Attitude

If you leave one letter out when you are typing the word Boyfriend, it becomes...

BoyFiend.

This is gonna change all my little talks with Blackeyed Susan.

Another FWYH On Its Way!

This year I have been concentrating on Finishing What I Have--projects that have been "waiting" for...ahem....years.

My two-year, five-quilt project (with fabrics being gathered for the last five years or so) has been a stunning success, ten months into the project. Two of the five finished, and the other three "sandwiched," basted and ready for the quilting. Fourteen pieces of flannel made into baby receiving blankets. A carrying case for my autoharp. Et cetera, et cetera.

Here is the latest--"being" finished. I wanted a wool throw for the back of the couch. I saved fabrics for, well, a long time. I think I started gathering them about fifteen years ago:
Notice the two red plaids below. The red/gray is from a jumper I made and wore when I was dating Charming, 1974. The red/green is even older--from a skirt-suit (Pendleton) I got from my cousin c. 1967. It was a size five, and I wore it in eighth grade. Violet and Forget-me-not got to wear it, as well. Blackeyed Susan missed the opportunity --she was too thick through the middle, and when she thinned out (read: shot up six inches in one year), it was too short. Now it lives on:

The tan/grey plaid was from a garage-sale poncho, 25 cents. My friend gave me the rust solid in 1982, the hunter green I bought about 1990. The lighter gray is another garage-sale find; I actually bought, outright, bright red solid wool, because I needed more RED (never too much red, people!) Two pairs of charcoal grey pants contributed the remainder of the fabric:

The letters are from middle schools for Johnny Tremain and Forget-me-not. The SS letter, tho' from their high school, I found in a thrift store--they wouldn't give theirs to me! Joining them later will be my mother's Girls' Athletic Association (G.A.A.) letter from 1939, and maybe my Troop Numbers from my Girl Scout troop (go 295!!)

I don't know if you can see the border. I got a yummy grey/black checked flannel. I thought it would be softer against chins snuggled up watching It's A Wonderful Life:

For the backing, I got the cutest-EVER flannel from Jo-Ann's--squirrels and acorns, with a few leaves for good measure:

I'm going to tie it with the same red wool I made this shawl out of. I hope to finish it this week, and check another thing off my list of Things To Actually Do Instead Of Just Storing The Ingredients....

Presents for Laura Carrot

Laura Carrot's third birthday was last Sunday! Lily planned her birthday party for today. Her big present is an 18-inch doll, resembling the American Girl dolls. I have gotten a doll for each of my three daughters, my daughter-in-law Lily, and one for myself. When I give them, they always come with a quilt. Here is Laura's:
It was fun, using a drinking glass for the quilting pattern. I also make a vintage-patterned dress, and a simple sweater. The dress has Laura's name on it:

For Christmas, I will make her dolly a Christmas dress, and pajamas to match the ones I'm making for Laura.

Here's a close-up of the quilt's corner square, using Valentine's Day fabric:

So, my part's done. Lily, however, has a challenge today--everyone she invited to Laura's party seems to be coming...twenty-five adults and thirty-five children! (she usually gets about 12/16 or so...) How many pounds of hamburger for that many sloppy joes????

I'll let you know if the drama unfolds tomorrow....

Stop the World, I Want to Get Off

I realize that it's well over a week since I've posted.

I wanted to post some photos of little things I'm working on; need new batteries in the camera.

I wanted to tell you about things going on in my family; can't get my thoughts together.

I wanted to share some cool thoughts I've been thinking; see above.

And now it is the week before our new church dedication on Sunday, and we were at church last evening until 9:30 pm, Charming at music practice, Susan at dance practice, Alvin at youth prayer service, and I running from girls' costumes to banners to watching the Big Practice to Waiting for People. When we got home last night, Alvin and Susan asked me to rub their feet before bedtime. Charming got in line for that!

Did I tell you I volunteered to make four girls' dance pants? There was NO ONE ELSE, and I know I can sew them in 45 minutes each. (not counting cut-out time, but that is manageable, too. If you've ever sewn flannel pj pants, you know they are easy to assemble. And I have until Saturday morning to finish them. Can you tell I'm trying to convince myself that I was not insane to volunteer?

Yesterday, Alvin did math and history; Susan did math and science. That's all, and for once in my life I wasn't fretting about what didn't get done. We did a thorough job on those two subjects, and others will follow today and tomorrow.

I thank God that every week is not like this one. This is one of those weeks like when you are moving into a new house--eventually it will be over, and what is left at the end is a beautiful thing. Sunday night is our dedication ceremony. Fifteen churches are cancelling their evening service so that their pastors can celebrate with us. Several dignitaries, including our Congressman, will be attending. Reception following, and I'm not involved with that, so no cleanup for me!

WHEN I get batteries in the camera, you can see my cute things! Maybe tomorrow...

Thanks for listening. Love you guys.

Major and Minor Irritants

We are having our first Sunday morning service in our new church building tomorrow morning!

You need to know that this building was the former home of a large church that had a devastating split, in disgrace, that made Big News locally. Months later, the pastor died, and it was All To Be Hashed Over Again. Our church received dozens of grieving families in the months following, who, incidentally, will be returning to their former church "home," home now to our part of the Body.

We have an Enemy who is not happy about all this. The Lord has told our leadership that this is the beginning of a great move of ministry, and that forgiveness and healing will be one of the results.

Blackeyed Susan is part of the program for Dedication Sunday, October 21st. The enemy has been hard at work in ways big and small, trying to hamper God's work. Of the two dance leaders/choreographers, one's husband has had a heart attack, and the other has had physical injury. Rehearsals have been plagued by "mysterious" fire alarms (no fire, no one pulled the box, etc.)

Blackeyed Susan was the target the other day. Charming took us, Joe Hardy, Forget-me-not, Blueberry, and nephew Derek to Pizza Hut the other day. We came home to a severed bicycle lock:

This happened about one p.m. Susan and Alvin Fernald's bicycles were locked together on the front porch. Someone cut the cable, moved Alvin's bike out of the way, took Susan's, and left Alvin's (whose bike was on the "outside," if someone wanted to be in a hurry). This was done in full view of a crew of three housepainters directly across the street, and with Charming's car in the driveway. All of those things which would tell you that nobody would be Stupid Enough to try such a stunt. And yet they did.

Susan and I talked about Job, and how Satan had to come before God and request to mess with him. First the Lord said, yes, but don't touch his body: later, He allowed that, but not to the point of death. We talked about how the enemy can't hurt us without our Father's knowledge; that everything must come through His hand.

This was a Minor Irritation in the big scheme of things. There were others (my dryer "stopped working" for three days, but is back again); there may be others still. Tuesday night at worship practice, another "fire alarm blip" caused a tiny interruption in power, and wiped out the entire sound board pre-sets (twenty-plus man-hours of work). Things were righted after a few minutes (and prayer, of course!)--Charming mentioned how if this had happened in a worldly setting, the profanity would have been flying...

How grateful I am that we are in the Father's hand, and that the Word promises us that nothing can remove us. We walk in His protection, so that if and when we fall prey to the enemy's works, we can call on our Father's name, and He will be there, to walk through them with us.

In other news, Sweet Pea had to go to the doctor this week to get her head super-glued after catching the corner of the coffee table:

What a wonderful thing--super-skin-glue!

Well, I am off to the Open House Tour at church--I got lost three times Wednesday, getting back up front from the back of the building. I am pathetic with navigation...

Straightening Out My Head

A busy week this week (now, really, people, when is a week NOT busy?). Charming has been working "opens," which means he needs to be at work at 5 a.m. Sunday night, I set the alarm for 4 a.m. Unbeknownst to me, while I was setting "alarm," my finger slipped to the "time" button, and I added an hour to the time, as well. Charming dutifully sat up when the alarm went off, and set off to the shower. He came right back, saying, "hon, it's only three o'clock." I checked my wristwatch, and, sure 'nuff, I had messed up the alarm. Charming noticed, because he had glanced at the clock in my sewing room. This was a clock left over from when Forget-me-not used that room. It is an LED clock with three-inch high numbers, glowing brightly. I was pretty grateful that we have that clock, because I don't think Charming would have been too happy to arrive at work at 4 a.m!

Working "opens" means he needs to get to bed early (tho' that seldom happens), and there is really no time to have Quality time with him. Monday night, I took Blackeyed Susan to a dance rehearsal at church for our Dedication Ceremony in two weeks. She also has regular ballet on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, as well as regular Wednesday night church. Last evening, I walked in the door as Charming went out, going to music practice at church (he plays this Sunday). He got home late (10 p.m.) and I was feeling really sorry for myself at the lack of "us"-time, when he told me that today (Wed) he works the closing shift! He will go to work at 2 p.m. and we will have an extended Coffee Time on the porch, while the children do schoolwork.

We have our first service in our new facility this Sunday. We moved into a larger church that had experienced a tragic church split. Another church (located across from a Christian university) bought our former church, and the university bought their church. I think it must truly be a miracle to have a three-way real-estate deal where everyone comes away satisfied!

The enemy is doing everything he can to frustrate the plans the Lord has for us. At music practice last evening, the fire alarm went off (by mistake?), causing a power "bleep," that wiped out the pre-sets on the sound system. This meant twenty man-hours of work Gone. Everyone prayed, and after twenty minutes or so, Charming heard the sound engineer say, "there it is."

Charming mentioned to the others present that, had this happened in a worldly setting, how the cursing would fly. Frankly, when I am that frustrated, those words sometimes come to my mind. But it is a testimony to God's faithfulness, and the maturity of these men, that they would deal with whatever had to be done, even if it all had to be done over.

My dryer went out over the weekend, and Charming won't be able to look at it until Thursday, so Lily let me bring over three loads of wet laundry. I love the way she blessed me by folding the clothes, but (since she is a pg mom of three -under-five) left the towels unfolded . I am such an all-or-nothing girl, I would have folded all or none, either leaving a wrinkled mess of the clothes, or done unnecessary work (because we all know that Alvin Fernald and Blackeyed Susan need something to do while I read aloud!)

Tonight the new church is only holding the Youth Service, no men's, women's, or children's classes. I will be there to work on the four new banners for the Dedication Ceremony. Our banner-leader says that the work will be completed on time, I'm just a-beadin' and a-trimmin' whatever she says. I love it because I am working with women who I didn't know very well before, and gleaning wisdom from them as we work.

Well, this post has been rambling, if nothing else. Maybe I just needed to straighten my thoughts out before my day begins. Now, off to schoolwork, then COFFEE with my honey!

Alvin's First Casserole

From a card sticking out of my Country Living magazine (also on a tv commercial, I understand):
Alvin's first casserole!

The recipe calls for just 3/4 cup of uncooked rice (1 1/2 cups cooked). For FIVE people? Next time we'll double the rice.

He made it completely by himself, while I took Blackeyed Susan to ballet last evening.
Great job, m' boy!

Fall Color of Another Sort

I found a corned beef brisket in the freezer, and Blackeyed Susan got excited! Cabbage is one of her very favorite vegetables, and I am one of those who can definitely Take It or Leave It. I "put up with" the smell of boiling cabbage for Saint Patrick's Day, when I make New England Boiled Dinner. (that's corned-beef-and-cabbage with potatoes and carrots added, for those of us cabbage-haters...)

Anyway, I made a NEBD yesterday, and as I cut up the veggies, they were so pretty I wanted a picture:
I think this is so cool: God's colors never clash!

I finished my shawl (found on Jewel's blog !) I made it for "just over" $1.00. After finishing four of my 25 cent thrift-store skeins of red wool, I started a fifth for the last two rows and the binding-off:

This is what I used to pin it...

One of two large plastic hair-pins. I found a card of two for ten cents at a yard sale:

That will do until I get a shawl-pin, as shown on Jewel's blog.

Well, Violet is coming into town this morning, so the school-day will be adjusted accordingly. We still need to get math and some other things done, as we like a lighter day on Fridays. Alvin Fernald called a "home-ec day!" for today (meaning No School/Clean-and-Bake day). Sorry, Alvin--Marco Polo is waiting for you in Kublai Khan's courtroom, and Means and Medians is your math lesson today, tho' I'm thinking about putting Science off till tomorrow. The grands are coming over for lunch. It will be a great day!

Good Thoughts from Violet

My daughter Violet wrote this as an assignment while studying for her master's degree:

"Personal statement about literature:

When I think about what literature is to me, I find
generalization difficult and cliches rather offensive. The best way to explain
how I feel about literature is to use examples.

Literature is Confederate and Union soldiers reading Les
Miserables, experiencing the miseries of the French underclass while
waiting in fields and forests of Pennsylvania or South Carolina or
Georgia, for what might be their last battle.

Literature is the New Yorker's William Maxwell writing a letter to
Sylvia Townsend Warner about his experience with the city-wide blackout--the
whole of New York, moving eerily and quietly through the streets
in moonlight, candlelight, flashlight.

Literature is in the gas-lit, pea-soup fog of Victorian London, where
Holmes and Watson hunt the Napoleon of Crime and plumb the grotesqueries
of humanity.

Literature is Wodehouse amusing with his absurdities, Havel protesting with
his plays, Herbert praising with his poetry.

Literature is in the voice of the post-"colonial," long unheard, growing
stronger, opening the ears and eyes, minds and hearts, of people across the
world.

Literature reaches through time, across space, between people. E.M. Forster
said, "Only connect." Through literature I make a connection with other people I
may never meet. I connect with people who died centuries before I was
born, with people who live thousands of miles away, and with people I might
ignore or dislike in person. Literature-in-translation lets me connect not only
with an author, but with a nearly-invisible translator--a two-for-one gift. I
also connect with myself; I find I meet myself and people like those around me
surprisingly often when I read.

Only connect. That is what literature means to me."

So. This is why we read. I knew there was a reason...

Today I am thanking the Lord for the gift of reading, of writing, of
books.

p.s. I don't know why this printed the way it did (more like a poem than prose)--it didn't look that way when I composed it!

The Great Molasses Disaster of 1919

Well, I promised yesterday that I would tell you about this!

We got a book from the library once, about Disasters. You know, the San Francisco Earthquake. The hurricane early in the 20th century that took the lives of thousands and thousands in Texas. (could you imagine living without the Weather Channel and radar???) The Johnstown Flood. But they pale next to The Great Molasses Disaster of 1919.

You can read about it here. I'll wait while you read about it.

My first thought, after reading it, was to, for once, thank God for OSHA and all of the government agencies that, though we hate their interference, do actually give us a measure of safety. The huge tank (holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses ) had never been tested to make sure that it would hold.

The molasses ran five feet deep through the streets. Horses and humans were stuck. I wondered how the rescue workers made their way through the mess.

But my biggest wonder was, How did they clean the mess up? I could really identify with one statement the book made: Many basements were filled to the top with the stuff.

Wow.

When we read the book, we had just cleaned up from our second basement flood. The first had happened a couple of years prior. I don't remember exactly what happened, but there had been a few inches of water. We threw out tons of stuff. Two of my boys slept down there, so we made a project of getting stuff off the floor--nothing stored on the bottom shelf of the several sets of shelves down there. I was planning to store fabric in one of the rooms, so transferred all of it to rubbermaid tubs.

We had a terrific rainstorm one night a couple of years later. Eight inches fell in a few hours. The weatherman said it was "train-ing"--imagine the storm running along a track, and when it reached the end of the track, it "jumped," and went back to the beginning and started over, and over, and over.

We didn't flood because of over-running creeks, or whatever. The sewers backed up. Recently the EPA ( grrrr) had mandated that all water (and sewage) must run through the same sewers, which go to the treatment plant. Our city had had a system of storm sewers, which caught the rain water and sent it directly to the river. (gee, sounds reasonable to me. I mean, I learned the Water Cycle in grade school...) But, no, they had to close those, and everything went down the sanitary sewers.

We live in the section of the city which has the second-oldest sewers. I don't know when they were installed, but the oldest set of sewers was pre-Civil War. So, guess what? The sewers weren't able to handle the "train -ing" storm.

We heard sounds of water in the basement. When I went down the stairs, I saw a Geyser coming out of the basement drain, and an old toilet, as well. (I didn't even know the toilet was still sitting on sewer pipe...) Water was covering the second lowest step (eventually topping off at about two feet), and was up to the top of the bottom bunk mattress.

I learned several things in the aftermath:

1) If you overlook a box of books from the first flood, but find it after the second, don't open it. C-L-O-U-D-S of mold spores will POOF out at you. I don't suffer from allergies, but that one made me sick.

2) Rubbermaid tubs will not protect your possessions if the flood tosses them around so that their lids come off.

3) I don't know if there is anything in the known universe that is as heavy as a mattress soaked through with water. Two hefty teen boys almost gave up a number of times before they wrestled that bad boy up the stairs and out to the trash pile.

Bad as it was, the water receded, leaving a Big Cleanup. But at least it wasn't Molasses.

Ya' Learn Something New Every Day

The last time I was at the Post Office, I picked up these stamps. They feature *pollinators*--creatures that help pollinate plants while going along their merry ways. Pictured are lovely birds, bees, butterflies and...BATS???

What a funny picture? I thought. Around here (in Indiana) we mostly see Barn Bats, who are supposed to eat their weight in mosquitoes every day. (we LOVE our bats!) But mosquitoes as an entree would make those babies Carnivores, right? What's with the sissy pollination stuff?

A quick look on Google tells me this:

In the desert, and in tropical regions, bats are important both for pollination
and seed dispersal.

The article is here.

Sure enough, if you look at the postage stamp, that little guy is pollinating some sort of desert specie.

How wonderful if we can learn something every day!

Next time: The Great Molasses Disaster of 1919....

A Lovely Week

Oh, oh, OH, I am loving this fall weather!! It really energizes me, inspires me, fills me!

I began my own version of the simple shawl featured on Jewel's blog. It is simple enough to carry around without having to keep track of instructions.

I've wanted to make a shawl for just years and years. I almost never get "cold"--I wear a sweater outside for much of the winter. However, our computer desk sits in a corner surrounded by two walls of windows, and, being an old house, it can get drafty. I think a shawl will be perfect:
A couple of years ago, I found about ten skeins of wool at a thrift store, for 25 cents apiece:
I think it's "sport" weight, (tho' the label doesn't specify). But it is thinner rather than thicker, and the label says "8-ply." But, hey, for 25 cents a skein, who's asking?

Now, let's talk about this little guy: He's been having a tough time--his record is 0-2. Today he plays U of Michigan, also 0-2. I'm not sure which planets are out of alignment for this to happen--I don't think such a happening has ever taken place in this universe, anyway. The scary thing is, tonight *somebody* is going to be 0-3....

************************
Yesterday, my sister -in-law had to travel 100 miles to come to our city for a test. Charming's mother (Queen Darl) and my dear, sister-friend Kay came with Mary to keep her company. I made a Luncheon (darn, I didn't take any pictures of my pretty table...) and we had a wonderful two-hours visit. Questions such as "why don't we ever do this?" came up several times. Queen Darl commented *three times* on the pretty table. We talked about how women love to surround ourselves with beauty, and how women take mundane things, and make them as pretty as they can. I love Edith Schaeffer's book, "The Hidden Art of Homemaking," and the point she stresses that God is a Creator, and made us creative, as well. It reminds me of a quote I read taken from a pioneer woman's diary:

"I make quilts as fast as I can to keep my family warm, and as pretty as I can to keep my heart from breaking."

So now the plan is to have a lunch Twice a Year. That way, we'll "fer sure" hit Once.

Repurposed Tablecloth

As you can see, I have been needing a new ironing board cover for A Long Time:
Pitiful. Just Pitiful.

I had a vintage tablecloth I had bought a number of years ago for a dollar or so. Since then, we bought a dining room table that was too large for it, and I thought it would make a cute cover.

I decided to make it easier on myself, so I bought a pattern (McCalls 2723) at the $1.99 sale at JoAnn's. I centered the pattern piece smack on the center of the design. Ooh, this went against my Mom's scotch-ness! (Remember drawing a picture right in the middle of a piece of paper, and your mom having to teach you to start in a corner, so you could get several drawings on a paper?)

I wanted it really thick, so I cut a piece out of cotton batting (warm and natural, $4.99 a yard on sale. I bought a yard and a quarter for this project.) Then I centered the batting on the ironing board, and traced around the actual board with a sharpie. I then folded and pinned the batting to the "new," smaller size, and cut two more pieces out of the batting...

...and sewed them to the bigger piece, using the marker-marks as a guide:

I then attached the batting to the fabric:

The pattern called for double wide bias tape, but I had a package of quilt binding in my stash. The color didn't matter, because this part is under the board:

The pattern called for 1/4" elastic, and I didn't have enough. I threaded crochet cotton through it, and here is the finished product:

I did my Saturday night ironing, and it was glorious! Of course, the thicker the pad, the better the ironing is, so this was heavenly, compared to what I had been dealing with.

I did pay about $6.50 for the batting, but since super-deluxe ironing pads are about $16.99 at Target, I still made out.

I was a little disappointed at the crochet cotton--I can't seem to pull it tight enough for my taste, so I may re-do it with elastic. I could have also done a layer of Insul-Brite (the stuff you put in potholders) for a heat-reflective thing, but I didn't have enough on hand, and didn't want to go back to the store.

With all of that tablecloth left over, I cut a few napkins--the designs are not centered, but for everyday lunches they'll be fun. I also cut a few pieces with individual "fruits" for future apron pockets.

I loved this because it was a one-evening job, and I got it done and put away before Charming came home. This is always a Good Thing!

Oh! Frabjous Day!

Callou, callay!

Peter Pan is back on my local grocery shelves after being recalled since February. Actually, around here, we all thought it had been off the shelves for at least a year or two....

Life is worth living again.

Bridal Shower

(This post was first published August 30, 2006.)

Yesterday was my birthday, and I felt melancholy here and there throughout the day. It was my first since Mom passed away. Every birthday after I left home, Mother and Daddy would call me early in the morning and sing to me--most often the first greeting of the day.Today would have been my Mom and Dad's 65th wedding anniversary. I always felt special, being their "14th anniversary present."

Mother had a "bride's book," which in no way resembles what we now call a "Wedding Album." Or even what my daughter and daughter-in-law had as a "wedding planner." Two-inch binders with places for cards, ribbons, and other mementos. Mother's was the size of one of those black "composition books," only about a quarter as thick, probably thirty pages or so. It is wonderful because it is handwritten by her--her own memories of her wedding.

She had a wedding shower. I notice that now we have several of them: kitchen, linen, personal, couples...she had *one*. She made quite a haul, mostly with linens. Several sets of "luncheon cloth and napkins"--those fabulous 1940's sets that we snatch up at antique stores. "Embroidered tea towels." "Embroidered pillowslips." Don't I wish I had them now? But, naturally, they were given and received in order to be used, and used UP. (I do have one of a pair of guest towels that she embroidered in the first year of her marriage--so threadbare, but it still says GUEST, with a garland of flowers all around.)

When we buy these vintage linens, we always think about the women who made them and used them. We'd love to feel the connection to another time. Women just like my mother, whose entry under "Our First Home," tells of how, after their wedding night, they just wanted to come home, so they "brought groceries home, and [she] fixed her first meal," the second night of their marriage.So much lay ahead for them--they were married months before Pearl Harbor. They were destined to raise only five of their thirteen children to adulthood. Two cancers. The everyday ups and downs plus the "added dose" of sorrow for their lives, could not be seen when she filled out her "bride's book."

We all share that, in this Sisterhood of women. So many hopes and dreams as we open those wedding shower gifts. Life moves along, humdrum or tragic, year by year. I am so grateful to our Lord that He gave my parents 64 years. A marriage in which their love grew more deeply as every anniversary rolled around. I had a model of How to Do Marriage Well that enabled me to choose a husband wisely, and to be an example for me, for 30 years so far, and is now the model for my children to follow. That is the inheritance I have from them. I would have loved to have the linens from that long-ago bridal shower, but I have the better gift in the example of their LIVES. That gift will never be "used up."

Birthday Fun Times

Well, it's my BIRTHDAY! I'm as old as there are cards in a (complete) deck of cards. Does this mean I'm now playing with a full deck?

Lily and her children came over this morning to sing to Grandma. How blessed I am to have them live so close!

Then, this afternoon, Forget-me-not brought Blueberry over! I got lots of love from him. Forget-me-not related the happy news that morning sickness is all but over for this time around. Oh, I remember those days well--do we ever forget them?

Since I had So Much Company, I decided to treat myself to lunch by myself at Cracker Barrel (with three hundred other people; yeah, I know...) I was not aware that I got a free dessert on my birthday--peach cobbler with ice cream. Oh, it's all good.

Since it is Wednesday (kids going to church) and Charming working today, we will have Dinner and Cake another night next week. Charming is due home soon, and we will have a couple of hours Alone. Together. Treat supreme!

I Finally took a picture of the quilt Blackeyed Susan and I made for her friend's high school graduation. It is very simple, pretty prints in a five-patch pattern. With the alternating plain squares, it almost looks like an Irish Chain:
The back is a butterfly/frog/dragonfly themed "cheater quilt":

We tied it with purple crochet thread, and I bound it in a purple tonal fabric.

The other thing I've been doing recently is knitting dishcloths. *JUST* as I snapped the picture, our cat sprang across my view:

Blackeyed Susan had to hold him so I could take the photo:

I still have four or five balls of cotton yarn, so I'll keep on going, and have a few quickie gifts ready in my gift box. These are quick and fun!

Don Quixote made me a custom card with the sentiment, "52 is the new 42--the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything"--a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, and to something I heard recently, about 60 being the New 40. Yeah, I am so into that....

Why, yes, my family IS weird...

Heard around the homeschool this week:

--the difference between a troubadour and a minstrel (thank you, World Book!)

--the founding of Rome: 753 B.C., the fall of Rome 476 A.D., the fall of Constantinople, formerly Byzantium, futurely Istanbul, 1453 A.D.

--trying to remember the lyrics to They Might Be Giants' "Istanbul not Constantinople"

--chuckling over Don Quixote's using the Fall of Constantinople (1453) as his default setting on his wristwatch alarm

--Kingdom Monera (including bacteria), listening to restaurant managers Daddy and Joe Hardy regaling us with food-borne illness stories they learned at Serv-Safe classes. Eeuuww.

--Learning that a "mild" case of botulism can cause high fever, vomiting, and severe diarrhea, and laughing at anyone who would inject such a poison in their body (i.e., Botox)

--Laughing at women in the 1890's who took little bits of arsenic to make themselves "pale."

--Dividing expressions with "x" variables, such as 3x - 6 over 3, divided by, 4 over 6x - 12. Blackeyed Susan asking, "when would I ever use this in real life?" Me answering, well, unless you work in Math, I guess NEVER. But, you still have to learn it, so you can do Higher Math that you will never use again, either.

--Okay, kids, time to read. "Can't we clean the bathrooms instead?" Alien children. I have Alien children...

edited to add: By the way, I took Latin class beginning in 1969, and *I* remembered the dates of the founding and fall of Rome. (preening my feathers, here). Maybe that doesn't say so much, because I also remember David Cassidy's birthday is April 12, and Donny Osmond's is December 9, from the Tiger Beat magazines my friend and I read. Maybe all information remembered is not all that useful...but if you ever need to know the dates of the founding and fall of Rome, let me know...

Of Games and Books, and Family Rivalry

I was reading this post over at the Common Room and thought about a memory of my own, playing the game CatchPhrase.

It was our custom for many years to buy a new game at Christmas-- like Guesstures, Crack the Case, Tri-bond, Apples to Apples--you get the picture. My children are SO competitive at games, that they have banned several from ever being played again, at least by the group. Others they give a forty-five minute time limit to, before two or three (unnamed) persons Ruin It For Everybody, and they have to put the game away and huff around for awhile until they Get Over It.

Somehow, CatchPhrase has never caused any arguments, and is a game that my younger two were able to join in with. So, even if we get a new game at Christmas, after the Big Blowup, we will pull out CatchPhrase once again.

A couple of years ago, my brother hosted an informal Game night sometime Christmas week. Four or five of my children came along, both kids-in-law, and my other brother with his kids. We decided to play CatchPhrase, and counted off one-two-one-two around the circle, to determine teams. No one noticed at that time that both my brothers and I ended up on team Two. We began to play, and it was soon evident that Three Of Us had grown up in the same environment. bam. Bam. BAM! One game after another we won, won, won. It was really fun to see what clues each would come up with.

Now, I am really proud of my own Family Culture--my daughter- and son-in-law are always proud to learn another Piece of it for their Arsenal. But even though there are more of *them,* my two brothers and I Smashed 'em to pieces!

Actually, the point of this post was going to be something about how you need to celebrate your family culture, and how it likes to come out and play with you at get-together time. But somehow, I got really Violently Excited about beating my children. Like the old joke:

Do you beat your children?
Yes, all the time.
What?
Well, how else will they learn to play checkers?

In other news, my sister (who lives across the country) and I have decided to Read A Book together. She said she missed many of the *classics* the first time around, but wasn't interested in swashbuckling stories or Two Years Before the Mast or anything like that. We decided to think about a book or two and talk later.

She called back and suggested Lost Horizon by James Hilton (one of my fave books) and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, because she knew many people who had read it. I looked it up on the library website--1075 pages. That is One Thousand, Seventy-Five. Pages.

So, I guess we will start with Lost Horizon.

Small Treasures from a Summer Day

God is the coolest! This morning we found, resting on the porch wall, what appeared to be an old brown leaf, but in reality was some kind of moth:
Another opportunity to discuss the creativity of God, putting natural camouflage in place for species that are "prey ."

Here is booty from a small thrifting adventure. I thought I was getting a great bargain, at nineteen cents apiece. Until you look closer at the original seventeen cent price marks!

I am so excited to get those Veil Pins--all of my veils were so messy before! :) They were stuck into the crochet yarn, for 59 cents.

I also got Alvin Fernald a pair of brown leather Skechers for $3.00. He says he will only be able to wear them a little while, as his toes are "right at the end." Sigh. Here I thought he'd have to wait awhile until his feet Grew Into Them. What are you going to do with a 12-year old? Love 'em and feed 'em, I guess...

Word Play

For my pregnant Daughter Forget-me-not and Daughter-in-law Lily:

In the throes of morning sickness
She throws up thrice a day.
It threw her for a loop
Well before it was through.
It's influence was thorough.