Last I left you I was winging my way to Miami…never been and I was thrilled get to experience someplace new and different! Life is way too short not to take it all in.

My flight was smooth and uneventful as I landed in Miami. A few phone calls and texts and Frances was soon there to whisk me away. It seemed like we have known each other for years as we gabbed away…do you like coffee she asked? how about if we stop for a Cuban Coffee? Well never had one, well why not? I quickly fell in love with cortado, which is espresso with a small amount of steamed milk to cut the acidity and along with some sugar was surprisingly delicious!

We were on our way to Absolutely Needlepoint for the weekly Wednesday night sit and stitch or maybe it was sip and stitch? Everybody made me feel so very welcome in this darling shop loaded with lots of threads, canvases and beautifully stitched models. Pizza, salad, wine, fruit and decadent chocolate cake was on the menu. I had a great time getting to know everybody and talk about…well what else? stitching! All too soon it was time to say goodnight. I was ready for some sleep anyway.

More stitching stuff later after some lunch and sightseeing. The day started off with a drive in the pouring…did I say pouring rain? to Key Largo, yes the Key Largo of the Jimmy Buffet fame to Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen. A darling little restaurant that just oozed tons of charm. We started off with some “konk chowder” which I was told that a konk refers to a native Key Largo person. It was recommended that I order a hogfish sandwich which absolutely did not disappoint and finished up with a key lime pie freeze. Delicious!

Stay tuned as there is lots more…my server is being very slow and difficult right now! I have some work to do and I will come back to you later. I promise!

That was 4 hours ago and my work is done…so let’s try this again! Let’s hope I can remember everything I wanted to say. Okay I left off with the key lime pie at Mrs. Mac’s and Lisa, Mary and I headed to Island Dolphin Care which is an educational marine science program and we happened upon Wono who was being trained and well fed!

and quite entertaining too!

I even discovered orchids being grown in the wild…

A very relaxing day! Lisa drove me down further south to Islamorada, but it would have been too far to drive all the way to Key West. We headed back to her house so I could get to meet her cats, MaryJane, Blue and Piglett…now how could I say no to that? Quite the characters these three. They are hairless cats and never did see a hairless in person before. Very warm their skin, much warmer than the furry kind.

Soon it was time to go to work! Well believe it or not that is really why I came to Miami. I was the program for their Royal Palm Chapter.

The hostesses for the evening served quite a spread as you can see.

In this most beautiful room that was the library for the school and church combined. They started off with Show & Tell that is part of their UFO throw-down.

Wow! look at all these beautiful pieces that have been finished! So what did I do for the meeting? If you remember the first picture that shows the pile of threads and beads? Bella Lusso, River Silk, Sundance Beads, Gloriana, Belle Soie, Pepper Pot Silk, Planet Earth Silk, Soie d’Alger Silk, tila beads, drop beads, different kinds of beading needles, beading threads, sequins and ooh so much more. Well I brought this bag of tricks and I talked about the different threads and beads, cut the skeins apart and opened the tubes of beads to offer samples and try this out to see if you like it. I know I had fun and sure hope that these ladies did too!

It was time to say goodnight and head back to get a good night’s sleep as tomorrow was a full day of classes and all the socializing and sightseeing that I could possible cram into a day.

Just 1 day back and you know who has run outside no less than 3 times…now who’s counting? Miami to be continued and until next time…keep on stitching