We thought we were leaving in the morning, but because of such an early flight, at western standard time, our alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. and we got dressed quickly, grabbed a cab and got to the airport.  It seemed like a never ending flight that went on, and on, and on.  It was pretty smooth traveling both flights to get to Atlanta.

Then we got on our bolts missing plane and home to Tallahassee.

And today we get to wake up in our own beds.  Our family is back together!  Michael, Sharon, Angel & Abby

It is with very mixed feelings that we wake up to our last day in Long Beach.  We are so enjoying spending time with  Joanne and Terry, and at the same time we long to be home with Angel and Abby.  If we just didn’t have that awful plane trip between the two.

We spent the morning packing and then made our way to the Marta bus, which is free in Long Beach, and took our ride to the Queen Mary Ship.  Terry and Joanne were waiting at the bus stop so we were ready for the tour.  The Queen Mary has a lot of history behind it.

This is one huge ship.  It was considered quite elegant as a cruise ship in it’s day, and later was used to transport very large numbers of troops during the war.  The  engine room had a zillion dials and instruments located on four levels.  When we got to the steering area, Joanne and I decided to take over the ship.

We must not have done a super job, so I relinquished my offering and Joanne & Terry gave it a try.

Not to be outdone, Michael got behind the steering wheel to show us how it should be done.

The ship was so large, that after many hours, we were very tired and headed back to the hotels to pack and rest.

Joanne & Terry then picked us up at the hotel, and we took a bus to a fabulous restaurant on the water, in the harbor.  Very delicious.

We then took the bus back, said our good buys and went to our respective hotels.   What a wonderful weekend.  Our good buys were promises of we’d see each other again.

Today my main reason for this trip, arrived at our hotel, to join us for breakfast.  My cousin Joanne, whom I haven’t seen since junior high school, and her husband Terry were our special reason.  It was joyous to share time with both of them, and to spend the weekend together in various activities.  We talked about our parents, of whom both our mothers were sisters.  And we talked about our adorable Grandma Gillette, who we both loved dearly.

After breakfast, Joanne and I went to a tapestry forum and heard great speakers.  One of them is a master tapestry artist by the name of Archie Brennan.  He spoke about his work and showed us slides of his beautiful tapestries.

Of course Joanne and I couldn’t leave the convention hall without another round in the vendor hall.  How can it be that I’ve spent hours here twice, and I’m still finding things I hadn’t seen before.   We went to the exhibit room to see the various exhibits and they took my breath away.  Some of the artists wove things that I can’t even imagine in my mind. Convergence just provides one surprise after another.  Many many  WOW moments.

From the convention hall we walked to the library to view the small tapestry exhibit.  This was an unjuried show with such a great variety of subject matter and style in the pieces.

While Joanne and I have been enjoying all the beauty of the tapestry world, Michael & Terry found a pool hall (I wonder whose idea that was), and when they tired of billiards, they headed to the harbor and sites to see.  I think they were stalking out resturants for future meals.

Well, after walking miles we all went back to our respective hotels and soaked our feet and rested.  But time heals the body, and we were soon ready to head to a wonderful seafood resturant that was downtown.  Super delicious, and more reminiscing and enjoyable discussion.  And then time to hike back to the hotel.

Ohhhhhh        No trouble sleeping tonight.

Once again, exhausted, but up early because we are excited to face the new day.  Today is an inkle weaving class for me, and socializing and going to the harbor for Michael.

My inkle weaving teacher is from the Miami area, and I’ve heard rumors that she may be doing a Tally workshop in December.  I hope, I hope.  It was a nice group of students and the teacher was awesome.  She is knowledgeable, gentle spoken, and good natured, so we had a great day in class.  I think inkle weaving will be something I will continue to enjoy.

One of the highlights of the conference is the special dinner and movie this evening.  We started out with a delicious balsamic chicken meal, and then proceeded to a hall to watch the film.  This movie is called A Weaverly Life, and is about an 86 year old tapestry weaver and a year of her life.  She received inspiration from a river in North Carolina where she was able to see shapes in the water from rocks, growth, ripples, reflections, and incorporate these visuals into beautiful tapestries.  She weaves very large tapestries and often warps two at a time on a large loom.  She is energetic, humorous, touched my heart with her creativity.  She stayed after the film for about 45 minutes to answer questions and was the recipient of two standing ovations.

I knew she would inspire those of us who are weavers, but I had no idea, that my husband is isn’t that interested in my weaving, would still be talking about her movie the next morning.

A day so well spent.

I may be tired, but I woke up early with excitement as I was scheduled for class that was sure to be a favorite.  Two years ago, I had gone to the Folk School in the North Carolina mountains to take a class on rigid heddle weaving with a teacher  who had inspired me through her website  since I started weaving.  We were settled in our cabin the day before the workshop, but during the night, I became ill, and ended up the the emergency room.  We returned to Tallahassee with an opportunity lost, to study under this teacher.  So this morning,  I couldn’t wait for the class, and it did not disappoint me as it was informative, fun, and inspiring.

I completed this scarf and am very pleased with it.

At the end of class I told her about the class of hers that I had missed, and she remembered the incident and commented on how bad the class had felt for me, when they heard.  It just goes to show that when you miss something good, patience may bring you another opportunity.

While I was in class, Michael walked down to the harbor, and visited a retirement home on the water, because he wanted to see if they had a nice pool table.  Some people have a one track mind.

After dinner, we both went to the vender hall and I had a great time looking at all the goodies.  The surprise for me, was how interested Michael was in the supplies, especially the computerized looms.  I could hardly keep track of him.

My friend Ramona had suggested I look up Kelly Martin, from Minneapolis, who does fabulous rep weaving.  She is an interior designer who has a 3000 square foot studio, and multi looms, so she designs custom home accessories for customers.  She weaves rugs, table accessories, wall hangings and more.  Her work is amazing, and some of her products can be seen in the following pictures.

We also ran into Robyn Spady, who had done a weaving workshop in Tallahassee.  We had a great visit and enjoyed seeing her goodies in her vender booth.

Of course we had to visit the best yarn suppliers in world, Lunatic Fringe, and there booth and display reflected an amazing array of color, and it was noted that that booth stayed consistently busy.  I guess I’m not the only one that thinks their yarn is awesome.

We finally hiked our way back to the hotel, and we both can say, it was a good day.

Things were looking much better this day, with good weather, and a more sizable plane.  We flew to Salt Lake City, then finally made it to Long Beach.  This city is the third largest in California, so we were surprised at a rather small airport with outside accessibility to the planes, and I don’t think there was any shopping or food at the airport.

We easily caught a cab and finally arrived at the hotel.

The Westin Hotel is very nice, and we had a mini view of the bay, and beautiful flowers and palm trees surrounding the area.

We were exhausted, but I wanted to get my conference registration completed, so I hiked the four blocks to the convention center, and then the miles through the vender hall.  Wow, all kinds of looms I had never seen before, and beautiful yarns that I would love to have had, but didn’t have room in my suitcase so had to for go.

We had a nice dinner, reassembled the loom that I brought with me, got everything unpacked and put away, and we were ready to face the next day.

We have been so excited about our trip this year, to Long Beach, California for my first weaving interaction with Convergence, and to meet up with my cousin, Joanne.  We didn’t want any delays in our trip so we promptly arrived at the Tallahassee Regional Airport about 2 hours early.

Unfortunately our incoming plane was about 15 minutes late, but we finally boarded.  Then we were told there would be a 45 minute delay, because bad weather in Atlanta had caused a backup for incoming flights.  An hour later we were about to leave, when a severe alert came in and grounded us.  Yes, the storm was close behind and soon the plane was rocking with wind gusts and rain was beating hard on the windows.  We sat through the storm for an hour and were then told we could leave but we would have to go out the runway to the west because the tail winds were too strong on the east side.  But as we started up the engines again, a surprise storm came & sat on the west side of the runway and we were again trapped in the midst of a storm.  Finally the weather cleared, and we took off for Atlanta several hours late.

I have been very vocal about my dislike of plane trips from Tally to Atlanta, because the planes rattle and shake and it feels like the bolts aren’t tight and the plane may fall apart.  I think when we finally took off, our plane looked pretty much just like this one.

Well,  we finally arrived in Atlanta, and were told we had grossly missed our connecting flight and could not get a flight out until morning.  This was not a good start to our wonderful trip