Long Distance Information, Give Me Memphis Tennessee

Good Afternoon Dear Readers,

This past week, DH and I took a short road trip to Memphis--just a brief getaway to somewhere a little warmer than Northern Illinois.

We were pleasantly surprised to find many of the trees were flowering, and the grass green and growing.  The temperature was in the upper 70's when we arrived.

Beale Street has juke joints everywhere...

...and its very own Walk of Fame.

We took a music/history tour led by Gary Hardy, a musician in his own right.  Many songs were interspersed during his running commentary.

We visited Sun Studio....

... where this guy got his start.  His first record released by Sun was "That's All Right, Mama."  We did not go to Graceland.  Maybe next time.

But let's not forget about the ducks.  If you look closely, you can see them swimming around in the little pool under the planter.  This is in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel.

They spend most of their time here, on the roof of the hotel.  But at 11:00 a.m. every day they are paraded down to the pool in the lobby.

And at 4:00 p.m. every afternoon they are paraded back up to their rooftop digs.

They even have their very own duck master.

We spent some time at the Cotton Museum.  Memphis is the largest spot-cotton market in the world, and for years was the center of the worldwide cotton trade.  When I asked "Why Memphis?" our docent said that it was because of its location on the Mississippi River, and the fact that it is situated on the 4th Chickasaw Ridge.  Memphis never floods.

This is how they kept track of prices before the age of the computer.

On our way back, we stopped at Giant City State Park in Southern Illinois.

Unfortunately, by this time, the temps had plunged back into the 30's.

You may be wondering if I took anything to work on during my down time.  But of course!

I had started on this blackwork piece before I left.  It's called "Greenpiece" by Elizabeth Almond, and will eventually have two shades of green along with all the black.  The overall size of the design is 118 stitches by 118 stitches, so it is going to take a while to finish.

Here is my one little finished square.  There is a lot of backstitching, as you would expect from a blackwork piece.  Most of the squares will be embellished with beads after all the stitching is completed.

Experiencing three seasons in three days was a little too much for my system, I guess.  I came down with a bad sore throat the day we left Memphis and am still feeling pretty miserable.  I guess I'll have to lay low this week and just work on Greenpiece--as if I needed an excuse!

Hope you are enjoying the weekend.  Thanks for visiting!