Day 230/365

Day 230/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

welcome to the Madonna Inn! the next portion of our trip begins and it is iconic + tacky with lots of rock walls and pepto-bismol pink!! pure joy.

<a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_Inn” rel=”nofollow”>en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_Inn</a>

The Inn is featured in Umberto Eco’s book Travels in Hyperreality (1991). According to Eco, &quot;the poor words with which natural human speech is provided, cannot suffice to describe the Madonna Inn…Let’s say that Albert Speer, while leafing through a book on Gaudi, swallowed an overgenerous dose of LSD and began to build a nuptial catacomb for Liza Minnelli.&quot;

Day 229/365

Day 229/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

misty San Francisco sunrise from the 35th floor – looking out to the bay.

Day 228/365

Day 228/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

in San Francisco just before our accidental evening walk through the Tenderloin.

Day 227/365

Day 227/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

view of the Rockies from 30,000 feet as we fly to San Francisco. in flight wifi is the best!

Day 226/365

Day 226/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

Giant Mark Twain statue on our way to the airport in St. Louis. Glad someone else noticed the ridiculously disproportionate tiny hands! http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/21360

Days 219-225/365

Days 219-225/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

Mimi died peacefully at home at the age of 103 and 3/4. Her fierce femme obstinance lives on in me.

Day 218/365

Day 218/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

haircut and color for work trips next week. goodbye pink hair.

Day 217/365

Day 217/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

Day 216/365

Day 216/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

still no sunshine, but a kelly! and some diffused light behind her! it was a brief appearance of both, but they did much to raise my spirits on another grey day.

Day 215/365

Day 215/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

yep, still iced over and still grey. day 8 of grey, actually. send vitamin D and hopes for my sanity to remain in the face of this total and complete lack of sun, please. xoxo

Day 214/365

Day 214/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

ice-maggedon 2010! everything in a 100 miles radius is encased in 1/2 inch of ice, including our trees, birdfeeders, cars, driveway, and more. everything has ground to a halt outside and it is grey and glassy and raining down ice, snow, hail, and freezing rain in turns. it is good to be snuggled down safely at home and working across the table from my girl, though i am sad to have my travel to WI foiled by this winter-y mix.

Day 213/365

Day 213/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

don’t be fooled by the light that *appears* to be the sun behind the gerberas. it is not the sun. and hasn’t been for days and wont be for days (according to the weather channel which has us in the midst of a 15 day sunless streak).

it is the sunless streaks of an iowa winter that propel me to buy flowers like gerberas (and to grow paperwhites and amaryllis) to create my own version of sunlight.

Day 212/365

Day 212/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

i finally – FINALLY – finished knitting and sewing this baby blanket that i started 2 years ago for baby leif (before he was even born). and now baby leif is totally toddler leif and will be 2 years old in a few days. it felt better than i could have imagined to go back to this project, finish it, and cross. it. off. my. list. you know the list, right? the giant ongoing list that has all of the half-finished or begun but not even half-finished or oh i have all of the materials but never quite got around to it projects on it. well, one down, people! and in time for a lovely birthday boy to actually use it. unlike the size 2T sweater still languishing in my knitting pile and on that list from when V was still a baby. there’s always the new niece that i am expecting in may. that gives me, what? two more years to finish it up and still be in the right size range? now that is a timeline that i can live with……

Day 211/365

Day 211/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

B and i had brunch at the Lincoln Cafe (and excellent accidental shopping adventures) with Nomi + the pirate!

Day 211/365

Day 211/365, originally uploaded by iowagrrl.

B and i had brunch at the Lincoln Cafe (and excellent accidental shopping adventures) with Nomi + the pirate!