Good things to teach kids when they're young...

In no particular order, these lessons made life with children much easier:

1. How to run for the toilet when you're going to vomit.
2. How to fasten your own seatbelt.
3. How to pour your own cereal and milk.
4. How to use the toilet plunger.

Ahhhh, memories.

Knit One!

At last... the stocking is done!

One drawback to being left-handed is that many right-handed people are intimidated at the idea of teaching handcrafts to a lefty. I taught myself to embroider as a teenager but I really wanted to crochet and knit. I finally met someone who took me on as a crochet student and I've been crocheting for more than 30 years now. Somewhere along the line, I came to think that crochet didn't measure up to the fine art of knitting. I no longer believe that crochet is the lesser fiber craft but, I did really want to learn to knit.

My friend Fran was up to the challenge; she showed me the basics and became my knitting cheerleader. It seems that I knit continental style almost the same as a right-hander. What a challenge it was to hold a stick in each hand and somehow use them to manipulate the yarn around those sticks into an interlocking fabric. Yipes. Crocheting all those years must have been a help, especially with keeping an even tension on the yarn. After knitting (garter stitch - because purling wasn't much fun) a REALLY long scarf for Fran to use as a clerical stole in the far north where she is a priest, I put away the knitting needles for a while and went back to my familiar and comfortable crochet hooks. Yet, the challenge of those pointy sticks kept calling... "Cables!"

So, I bought a pattern book for fancy dishcloths and packed my bamboo knitting needles when I went to visit Aunt Amy. My Aunt Amy was a master knitter. She also quilted, crocheted, baked and loved QVC. She gave me a cable hook and showed me how to pick up a dropped stitch. I'll always be grateful for that knitting session... it was my last visit with her.

Again, I put down the needles in favor of a crochet hook to make several baby blankets - many in maroon and orange for little Hokie babies! But there was still that nagging feeling that I was nowhere close to being comfortable with those darned knitting needles. Wouldn't you know, I really wanted to try my hand at socks!

Another friend of mine, Laura, can knit with her eyes closed. She knitted most of a sweater on a bus trip to Orlando when our children were in the band and we were chaperones. I told her I was now a novice knitter with a hankering to make socks and she said, "Come over next Tuesday."

Laura had a great idea... learn to "turn a heel" on a Christmas stocking! She had found a book with several pattern options and told me what to bring for my tutoring session. By the end of the evening, I had 26 stitches cast on to each of 3 double-pointed needles and was armed with a book shaped like a stocking.

Since that September evening I've learned to read a pattern chart, recognize when I've dropped a stitch, figured out how to wrap a stitch, k2tog and ssk! I also found a great website to get some help in the middle of the night. Check this out... Amy has loads of video clips and will patiently answer the same question as many times as you want to hit the replay button!

Thanks to all my knitting mentors, granddaughter Leah will have a stocking for Santa's visit in 2009.

Connections

I don’t think I’m addicted to my computer access… really, I’m not! Right?

Last weekend my laptop failed to boot up. It has visited the laptop hospital, been diagnosed and the treatment involves backing up all my files and re-installing the operating system. During this time of computer health crisis, I have checked my email from my work computer (shhh, don’t tell!) but Facebook is blocked at my job site. Duh.

Little did I realize how I’ve been sucked into cyber-time. Now, I do have ways to communicate with my friends; I could use the phone or another email service or (gasp) snail mail! But that FB thing is soooo convenient! I can scroll through my friends list and find out how they are, where they are and what they’re doing. I can click to send food and mammograms, farm fish to provide clean water and challenge folks to a friendly (or not) game of word find.

In the absence of FB, I have been crocheting Christmas shawls while watching television – not sending fish to other tanks. I’ve been writing addresses on Christmas cards - not posting on people's walls. I’ve been reading my back-log of magazines - not browsing my "causes." I’ve been playing with my dogs - not clicking on the "give a penny to the Humane Society." I’ve been jealous of my family members who have their own computers and don’t have to beg time from someone else!!!!!!!

Arghhh.

Happy New Year! (New church year, that is!)

Today is Advent 1 in the Episcopal Church. It's the first day of the new church year, Year One for the Daily Office readings. We'll be reading the Revised Common Lectionary for Year B.

Advent is one of two penitential seasons in the church year - the other being Lent - which are precursors to the two major holidays of the church. Observing the penitential seasons heightens the anticipation and deepens the joy of the Christmas and Easter celebrations. Additionally, observing Advent can emphasize the gulf that separates the secular celebration of Christmas from the religious celebration of the birth of Jesus.

I offer you links to some religious Advent calendars. Enjoy them as you munch your bit of chocolate from a calendar you may have picked up at the store!

Episcopal Diocese of Washington Advent Calendar

Artcyclopedia Advent Calendar

Beliefnet Advent Calendar

Explore Faith Advent Calendar

Trinity Church Wall Street Advent Calendar

This last link is for a group called Advent Conspiracy which encourages us to "Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All." Check it out!

In recognition of the new church year, I annually make a resolution on Advent 1 to read scripture and a meditation each day. So, here goes! Happy New Year!

Touring

Most of my traveling in the past few years has been done with groups of people... mission trips, field trips with kids, church retreats. I have rarely given myself the time to take leisurely photos. Recently, I had the luxury of a weekend away from home, including a solo tour of a major tourist location.

At the Alamo, I rented the headset tour and actually hit "pause" when I didn't want to move along! I got to walk at my own pace! Wow. And I got to sit through the whole docent lecture where I finally understood the Texas independence idea.

The morning was chilly and overcast, the crowd had not yet arrived. It really was a luxury to pause where I wanted and stay until I felt ready to move along. So, enjoy some close-up photos... my attempt at artsy. Note to self: get to know my point-and-shoot camera a little better!

Now, it wasn't all solo touring. On Saturday, my tolerant husband walked with me through the King William district and around the local missions.

It was nice to get off the beaten tourist path. There are still some things I'd like to see in San Antonio, maybe we'll get back there someday.

Years In the Making

Sunday afternoon my daughters and I heard that Obama would make an election eve visit to Manassas. We locked eyes and asked, simultaneously, "wanna go?"

Monday afternoon found us on the road to the Prince William Co. fairgrounds. The normally 45 minute drive took us just over two hours to accomplish; we arrived after dark. An excited crowd made its way to the rally area. We were already too late to get very close to the stage, but we did end up getting a spot with a clear view to the speakers' podium. Barack was to arrive at 9:00. The crowd was pretty patient as we stood shoulder-to-shoulder, waiting for the presidential candidate to arrive. Finally, at 10:30, after 6 rounds through the DJ's playlist, two performances by a local gospel group and speeches from several Northern Virginia candidates, the music blared and a slender man in shirt sleeves bounded onto the stage. For 40 minutes he thanked us for being there, told us stories, made us promises, and lived up to our expectations.

After Obama's speech, 100,000 people turned toward home. Getting out of the fairgrounds could have been a study in currents as we flowed across the fields, stalled out at fences, crossed the road and searched for the car. That's right, we couldn't find the car. By the time we did come across the car, gridlock kept us in the parking lot until 1:30 a.m.! When we finally drove out of the fairgrounds area, it was all green lights between Manassas and Reston. Head met pillow about 2:30 a.m. Alarm was set to be at the polls by 5 a.m.

My neighborhood has always had a great turnout for elections. This November was no exception. And, true to tradition, we went for Obama almost 3 to 1 in my precinct.

Wednesday morning was amazing. As the school staff arrived, we grinned, hugged and cried in celebration. But the most amazing interchange happened when 6 little kids came by my desk to say good morning.

"It's a great day," they said. Really? Why? "Because Obama won!" What's so cool about that? "Well, my mom was crying!" But, why is it so cool he won? At last one of them said, "Because he's black!" Yep. You know, I told them, every president before this one has been my color... now we have a president the color of my friends! Look, I said, pointing at the six of them, he's the same color as you! Now, go study! He wouldn't have won if he hadn't worked so hard in school!

I think Barack's win has been three generations in the making. Rosa Parks sat in the front of the bus the year I was born. My parents guided my siblings and me through conversations without stereotypes as we watched the civil rights movement unfold in the 1960s. My parents nodded their heads when Martin Luther King expressed his dream of people being judged by their character, not the color of their skin. My generation has continued working to eliminate racial labels. My own children grew up immersed in the diverse population of Northern Virginia. I think that my daughters are part of a generation that is living into Dr. King's dream... skin color is not what they use to define the people they know.

So, thanks, Mom and Dad, for your progressive thinking during my youth. And thanks, you young folks, who raised the energy level around a junior senator from Illinois, showing the rest of us that he's got what it takes to lead this country and that it's time to judge a candidate, this candidate, by the content of his character.

I have friends who were not allowed to drink from water fountains I could have used. They wouldn't have been able to sleep in motels where my family stayed as we drove across country. They might have bought food in the same restaurant, but they would have had to eat it outside. I didn't know them when I was growing up, I've met them in the past 20 years. Because of my friendship with them, I am even more grateful to the people who have sacrificed so much for the civil rights movement. We have a huge responsibility to make sure this president gets to do the job he has promised to do. The election was just the first step. We'll have to stay fired up, ready to go.

Trick or Treat!

May many good-natured ghoulies and ghosties find their way to your door!
May you have just a couple

left-over pieces of candy

you like.
And, may all the creepy-crawlies around your house

be plastic ones!