Foliage and Funky Trees

It's been another one of those weeks. We are still training on the new system at work. While I'm comfortable with some aspects, there are other little bits and pieces that I think will make sense only once we're working in it full time.

Should I mention I leave the training sessions feeling like my brain is fried?

And that all this involves long, long hours?

(A little cheese with this whine would be appreciated.)

Anyway, I have been stitching away on Mary Otter when I finally get home.

We have the first funky tree and a vine:

We have planted flowers and other plants between the fence posts:

And we have the second funky tree:

This leaves the remainder of the stripes, the third funky tree, and the carriage and horses to stitch.

I'm going to work on the stripes tonight, but then Mary (and I) are going on vacation.

Mary is actually having a stay-cation. She travels with a lot of stuff, and the motifs that are left to do are very detailed. I have come to the conclusion that I would be much more accurate in stitching her if I'm in my own nest.

I, on the other hand, am leaving for Williamsburg at the crack of dawn Tuesday morning for my annual retreat with friends.  This year we're having a four-day class that starts on Wednesday, so I'm not going to have as much time in the stitching room as usual--not a problem, since I'm really looking forward to the class. I wish I could have gone for the whole 10-day retreat, but between the number of events I want to attend this year and the number of vacation days available, that won't happen.

At least, not this year.