Fish and Ships - Ovation of the Seas

 Good morning,

You'd have to work very hard to avoid eating on a cruise ship.  There is food just about everywhere.

Fish and Ships is one of the spots where you can get some quick food, then get on with your day. 

 Everything is freshly prepared...

 ...and absolutely yummy!

 Be sure to explore the entire ship when you come on board so you don't miss any of these special places!

Enjoy!

Lois

Mendenhall Glacier

 Good morning,

This beautiful image of Mendenhall Glacier is beautiful enough to frame and hang.  Catherine took the image while on her cruise aboard Ovation of the Seas.

Thank you for the image, Catherine.

Love you,

Mom 

Top Tier Event - Ovation of the Seas

 Good morning,

Royal Caribbean recognizes loyal cruisers with special events on board.  These images were sent to us by daughter Catherine while aboard Ovation of the Seas. 

 Live music, of course.  :)

 And, we immediately recognized Captain Espen Been with whom Kjell and I sailed before Kjell's retirement from Royal Caribbean.

It's a small world.

Thank you for the images, Catherine.  We are enjoying them!

All the best,

Lois 

 

Needlework and Wood Working Update - October, 2026

 Good morning,

Welcome to the Needlework and Wood Working Update!  This is where we gather images of all of the items completed since our last update.  It provides a great way to showcase what is new as well as document our activities.  The answer to Kjell's Hobby Lobby purchase is in this Update, too.  ;)  

Above is our Large Afghan Blanket in Brilliant Bouquet design.  The colorful flowers are bordered in an emerald green scalloped edge.  More images and information are here. 

This design is also available in Lap Blanket size here. 

 Here's something that will bring ooooh's and aaaaaah's at the next baby shower.  It's also a beautiful gift for baby's first birthday.  This generous size blanket has a matching turtle toy.  This item was a custom order and has been delivered.  More similar baby blankets with toys are available in the shop here.

 Ready for Fall?  This lovely Dusty Blue Shawl is lovely for Fall evenings by the campfire or inside by the fireplace.  It is also an excellent texture to use as a breastfeeding coverup.

I've been busy making hats for Fall!  This gorgeous hat sold within a few days of being listed in the shop.  There are others in a variety of colors available here.

At this writing, this hat is still available in the shop.  See more about it here.

While being knitted, this green hat was videoed and is featured on Etsy here.   

Oh, this Green Basket Weave Knit Hat is so perfect for Santa's Helper or your favorite Leprechaun!  It's a great stocking stuffer, too!  More images and information here.

It was time to restock our Cloche Hats in the shop.  This Sunshine Yellow hat sold out shortly after it was listed, but many more similar hats are here.

Same story here.  This one sold shortly after it was listed...

...as was this one.

Come see dozens more Cloche Hats available to ship now.

A way to quickly refresh your bathroom decor is with a pretty tissue topper.  This one is here.  

These are $10 each.  They're available in a variety of colors.  This one is here.

So pretty!  Here's this one.

And, my favorite color, Blue.  It's here.

This Navy Blue Tissue Topper sold out within hours of being listed.

More Tissue Toppers in a variety of colors are available here. 

This small tote bag was a custom order and has been delivered.  It's so perfect for travel.

And, finally, here is what Kjell did with the glass from Hobby Lobby.  This is a Whiskey Smoker.  It can also be used for coffee or tea.  The glass dome covers a whiskey glass on a wood base.  The bottom of the board contains channels for smoke to travel from the small metal container in the upper right corner containing apple wood chips.  It's a current gourmet drink preparation system.  We are keeping this gem, so you won't find it in the shop. To see more images and a video of how it works, it's on Kjell's Facebook Page here.

So, that's it for this time!  We sincerely appreciate your encouragement, comments, shares, likes, favorites, pins, and purchases, too!  

All the very best,

Lois

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Evensens Productions, LLC

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Amber & Oak Pub - Ovation of the Seas

 Good morning,

Catherine sent us this image of the Amber  Oak Pub aboard the Ovation of the Seas.  Royal Caribbean ships have similar pups on many of their ships.  

We found the pub a great place to meet friends and sit "outside" on the Royal Promenade and watch people walk by.  The good part was we could order non-alcoholic drinks and our guests could order whatever they wanted.

Ah, yes, great memories of many years at sea.

All the best,

Lois

Road Trip in the Rain

 Good morning,

We had a road trip in the rain to get an item for a wood working project that Kjell has started.  

Although the weather wasn't great, it was fun to get out on the highway again. 

 Our destination was Hobby Lobby and this is what we bought.  Stay tuned to see how he uses this!  Ah, the suspense!

This was fun!

All the best,

Lois

Waiting Room Knitting - Intarsia Hat

 Good morning,

I took these images while in the waiting room at our Ford dealer.  

Our new 2026 Explorer that we bought in May was recalled already, but I'm glad that Food keeps up with items that need checking/correcting.  It seems there was a problem in some of the cars with the driver's seat reclining when it shouldn't, so the recall was issued.

I brought knitting this time because we were told it could take a long time for the computer to run checks on the seat software.  Yep, there are computers in the seats as well as everywhere else in our new car.  There are 50 to 60 computers in that car.

I'm knitting a Scandinavian Intarsia Sampler hat.  Each hat I knit is unique.  The stitches are a sampler of intarsia knitting designs found on Scandinavian sweaters.  I just sold a similar hat in these colors the week I listed it so am making another for the shop.  This one will appear in the shop soon. There are many similar hats in the shop now that are ready to ship.  

There's a video of me knitting this type of design featured on Etsy.  Check it out! 

 My knitting bag with the Royal Caribbean logo was made for me by my friend Karen.  

 

On the opposite side is an embroidered four stripe Chief Engineer Epaulet.  She took a picture of Kjell's shoulder epaulet when on board and came back with this gorgeous lined bag that she designed and made for me.  How very sweet!  I've been using the bag for at least 15 years and it is still like new.

The recall work on the driver's seat of our new car was finished quickly.  The software was checked and found to be in perfect working order in our vehicle.

So, that was our busy day.  It is good to be retired.

All the best,

Lois

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Evensens Productions, LLC

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You Know You're Getting Old When...

 You know you are getting old when changing fitted sheets on your Twin XL Mattresses in a King Size Frame is an Athletic Event!

Ah, Yes, Bread Day

 Good morning,

The house smells wonderful today!  :)

It's a wonderful day to make a sandwich with fresh bread and knit.  

Come see what's new in the shop!  

https://evensensproductions.etsy.com

We're ready for the holidays with more than 300 items ready to ship.  We hope you'll consider shopping with us for something truly unique for the special people in your life.  We sincerely appreciate your encouragement, shares, comments, likes, favorites, pins, and, purchases, too!

Retirement from our professional lives is good. 

Happy Fall!

All the best,

Lois 

Gourmet Meal at Home

 Good morning,

We have seen some outstanding meals prepared on cruise ships lately, but this is one made right here at home.  

Catherine prepared a wonderful filet mignon dinner and Kjell made the steak sauce.  

 The steaks were grilled to rare perfection.

 The spinach salad made the whole thing healthy!

 This is Kjell's version of hollandaise sauce.  It was soooo good!

 Bacon for the potatoes, of course.

And, perfectly baked potatoes.

We didn't need any dessert.  If we had had dessert, we wouldn't have been able to eat it!

Thank you, family!  This was great!

Love you all!

Lois

Loaded Baked Potato ala Catherine

 
Good morning,

This was a meal in itself.

Catherine made loaded baked potatoes.  This is just HALF of a potato and was nearly more than I could eat.

Yum!

What a great Fall meal.

All the best,

Lois

Baked Cod Soup ala Kjell

 Good morning,

Instead of making this soup in a soup pot, Kjell makes this in a casserole dish.  The cod bakes perfectly and all the flavors blend. 

 It's a thick soup and oooooooh, so good!

Enjoy!

Lois

Beautiful Moon

 Good morning,

The moon was so beautiful when we took the pups out for last call recently.

 We had somehow missed it in the news, but later that night we had an eclipse of the moon.  Catherine was still at her office and texted asking if Dad was outside gett6ing pictures, but we were already in bed.

 There were many images of the eclipse on line the next morning.  

So pretty!

All the best,

Lois

Chops Lunch - Ovation of the Seas

 Good morning,

Sometimes a special steak burger and fries is just right for lunch.

Chops Grille is a specialty restaurant aboard Ovation of the Seas.

Thanks, Erica, that looks great!  I'm now on my way to the kitchen to make some lunch....

All the best,

Lois

Giovanni's Kitchen - Ovation of the Seas

 Good morning,

The specialty restaurants aboard RCCL ships are fantastic.  Today's images are from Giovanni's Italian Kitchen aboard Ovation of the Seas. 

 This is Spaghetti Carbonara and...

 ...this is Tiramasu for dessert.

Oh, my, that looks so good!  Thank you for the images, Erica!

All the best,

Lois

Izumi Restaurant Aboard Ovation of the Seas

 Good morning,

Here is something I haven't seen at Izumi Specialty Restaurants aboard Royal Caribbean ships before:  pretzel sticks.  They look delicious! 

 Oh, and these treats are always special.  California Roll.

 Thank you, Erica, for sharing your images!

Yum!

Lois