Needles

Needles

A sharp pointed tool used to stitch with.

Or 

A town in California, USA on Route 66 just over the bridge that spans the Colorado River from Arizona and minutes from Nevada. 

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway has a hub in Needles and it was originally a tent town for railroad construction crews, the railroad company built a hotel, car sheds, shops and a roundhouse. Within a month the town also boasted a Chinese washhouse, a newsstand, a restaurant, a couple of general stores, and nine or ten saloons. The town became the largest port on the river above Yuma, Arizona. The Railway and the Fred Harvey Company built the elegant Neoclassical and Beaux-Arts style El Garces Hotel and Santa Fe Station in 1908 which was considered the "Crown Jewel" of the entire Fred Harvey chain. The landmark building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is being restored.

Needles was a major stop on the historic U.S. Route 66 highway from the 1920s through the 1960s. For immigrants from the Midwest Dust Bowl in the 1930s it was the first town that marked their arrival in California. The city is lined with motels and other shops from that era. The "Carty's Camp" which appears briefly in The Grapes of Wrath as the Joad family enters California from Arizona is now a ghost tourist court, its remains located behind the 1946-era 66 Motel.

Needles is a tourism and recreation center, a tradition going back for decades. The city is the eastern gateway to the Mojave National Preserve, a scenic desert National Park.

Or

(The) Needles- a landmark attraction off the Isle of Wight in England.

The Needles on the Isle of Wight is surely one of the most photographed groups of rocks in the world. This row of three distinctive chalk stacks features in all the classic views of the island, a truly unforgettable image – and a photographer’s dream.

The name 'Needles' is believed to have been derived from a slender tapering rock pinnacle which was formerly situated a little to the north (i.e. on the Alum Bay side) of the present central rock. This needle-shaped rock, about 120ft high and known as 'Lot's Wife' collapsed into the sea in 1764 with a crash which was said to have been heard many miles away! The stump of this pinnacle can still be seen at low water where it forms a dangerous reef.

The Needles form the western tip of a band of chalk that crosses the centre of the Isle of Wight, stretching to Culver Cliff in the east. This chalk ridge continues west under the sea to Dorset’s Isle of Purbeck, and is believed to have been connected at one time to Old Harry Rocks, about 20 miles away. In 5,000BC this ridge was breached by the Solent River, creating the Isle of Wight with its jagged white rocks at the western tip. These unusually vertical rocks are a result of the heavy folding of chalk and the remaining stacks of very hard chalk are extremely resistant to erosion.

Situated within The Needles is the world famous Marconi Monument, which marks the precise location where Guglielmo Marconi undertook his pioneering work at the end of the 19th Century, which led to radio and all telecommunications as we know it today.

Cactus Garden-A hidden gem!

Did you know that there is a wonderful cactus garden hiding behind a chocolate factory in Henderson, Nevada not far from Las Vegas and on the way to the Hoover Dam?

If you are planning on some sightseeing while in Las Vegas at the SAGA Retreat, I would add a visit to the Ethel M® Chocolate Factory to your list of places to go. Of course, who can resist the chance to see chocolate making and get to try a sample or two? But then there is also the wonderful cactus garden to walk around! The garden is the largest cactus garden in Nevada and features four acres of drought-tolerant ornamentals, cacti and succulents.  Over 300 species can be found and many of the plants are native to the American Southwest. 

The self-guided factory tour and Botanical Cactus Garden are open seven days a week.

The factory is located at:

2 Cactus Garden Dr.

Henderson, NV 89014

 

Visit the website at: http://www.ethelm.com/about_us/cactus_garden.aspx

Smock Across America!

Did you see the latest email from the SAGA Board?

The locations for the 2015

 Smock Across America Retreats

 were anounced!

The locations and dates are:

Las Vegas, Nevada -February 26 - March 1, 2015.

 

Greater Chicago Area-July 16 -19, 2015

 

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania- September 24-27, 2015

 

 





Teachers and classes to be announced later, but start planning as there are so many decisions to make:

 

Visit a place you have never been and make a vacation of it?

Pick a city close to home so you can take classes without the expense of flights?

Attend all three, because you just can't miss out on the chance to take classes and meet freinds?

 

Whatever you choose, you can be sure you will have a great time!

 

Want to experience a SAGA event before 2015?

 

Then sign up to attend the Sewcation in Orlando, Florida September 16-21, 2014!

Visit the SAGA website (www.smocking.org) to see all that is on offer for the 35th SAGA Convention.