Traveling, no blogging, great ice cream

Yes, my blog has been quiet lately, but I have an excuse--I've been traveling a lot over the past 2-1/2 months. I was in New York City for a week in late April, in China for two weeks in late May and early June, and then back on the east coast for ten days at the end of June. I'll start posting photos of my China travels sometime soon. In the meantime, let me praise the virtues of great ice cream in New York! On the first warm spring day there in April, I happened to pass an ice cream truck boasting "artisan ice cream," and I couldn't resist the temptation. I had a scoop of pistachio, and it was the smoothest, creamiest, tastiest ice cream I've ever had! If you're ever in NYC, keep your eye out for the Van Leeuwen ice cream truck--it's definitely worth a try, although you won't want to think about the amount of fat you're consuming. Here's their website: www.vanleeuwenicecream.com

And here's a photo of their truck that I happened to find on a Flickr site:

Woes of the Middle-Aged Crafter

My day job requires me to read constantly, and over the last couple of years, I've had periodic bouts with eyestrain. I thought it was just overwork, since everything looked fine until I read too much. Lately, however, the difficulty of maintaining focus, combined with eye aches and headaches, forced me to go to the optometrist. The verdict: presbyopia--that is, the dreaded need for bifocals. Only these days, one usually shells out for so-called progressive lens, which have gradations in magnification that allow one to see clearly at multiple ranges. I also needed reading glasses, because I like to read while lying down, which apparently means that I need to be able to read through the top part of the lense, whereas the reading zone for progressive lens is towards the bottom.

The optician did a rush job on my reading glasses, and I just picked them up this afternoon. Relief is in sight at last!