What Y'All Missed at TNNA

TNNA spent last weekend in my hometown putting on their Winter Show, an extravaganza of needle arts supplies and professionals as is not seen in this neck of the woods very often. Oh, the colors and the new project bags and the workshops and...

What? You didn't go? Well, neither did I. Honestly, I walked right past the convention center a few times and didn't even think about it (I was busy obsessing about Disney Princesses on Ice, held in the same complex). The sudden increase of women walking around with hanks of yarn in their bags didn't make it click for me (if you were the two women sitting outside in Shoreline Village when some crazy brunette walked by, turned to her male companion, and yelled "Hey! They have yarn!", you damn near met me. Close call). The big, lighted sign saying "TNNA Parking Left" didn't make my light bulb brighten. Nope, it was a woman in a jean jacket with a cross-stitched zebra on the back that made me realize what I was missing.

So, instead of going on and on about what you missed in TNNA, I'm going to extrapolate on what the folks in TNNA missed out on:

It was a gorgeous day Sunday, nice enough that the walk to breakfast grew into a walk to the bookstore, which grew into a walk to the lighthouse, which further grew into a whole day of walking around downtown and even renting one of those stoopid paddle boats, which sole purpose is to prove how old and out of shape you are. Now, the participants enjoyed the weather, probably went out to the same bookstore and restaurants we went to, maybe even rented a paddle boat of self-esteem-blowing. But there is something that they did not get to enjoy.

Long Beach has some of the groadiest water quality in the state due to our heavy shipping traffic and the breakwater put into place to protect said shipping and defunct naval base. Now, I don't want to start a debate on whether or not they should sink the breakwater; I'm just trying to illustrate how icky the water in our area is. There have been times when patches of the little harbor near the convention center have looked like old coffee where the cream has gone south.

So imagine my surprise when, sitting at the lighthouse, enjoying the lovely weather, my little eye spied someone swimming in said filth. Swimming at the beaches around here is bad enough, but this was a harbor, a boat traffic area where you're not supposed to swim anyway. The HusBoy and I discussed how gross this was and went onto other topics, when, suddenly...

"Naked Man!!! Naked Man!!!"

The earlier ill-advised swimmer decided to change and dropped trou' behind a little shed on the pier, either not realizing or not caring that his rear end was exposed to not only us folks at the lighthouse, but also most of Shoreline Village. The man had enough decency to keep his junk covered up in front of the children, but there was a buck-naked dude reaaaaaly close to TNNA and they missed it.

So, thanks Naked Man, for making my TNNA-free weekend. Here's hoping nothing falls off.