Day out on the Missouri River Wine Trail

Yesterday we spent the day exploring mid-Missouri on the Missouri River Wine Trail's Picnic Pairing Wine tastings... we decided to go on the back roads ( for the most part) and avoided I70 until the end! Our first stop was in Glasgow at Bushwacker Bend Winery. The little river town definitely deserves another look see! Bushwacker's has a great back deck overlooking the Missouri River ... almost close enough to throw a rock into it! The river is low right now since Missouri is way down precipitation-wise. Then it was off to Higbee and Cooper's Oak Winery. Followed by Serenity Valley Winery which is East of Columbia on the edge of the Mark Twain National Forest. Boy does this winery have loads of events planned, including a chance to watch the eclipse next August 21st. Missouri is one of the best places to watch!! Then it was off to Les Bourgeois Winery in Rocheport. It is also on the Missouri River and a great place to catch the Katy Trail.
On our way from Serenity to Les Bourgeois we were on I70 and spent over an hour traversing 2 miles thanks to a major "incident" involving a semi truck ... even on the outer roads around Columbia cars were stuck in traffic.
All the wineries did a great job pairing their wine with picnic style nibbles ...going to do it again since we didn't have enough time or energy to visit all of them. We traveled over 300 miles in one great and wiggly loop!! Never hit the same road twice. 
Missouri's middle runs the gamut from rivers with small river towns to forested hills to large farms just waiting for planting at this time of the year .... and nothing was boringly flat!!

Teddy Bear Extravaganza

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make enough bears for the Teddies Worldwide Teddy Bear Extravaganza.... but as I mentioned, my eyes are doing well!!  Such a delight to have the world be so much clearer and brighter!!! A friend mentioned that she wasn't used to seeing me without glasses!!

The show opens this Friday..... Robbie Rabbit is my preview "bear"

His basket contains some of the needle felted eggs  and "chocolates" that I made when I couldn't sew. The show has lots bears and friends... so here is the link

Eye #2

Eye #2 was done Monday.... I am not quite so much of a novice this time, so getting back to normal (?) is quicker!!! I even finished a bear on Tuesday!!
Life with two eyes ... the second is catching up to the first ... where I can see street signs and the yellow tinge is gone ... is great!!
I will need readers ( I think I know what they mean) when all the healing is complete!!

Teddies World Wide's  Teddy Bear Extravaganza opens March 17th....