It's Lent and I Am an Episcopalian

Yesterday, in fine Episcopalian form, I ate pancakes with my church family.

Today, also in fine Episcopalian form, I gathered with my church family to be invited to a Holy Lent, have a cross of palm ash smudged on my forehead and be challenged to remember that I am dust and to dust I shall return. "Or," the priest paraphrased, "Remember you are created, and to creation you shall return." Ponder that for a while.

The Episcopal Church has launched a communications initiative entitled, I Am Episcopalian. It is a series of short videos featuring a variety of people explaining why they are Episcopalian. Go and listen for awhile... see if someone has a reason that resonates with you!

It's Lent. Soon enough it will be Good Friday and Easter. Get ready.

You know you're a yarn addict when...

If I am on schedule in the mornings, I pass a commuter bus on my way to work. The driver is waiting for the right moment to begin his run and there's a spot by the neighborhood pool that is the perfect place to park a big, long bus. The bus has an advertisement on its side. In great big letters the word "FIBER" nestles among little points of light.

Now, most people would know right off that a fiber-optic network is wanting to provide their TV, internet and phone service. But really, didn't anyone, other than me, think of a beautiful, soft, sparkly, cashmere YARN?

Guess I'm spending more time w/ pointy sticks than I realized!

Name Game

I have wondered why people would name their cars. My family has always referred to its cars by make, model or color. We've been through the blue car, the station wagon, the van, the green car, the El Camino. Lately, we've been talking about getting a new car, something built in the current century. We talked about luxury cars, big cars, little cars. We've driven several PT Cruisers as rentals lately, and actually liked them. We thought about the advantage of having a van to drive the grandkids around when they visit. Last week, we settled on a Prius.

After a couple near-misses when a 2008 Prius would show up on the web, we have purchased a brand-new car for the first time in 16 years.

The Prius is a car that demands interaction. With a selection of touch screens, it has so much to say! I have been finding new ways to communicate with the Prius each day; so much so that yesterday I walked out the front door and actually said, "Good morning," to A CAR!

Now I get it. This car needs a name. She'll be a partner in the driving experience. Her paint job is called Driftwood Pearl. So, won't you say hello to the new member of our family: Pearl.

Cute, isn't she?

Neglectful Blogger!

I am not gone. This blog is not forgotten. A few things have happened since Jan. 12 and I just haven't thought them all through enough to write about! In the next few days, look forward to some inauguration thoughts, my 2nd anniversary of grandparenthood, and maybe a soapbox moment or two! See you soon.

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.