TREASURES FROM ABROAD...

Actually, treasures from abroad, from two "broads"...the BEST "broads" to go abroad (far from "broads", really - two of the nicest people I have met in my life) - sisters sailing the high seas together, and look what treasures they turned up, abroad...

Very out of order, according to my friend Jackie, who is posting her high-sea adventures on ONECREATIVECAT.COM - she's also in the midst of opening an online travel business, so make sure you check her out (she's also one of my favorite creative cronies).  She brought me this special hand painted and lacquered box from St. Petersburg (yes, Russia).  She also told me it is HER on the box.  I knew that.

Then, because both of us are enamoured with the History Channel's VIKINGS, she brought me THOR'S HAMMER, from Denmark.  It's dainty and beautiful bronze, and I will be wearing it and dreaming of Ragnar.  She's gonna' tell me Ragnar is HER'S - I know that, too.

Then, as if THAT wasn't enough, she brought me the softest Tweed yarn from Copenhagen (instead of chew, thankfully).  Now I will have to keep something I make, for myself.

It was starting to be something like opening a Matryoshka doll...gift after gift, from far-away lands.  And then, the "second broad from abroad" (Christy) got into the act, and brought me MORE great yarn - this even softer than the first two skeins.  All from Denmark, where the nights are cold and the Viking boys warm!  Much love and thanks to Jackie and Christy - you girls ROCK...you KNOW you DO!  I couldn't ask for two better friends.

And then...speaking of Matryoshka dolls...there was THIS stunning piece, for my daughter, as a gift from Jackie (they will trade for it - a tattoo for a highly cherished treasure).  This is absolutely jaw-dropping - hand painted ballerinas from the Swan Lake Ballet (my daughter LOVES the ballet), depicted on the fronts of 5 charmingly beautiful nesting dolls.  Straight from a little shop in front of the Palace of Catherine the Great, as she tells the story.  She's going to do well as a travel consultant!

She even snapped this photo of Carl Anderssons Street, in Sweden, remembering that I had evidently told her at some distant time, that was the name of my paternal grandfather.   Yeah, she's gonna' be awesome.

And how hot is it in Vegas these days, you might ask????????????  We haven't even hit the high mark for the day - it usually comes as the sun is going down.  And I don't know WHO the hell is inside of my phone, reporting that it's only PARTLY sunny????!!!!

And, contrary to popular belief, you really CAN'T fry an egg on the sidewalk.  Well, maybe you can, but I wasn't going to wait an hour - 20 minutes produced nothing, and I wish I had checked the Internet sooner - fried nothing but my bare feet, checking on it. Yeah, the heat might be affecting my brain.  And to the "Broads from Abroad", THANKS AGAIN, GIRLY GIRLS!!!!  Ragnar's MINE!  I'm knitting him a scarf!