So many things....

 I've been fairly blog-absent for a couple of months.  I'm blaming it on travel - 

I attended IlluxCon at the end of October -

- and took my parents to visit the world of Disney in November (they've never been before) -

-as well as dealing with the worst case of ongoing-lingering flu I've ever experienced. Between it all, I kind of let go of everything non-urgent.

Thankfully, I'm finally starting to feel a bit stronger, and hope to catch up or resume previous activity!  Here's hoping for a better showing the remainder of the year!

Away again -

Spending the week in Utah helping out my 8-months-pregnant sister and family.... Back soon!

Philadelphia - part last, Brandywine Art Museum

Got to spend a fabulous few hours at one of my favorite museums -

The Brandywine Art Museum - home of lots of Howard Pyle and all the various Wyeth's art.

It is housed in a re-purposed old mill, along the lovely Brandywine 'Creek' (or Christiana River) - 

The grounds are beautiful - full of wild flowers, and sculpture. :-) We have pictures of us sitting on this cow dating from the early 80's. :-)

oh - and wild life! :-)

My very generous chauffeurs and fellow-museum-perusers for the day - Dominick Saponaro and Christina Hess (continuing the picture-taking-on-the-statuary tradition. :-)

Besides the always fun art-viewings (which we are not allowed to photograph), there is the stunning views from the various windows -

See the fun brickwork in the courtyard?

Topped off with lunch at Hank's Place. Great day. Great visit.

But really glad to be home... in the land of cool summers and low humidity.

Philadelphia - part V, scenic drive...

 Driving about around fields and wooded areas is one of my favorite things to do when back east...

 The flora and fauna are significantly different than here in the PNW...

as are the stone walls -

 - and covered bridges...

 (not a fir tree in sight!)

I love the old farms - a thing we are short on the closer you get to Seattle....  We are also sadly short of fireflies!

I don't miss the humidity though. At all. I can only bear it for short visits. Lovely short visits....

Philadelphia - part IV, Drexel Hill

Part of the reason for the Philly visit was to see the in-laws -

(Father in law, and his lovely wife..)

They live in a charming 100-year old house in the scenic borough of Drexel Hill - 

I love the neighborhood. Every house is different, beautiful and full of character.

They look a bit too fancy-pants to sport a sizable veggie garden, so I guess I won't aspire to living there one day, but I do love visiting.

Philadelphia - part III, Eating!

We spent a great deal of our time whilst in Philly *eating*!

Spent a fun morning in Reading Terminal Market. The food offerings there were wide and diverse - 

- from homey, Amish fare -

(best.cheese.ever.)

- to the humorous and bizarre. I had a bacon-egg-spinach crepe there for breakfast. And fresh filled cannolis  for dessert. :-)

We made our annual pilgrimage to the Italian Market  - 

(my husband's favorite Italian bakery. We've been visiting for years. More award winning cannolis!)

Spent a lovely evening at a tiny, hole-in-the-wall, awesome Mediterranean restaurant called Dmitri's - (Chocolate Pot de' creme? Oh.My.Goodness! Never tasted anything that yummy before I don't think...)

-made even better by good company (the lovely Christina Hess and fabulous Dominick Saponaro. Thanks for chauffeuring me around all day!) -

Made a special trip to Brusters - a gazillion-flavored ice cream franchise that Seattle is sadly lacking...

And then there is my husband's regional mecca of cheese-steaky goodness - Pat's (of Rocky's fame) -

(If you are ever there and needing to order - make sure you read the directions first!)

...happy, happy man!

There were also authentic sub sandwiches (with extra extra sweet peppers), Chinese buffets and Korean BBQ's.

I think I gained 10 lb.s, but it was certainly fun! I've really missed some of those things.

Philadelphia - part II, Chinatown

There are a lot of different ethnic centers in the city -

- we always enjoy the Asian district of any given city.

Love all the signage. :-)

And the ornamented buildings...

Here's the Chinatown version of a row house. :-)

Wow - fancy stuff!

Philadelphia - Part I, the City

I spent a few days on the East coast this past week, mostly centered around Philadelphia - accompanying my husband on a business trip. We used to live out there, met out there and still have some friends and family out there, so thought it would be fun to do a little visiting.

We did a little bit of sight-seeing as well - City Hall (squeezed in between the sky scrapers) -

The horse and buggy lined drive leading up to Independence Hall -

- which is a lovely block of historical buildings - now across the street from the Liberty Bell .

There's all kinds of lovely, old architectural elements....

...Blocks and blocks of historical row houses (a thing we don't have out here) -

Another thing I haven't seen before - cars parked in the center lane of the road...

... as well as a number of colleges and universities right in the city proper....

Lots of beautiful things - paths and bridges along the rivers, gorgeous old cemeteries,  and lots of murals painted on walls. Was a fun city to drive through.

Sunday Report - off again

Once again I am on the road (this time in Philadelphia) - with no way to post pics of my adventures to the blog. Catch-up will have to happen later next week. I am happy to report that my wrist is nearly back to normal, so drawing and sketching has begun to resume. The critters and gardens are assuredly growing in my absence and the east coast has changed a bunch since last time I was here over a decade ago. Incidental updates can be found via twitter and/or Facebook. Posts with pics to resume soon. :-)

To Atlanta and Back Again -

I'm apparently on a quest to photograph airport art now.

(which is harder to do if your time is tight. Or you are traveling with a destination-oriented husband :-).

I could barely keep up in the 'rainbow corridor' in Chicago!

But spring is in full swing and gorgeous in Georgia. Had a nice, quick! time of visiting and family dinner. (And boiled peanuts for breakfast. Definitely in the South!)

Happy 80th to the mother-in-law.