Hospitality & Kindness

It has been my great good fortune to have been on the receiving end of some notable hospitality & kindness.

I've been traveling a good bit over the past month. I'm finding I've a long list of notes I need to send to a wide range of people. Before I unplug myself today, I thought I'd post a couple words about some hospitality of a knitterly nature.

I've been to a couple yarn stores, as is my wont. I had a nice break in my travels at Fine Points in Cleveland, OH. In addition to my general pleasure at the creative possibilities that seemed to burst from the cubbies, the staff were just really, really nice. And I thank them for their kindness in letting me use their restroom. Not all stores do this, and as a traveler who shops, I was grateful.

I went with a colleague to a yarn shop in New Orleans, Garden District Needlework & Yarns, as a break from the rigors of the events I was attending there. The shop was delightful and spacious and had LOADS of inspirational yarn to consider.

AND. Through the course of some conversation, I was invited to a local church. Can you imagine the degree of hospitality? I was floored. My hosts took me on a tour of parts of the New Orleans. It was important to get out into the city, beyond the zone of major hotels. There is still so much, much rebuilding to be done post-Katrina.

Finally, a change in my schedule meant I was able to try to catch trillian42 from knittyboard to see if she were free for a fairly spontaneous yarn shop visit in DC. She introduced me to Stitches DC and the very gracious proprietor. Found some lovely local yarn and shared good hearted conversation and laughter and baby-ogling. Pam led the way to Banana Cafe for a fine heat-wave beverage and bit of lunch. Pam told me of the great kindness she's seen in the contributions to Hats for Alex. She's collecting the second wave of hats. It seemed fitting to end our conversation remarking on the kindnesses of so many people.

I need to go home to send some notes of thanks to friends and family whose hospitality and kindness don't appear in this post. And I have some projects to do, to keep the kindness moving along!