Not Surfing USA but Shopping USA!

I know some readers are wondering about what items piqued our interest enough to part with some money and actually buy things on our recent trip.

I've already shown a few items such as the little souvenirs I bought for our great nieces, the rubber ducks, T shirt and socks that I brought back for DD1 and her housemate, and some yarns that I bought as gifts in Alaska and a very expensive skein of yarn I bought in Seattle. 

In the Disney Theatre Gift Shop in LA I fell in love with...and bought this ( rather expensive) owl puppet for my DD2's birthday. That birthday is been and gone so I can now show this puppet...she loves owls and she loved this puppet!

I did play with this puppet to make sure the eyes did blink and the head swiveled like the label said! Lol

At the same gift shop I bought 2 of these G clef pencils; one for my neighbour's grandson who plays the violin, and this one for me!

I visited a number of quilt shops during the 5 weeks but only bought a modest ( well I think it's a modest 'haul'! lol) number of purchases and I was fine with that. I bought a number of children's novelty prints with Eye Spy quilts in mind...

I bought this bundle of US sized fat quarters of 'Alaskan themed', fabrics for DsD1 in Juneau. (hmm photos from One Drive seem to have minds of their own!)

Here are a few other items I bought...lots of socks for gifts...I think though that perhaps I will keep these 3 pairs?  :-)

These 2 pairs were for DD2 (the owls) and her partner who is a carpenter.

A few cards of buttons like these from Skagway...

I bought 3 skeins of yarn to keep, like this one from Skagway..

A number of Christmas decorations like these 3...

In Britex in San Francisco, I bought some Solvy to experiment with  printing stitching designs on the sheets of this stabilizer instead of tracing...this technique was explained here on the Wild Olive blog. (This product is a lot cheaper in the U.S.)

Some children's books from Munro's Bookstore in Victoria BC...

 DsD3 had told me about this book...it's rather lovely.  

DH bought  T shirts for the 'partners' of 4 of our girls and one for his brother. He also bought some knick knacks for his golfing buddies. He bought shorts in Old Navy and Macy's but I didn't bother with any clothes buying as I had had a bit of a spend up at Black Pepper before we left for our holiday!

But DH and souvenir T Shirts...he loves them! And he had fun adding to his collection. To fill up the collage grid, I included a jacket bought in Alaska and some souvenir caps that DH bought. Also the 'cat' Tshirt in the top right hand of the first collage, is a T shirt DH bought for me :-)...the rest are for him...the gifts to the 'boys' are not in the collage.

  It's a lot of T shirts!

Someone I know...

I have been retired from teaching since July 2011 and I don't really miss it. I have heaps of wonderful memories though; of my former students, their parents and my workmates over those 'not quite' 40 years! It's wonderful when I'm able to 'catch up' with former students...those in my first class ever are now 54-55! In contrast, those in my last class are now in Year 11. Many of my former students have 'caught up' with me through Facebook, Instagram and Friends ReUnited (which was originally Schoolfriends.com). Some I've met up with in person...and they are always pointing out how short I am! :-)

One of the students from my Newmarket days featured a number of years ago in an article in the QUT alumni magazine, 'Links'.  The boy with the great sense of humour and fun, who loved to draw, had grown up to become a man who has had an amazing number of achievements. I'm talking about John Danalis. 

John's dad and uncle ran a veterinarian practice where I took my pets, so even years after John had been my student I would always get updates on what this young man was doing. As I expected, John did work as an illustrator. I kept the Christmas card that he made for me...hand drawn of course. (well you just never know whether your student will become a famous artist or not! lol) 

John's has illustrated children's books; some written by others but he also has written and illustrated his own books. As a writer, John is a popular speaker at schools. Read about John here or watch John speaking about his books, interspersed with a presentation to students here. He is a brilliant speaker and the students are enthralled and consequently engaged. (and probably inspired!) And here is a link to a podcast of an interview with John on ABC radio. (it's well worth a listen to learn about Mary...that's all I'm saying!!) 

Some photos of the adult John Danalis, 'borrowed' from the 'web'. 

I'm so proud to have been your teacher, John!