My trip from Tennessee was as entertaining and fun as it was from home to Memphis. We got on at night and promptly ran into this guy from England named Peter. He was a bit older than us, but one funny guy. We hit it off immediately. We ended up in the same train car…#730…with our train attendant, Noelani.
Noelani was a beautiful Hawaiian woman that has a heart bigger than the sky. She referred to everyone as honey, sweetheart, or darling. No one could every hate this woman.
As the train took off from Chicago, Noelani saw me knitting a pair of socks. She says, “Oh, socks..I love hand made socks. Someone made me socks once and I love them.” From that moment on, she was going to weedle that pair of socks out of me if it was the last thing she did. I gave in quickly as I saw I wasn’t going to win this battle. She loved those socks and she was going to have them.
She asked at least 136 questions about socks, spinning, knitting and then when she found out I was a weaver, she went over the edge! I told her I had socks and things in the baggage car. She said, “OK, I am going to get them.” A few minutes later, she came flying down the aisle of the train, my box in hand.
She ended up buying a pair of socks for her mother. I gave her a weaving I had done and she treated it like it was worth a pound of gold. Peter, my English friend wanted a pair, so I am going to knit him one pair and lo and behold, this worker on the train comes to our room and wanted 4 more pairs for his wife! I took his address and told him I would see what I could do for him. Not sure how that will play out. I found out that Noelani had gone down the train cars telling everyone she had new socks. She stopped people walking by and showed them. She even got some gal that was stuck on her knitting project to come see me, because I knew everything (everything, mind you!) about knitting. I was abke to help her, but good grief…
We had a wine tasting party on the train. Noelani was the host and she gets on the intercom and says, “Everyone in MY car, #730, and those in room 2 (us) must get down here now! We are all waiting for you.” Peter, Mike and I started down the train and then our Aussie friends joined us. By now, we had all eaten together and spent a great deal of time chatting. It was like we were on our own private car.
I had three sips of different wines and I was crocked. I was giggly and Mike gave me that..”oh-dear-Lord-she -is-soused” look. It takes nothing at all to put me under the table of at least get a lamp shade on my head. I ended up winning a bottle of wine for our dinner and here comes Noelani…She gets me up, turns me around and says, “Nancy here is knitting me socks!” By now, everyone was a bit tipsy and giggly, so I got a round of applause. I mean after all, socks are just soooooo interesting.
We ran into a snow storm and it delayed us 4 hours. That meant we had to make more merry in the car. Peter started into all his jokes and stories and then the Aussies added their stories. Mike and added more and by the time we got off in Edmonds, I felt like I was leaving all my best friends. We got Peter’s email address, another couple we met in Chicago on the way to Memphis and of course, Noelani’s. She was hugging us goodbye like we were on the Titanic and going down for the last time. She was pure delight.
Here are some pictures of a plantations we visited and some odds and ends of shots.
Glenda and Nancy
tools of the trade
plantation at Franklin Tennessee
sitting on the porch...where are the juleps??
