We said our good-byes to Hot Springs, SD on September 2. We found Hot Springs to be a unique and tranquil town. We will miss our new friends and many of the friendly locals.
I wanted to share a photo of the Hot Springs Library. Isn't it gorgeous? The library allowed us to sign up for a lending card since we were doing seasonal work for USACE and they also offered free WiFi. I loved visiting and wandering around to look at the log home structure as well as being surrounded by books. A real book lover's haven! The back side in the main area has floor-to-ceiling windows with plenty of comfortable sitting areas. Very inviting. I found out on my last visit that a group of women would meet on Friday morning to work on a variety of hand made items. I wish I had learned about this group earlier. It would have been fun to join them for a couple of sessions.
Another thing I waited too long to do was to stop by Ace Hardware to see Fall River Fibers. I had read about a spinner/weaver - Terry Slagel in the Country Register. Every time we drove by, I thought about how I needed to stop in to see her shop at the back of the hardware store along with the basement area where a variety of classes are held or people can use the area to work on their projects.
| photo from Fall Rivers Fiber |
I was lucky to meet Terry on one of our last days in Hot Springs. She was happy to show me around her shop and basement. She spent time explaining to me about collecting bison hair and what spinners did with the bison hair. She told me about one fiber/yarn maker and showed me some of her items. I also have the bison fiber links: About the fiber artist and her products. I even got a chance to feel and squeeze a ready-to-be-spun ball of bison hair mixed with 85% alpaca. It was very soft. I was tempted to buy it except I did not have a clue of what I would do with it. If we make it back this way, I hope to have an idea of a way to incorporate it into one of my projects. I feel a fiber art project in the making. So, if you happen to be in Hot Springs, SD make sure you stop by Ace Hardware and walk to the back to visit with Terry and her shop. Also, don't forget the friendly quilt shop - HeartSong Quilts!
Traveling
It took us four days to get to Kansas. The weather was decent with blue skies and no rain. Thanks to one ranger's suggestion, we stayed at a couple of USACE campgrounds.
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| On the road |
We were a little envious of the campground hosts because of their shady spots and lovely locations, but they also had 100+ sites and too many day-use areas to maintain. I bet they were very busy during the summer between campers, fishermen, and boaters.
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| A short walk from our site in Nebraska |
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| our second site in Kansas |
We're in Kansas Now, Toto!
We settled into our new site last week. The campground management is working with Amazon to make our stay here a little more pleasant by assigning alike shift workers together. So all our neighbors work the same night shift as us. Yep, we are working from 5 pm to 4 am. I'm not sure how much sleep I will get since I'm not use to sleeping during the day...not even a cat nap...hmmm.
We started work this week. Since we are starting with orientation, safety, and training, we are only working 5 hours a night. Not bad, but I was feeling my feet and legs when we came home. I'm feeling fine this morning - no soreness - yet. I definitely plan to keep my yoga schedule. My muscles were very stiff and the stretching felt very good this morning. We are getting a lot of advice and warnings from experienced employees on how to survive our first 40 hour week. One of my friends has a motto: One Day At A Time. I think I will take it one hour at a time with this job!
Our WiFi is very spotty here which is our biggest disappointment right now. We thought being in town would give us a stronger signal and that is with four different broadband sources to choose from. I will try to post when I can.
Cozy Mystery Readers
Before I close, I thought I would share this website I found. Cozy-Mystery.com is an excellent source of every kind of cozy mystery that has been published as well as a list of soon-to-be-released. I can tell this website is a real labor of love. I usually browse through Amazon's suggestions, but I find this site to be more organized. Not only can you search alphabetically, you can search by theme, country, hobbies, holidays with descriptions and links to Amazon.
I have been searching by theme for something from the British-English Cozy section. I had seen M.C. Beaton's books in a store, but there were so many that I could not pick just one, so I decided to wait. Now that I have this list, I can start a whole new series! Well, after I finish the Sheriff Longmire series which isn't included in this website, but J.A. Jance is listed. The website owner says she is more than happy to add suggestions from other readers, so if you don't see your favorite cozy mystery author just let her know.
Even Jan Karon is included in the list just because "Her Mitford series is very cozy, but isn't a mystery series" according to the description. I believe I will be spending quite a bit of time looking through this site when I am able to enjoy the internet. Oh, and I am getting a little sewing done every day. I'll try to post a few project photos next time...
Happy Quilting!
I'm going to have to check out those books. Some look good although sadly, I never have time to read right now much less quilt. My dad and his wife announced that they were buying a class A (upgrading from their fifth wheel), selling everything, and heading on the road hopefully in January.
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