Mysterious Progress

I started in on part six? last week and got one and a part of a second square done. I'll be finishing this part off today before I leave really early in the morning for Vienna. That way I can start on part seven when I get home, a few days late. I still like the colors. The pictures don't do them justice.

A Bit on Split

The central building in this picture was our hotel. Actually, not all of it was our hotel - only the middle two floors. The rest was private housing. Hotel More was a great place to stay. The picture was taken from the beach, so you can see how close it is! That cross in front of it, the tall metal pole? It's historically significant. It marks the place where Pope John Paul II celebrated mass a decade ago. The cross was part of the elevated altar and everyone was on the beach. The hotel wasn't built at the time. This place takes care of you - they're always concerned that things are right, ask you what kind of food you want for breakfast, loan you silverware for dinner, and give you a table chairs, -and- chaise longues on the veranda. Can you tell I want to go back?

This picture is from the restauraunt about a mile from the hotel that we had dinner at - twice. Like most places in the Balkans, it has a patio to eat outside. The day was good, so we did. I just like how my companion caught the colors of the sunset in this view. I'll make a post with some dinner pictures on it if my companion ever gets to processing my phone pictures...

And this is a picture of the beach at night, right across from our hotel. Pretty, isn't it? I'll have more pictures and a story to tell in a post soon. The beaches are used both day and night - there's always someone there. And they're gorgeous.

Going Green

Both of the middle plaques are now ready for their specialty stitches, and most of what is left cross stitch-wise on the plaques is the celadon green background color. Slow progress, but progress all the same.

One Reason I've Not Been Stitching Much

Here she is - my new puppy, Mattie. Mattie's a Sharr mix, and only seven or eight weeks old. I got her because someone at the embassy found her beside the road at a customs stop outside Peje. Isn't she cute? She's a sweetheart, too. She's very biddable and obedient and loves people. I leave here on Wednesday; she's flying home on her own on Sunday, since I have two overnight stays.

Anyway, that's one reason why I've not been caught up on my stitching. She requires a lot of time to play and also attention to keep her out of things.

Blued Out

Another blue done, and this one completely for the corner. I'm feeling kind of bad about my stitching at the moment. I haven't finished a single project on this whole trip and I leave for home on Wednesday morning. On the other hand, I've gotten a LOT done otherwise. Maybe I'll get more stitching done when I get home.

On the Road

Being stopped for road construction is rather normal in Croatia and Montenegro. You have to build it into your transit time when going places. So we thought nothing of it when we were stopped in this rather scenic area (yes, they're all scenic, really) on the way from Dubrovnik to Split and waited for a few minutes. We were about a dozen cars back from the light. Paying more attention to the view down to the sea than the road work going on up the mountain, we were slightly startled to hear a series of booms. Oh! They were blasting a new place to build the road and get another couple of lanes. Great. Then... rumble, rumble, bounce, rumble.... one boulder comes crashing down the mountainside. Sure enough, it landed right on the road. We saw it coming down, but my companion didn't react quickly enough to take pictures on the way.

It was kind of funny to watch the construction workers afterwards. All of them at the top stood in a line with their hands on their hips, looking down and shaking their heads. In unison. You could tell they were cursing, even from that distance. This poor guy was the flagman below, kicking off the pieces of rock to finish tumbling down into the sea.

And this is the boulder in all its glory. Notice the guard rail is -still- intact, and only bent. It gave my companion a lot more confidence in driving on the roads that if something happened, the rail wasn't as flimsy as he thought. On our way back three days later, the boulder had already been removed but the guard rail was still bent.

Flaming...

I got the flame started this week and completely finished the blue. I promise, in a few posts you'll see why I've been so slow stitching!