Angelina the Hairy Sheep

I enjoyed a cruise to the USA and Canada in September, playing with pianist Alison Farr. Alison got married a couple of weeks later, and I was her bridesmaid, so we treated this as a hen cruise! I also celebrated my birthday - this is us sailing into Newfoundland on my birthday with champagne.

Then the music team went on a trip which involved port-tasting and wine-tasting!

Both keen knitters, we managed to find a wool shop in every port, with wool from the local sheep.

One shop in St John’s Canada, had many balls from a specific sheep, called ‘Angelina’. Apparently, Angelina is very hairy. The lady in the shop was very helpful. She was in the middle of knitting a white silk shawl for her wedding; to cover up the tattoos which her family didn’t know about!

A knitted map of the USA!

We even managed to find one wool shop that was also a sweet shop! Heaven! Except, heaven was shut.

When we arrived in New York, we docked right in the middle, a short walk from Times Square. It took a long time to get into the country though; I ended up knitting in the immigration queue.

We visited the Met Museum and discovered their very interesting musical instrument collection. This is me with a peacock lute.

And, more excitingly, Ringo Starr's gold drum!!

We played the wonderful Violin Sonata by Elgar, and also the little-known Sonata by Nino Rota. He wrote the music for the original Godfather. Our very faithful audience forfeited the ‘Chocaholics’ event that was going on in the restaurant, for that one. It’s a good job I didn’t know it was happening, or I would have deserted the stage in favour of the chocolate fountain.

Time to pack again - shutting the suitcase at the end of a cruise is always a nightmare.

My favourite thing from the USA - we found this in the bookstore at Harvard.