other and him. It was fun to be so lighthearted and silly with my sister!

This sign at the shop made us laugh:

Ha!

We ate lots of seafood, as I live in a “landlocked” state and whenever I am near fresh fish, then fresh fish and I are together!

We also went to the beach and had a lovely afternoon wandering about the coastal area:

Because it was not a high touristy area we got to hang out with “the locals” and spent each morning at an awesome coffee shop walking distance from our cottage. We hung out one morning with an elderly gentleman (Englewood appears to be a large retirement community) who was from Colorado and his very friendly dog who seemed to know every other local that came into the coffee shop. We had fun chatting with people while eating our breakfast in the living room like seating area at the front of the shop:

You can see in the first photo that the dog is getting his regular “pup cup” of whipped cream.

It seemed like a wonderful and friendly place (with a super laid back vibe) plus the temperature was wonderful in early December – 60s to 70s F (16 – 21 C) – but I was attacked by a zillion mosquitos (they seem to love me) and I do not think I could live in Florida unless I walked around with a mosquito net on – ha!

I’ll close my little travelogue with a magnet that was on the refrigerator of the cottage we stayed in that made me smile!

Guest Blogger, Miniature Schnauzer Adventures, tierneytravels

Guest Blog Post: Humans Traveling and Dog Camp

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

This is Mike, the Miniature Schnauzer that lives with Tierney and John. If you are new to this blog I guest blog post time to time. It’s January 31st and Tierney has not posted on her blog since January 15th (ScrapHappy January 2024 – Update on Table Runner and More ) and I needed to intervene and jump on her laptop and write a post (even though I don’t have opposable thumbs so typing is challenging).

I need to figure out the dictation feature…

Tierney has been busy doing some purging in her crafting area and quilting table runner she discussed in her January 15th (so long ago) blog post. Also she and John have been doing some traveling and recently returned from a trip to Las Vegas where John was in a poker tournament (he didn’t do too bad in the tournament!)

Since I am on her laptop I was able to find a couple photos from her trip to Las Vegas to share with you including a meal they had at Hell’s Kitchen (Chef Gordon Ramsey’s famous restaurant) of the renown Beef Wellington and Sticky Toffee pudding on the menu.

But what is more exciting than their trip is the time I had at “Dog Camp” where I stay when they go out of town. “Dog Camp” is only for dog’s my size and I have a group of dog friends (like my Miniature Schnauzer friend Bandit is a regular at “Dog Camp”).

Here’s Bandit trying to manage one of the humans that run “Dog Camp”:

And here are more awesome photos of me recently at “Dog Camp” (the humans that run it take photos and send to Tierney so she knows I am having more fun that her and John while they are on vacation):

Yes I need to nap, as do my friends, after all that fun!

Well that’s all I had to share, but I am going to talk to Tierney and ask her to get caught up on her blogging friends’ posts as well as start writing her own posts again!

tierneytravels

Folk Art Center, Asheville, NC

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I thought I would close out my 31 days of daily blogging to celebrate my 10th anniversary month in October 2023 with a little more on our trip to Asheville, North Carolina a couple months ago. Check out the post Greetings from Asheville – Blue Ridge Parkway for more on our trip.

John’s long time friend E was our tour guide during our trip and one day he took us to an absolutely magical place – the Southern Highland Craft Guild’s The Folk Art Center.

Downstairs was an amazing craft shop with everything from handmade baskets to spectacular quilts; and upstairs was a craft museum with exhibits of new work and historical works.

I took like a thousand pictures (okay perhaps only 70 or so) but here are a couple of my favorite images of what was on display or for sale.

If you are a crafter visiting Asheville I highly recommend this place. John and E were very patient as I wandered around this magical place wanting to see everything. I think they had a good time also (E and his wife S have purchased some amazing crafts from this place for their home); or they were patient because they knew afterwards we’d be visiting another amazing Asheville, NC brewery (Asheville is known for its craft breweries!)

tierneytravels

Greetings from Asheville – Blue Ridge Parkway

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Greetings from Asheville, North Carolina. John and I have been visiting his friends in Asheville, North Carolina and we went for an amazing drive on the Asheville section of the Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoyed the Fall Colors.

Thought I would share this short post to share some photos from our drive and I’ll share more of our adventures in future posts.

Outside Adventures!, tierneytravels

All Aboard the Georgetown Loop

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

At the end of September, John and I went on a road trip to Idaho Springs, CO and Georgetown, CO. We had lunch in Idaho Springs and then headed to Georgetown so I could experience the Georgetown Loop Railroad.

I love trains and I am especially fond of old locomotives!

The day started with an hour road trip to Idaho Springs and a road trip is a great excuse to stop for snacks at a roadside convenience shop in the mountains:

Those were poor nutritional choices but they were delicious!

Snacks in hand, I enjoyed the mountainous scenery and tunnels along the way:

We had lunch in the darling town of Idaho Springs at BeauJo’s Pizza known for it’s “Mountain Pie” a pizza with a tall/large crust with accompanying honey to dip it in.

After that tasty experience, we wandered around downtown Idaho Springs, a former mining town, window shopping and stopping at one of my favorite charity thrift shops that I always visit when I am in the area.

And there was a 50% off sale, but I was good as I didn’t really need anything, I just like to browse!

Georgetown isn’t far from Idaho Springs, so a short drive and we were there:

From the parking lot you can see the train:

Waiting at the station for it to arrive:

We sat right behind the locomotive engine so we had a great view. Here are photos from the train ride:

We stopped at another station for a gift shop and bathroom break and I realized just how high above sea level were were!

My favorite part of the train ride was listing to this – so awesome!

And here is video I found on YouTube by a self proclaimed “train nerd” that provides a nice overview of the experience with history (we didn’t do the optional mine tour this time):

Beastie Adventures, Guest Blogger, tierneytravels

Guest Blog Post: Beasties Return to Ireland! (Re-post)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

What? Two tierneycreates Beastie guest blog posts in a row? No actually I am sort of cheating – this is a re-post from October 2022. Since it is the tierneycreates blog’s 10th anniversary in October 2023, I’ve challenged myself to post everyday (or shall I say “torture you all everyday to another post”) and I thought I would pepper in some re-postings during this anniversary month of some favorite posts (yep, that’s my excuse for not doing new posts everyday, ha!).

This post is a very special memory from my first trip to Ireland with John, our friends K and M, and our Beasties! Plus we got to meet M’s new Beastie – “Matty” Beastie; and of course meet Helen of Crawcrafts Beasties who made all the Beasties happen!

Please see the “Postscript” section of this post for a special dedication.

Guest Blog Post: Beasties Return to Ireland! (October 11, 2022 re-post)

This is tierneycreates Beastie guest blog posting (if you are new to this blog, my story is on this post –  I’m A Monster!!! and you can see all my posts at this link: Beastie Adventures).

You haven’t heard from Tierney or myself in a while as we’ve been in Ireland!

Tierney, John, John Beastie and I recently returned from Ireland and I got to see my maker Helen of Crawcraft Beasties & Knit with Helen; and Tierney got to meet Helen in person for the first time!

We had lots of adventures in Ireland visiting cities such as Dublin, Galway, Doolin, etc. I told Tierney I would get the blog posts on our trip started as she is still rather jet lagged.

Here I am trying to write this blog post (sitting at my desk that John built me, see post Guest Blogger: A Desk for Me!) while my dog Mikelet is trying to get attention from me as he missed me on my long trip (we did not take him for fear he might get misplaced during the trip).

We visited Ireland with Tierney and John’s friends K and M who visit Ireland a couple times a year. K’s family is from Ireland and she still has family there and M who is part Irish, is well versed in Irish culture and history.

K also knows Helen as she has been working with Helen to get her husband M his very own Beastie!

John Beastie, Tierney, K and I met up with Helen and visited a pub for a Beastie reunion with Helen. Here are a couple photos of our initial reunion, I could not decide which one I like best of my awesome maker so I included them all!

She was pretty pleased to see us again as she sends her Beasties out all over the world and rarely gets to see them in person again once they’ve traveled across the ocean!

After the pub, we all headed to Helen’s studio for a little tour of her studio, to meet the new Beastie for K’s husband M, and to take a little knitting class (Helen is a professional knitting instructor) to learn how to knit cables (which scare K and Tierney).

This is Helen’s new studio and although John Beastie and I were not “born” here but it was awesome to be in a place where our fellow Beasties are now “born”:

Here is a little photo tour of Helen’s bright and cheery studio:

After a little studio tour, it was time to meet “Matty Beastie” (and his dog Riley) the new Beastie Helen made for K’s husband M:

Matty Beastie comes with his dog Riley the Chocolate Lab (to see the Canine Riley check out the post Loved (or mugged) by a Lab, Tierney is Riley’s “Dog Godmother”), a pint of Guinness, as well as his PJs (if he gets tired of wearing his jeans) and his famous slippers.

Helen brilliantly added a magnet to Matty Beastie’s chest so he could hold up his pint of Guinness:

John Beastie and I took a group photo with our new friend Matty Beastie who we would now be touring Ireland with:

As you can see I was not sure where to look during the photo as Helen was also taking a photo of our group at the same time.

We got distracted during the photoshoot and Riley ended up sampling some of Matty Beastie’s Guinness!

I did take Matty Beastie aside and give him some tips on managing humans and how to get away with things right under their noses…

While John Beastie and I visited with our new friend, the humans Helen, K and Tierney) had a cable knitting class. Below is a photo of the class sample and a photo of Tierney clumsily trying to knit her first cable (she won’t be whipping out a new Aran sweater for me anytime soon…).

I am sure Tierney will do a post about it whenever she finishes that headband.

After the knitting class, we headed back out to a pub (the humans visited a lot of pubs while in Ireland) to meet up with human John and human M so he could be surprised with his new Beastie!

John Beastie and I watched with anticipation while M excitedly unboxed his new Beastie:

Matty Beastie was a hit with M and John Beastie had raise a pint to toast the newest member of our US based Beastie family!

Sláinte!

More stories to come on our Ireland adventures. Tierney asked me to include this photo as proof that she and human John really did come on the trip:

I am also including this photo – Tierney captured in a moment of pure joy hanging out with my maker Helen in person for the first time:

image courtesy of K.

POSTSCRIPT

This post is dedicated to Riley (2019 – 2023). The pup that “Matty Beastie” had with him was based on the real life Riley, see post Loved (or mugged) by a Lab. Riley suddenly passed in the summer of 2023 from an unknown illness.

Many hearts were broken including of course K and M who were absolutely devastated.

They do have a new lab puppy which I featured in this post Bag to Celebrate a New Lab!, and their hearts are slowly healing.

John got to meet Riley in 2021 when we visited K and M in California:

Riley giving John lots of kisses

I met Riley in 2019.

Riley was my “dog goddaughter” and I first met her as a puppy a couple days after they adopted her and a couple months after my husband Terry had just died, when visiting K and M in California. Snuggling with their new puppy very comforting and healing:

Riley was not my dog but she and I had a special connection. I miss you Riley.

tierneytravels

Bonjour Montréal (Part III)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Time to finish up my three part series of posts about the trip my sister and I took a couple weeks ago to  Montréal, Québec, Canada. Please see posts for Bonjour Montréal! (Part I) and Bonjour Montréal (Part II) for the rest of the story.

THE VEGAN SUSHI EXPERIMENT

I love sushi but I rarely eat raw fish sushi, just the sushi rolls with smoked or cooked fish; or vegetarian rolls. Well while in  Montréal we discovered VEGAN SUSHI! One night we had dinner at Bloom Sushi and it was the best sushi I’ve ever eaten!

We sort of gorged ourselves on vegan sushi – the flavors were so amazing. (When I returned to Denver I found a vegan sushi place and John and I have since eaten there in downtown Denver twice. Who knew vegan sushi could be so delicious?)

If you are ever in Montréal I highly recommend Bloom Sushi even if you think it sounds weird to eat vegan sushi. In addition to the exquisite food the service was impeccable and the atmosphere was very zen, warm and inviting. My sister and I did not want to leave the place but it was eventually closing for the evening, ha!

NOTRE-DAME BASILICA

One morning we toured the breathtaking Notre-Dame Basilica and here are some of crazy amount of photos I took while we were inside:

Photos do not do it justice, so here is a video walk through I found on YouTube if you’d like to see more. I would say it is a mandatory tourist stop if you visit Montréal, even if you do not care for “churches”.

If you wonder what the massive pipe organ sounds like I found a video of it being played:

The outside was pretty awesome too, here are some photos from when we were on line waiting to get in (with all the other tourists!):

OTHER SIGHTS/ADVENTURES

We wandered the neighborhoods of Old Montréal, Downtown Montréal, Petite Italy, and a little of the Latin Quarter.

We had fun visiting many little shops, neighborhood eateries and bars. Below is an example of some tasty martinis we had.

The people of Montréal were so friendly and helpful. I brought along my terrible high school French and tortured the French-Canadians with it. Nearly everyone also spoke English so we got by just fine. I did get some giggles from my attempt at communicating in French and they quickly redirected me into an English conversation, ha! I did smile when I got mistaken a couple times for a local and the shopkeepers began speaking French to me.

This reminds me of years ago when my late husband Terry and I went to Denmark (to visit a friend); and then onto Amsterdam, Brussels, and Antwerp for a little Belgium beer holiday (we were really into Belgium beers at the time). While in Belgium, Terry a Napoleonic Era history buff, really wanted to visit Waterloo (Napoleon’s last stand). From Brussels we had to take a bus and then a train to Waterloo and NO ONE along the way spoke English, it was an all French speaking region of Belgium. I had to definitely pull out the very rusty high school French.

When we got on the bus first to get to the train, Terry and I could not sit together on the bus as there were only single seats available and so he sat in back. The gentleman sitting next to him spoke to him in French (Terry knew like little to no French) nearly the entire bus ride and Terry just kept eye contact and nodded. I kept looking back and saw that the guy seemed to think Terry was his new best friend and had no clue that he was not understanding a word he said! When we got off at our stop the guy wished him well in French and Terry nodded goodbye!

I teasingly asked Terry what they were talking about and he said he did not know but the guy was very chatty and seem to think they were having a very engaging conversation!

Okay so back to my Montréal trip. Bringing out my rusty high school French (which wasn’t even French-Canadian French) brought back that memory!

The best part of the trip was just hanging out with my sister and I look forward to our next sister adventure.

I’ll close this post (and this three part series of posts) with a sign that was out in front of Le Beau Marché where we’d by our groceries, that made me smile:

Life in B&W, tierneytravels

Bonjour Montréal (Part II)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Here is Part II (or “deuxième partie”) of my series of posts (there will be three total) on the little holiday my sister and I took a couple weeks ago in Montréal, Québec, Canada. Please see this post for Part I – Bonjour Montréal! (Part I).

Montréal has the feels of an old European city and there are so many wonderful photo opportunities. My sister and I decided to take some photos in Black & White and here is a selection of our photos from our sightseeing:

There we so many amazing doors! I had to control myself and not take hundreds of photos of doors an entrances.

One door in particular caught my eye – not because of it’s amazing architectural style but because of it’s message:

Sounds like great advice!

The next post on this trip I will finish sharing some of our adventures, but tomorrow I have a special post with some fun news to share (smile)…

Special Events, tierneytravels

The Kiski Sibling Road Trip, Part II

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A continuation from yesterday’s post The Kiski Sibling Road Trip, Part I.

I’ve shared background on my father’s legacy in older posts such as this post – Creative Inspiration: Stories My Father Told Me (re-post) His legacy is more than I’ve shared in previous posts and in this post you will learn even more.

As I shared in the previous post, my younger brother, younger sister and I traveled to Saltsburg, PA to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony/dedication ceremony on Tuesday September 12, 2023 of a classroom at The Kiski School where my father, Raoul A. Davis, Sr. (1931 – 2008) was the first African American graduate (1950). (He attended The Kiski School for his Senior Year of high school)

Below is the placard to be mounted in the dedicated classroom:

To give you all the background on this, I am going to share the excellent post my brother did in the social media platform LinkedIn:

Yesterday we celebrated a legacy. Seventy-four years ago yesterday, my father, Raoul Davis Sr., courageously walked through the halls of The Kiski School as its first African American student. Returning to those same halls and seeing the reverence with which he is remembered, touched my heart in ways words can barely express.

The Kiski School has long stood as a beacon of excellence, nurturing young men to become their best selves. My families gratitude to the entire Kiski community is immeasurable – from the dedicated staff and the spirited students to the school’s leadership, who made me and my sisters feel like we were home. A special nod to Carla Ross and Mark Rhodehamel, whose warmth and dedication were palpable throughout our visit.

To hear the current students express appreciation for my father’s willingness to be a trailblazer was humbling. It’s one thing to know your parent’s worth within the confines of home, but quite another to witness the far-reaching impact of their bravery. Kiski set the foundation for my dad to go onto to the founder of the URBAN LEAGUE OF LONG ISLAND, INC. Serve as the Executive Director of the Urban League of Albany. He loved working with the National Urban League going back to Vernon Jordan.

He worked with street gangs in New York City on creating truce, and served with distinction former NY Governor Mario Cuomo to celebrate African American culture in the state.

In 1949, the foresight of Dr. Clark, the headmaster at the time, is a testament to Kiski’s enduring spirit of inclusivity. By actively recruiting my father and ensuring he had a memorable experience, Dr. Clark did more than just integrate the school; he set the stage for a more inclusive future.

As Kiski steps into its 136th school year, the Raoul Davis Sr. ’50 Classroom stands not just as a brick and mortar testament but as a symbolic commitment to honor diverse histories and ensure that every student recognizes the strength that lies in unity and diversity.

Kiski’s commitment to celebrating trailblazers and preserving the legacy of those who’ve paved the way is commendable. My father’s story, intertwined with Kiski’s, reminds us of the unwavering spirit of those who dare to be the first and the institutions that support them.

Thank you, Kiski, for keeping the legacy of Raoul Davis Sr. alive and for reminding us that true legacies are built on the foundation of courage, determination, and resilience.

The Kiski School is a private all-boys preparatory (prep) school that was established in 1888. Here we are arriving at the school and were warmly greeted by the two security officers at the gate who took this photo:

Two awesome Directors from The Kiski School, Carla and Mark (who were also responsible for making the classroom dedication happen and are in the first photo below), gave us an amazing tour of the school’s grounds. Here are some photos from that tour:

As you can see in the photo above, The Kiski School overlooks the town of Saltsburg and there is a lovely view!

During the tour, my sister came up with the awesome idea of a cool group standing/feet photo around The Kiski School image on their rug in the administration building:

(Just a little humor: my sister and I both have an obsession with dapper mens footwear – there is something so cool about a dapper pair of mens shoes. We really got a kick out of the wonderful shoes that the Director Mark wore – the brown shoes to the right – and we became obsessed with them! We might have to convince our husbands to get those shoes! Ha!)

The ribbon cutting ceremony was an experience I cannot put into words. It was VERY stirring.

A touching speech was given by a young man of color who was the current Class President. He shared how my father’s legacy has inspired him. Here we are in a selfie after the ribbon cutting ceremony with that amazing young man:

My siblings and I were trying to keep the tears out of our eyes (we weren’t always successful) during the speeches. Then we got to actual “cut the ribbon” with a giant pair of scissors to the new classroom dedicated to our father. They gave us a pair of giant scissors to keep to commemorate the event.

Inside the classroom was a slide presentation of photos from our father’s time at The Kiski School and the amazing art by the artist Yvonne Davis (no relation):

One of the photos in the slideshow (“Class of 1950”) was of our father standing on the back steps of the school. My siblings and I got a chance to stand on those exact steps during the tour before the ribbon cutting:

We got chills when we stood where our father stood 73 years ago, I cannot put into words what I experienced but it was amazing.

After the ribbon cutting ceremony we met with an amazing group of students in the school’s library, answered their questions, and had a panel interview for their school’s newspaper. We were interviewed by an engaging young man who definitely has a future in journalism if he likes!

It was an experience I cannot put into words, talking with the group of young men in the library post ribbon cutting. It was like interacting with a group of glowing beacons that were going to help improve the future of our world. It is a moment in time my siblings and I will never forget and we are so appreciative to The Kiski School for giving us this moment.

We also got to see the collection of communication that the school kept on file from the time our father attended, including this piece of correspondence from 1949:

Little did our father know when he wrote this letter in 1949 what his amazing legacy would be!

I’ll close this post with the amazing stained glass window in the same building as the school library which really captured my attention (the photo does not do it justice):

tierneytravels

The Kiski Sibling Road Trip, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I thought I would do this post in two parts since I have a lot of photos to share.

Monday September 11, 2023 I met up with my brother and sister in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to embark on a road trip to Saltsburg, PA to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony/dedication ceremony on Tuesday September 12, 2023 of a classroom at The Kiski School where my father, Raoul A. Davis, Sr. was the first African American graduate (1950). I’ll tell you more about that in the next post but in this post I will just share some photos from our first sibling road trip in over 20 years!

Here we are in my brother’s car headed out on our 5+ hour road trip. My beautiful sister wasn’t ready for the impromptu photo (I surprised her) so here are the sections of the photo of my brother and I:

We stopped along the way for a meal/snack and here are a couple of the poor nutritional choice we made (ha!) – well it was a road trip and you have to enjoy some “road trip food” at truck stops when you roadtripping!

Besides chatting with my brother and sister on the road trip, I did try to be productive as a passenger and I worked on some English Paper Piecing hexagons during the trip for the quilt I will someday finish (see post The Horizontal Diaries, January 30, 2023):

After a long day of road tripping, we stayed overnight in a hotel in Pittsburg, PA and then in the mid morning headed to Saltsburg, PA for the ribbon cutting ceremony. But first when we got to Saltsburg we had lunch at a delightful little cafe in downtown Saltsburg:

Downtown Saltsburg looked like a time capsule from the 1940s/1950s/1960s – here is the “old school” parking meter we put a quarter in (yes one quarter) to pay for our parking (I thought it needed of a B&W photo):

Here we are outside the cafe before heading in for lunch dressed for the ribbon cutting ceremony:

It was an awesome roadtrip with more awesomeness to come later that day at The Kiski School!

Oregon Coast Adventures, tierneytravels

Oregon Coast Adventures: The Beauty of the Oregon Coast

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Thought I would close out my series of posts about my visit to the Oregon Coast at the end of July 2023 with a couple favorite photos from the ca-zillion (an even higher number than “zillion”) photos I took during the trip.

(If you are just joining us you can catch the rest of the story in this series of posts (scroll down when you click the link to get to the 4 earlier stories from this trip) – Oregon Coast Adventures.)

Our Oregon based friends MJ and J who know the Oregon Coast very well, took us on road trips from Newport to Florence, Oregon along Highway 101 . Many of the photos below are from those stops and apologies I do not remember all the names of the places so I just omitted them – ha!

It was so wonderful to be back in Pacific NW and walk among the old growth forests/trees – oh how I missed them and their dense foliage! I remember many a wonderful solitary or group hike in these types of forests during the 22 years I lived in the Pacific NW (8 years in Seattle, Washington and 14 years in Bend, Oregon).

I’ll close out this post with what might be my favorite photo from the trip:

Independent bookstores, Oregon Coast Adventures, tierneytravels

Oregon Coast Adventures: Noodling About Newport

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Continuing my series of posts about our trip to the Oregon Coast in late July to visit with our dear friends MJ and J.

(If you are just joining us you can catch the rest of the story in this series of posts (scroll down when you click the link to get to the 3 earlier stories from this trip) – Oregon Coast Adventures.)

On the second day of our trip (for the first day see Oregon Coast Adventures: First Stop -McMinnville, Oregon and Oregon Coast Adventures: Second Stop – Depoe Bay) we drove to the coastal town of Newport, Oregon to meet up with our friends.

On our way to meet up with our friends I had John stop at a “boutique” Goodwill Thrift Store. I’ve never been to one before. I chatted with the staff member who greeted me when I entered and she said they sold donated “luxury” and “upscale” items there.

It was unlike any Goodwill I’d been to before (if you are familiar with Goodwill thrift/charity shops then you know many of them are very cluttered and kind of run down looking).

Friends of our friends let us stay at their amazing vacation home in Newport. One of the owners is a quilter and the gorgeous vacation home was filled with quilts! (My kind of place to stay at!)

They even had a quilt in the master suite bathroom!

The house had a wonderful view out the back of the Newport Bridge and a lovely piece of stained glass in the entry way window:

It was nice to stay in a cozy home for a couple days on vacation with our friends as we were able to make delicious meals and have a movie night one evening. John of course made his famous “sausage and gravy” for breakfast one morning to the delight of our friends.

While in Newport we wandered around the Nye Beach area and I could not wait to get my toes in the sand and then the ocean!

The town next to the beach is charming (they have flowers everywhere!) and we had fun wandering about and of course I had to stop at the local independent bookstore!

John and my friends were very patient while I got my bookstore browsing on. They had a lovely new and used book collection.

I’ll close out this post with a couple more photos from our wandering around Newport to include some cool art made from recycled rubber tires in downtown Newport.

Oregon Coast Adventures, tierneytravels

Time in Tillamook (and other places)

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Before July’s trip to the Oregon Coast gets to be too much of a blur in the place, I should probably continue my story about the trip. I am going to jump the end of our trip and the road trip to return from Newport/Oregon Coast to Portland, Oregon to fly home back to Denver. Also I want to share a little quilt shop tour of the “out of the way, down the road, in the back of the woods” quilt shop we came across in Tillmook, Oregon on our way back to Portland.

If you are just joining us you can catch the rest of the story in this series of posts (scroll down when you click the link to get to the 3 earlier stories from this trip) – Oregon Coast Adventures .

Here was our route from Newport, Oregon (on the coast) to Portland, Oregon (inland). We took a different route back to Portland than the one we took to the Oregon Coast (where we went through McMinnville) in the post Oregon Coast Adventures: First Stop -McMinnville, Oregon:

Let’s talk Tillmook first, as it was the one quilt shop stop I made while visiting the Oregon Coast area. Technically it is not on the coast as it is a little bit inland but we’ll pretend like it is the coast.

I asked John if we could stop in Tillmook on our way to Portland as it’s been many years since I’ve been to the Tillmook Factory/Tillmook Dairy Co-op where the dairy products I love (seriously yummy ice cream and cheese, etc.) come from.

On our way there I saw a sign for a quilt shop – Sew Little Time and I asked John to pull off the main highway and follow it. This took us into some back roads and I was beginning to get suspicious if there was actually a quilt shop there…

(Can you see the news headlines: DENVER COUPLE DISAPPEARS LOOKING FOR A QUILT SHOP IN RURAL TILLAMOOK)

But finally there was after driving deeper and deeper into the rural area – at someone’s house!

Once I convinced myself to walk in, I discovered a lovely little shop with wonderful and very helpful staff.

This is the shop where I found the fabric to make the bag from our friends K & M who just got the new lab puppy (see post Bag to Celebrate a New Lab! ):

The had older fabric lines and a lot of “country/rural life” themed fabrics but they are a small shop in a neighborhood and likely gear their fabric selections to what people in the rural community wanted (Tillamook has a large farming community and we saw some gorgeous farms as we drove around). The staff was so warm and friendly I would stop there again even if I am not sure what I would buy there (unless I had a friend who just got a new tractor and I was making a gift with tractor fabric…). The shop does not appear to have a website but here is an article about them from the Cannon Beach Gazette – With ‘Sew Little Time’, go quilt shopping.

After the quilt shop we headed to the Tillmook Factory/Tillmook Dairy Co-op and wandered around a bit and shopped in their giant “gift shop” of dairy delights!

Not for the lactose-intolerant!

Before we got to Tillamook, we stopped in Pacific City at the Pelican Brewing Company and had snack and a craft beer, then wandered along to beach.

Our flight back to Denver was in the early evening, and before we dropped our rental car back off at the Portland airport, we stopped in downtown Portland for an early dinner at Deschutes Brewery and a wander around Powell’s Books.

It was fun to take John to two places I love (Deschutes Brewery and Powell’s) for the first time!

I likely have another story or two in me about this trip so stay tuned for more Oregon Coast adventures in the future.

A Crafter's Life, tierneytravels

Oregon Coast Adventures: Second Stop – Depoe Bay

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Toward the end of July 2023 we met up with dear friends on the Oregon Coast. I am doing a series of blog posts about our adventures on the Oregon Coast – check out the blog category – Oregon Coast Adventures – for the other posts (note when you click the link this current post will be the first one that shows but keep scrolling).

After flying into Portland, Oregon, renting a car, and stopping in McMinnville, Oregon (see post Oregon Coast Adventures: First Stop -McMinnville, Oregon) we drove to Depoe Bay, Oregon and spent the night at a little motel right on the bay. We came in a day before our friends we to arrive so we could do a little sightseeing on our own and leisurely make our way to Newport, Oregon to meet up with them.

The motel itself was nothing to “write home about” but it had a tasty free breakfast included and some amazing views.

This was the view from our motel room window:

And here are photos of the beach area a little bit down from the motel where we did a little exploring before heading to a delicious fresh seafood dinner.

And of course I had to take a photo in B&W:

I love this photo! Looks kind of mysterious and moody!

Next post in this series I’ll share our adventures when we got to Newport, Oregon to meet up with our friends.

Oregon Coast Adventures, Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

Oregon Coast Adventures: First Stop -McMinnville, Oregon

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Toward the end of July we met up with dear friends (the kind of friends that you’d also consider family) on the Oregon Coast.

These are friends I met in Bend, Oregon where I lived for 14 years until my husband Terry suddenly died in 2018. I haven’t been able in the 4.5+ years since moving to Colorado to bring myself to return to Bend, Oregon for a visit (such an awesome life…nearly perfect… was lost there and I still have some trauma from coming home and finding my life partner on the floor dead in the house I’d plan to live in with him the rest of my life…too painful to return yet…) and I didn’t want try to ask my friends to come all the way to Denver again to visit us, so the “compromise” was to meet up the Oregon Coast (via Portland, Oregon).

It wasn’t much of a “compromise” as I love the Oregon Coast; and John (my new life partner) hasn’t been to the Oregon Coast, one of my favorite places in the world (or the places I’ve been in the world), and I was so excited to share it with him.

Central Oregon Coast map from aaroads.com/guides/us-101-or/

The plan was meet up with our friends in Newport, Oregon on the Oregon Coast the next day after flying into Portland, Oregon. We rented a car and here was our travel route (with lots of beauty along the way to see on the Pacific Coast Highway/Highway 101):

Image from Google Maps

But along the way we decided to stop in McMinnville, Oregon for lunch and to visit a quilt shop I had visited many years ago (I think before blogging as I could not find a blog post about it, ha!) – Boersma’s Sewing Center.

John sat in “the husband area” (ha!) with the vacuums (they sell sewing and vacuum related items) while I browsed.

After the quilt shop we headed to a lovely brewery (Two Dogs Taphouse) nearby for a delicious lunch:

We loved that they had a cozy sitting area, actually like a living room, that you could relax in with your beer and your food and watch TV:

After lunch we stopped at Third Street Books (how can I pass up an independent bookstore?) on our way to our car:

And then off to Depoe Bay (the town before Newport as you head south down the Oregon Coast) where we would be spending the night until we met up with our friends the next day in Newport, Oregon.

Life in B&W, Oregon Coast Adventures, tierneytravels

Oregon Coast Adventures: Yaquina Head Lighthouse in B&W

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s been a long time since I’ve added a post to my blog category Life in B&W where I let my inner Ansel Adams run free (smile). So it was time to share some of the Black & White photos I took while recently visiting the Oregon Coast. I’ll tell you more about the trip in a future post, but for now here are photos from our visit to Yaquina Bay State Park in Newport, Oregon and the Yaquina Head Lighthouse:

While at the state park beach area we enjoyed looking for life in the tide pools (the tide was low), a visiting with a park ranger who gave us a great overview, looking at large rocks covered with endless mussels, and trying to carefully walk on the rocks on the beach near the tide pools (the beach is entirely made of black basaltic rocks) without wiping out on Cobble Beach!

If you’d like to see more and see some of what we saw but in actual color, here is a video I found on YouTube:

Shows and Exhibits, Special Events, tierneycreates, tierneytravels, WCQN

Black Pioneers Exhibit Celebration, California Museum, Sacramento, CA

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

The Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West exhibit opened at the California Museum in Sacramento, CA on June 10, 2023 however the official exhibit opening event occurred on July 15, 2023 and I attended.

I was so surprised to discover my quilt Langston Hughes: Pioneer Poet was used as their show poster! The museum staff told me how much they loved my quilt.

Here are some of the photos I took (including the poster and my piece, see videos below to see the other quilts in the show):

This quilt has gotten a lot of mileage! I also found it posted on other online advertisement for the show:

GoodDay Sacramento morning show had a segment on the exhibit (you will see my piece toward the end of the segment):

GoodDay Sacramento

CBS News Sacramento also had a segment on the exhibit:

CBS News Sacramento

And here is the walk-through video I took while at the exhibit:

I recently returned from a long weekend in California. John and I visited family and friends in Oakland and Sacramento California. I’ll share some photos/stories from those visits in a future post.

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

A Lovely Time in Loveland

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A month ago John and I decided to visit Fort Collins, CO for an overnight visit. We love Fort Collins and are entertaining the idea of moving there someday…perhaps.

On our way to Fort Collins, we stopped in the neighboring town Loveland, CO to visit John’s sister and her husband and go on a boat ride with her and her husband.

We had a lovely boat ride around the reservoir/lake area they live in (Colorado is far from the ocean but we do have rivers, reservoirs and lakes to sail on). Their adorable little dog Lacey came on the boat ride with us and had her own little bed on the boat:

After visiting with John’s sister and her husband we stopped at the Loveland Visitor Center to get John a sticker (he collects stickers to put on his toolbox) and took some photos of the awesome “Love” sign outside the visitor center:

(Did you spot John in the photo?)

Behind the “O” of LOVE, which is shaped into a heart, are “love locks” where people promising their love to each other have left locks:

You can see the theme of Loveland is “Love” and inside the visitor center they also had this sign that you could use as a background for photos:

Postscript

A Visit to Pink Door Fabrics

Before we got to Loveland, we first stopped in Frederick, CO to visit the retail store of Pink Door Fabrics, which is only open to the public 2 days a month.

Here are some photos from my wander around the retail store of Pink Door Fabrics, which is primarily an online shop specializing in Tula Pink fabrics.

I was well behaved until I got to this section of the shop:

I filled my bag really full and they did not mind!

tierneytravels

The Cliffs of Moher

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I thought I would return to the trip to Ireland (Dublin, Doolin, Galway) John and I took with our friends K and M in October 2022. There were so many wonderful sights (see posts Guest Blog Post: Beasties Return to Ireland!, Guest Blog Post: The Beasties’ Ireland Travelogue (Part I), and Guest Blog Post: The Beasties’ Ireland Travelogue (Part II)) and I haven’t blog much about them.

Also I noticed that only the tierneycreates Beastie guest post blogged about the Ireland trip, I cannot find a post that I wrote (smile and wink).

One of the spectacular places were visited while in Ireland were the Cliffs of Moher which looked like something out of a movie.

Here is a little background on the Cliffs of Moher from the attraction’s website if you are not familiar with them:

At The Cliffs

One of Ireland’s favourite visitor experiences & tourist attractions, the Cliffs of Moher tower over the rugged West County Clare coast.

Visually spectacular, the Cliffs of Moher sit astride the striking landscape of the Burren on one side and the Wild Atlantic Ocean on the other. Rising out of the Atlantic waters to a height of over 700ft at O’Brien’s Tower and running along the coast of Clare for almost 14 kilometres, or 8 miles, the Cliffs of Moher were formed over 320 million years ago, and today form part of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark. The Cliffs of Moher is in a Special Protection Area for Birds and Wildlife. The magnificent Cliffs on the Wild Atlantic Way host major colonies of nesting sea birds and are one of the country’s most important bird-breeding sites. Borrow some binoculars from our information desk and do some bird watching. Enjoy the captivating spectacle of the vast array of sea birds, a delightful way to pass the hours.

It was very very very windy on the cliffs and here are John and I braving the wind:

And here are our friends K and M. that we went to Ireland with, battling the wind at the cliffs:

K’s mother was from Ireland and she still has plenty of family there (some of which we met up with in Galway while we were visiting); and her husband M goes to Ireland all the time so they were awesome tour guides.

I took over 100 photos at the cliffs and I am certainly not going to torture you to them all (or clog up my image allotment on WordPress); so I made myself select a couple of my favorites to share with you the beauty of the Cliffs of Moher:

The photos of course do not do the beauty of the Cliffs of Moher justice – I felt like I was on the set of a movie and fully understood why the call Ireland the “Emerald Isle“.

Here is a little video I took:

There were a lot of cattle grazing in the grasslands area of the Cliffs of Moher and one particularly friendly bovine caught my attention and we took a photo together.

Now I am considering becoming vegetarian again, ha!

Independent bookstores, Thrift Shop Adventures, tierneytravels

Playing Tourist in My State: A Couple Days in Boulder Colorado, Part II

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Here is the second part of my two part series of posts about a recent visit to Boulder, Colorado. You can read the Part I of the adventure in this post – Playing Tourist in My State: A Couple Days in Boulder Colorado, Part I.

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

Oh I left out something from our visit to the Pearl Street shopping district thrift/vintage shop – Heady Bauer from the previous post. The shop had a really cool used instrument section where the staff encouraged you to pick up an instrument and play whether you knew how or not:

There was a father and son in the section enjoying the instruments.

John decided to pick up a used guitar and start strumming:

John used to play a lot of instruments when he was younger (the guitar, the piano, and even the saxophone) and at one point was even in a band. I encouraged him to think about getting a used guitar in the future and start playing again.

After an afternoon of wandering around the downtown Boulder shopping area Pearl Street, we headed over to the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse for dinner. This tea house was a gift from Boulder’s sister city in the Soviet Union, Dushanbe. Here is a snippet of the history from the teahouse’s website:

In 1987, during his first visit to Boulder, Mayor Maksud Ikramov announced that Dushanbe planned to present our city with a Teahouse to celebrate the establishment of sister city ties. From 1987 -1990, more than 40 artisans in several cities of Tajikistan created the decorative elements our Teahouse, including its hand-carved and hand-painted ceiling, tables, stools, columns, and exterior ceramic panels. Often these skills are handed down from generation to generation within families. Lado Shanidze served as chief architect. In Central Asia, teahouses serve as gathering places where friends meet to talk or play chess over a cup of tea. Many teahouses are traditionally decorated with Persian art, characterized by the use of motifs from nature – stellar, solar, and floral, by the repetition of patterns, by form over representation and pattern over detail, and by lavish decoration and color. Our Teahouse accurately reflects this artistic tradition that dates back nearly 2,000 years. The master woodcarvers, including Manon Khaidarov and Mirpulat Mirakhmatov who helped reassemble the Teahouse here, have carved their names in the ceiling. The artisans who have painted it have written their names on a green painted area above the entry to the kitchen. A message carved in the ceiling reads “artisans of ancient Khojand whose works are magical”.

Here are some photos I took while we visited the teahouse, but there are much better photos on the teahouse’s website.

They have an extensive tea menu, hundreds of teas are available. As an obsessive tea drinker, I enjoyed browsing their menu book of teas!

I ended up gong with one of the “teas of the day” which was a rose and lavender infusion. I had a lovely pot of tea along with our lovely meal. (And my pot of tea came with an little hourglass so that I would know when to put the infuser basket out of my tea pot!)

This teahouse reminded us of how many hidden gems (well at least hidden to us) there are in Colorado. We plan to spend the Spring and Summer exploring more of Colorado and finding more of those “hidden gems”.

After the teahouse we continued on our thrifting/thrift store adventures and stopped at the awesome Goodwill in Boulder. There John found an amazing deal – a metal craft beer sign to join his collection of craft beer signs in our basement bar area, for 75% off the retail price!

The sign was in pristine/brand new condition and still had a plastic protective sheet over it (which was removed for the photo above).

I found some amazing used books – several of which were recent publication hardbacks – for only $2 each!

This particular Goodwill was recommended to me by someone I’ve followed for a while on Instagram – @boulderthrifter. She was kind enough to give me thrift shop recommendations for our trip to Boulder.

BEFORE HEADING HOME

The next day we had another Independent Bookstore adventure, this time at The Bookworm – Boulder’s largest used books bookstore (after a delicious breakfast at The Buff, a Boulder breakfast top spot).

I knew The Bookworm was my kind of place because when you first walk in you are greeted by the bookstore dog!

After petting the dog for a while, I went on to browse their HUGE used book selection.

John and I had a wonderful browse in this bookstore.

Right before we headed back to the Denver Metro area, we stopped at a cool used art supply shop, Art Parts: Creative Reuse Center. I love art supply reuse centers! I’ve written about them in the past in posts such as Who Gives a Scrap?.

I had a fun browsing at this shop and left with some free art quilting magazines.

So that was our Boulder, Colorado adventure!

Independent bookstores, Life in B&W, Thrift Shop Adventures, tierneytravels

Playing Tourist in My State: A Couple Days in Boulder Colorado, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

John and I decided to play tourist in our own state and spend a couple days last week in Boulder, Colorado (if you click on the linked “Boulder, Colorado” you’ll see a lovely little video giving you a feel for Boulder, Colorado from the bouldercoloradousa.com website).

THE ACCOMMODATIONS

We opted for a rustic experience in our accommodation choices, and stayed at the A-Lodge/Boulder Adventure Lodge in the Fourmile Canyon area of Boulder.

I couldn’t help myself, it is early Spring and the landscape is still pretty stark around Colorado so I just had to take the photos in Black & White!

The Lodge has a cool two-level lounging area and they also serve craft beers and have a daily “Happy Hour”. The accommodations were decent although sparse, but you couldn’t beat the $70 a night price.

Excellent value for the money; and if you are really looking to save money, they also have like a $22 a night hostel (you share a room with others). There were lots of young outdoorsy adventure seeking type dudes staying there, I am sure they were enjoying the low rates for the hostel area.

John and I spent some time in the lower level of the Lodge, sipping craft beers and reading (John) and crocheting (me with my travel granny squares making project).

I loved this cool piece of art in the Lodge:

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

So Boulder has a lot of independent bookstores and a lot of cool thrift shops, and visiting them was part of our plan while in Boulder!

We started our adventure with a trip to the downtown Boulder shopping area Pearl Street and spent time wandering about the Boulder Book Store.

The bookstore was pretty amazing; and I could have spent a day there (but there was so much more to see in Boulder). The original building that houses the bookstore was built in 1899 and you can see the historical architecture throughout the building.

Here are a couple photos to give you a flavor of what it was like to wander about the bookstore:

I had my favorite (and now well worn) tote bag in tow; but I was well behaved and only filled it with one new book from the Boulder Book Store.

I also filled it with some new stickers for my water bottle, laptop and John’s tool chest (which he covers with stickers) as they had an amazing and reasonably priced sticker collection:

After the bookstore, we wandered around the Pearl Street shopping district and stumbled upon this very fun thrift/vintage shop – Heady Bauer. I was already having an awesome day so I appreciated the sign in front of their door: “Best Day Ever”:

When first entering the shop you see a huge wall display of crocheted blankets, including granny square blankets, mounted on the wall!

Seriously creative art and recycling!

I bought a used book there (I didn’t want the book from our first stop to be lonely!) – an original edition (complete with 1970s cover art) of one of my favorite science fiction books of all time: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke.

It will be fun to re-read it in the version that it was originally published.

Oh we had a laugh when we stopped at the clothing store Free People to look around (I do like some of their clothes). Do you remember when I was endlessly working on drawstring bags? Well we came across a line of pants that to us looked like “drawstring bag pants”!

I feel like I could definitely learn to make those pants!

I’ll continue the rest of our Boulder adventures in my next post, and I want to close this post with some really cool embroidery art they had in the Free People store above their clothing displays: embroidered coffee and tea burlap sacks:

That is gorgeous recycling!

tierneytravels

Sister Adventure in Fort Collins, Colorado

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

When I was writing the post 2022 in Review: A Year in Travel I realized there are a couple adventures in 2022 I did not blog about that I meant to but time got away from me and I forgot.

One of those adventures was a trip to Fort Collins, Colorado with my sister in July 2022.

After wandering around downtown Denver for a day, we headed out on a road trip to Fort Collins. I love traveling with my sister, we always have a grand time! The road trip was only around 1.5 hours but provided plenty of time to chat and listen to good music.

I offered to pay for our accommodations in Fort Collins, since she had paid to fly from her home in Virginia to Denver, Colorado and instead of a traditional hotel experience I decided to try out an Airbnb experience. I am going to assume that everyone has heard of Airbnb but if you haven’t it is where you stay at someone’s private home which may be occupied also by the owner or unoccupied and you have the property to yourself.

I usually prefer unoccupied because I always sort of feel like I am intruding in someone’s life but I’ve had some fun experiences staying at occupied properties.

Well I found the coolest Airbnb rental in Fort Collins, occupied, that came with a dog on the premises and a really peaceful and zen environment. It turned out the owners were just as awesome as the accomodations.

Here are some photos of the property we stayed it (my sister and I shared their guest room):

Except for the owner’s bedroom and their home office, the entire home was open to us to enjoy. There were so many awesome places to sit and relax (and meditate if you like). I got up early each morning and sat on their enclosed porch with a book.

They also had a couple bikes that guest could use for free (the home is not too far from downtown Fort Collins) and my sister and I had fun one morning biking to breakfast. I don’t remember where we ate breakfast but it was really delicious!

It was my sister’s first time to Fort Collins and we had so much fun sightseeing in Old Town/downtown Fort Collins. There are endless little boutique shops, places to eat, etc. in a less than a mile radius. We also visited my favorite thrift shop in Fort Collins – Brand Spanking Used, as my sister also loves thrifting (she is the one who got me into thrifting).

John and I have talked about maybe moving to Fort Collins, CO someday. We really love that town and it’s a great quick weekend getaway place. The only thing is they get more snow and intense weather than Denver as Fort Collins is located right near the Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park area. But I do love Rocky Mountain National Park – I can’t wait to return there again (see my post on my first amazing visit to this national park Rocky Mountain National Park).

Wherever we move, if we move, it will have to be a one story house (okay if it has a basement), as this broken ankle has made me acutely away of how challenging stairs can be when your mobility is impaired! Our house it too big for two people (and a small dog) and perhaps someday we’ll put it up for sale and let a family enjoy it!

Okay so back to the trip (got sidetracked there for a minute), in addition to fun wanderings around Fort Collins and a beautiful Airbnb, what made the trip really special were our awesome Airbnb hosts. It didn’t feel like we were staying at an Airbnb, it felt like we were staying at a friends’ house!

We had some many amazing conversations with the hosts, some of them late into the night. They were such an awesome couple and we had deep conversations about life as well as lots of laughs! Here we are on the last day of our visit (they did not want us to leave):

The joy on our faces was real – we had such a fun selfie photoshoot and could’t stop laughing when they tried to work the dog into to the selfie!

My sister and I always have cool and unique Airbnb experiences when we travel together. I remember staying at an awesome Airbnb during our sister’s trip to Glenwood Springs (see post Train Ride to Glenwood Springs, CO and More – Part III) that was a “bed and breakfast”, and each morning at breakfast we’d chat with other guests who were visiting from different countries. Breakfast each morning was such a treat!

John doesn’t care for the Airbnb experience and he would not have enjoyed that while in Fort Collins we shared a bathroom with our hosts. He likes to stay at a nice hotel. I do also but when I am traveling with my sister Airbnb seems to be the way to have the most unique travel experience!

A Crafter's Life, tierneytravels

2022 in Review: A Year in Travel

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As promised, here is a blog post about all my travel in 2022. But before I dive into that, let me share why travel in 2023 will likely not be the same volume as 2022.

A nasty slip on the ice on January 11, 2023 led to an ankle dislocation and a tibial fracture. I was just taking Mike out for his morning walk and SURPRISE! It looked pretty bad when I first did it but the surgeon I met with today said it was a common ankle fracture.

I have surgery on Thursday January 19 to get some delightful plates and screws inserted into my ankle area and rebuild me. It will be a 6 month recovery. He said a couple weeks post-op if I really wanted I could travel but I likely won’t be feeling it for a while!

I had a dental appointment yesterday and my dentist did share that he had the same type of injury a couple of years ago, recovered fine and is now running again and snowboarding. He is near my age and really active. Right now all I am thinking about it how much I will miss my morning walks with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer while listening to audiobooks.  Also a couple fun trips 2023 got cancelled – we were headed next week to Atlanta, GA for a conference John needed to attend; we had a trip to Cabo planned; we had a New Mexico roadtrip with my sister planned; we had a family trip to Barcelona Spain (with a side trip to Lisbon Portugal to meet up with some friends of John’s there); and a little weekend trip to Las Vegas. Maybe the Universe was telling us to slow down as we’ve gone a little crazy traveling post pandemic!

Well enough on my new found reality. let’s talk about all the travel I did in 2022, good memories (queue Barbara Streisand singing…)

2022 A Year of Travel

John and I went a little crazy with travel in 2022 in a post pandemic explosion of saying yes to most travel opportunities presented our way. For domestic (U.S.) travel we had the SW Airlines Companion Pass (that we had earned in 2021 for 2022) and so I could fly for basically free ($11 fee each way) whenever John flew.

We had a busy combination of personal and business travel within the U.S. and a trip to Ireland. Here’s where we went:

Chicago, Illinois (three visits)

If you count our short trip to Chicago at the beginning of January 2023, we visited Chicago three times in less than 3 months. Our trips included two business trips for John and one trip to meet up with my brother and his family in Chicago as my brother was there for a business trip. Here’s a blog post link about one of the 2022 trips to Chicago – Chicago in Black and White

Richmond, Virginia & Washington D.C.

The saga of our trip to Washington, D.C. and Richmond, VA in order to spend Christmas with my family and the subsequent travel drama is contained in these posts: A Christmas and A New Years Miracle? (Part I), and A Christmas and a New Years Miracle? (Part II)

Austin, Texas (two visits)

In 2022 we went to Austin, Texas twice on business trips for John. It is a very cool city and I had an amazing time at the downtown Austin library (a magical place!). Here is one blog posts related to some of our Austin, Texas travel in 2022 –Peaceful Oasis at the Austin Central Library .

Las Vegas, Nevada (three visits)

We visited Las Vegas three times in 2022 for fun – twice on our own and once with friends. On one of the trips I took a bunch of black and white photos on “old downtown Las Vegas” – the Fremont Street Experience area, and shared them in this post –Downtown L as Vegas in Black and White

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Atlanta, Georgia (one visit)

I probably should have written a post about our visit to Atlanta, Georgia in November 2022 as I took a lot of cool photos, but I’ll share some of them here. The airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, is really cool and we loved the art to include a simulated rainforest at night experience in one of the main moving walkway areas; and a wonderful tribute to the late U.S. Representative John Lewis:

We spent time wandering about the Krog District a really cool shopping and arts district. They had another tribute to John Lewis as graffiti on a building (they had lots of awesome graffiti art in the district); as well as a display of some amazing recycled metal parts (including automotive parts) sculptures:

Portland, Oregon (one visit)

I blogged about my awesome trip to rainy Portland Oregon in December 2022 in the post A Little Reunion in Portland Oregon. Although it was cold and rainy it was fun to visit Powell’s Book and other cool places in the Pearl District of downtown Portland.

Fayetteville, Arkansas (one visit)

I went to Fayetteville, AR for the first time to meet up with my friend MJ and help a friend organize her crafting/art studio. Here are the blog posts about that adventure: Guest Blog Post: The Fayetteville Friend’s Studio Project, Part I, Guest Blog Post: The Fayetteville Friend’s Studio Project, Part II,  Guest Blog Post: The Fayetteville Friend’s Studio Project, Part III and Cute and Curious Kitty Quilt Trunk Show .

New York City, New York (one visit)

We spent a day in NYC before heading overnight to Dublin, Ireland. Perhaps I am cheating but I will go ahead and call this a visit to NYC!

Omaha, Nebraska (one visit)

We had a brief trip to Omaha, Nebraska for John’s business meeting in October. I was bummed to learn after the trip that we were not to far from one of my knitting goddess blogging buddies @mildly granola who lives in Iowa, and we could have met up for an adult beverage!

I could have done a post on the Omaha visit but I was distracted from travel and then too much time passed and I forgot about blogging about the trip. So here are some photos of the fun we had one afternoon in Omaha’s Old Market:

Fun shops we visited in Old Market included the Christmas store Tannenbaum (which had the most unusual and perhaps disturbing Nativity Scene I’ve ever seen); Raygun (which had a hysterical sign on the front window); the Imaginarium ;as well as the Monster Grub Pub (a horror themed pub!):

St. Petersburg, Florida (via Tampa, FL)  (one visit)

In September we went to St. Petersburg, FL for the opening of the Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West show in which my art quilt Langston Hughes, Pioneer Poet was included. Here are blog posts related to that adventure: Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West show opening weekend, Part I , Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West show opening weekend, Part II , and Black Pioneers: Legacy in the American West show opening weekend, Part III .

Ireland (Dublin, Galway, Doolin)

In October 2022 we journeyed to Ireland for the first time along with the tierneycreates and John Beastie in tow. I still have another blog post or two to write about the trip, but here are the blog posts that tierneycreates Beastie and I have shared so far: Guest Blog Post: Beasties Return to Ireland! , Guest Blog Post: The Beasties’ Ireland Travelogue (Part I) , and Guest Blog Post: The Beasties’ Ireland Travelogue (Part II).

Shelton, Washington (via Seattle, WA)

In July 2022 I went on a quilt retreat in Shelton, WA on the water. The tierneycreates Beastie and I did a series of blog post about that adventure: Guest Blogger: Quilt Retreat Report from the tierneycreates Beastie, Part I, Guest Blogger: Quilt Retreat Report from the tierneycreates Beastie, Part II, and Riptide Retreat 2022 in Black and White .

Hamilton, Missouri (via Kansas City, MO)

In March 2022 I attended a Missouri Star Quilt Company quilt retreat. Here are the series of blog posts about this adventure: MSQC Quilt Retreat Part I: What I Worked On, MSQC Quilt Retreat Part II: Quilt Town, USA ,MSQC Retreat Part III: Inside the Shops, MSQC Quilt Retreat Part IV: Greatest Fabric Scrap Sale of All Time and ,MSQC Quilt Retreat Part V: The Retreat Center Experience.

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Wilmington, North Carolina (via Raleigh, NC)

We had to travel to Wilmington, NC for a work conference John needed to attend. We flew into Raleigh, NC, rented a car and drove to Wilmington. Here is a blog post about time in Raleigh –Trip to North Carolina: Fun Evening in Downtown Raleigh.

Here are blog posts about the rest of the trip: Trip to North Carolina: The Ocean and Trip to North Carolina: Quilt Shop Wander

Various Roadtrips in Colorado

During the year we also did various roadtrips in Colorado such as weekend trips to Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, CO. Here are some 2022 blog posts about my adventures in Colorado Springs, CO Seven Falls in B&W , Guest Blog Post: How to Completely Terrify Your Miniature Schnauzer,Breakfast Buffet and Confused Deer, and A Little Luxurious Getaway. Writing this post made me realize I never did a post on the very fun trip I took with my sister to Fort Collins Colorado in July. Okay that will be a future post.

So currently all my 2023 travel plans have been cancelled and I am adjusting to my new limited mobility reality. But my ankle will heal and I’ll be back traveling later in 2023.