and sometimes your children choose them for you.

Such was the case for me this past Thursday, and with the help of a neighbor (who drove me to the airport) and my husband and youngest son (who agreed to manage the house, my dog Clooney, and the cat Stripes), early on Thursday morning, I boarded a non-stop flight for Los Angeles for the purpose of wishing my son Simon well as he prepared to participate in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon International course which was being run on Saturday, September 7. Not exactly the adventure I would choose, but this time I was not doing the choosing.

While I had not been certain until the last few days that everything that needed to fall into place would, everything did, and by 9:02 am PDT, this was the sight that greeted me:

and a few minutes later I enjoyed this view as I waited for a shuttle to the car rental agency:

While I was not entirely comfortable making a trans-continental trip in the middle of state fair season, I had been planning for this possibility and had packed this bag to bring along:

The bag contained not just memories of desserts past, but myriad crochet cookies that formed a veritable abyss of cookies-in-need-of-ends-being-woven-in:

While formidable, it was nowhere near as bad as the “short cut” my son Simon directed me to.

Having gotten myself from the airport to Santa Monica, we managed a quick hello between a class and a client, and Simon drew a map to help me find a nearby coffee shop so I could keep myself busy until he could break for lunch.

While drawing the map he advised me that there was a “wooden staircase” that I would take as a short cut.

He failed to advise me that there were a number of steep staircases filled with lots and lots of stairs along the street I would be walking, so when I encountered this flight:

I decided that I must have misheard him when he had described the steps as wooden, and I made the ascent, only to find that I had climbed the wrong set of stairs, and that another equally arduous set awaited me.

Eventually, however, I made it to the coffee shop, and eventually, Simon and I had lunch, and still later, my crochet cookies and I arrived at at hotel overlooking Venice Beach:

and I resumed work weaving in the ends of the crochet cookies I had brought with me. Shortly before sunset, I had completed work on 22 of the small cookies I had brought with me:

So maybe some of you are wondering, how did Simon do in the The Herbalife International Distance of the Nautica Malibu Triathlon presented by Equinox?

I am happy to report that he finished the race and placed seventh.

As for me, I had at least a week’s worth of crochet adventure while in Los Angeles, and I am looking forward to sharing more of them with you.