Change of Name and Some "Stuff"

I made a decision today: this blog isn't only about travel.  I have enjoyed blogging about travel and want to continue doing so, but I also enjoyed posting about seeing Prince Charles and I think I'd like to blog every now and then to post some random pictures I like or to write about whatever random thing is on my mind.  So instead of a travel blog this is now officially a random blog!  Nothing regular and no real unifying theme, just random ideas and pictures now and then.  I've left the URL alone but the title has changed.

There used to be an NPR call-in radio show called "Talk Talk" which claimed that its purpose was just to talk about stuff.  People would call in about anything that what was on their minds, from politics to jokes or anything at all.  So from now on, this blog is about stuff.

I have three bits of stuff today.  The first is a cute little visitor I saw a few days ago on the rail of our back porch as I was looking out the kitchen window.  He seemed really comfy and stayed put even when I walked out on the porch with my camera.

In the background you can glimpse my struggling garden and see that the basil and tomatos are finally starting to grow.  But the weeds seem to grow much faster....

The second thing is a pair of socks I just finished and am happy with:

I am happy with these for two reasons. First, I like the crazy colors. Hurray for self-striping yarn! Second, I tried a new way of doing the heels and it worked out really well.  They fit my feet better than many other socks I've made.

My last thing is also a finished knitting project of a different kind: a little toy I made for the daughter of a friend of mine.  She is about to become a big sister and I made a little sweater for the baby so I thought she deserved a present too and I decided to try a little hedgehog toy I found on Ravelry.

This toy was a lot of fun to make because included a lot of interesting knitting -- which I like -- and a very minimal amount of sewing pieces together -- which I don't really like. But the important thing was that my little friend and her mom both liked it.

Knitting (and occasionally crocheting too) is one of my very favorite things, so a reasonable amount of my "stuff" here may be knitting-related.  For fellow knitters, I'm marglamb on Ravelry.  I will add these two projects to my Ravelry "project" page soon with details if you care.