A few short bits about travel.

This year, the grandmothers in my life are getting simple, airy scarves made from kidsilk haze.  Easy to knit, portable on airplanes, and nice warm bits of pretty fluff.  I was finishing the second (for John’s Granny – actually out of kidsilk night – a deep lavender with flecks of silver, perfect for her) sitting next to a gentleman who had informed me that he has seven children.  I admit, I boggled visibly when he told me he had seven children.  At any rate, having finished the scarf and having large leftover amounts of pale pink and lavender sparkle kidsilk, I couldn’t resist swatching them together on the big needles I was using to see what resulted.  When I saw the fluffy bit of luxury that was forming in my hands, I turned to Mr. Seven and asked if any of his daughters were into Barbie.  When I found out that yes, they were, Mr. Seven went home with a very luxe little stole for Barbie.  Perfect for those evenings at the opera, you know.

An airport-bound taxi in Manhattan took me through Columbus Circle, whereupon I saw they have a holiday market at the southwest tip of Central Park.  I wanted to stop and wander, because it looked a lot like the Weihnachtsmarkts that I fell in love with in Germany (though surely minus the street vendors selling gluhwein).  Unfortunately, there was no time.  Always onward.

The last bit is only tangentially travel-related.  Author Neil Gaiman was in the Philippines,  where he conspired with a fan to help the fan propose to his girlfriend at a book signing via Neil’s inscription in her book.  The video link is here.  It’s terribly sweet and cute, in that “major life event – what is happening in two seconds to everyone else is clearly taking half an hour in their personal timeline.”  Since the video isn’t always very clear, the description of the event by the fiance is here.  If Neil Gaiman gets any nicer, he’s single-handedly going to improve the niceness average for the human race by several points.