Deliver Us

I can't give credit to the person whose writings make me think about this from time to time, but he introduced me to the thought that there is a lot of chance for chaos around us. People don't service their cars, or are under the influence of chemicals, birds fly overhead, etc., etc.

During the past week a man was taken into custody who had left materials for bomb making at an FBI headquarters in the state. According to the paper, he lived a block west and a block north from me. (Also according to the paper, he declared himself to be the co-Governor of California, so he may be at a hospital.)

Also according to the Perpwatch site, I am surrounded by men who are a bit bent in one way or another----from practically insignificant to having served time. I never consider myself to be in any danger.

My philosophy is that it is wise to be careful, but foolish to worry. I once did a stitchery for my mother in law, a life-long worrier, that read, "Worry is a fast getaway on a rocking horse".

I claim the phrase in the Lord's Prayer asking for deliverance from evil. Actually, I even ask for deliverance from mischief and chaos, and for a sense of humor about what can't be avoided. I am happy to say that I feel quite well protected.

Ten on Tuesday

Carole of Carole Knits hosts this subject on Tuesdays, and today's subject is especially dear to my heart. Ten reasons to love/use your library.

1. Access to books at no direct cost to me. (My tax dollars support my library. Money I am happy to pay.)

2. Access to music.

3. Access to books on CD.

4. Link-up to the digital library where I can download both readables and listenables.

5. Access to volumes our library doesn't have, since they will request books from other libraries. Good Guy uses this feature all the time.

6. Our library supplies meeting places for groups in the community. My knitting group originated there and continues to meet there. I've met some really interesting people and made new friends. I've even seen many old friends.

7. Our library has a special room containing research material for geneology study and local history information. (I don't use it, but it's great to know it's there.)

8. Access to computers.

9. Wi-fi.

10. Last, but not least, librarians. Ours are the kindest, most helpful, good-tempered librarians on the planet. I've always loved librarians, who helped me when I was just a little bookworm and helped me become a life-long reader.

Limited Audience

Here's another of my "One Month Wonder" sweaters. Knitting is still my survival occupation for the last part of winter and I loved the color of this acrylic yarn, plus the fact that I could throw it into the washer. For some people this means that it has all the charm of a sweat shirt---but I don't mind that. I like sweat shirts too.

It's very simple. A raglan with deep ribbing at the bottom hem and wrists, so I can push the sleeves up and they will stay out of my way.

I also participated in a Knit-Along project on Ravelry, knitting a cowl. That was fun to do with the other ladies. I'm only up to "modeling" one item of clothing, sorry about that.

So now I'm only working on one project. Namely, a pair of purple (sort of) socks on tiny needles. They should be ready by Christmas 2012.

Ok, knitting admirers, you are dismissed.

Good News, Good Deeds

In the beginning, just of this story, you understand, there were Bishop Henry and Bishop Ella. These dear people help to spread the gospel in New Orleans, and after Hurricane Katrina, they also opened their facilities to feed their neighbors in need.

After Katrina, their facilities were, shall we say, compromised. Yet the need was so great, and their hearts were so burdened for others, they did their best with what they had.

Enter another group of big hearted young folks, (from stage north), the Gamers for Humanity, who head for NOLA on spring break to help rehab houses, and eat crayfish. Oops.

I'm not sure how many spring breaks they've spent doing this, but in the course of helping, the Gamers met the Bishops and they bonded. The young folks have been able to do a lot to help and one of them wanted to make a quilt for Bishop Ella, who lost many of her treasured belongings in the disaster.

So the young person enlisted the help of her whole family for their contributions of advice and help to make this wish come true. I had beautiful fabric I had received for free which I gave along with some know-how and labor, her grandma contributed a bible verse to put on the back, the machine quilter put on the binding for free. And I asked the young person to Please Take Some Pictures.

So today I present these fine unselfish people to you as they admire their new quilt and as she has the joy of sharing the love that went into making it for them. This project truly made all of us happy.

Some Days Are Too Full

Some days there is no news that's worth sharing. Other days there's more than you could possibly put into one post.

First off, I thought I'd pay tribute to our favorite NCAA basketball team, who progressed into the Sweet Sixteen round of tournament play. Last night the women of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay played the women of Michigan State University and beat them. They led the entire game, once by as little as one point, at which the other fan in the room was having apoplexy, but there was never even a tied score.

These girls are so unselfish, appear to be so tightly knit, can make free throws, and have been a good program for a long time. They were ranked in the top twenty all season, and their record is something like 31-1. They are the one team I follow that doesn't give me fits. If you're a fan, you know how much that means.

I'll make another post about my other exciting event. Complete with pictures, I think.

For you other people who are sharing our pain over the spring snowstorm, especially if you happen to live in the Dakotas, bear up. Better days are coming.

Shovel on. I have to feed birds again.

The Wearin' of the Green

Green, green, green, everywhere there isn't water. Or sheep. We were in Ireland about two years ago at this time of year. (I went to a thrift shop to buy me a big long sweater because I was chilly all the time.) I'm a Midwesterner, so I am always fascinated by the tides, and the beaches. We have lots of water, but it usually stays put, except for seasonal flooding, coming soon to a river near you.

The thing that surprised me about Ireland was the mountainous terrain. I always pictured Ireland as green fields dotted with sheep. It's more like mountainsides dotted with sheep.
Plus sheep on the roads too. We laughed at the speed limit signs which "allowed" you to really zoom along, if you didn't heed the narrow roads, the curves, or the livestock. There were places on the mountain roads where a car might have to back up in order to allow a bus or truck to pass. Good times, folks!
The loveliest thing about Ireland are the Irish. Kind and friendly, helpful and curious. We went on a pub crawl/ Irish music event in Dublin and the musician told us that the Irish didn't ask us all about our trip because they were friendly. They were just nosy. This got a big laugh from all the tourists. We refuse to believe that.
So a Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all, Irish or not. I'm pretty sure, that it's a way bigger deal in Chicago than anywhere in Ireland. Really.

Rave On, Eleanor!

It's Women's History Month and I'd like to salute one of my favorite forebearing First Ladies.



Eleanor Roosevelt became a force for good in her own right, which is the context in which I planned to salute her. But when I started reading up on some quotations attributed to her I laughed so hard I'll salute her as my favorite political comedy writer.

You know already that she made many contributions to the working people, using her influence to point out inequities. Perhaps we need her in that role once again. She also addressed the futility of war, greed, misplaced ambition, and other human weaknesses.

But here are a couple of my favorites:

Campaign behavior for wives: Always be on time. Do as little talking as humanly possible. Lean back in the parade car so everybody can see the president.


I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in bed, but fine up against a wall.


Oh, Eleanor, you make me laugh!!!

This and That about this week

As the person who inherited the family albums, and the caretaker of some of the family history I got to dig around for family pictures this week. I found a picture of my maternal grandfather who died before my mom had any memory of him. I found pictures of my own father for my nephew's daughter's assignment. They are copied, printed, and ready to mail.
Digging around in picture albums takes a long time, and I get sidetracked pretty easily.

It is time to blog since my hands ache from knitting and sewing. There is my blue sweater with the arms tied up tight, so I can make a join with the body under the arm without having to do any sewing. Also only one sock is getting a little attention, when boredom sets in.

Also noteworthy, yesterday it was so mild and sunny we could walk around in our shirtsleeves. This morning it was snowing slush and I went outdoors and made a snowman. He's probably melting already, but he made a nice path along the side of the house as I rolled the body.

My sister keeps teasing me about how she has wool with her as she travels in Texas, but it's funny to be knitting warm clothes when the temps are in the 70's and maybe getting warmer.

Good for her. I don't mind this when I don't have to drive in it. We did a little driving yesterday just to shop in craft stores, and enjoy the warm day. and found gas for a few cents cheaper than here, and the craft supplies I needed, and a year's supply of yeast. Oh, and a HUGE box of Wheat Thins.

Good Guy thinks I need a 12 step program for cracker consumption. And Wheat Thins---the originals -----are my favorite. I'm not giving them up for Lent.

No good news to be had by turning on the television. Between Wisconsin's legislature, and the Japanese earthquake/tsunami damage and death toll the news isn't any joy. But I'll take heart and escape into the March madness which is at hand.

Join me, won't you?

.

Frog Kissing

This morning I am pondering the outrageous parameters of "reality TV", and it was brought about by watching a movie yesterday afternoon before returning the DVD to Netflix.



Reality as perceived by screenwriters or other authors who have people find their soul mate within a span of forty-eight hours? Give me a break! I know they only have a short time to tell their story and I can suspend reality for the course of the movie. But if you ask me today if I enjoyed it, well. .. ... .. I'll hesitate to recommend it.

In exactly the same genre, is a series like "The Bachelor". Why on earth would anyone assume that given a "choice" of x number of beautiful girls, that one of them would be marriage material? Just exactly the sort of person you would be happy with for the rest of your life?

If you have ever subjected yourself to blind dating, and its agony, you know what I mean. Unless you were lucky enough to fall hopelessly in love within forty-eight hours.

In the dark ages, back when I was in the mate selection pool, I wondered if there was anybody in the world who would "get" me. Who would understand my sense of humor, who would have my values, who would have a job, an education, a car that ran. (You remember the criteria.) I never for a moment was concerned about getting matched up with a control freak, a hoarder, or a wife-beater. I had never seen horrible examples of husbands----I didn't know they existed!

Thankfully in my innocence I met husband material. Thankfully, I didn't have to do it with the world watching. (Just my Grandma Anderson, whose only question was, "Is he Swedish?") First things first.

Future Shock

One of the things on my list of 100 things to do in 1001 days was to re-read Alvin Toffler's Future Shock.

In the unlikely event that you aren't familiar with this book, it was written in 1970 about the shift from an industrial society to a super-industrial society. Toffler thought that (after observing the slow uptake of the government's response to the way our society, technology, travel, etc. were speeding up) people would experience something akin to culture shock.

His prediction was that in time, even when we stayed put, the culture would change so fast we'd be constantly disoriented. Other notable phrases in the book were, "information overload", and "too much change in too short a period of time".

This is a trivial example, but it's the way I'm experiencing this phenomenon. There are so many things to know about, that people retire from their fame as "legends" and I've never heard of them! The first time we noticed this was when a country singer, said to be famous, retired. GoodGuy and I looked at each other, amazed.

I'm just barely hanging on to the coattails of new technology. I have no use for a smarter phone, and I don't need to take pictures of people at the grocery store, or keep anyone informed of my every snack. But I feel a little sorry for geezers my age, who decided they had no use for computers and weren't going to learn.

Now they feel slighted because many events are announced via e-mail, and nobody calls them to remind them. Nobody apologizes about that either. They assume that everyone has at least one computer!

I couldn't finish "Future Shock". By 2010 it seemed quaint. That's the speed of the world we live in now.