Six Days Later

Looking back over this blog, I realize this online journal is now mostly about daughter Juliet, not "Arts and Crafts".  And it has been almost a week since it was updated.  (Thank you, Sharon, for your text last evening asking about Julie and prompting me to write an update.)  Here is what has happened since last Tuesday:

Julie was taken by ambulance from Denver on Wednesday, a five hour trek over the Continental Divide, which resulted in more trauma to her pressure wounds.  She was placed back at the manor, sans IV medications, all being replaced by oral meds.  Good news: she was transferred from the hospital back to her "manor home." I returned a few days earlier back to GJ.

Since arriving back in Grand Junction, she has been kept on bed rest and on a special mattress and bed at the manor that shifts her body weight to try to help her heal the back thigh area. We have read half a book aloud since then: Virginia's Diary. And Gene reads his book to her.  We play Word Chums. 

Today she was angry, mad, and frustrated at being kept in bed.  She broke her iPad Saturday (it fell off the bed), so I got it replaced and found some little cord attachers that will keep her phone, her Fire, and her iPad all hooked up and disentangled from one another. Maybe.  And I bought a one year guarantee so that if she breaks it again, the warranty will cover it.  Bad news was that I got a glass cut from the screen; just glad it was not Julie that received the sliver in her hand.

And we have had several talks about hospice being brought in to help her.  These were not easy sessions, but realistic at this time. For now, the APH (atrial pulmonary hypertension) is being managed, but APH is a progressive heart disease under the umbrella of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a diagnosis that results in eventual death.  The good news is that the lasix are keeping fluid from building up around her lungs, and she is breathing easier.  We will not discuss the bad news.

And I finished the Promenade Shawl.  Never will I knit that again as those garter stitches never seemed to end.  But eventually, finished...

This Week Mostly at Hospital

Our weekly RCIA Meeting on Tuesday night with Fr. Isaac and others, learning about the dignity of life in its many forms. Official Vatican Network published the gist of our discussion here; timely for the discussion.

It was my birthday Tuesday, with my husband providing some carrot cake refreshments that evening.  Thank you for birthday cards sent by Kathy M and Kathy W, Madge, Mary Kay, Pam, Sharon, Lynn and several others I cannot recall as this is being typed!

Knitting continues on two projects while sitting beside that hospital bed.  

Piper's Journey Shawl

I finished two books read aloud to Julie this week.  It makes time go by more quickly, although my voice sometimes gets froggy.

We have completed Karen Vorbeck Williams The House on Seventh Street and are rapidly getting through her other book, My Enemy's Tears.

link

Gene reads Mark Sweizer's Liturgical Mystery books to her (his second read aloud book now underway).  Gene has read them all and highly recommends them as light fun.

And Julie began her third week at St. Mary's Hospital...

She had a reaction to her antibiotics, enough to have it discontinued. It was changed to another one by IV last night. Her wound looked in order yesterday when they changed out the wound vac and put on another one. The wound care nurse at the manor came over to observe how the nurses changed it out so that the manor nurses could learn how to do it there. Julie will have it changed again tomorrow, and maybe she can go back to the manor late Monday on oral antibiotics. Maybe.

Speakeasy Post: a Book Review

Speakeasy is an online forum for bloggers who review books.  I read books, and blog, and can give an opinion when asked.  So I signed up to be a Speakeasy  reviewer. There is very little to it, and loose deadlines: reviewers are given a month to read a free book and give an online book review.  My first book arrived via download a while back, and I have tried several times in different short reading sessions to digest it, but with little success.

Beauty as a Sense of Being by Solomon Katz was the first book I read for Speakasy.

Katz's writing is disjointed, skipping from thought to thought, each lesson or kernel of truth interspersed with free form prose, which I found distracting.  In the first two chapters (there were eight chapters in the book), I counted 42 subheadings and a half dozen interspersed prose stanzas which came from Katz through his subconcious. These subheadings appeared as if in a personal journaling type format, randomly chosen without cohesion tying in one thought to the next, rather like free form association.  These stanzas must have been of import to Katz, likely personal pointers for achieving mental health balance.

As a psychologist, the author may have helped many people along their life journeys, but this book of writings did not hold my interest because the writers' thoughts were scattered, jumping from topic to topic without transition. I did not find the book helpful.

Chapters 3-8 were skimmed over, and the style continued.  Time to move on and read another book.

Nancy Pearl: Book Lust Rediscoveries

Nancy Pearl is a writer, a literary critic, a personage of the literati.  She is a regular commentator on NPR (Morning Edition).

And I write about her now because she has brought attention to books which are real finds, but are older and perhaps out of print.  Pearl has made a listing of  these books and calls it "Book Lust Rediscoveries."

Amazon says

Book Lust Rediscoveries is a series devoted to reprinting some of the best (and now out of print) novels originally published between 1960-2000. Each book is personally selected by Nancy Pearl and includes an introduction by her, as well as discussion questions for book groups and a list of recommended further reading.

If you are looking for a new read, Nancy Pearl might direct you to a treasure you have overlooked.

I first found her through the book The Last Night at the Ritz in an Amazon review capturing the essence of the story here:

Readers of Joanna Trollope or Anne Tyler may enjoy this intelligent, captivating, and not entirely trustworthy (unnamed) narrator. She invites three close friends to lunch with her at the Ritz Hotel, in Boston, for her birthday. Two of them are a long married couple she has known since college days. The third was once her lover. The lunch quickly takes an unexpected turn.

Check out her Book Lust Shop here.  She even has an action figure if you are a girl fan for Pearl.  And you can see and hear her on the Seattle cable channel 21 found here.

I am currently reading The Cowboy and the Cossack, another Pearl Book Lust Rediscovery.

So many books, so little time.

(Camilo Mori)

Linking up with Pamela at OurShelteringTree.

Mme Ramotswe & Pumpkin Soup

Purloined from others' blogs and the Soulbrush Etsy store for a rendition of Mme Ramotswe, as well as the biblical verse that says "what has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun", I bring you a post today about Pumpkin Soup.  Nothing original.  But tasty.

Source; Soulbrush Etsy Store here

You will recall that Alexander McCall Smith's character Mme Ramotswe generally went home from her Number One Ladies'  Detective Agency and made pumpkin soup for dinner.  She did it so often that it must have been tasty.  And because she was of "traditional build", I'll just bet she added cream to that soup more often then not.

So I made some pumpkin soup yesterday and felt just like Mme Ramotswe must have felt preparing this recipe, right down to her swollen ankles.  The delicious recipe was found on the delightful blog of Mrs. Thomasina Tittlemouse; the link to her soup is here.

So I roasted up a pumpkin and went to work on the soup.  I did add cream, which Mrs. Tittlemouse did not, so it made for a more calorific dish, but was it yummy!  I also added quite a bit of red pepper flakes and curry spices, as well as S&P.

Maybe pumpkin soup is not a new idea, but it was the best soup under the sun yesterday!

Older Books Now on Kindle

Being enamoured of English country life, I was delighted over the summer to learn of an older book by a Scottish author coming onto the Kindle format.  I pre-ordered it from Amazon and it was available on Sept. 1. Within a few days, it quickly became a favorite.

Written in 1934,  Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson was a best seller at the time of publication.  An Amazon review said:

Barbara Buncle is in a bind. Times are harsh, and Barbara's bank account has seen better days. Maybe she could sell a novel ... if she knew any stories. Stumped for ideas, Barbara draws inspiration from her fellow residents of Silverstream, the little English village she knows inside and out. To her surprise, the novel is a smash. It's a good thing she wrote under a pseudonym, because the folks of Silverstream are in an uproar. But what really turns Miss Bunde's world around is this: what happens to the characters in her book starts happening to their real-life counterparts. Does life really imitate art?

source

Settle down on an autumn day and read this book for a captivating time with people you come to know as true neighbors.

I am currently reading Sarum (Edward Rutherfurd) on the Kindle app, enjoying his writing style and learning the history of England from his point of view.  What are you reading?

Free Book for Kindle

Since it did not cost money and was purported to have 54 pattern instructions, why not get a free book for my Kindle app?  So I did.

But wait, there is even more juicy back content! It was first published in 1864 in Bath in the UK.

The drawbacks were that there were no illustrations, and most of the patterns were for chair covers, which I would not use.  The good thing about this book was that gave insight into how people (women, mostly) had to work hard just to keep some color in their lives.

Check it out for yourself here on Amazon if you want a free download, or pay money for it in paperback, which is probably not worth it unless you are a die hard history buff in the realm of needle art.

There were at least 40 more books available for free download related to knitting, crochet, embroider, tatting, lace making, hat making, cooking,  medicinal plants, tapestry weaving, gardening, dyeing of fibers and the list goes on.... so much information and so little time.

The Beggar's Slippers

Abraham Verghese brought the story of the beggar's slippers to my attention in Cutting for Stone.  It is worth a reprise here.  (Chapter 29 is the reference point for this story.)

Abu Kassem, a miserly Baghdad merchant, had held on to his battered, much repaired pair of slippers even though they were objects of derision.  At last, even he couldn't stomach the sight of them.  But his every attempt to get rid of his slippers ended in disaster: when he tossed them out of his window they landed on the head of a pregnant woman who miscarried, and Abu Kassem was thrown in jail; when he dropped them in the canal, the slippers choked off the main drain and caused flooding.  Off Abu Kassem went to jail...Abu Kassem might as well build a special room for his slippers.. Why try to lose them? He'll never escape. The slippers in the story mean that everything you see and do and touch, every seed you sow, or don't sow, becomes part of your destiny.

Abraham Verghese has one of his characters say this regarding the topic of making up for absences:

I made up for...(father's)... absence by hoarding knowledge, skills, seeking praise.  What I finally understood ...is that neither my sister nor I realized that my father's absence is our slippers.  In order to start to get rid of your slippers, you have to admit they are yours, and if you do, then they will get rid of themselves...The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don't.  If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then your'll die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more.  Not only our actions, but our omissions, become our destiny. (Cutting for Stone, Chapter 29)

Over the years, I have tried to rid myself of many pairs of (emotional bondage) slippers: sorrow, grief and regrets are woven into the soles and fabric of my tattered slippers.

After I realized several pairs of "slippers" were mine for a lifetime, they wore better.  Even the calluses caused by the slippers have become part of me.  I look at them with curiosity and reluctant acceptance. Tough layers of skin... would I want to rid myself of those experiences that caused the calluses?   The slippers worn are not comfortable, yet have softened my heart and helped hardened my insecurities.  My own tattered slippers have helped mold me into one of God's loved, flawed, creations.

Wilhelmina Shawlette

One of the best digital downloads that I have recently purchased is the book What Would Madam Defarge Knit? (Creations Inspired by Classic Characters).  Over 20 patterns are available in the download, along with live web links.  A great value for the money, since all patterns are included for one low price of $16.95.  And the links are fascinating, informative, and just plain fun.  Note: the first edition hardcover has been sold out, but you can order the digital download here.

Madam DeFarge was a character in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.  She is known for her knitting activism during the French Revolution, secretly purling names into her knitting of those who would be charged with crimes in the upcoming revolution.  Go to Wikipedia for the quick and dirty about Therese Defarge.

(Madam Defarge found on Google images)

The inside page of the WWMDK book explains a bit about how the book came into being:

What Would Madame Defarge Knit? is a new book of crafty patterns—in pre-orders February 7, 2011 from Cooperative Press—written and designed by the good people who bring you CraftLit, Cast-on, March Hare Yarns, Jen Minnis Artworks, WeaveZine and WeaveCast, Silk Road Socks, Gardiner Yarn Works, and Crochet Compulsive.

It all started back in 2007, while listening to A Tale of Two Cities on CraftLit. Not far into the book, WWMDfK? became a rallying call for t-shirts, knitting, and fun. And now—patterns!

The Wilhelmina Shawlette is the first pattern I'll be knitting from the book.  And the name Wilhelmina? It comes from here:

What would Mina, the heroine of Bram Stoker’s epic novel, Dracula, wear to protect her neck from the bloodthirsty count? Chrissy Gardiner thinks that, as a practical girl, she undoubtedly would appreciate this simple, delicate wool shawlette, featuring Serendipitous Ewe’s Autumn Glow vampire-inspired colorway, one in a series dyed exclusively for SandraSingh.com.

Designer: Chrissy Gardiner, Finished Measurements: 44″ wide and 22″ tall after blocking

(Close up of the knitted lace pattern in the shawl)

This is the variegated Ella Rae lace merino fiber I purchased from Aimee's Yarn Cafe in Paradise, CA for knitting  the Wilhelmina:

My neck will definitely be warm when I wear this, even if I don't need to be protected from vampires.

(Dracula is a book that will be read on the Craftlit podcast in the fall.  I can't wait!)

Chemo Cap to Crochet

Ironically, sadly, three chemo hats are still in my cedar chest that my mother used during her cancer treatment in 1999, and that I saved because they reminded me of her.  She was not a complainer, and always grateful for whatever the day held.  I do try to emulate that quality, though sometimes it is a challenge.

This is my mom and me in 2000 just before she died, wearing one of her favorite hats covering her little bald head:

Then, lo and behold, wouldn't you know that I then had the "opportunity" to use those same hats, and especially the one shown above on Mom, when I went through chemo.  Yup, it is so.

And now my daughter will be the recipient of these useful little garments to keep her head warm after she loses her hair due to chemotherapy.  Three generations of women with cancer: bing, bing, bing.

Never fear, she won't have to just use those old hats (even thought they are quite attractive and still functional).  I am making her a couple more with crochet and knitting needles.

Here is a pattern I came across this morning: free, free, free and easy, Bernat offers this chemo hat as a download with a (also free) registration to their website:

As a quick update on Julie, she has been diagnosed with Stage III B breast cancer, and will have her chemo port placed on May 23.  They are trying to shrink her tumors prior to a mastectomy.

The chemo cotton hat will be started today as I listen to Frank Delaney's Ireland on audiobook.  If you are on Ravelry, there is an audiobook group and a podcast group that you might check out; this group has excellent suggestions on good listens.  I'm currently listening to several books on tape, depending on moods and inclinations.

Now I'm off to Michael's as soon as they open to buy three balls of cotton yarn so I can snuggle down for a good session with Ireland and my hooks and needles.

Everybody is Irish on St. Pat's

Claim to be Irish?  Even our pup (French poodle mix) is Irish today and outdoes the clip art, IMHO.

Doctor Libby (aka Libby the Therapy Dog) also has a St. Pat's scarf, but she was too sleepy to dress in it before the picture was snapped.

Just finished Edward Rutherford's The Rebels of Ireland, which was a tome of Irish background beginning in the 1500's.  If you would like that book, leave me a comment and I'll send it to you postage paid!  First commenter who wants the book wins.

About the book from Amazon:

The Princes of Ireland, the first volume of Edward Rutherfurd’s magisterial epic of Irish history, ended with the disastrous Irish revolt of 1534 and the disappearance of the sacred Staff of Saint Patrick. The Rebels of Ireland opens with an Ireland transformed; plantation, the final step in the centuries-long English conquest of Ireland, is the order of the day, and the subjugation of the native Irish Catholic population has begun in earnest.

Susan Howatch and Knitting While Listening to her on Audio

Susan Howatch is another of my favorite authors.  Howatch was introduced to me (her writings, not her person) by my SIL Charlotte.  We both read one of her book set series several years ago.  That series is entitled "The Church of England", or the "Starbridge Series", and can be found here.  Howatch has many more books that I need to catch up on.

From that same site:

Susan Howatch was born in Surrey in 1940. After taking a degree in law she emigrated to America where she married, had a daughter and embarked on a career as a writer. She left in 1976 and lived in the Republic of Ireland for four years before returning to England. She lived in Salisbury - inspiration for the very successful Starbridge sequence and now lives in Leatherhead, Surrey.

Howatch's Facebook page has thousands of fans, and is fun to peruse occasionally to see how her thoughts are still effecting others.

All this to say that I just purchased a download of her book The Rich Are Different (recorded in 2009, written in 1977).  It is 28 hours long, so will be good company as I knit up The Sage Remedy Top from Ravelry in this Hyacinth Blue colorway from KnitPicks:

The hyacinth color has some red tints in the blue and is working up nicely. Wool of the Andes (a workhorse in the KnitPicks line) shows up the stitch definition.

This is designer Sarah Sheperd's version of the finished top:

I really like this pattern because it will hide my lymphedemic left arm and flat chest since it will be layered over a turtleneck, and has extra fullness to hide all kinds of body flaws.  You know what I'm talking about, girls.

Inspector Lynley Series of Books and TV Shows by E. George

Do you like mystery books?  If so, don't you love Elizabeth George?

You might like to go to George's website and peruse all the book titles she has written.

We have enjoyed  watching many of the Inspector Lynley shows on TV.  The Inspector (a titled British bloke) and his sidekick, Barbara Havers, do service to Ms. George's  main characters.

Fifty-one of George's stories and fan comments can be accessed at this site, so you, too, can be an active fan of Inspector Lynley and interact virtually with other fans.
BBC Mysteries has their own website where you can also delve into the characters of Lynley and Havers.

Over the past year, my husband and our two dogs and I have viewed these TV shows in the Elizabeth George Inspector Lynley series via Netflix:

• Guise of Death
• Know Thine Enemy
• Natural Causes
• Limbo
• Great Deliverance
• Word of God
• Deception on His Mind
• Blink of an Eye
• Suitable Vengeance
• One Guilty Deed
• Cry for Justice
• Traitor to Memory
• In Pursuit of a Proper Sinner
• Payment in Blood
• For the Sake of Elena

I just downloaded George's audio book Number 13 (With No One As Witness) on to my mp3 player, since it is not yet out on TV.  The reader has an authentic British accent and is an easy listen.

Most of my knitting is accomplished while Inspector Lynley and Barbara Havers are chasing murderers in the British countryside (while on the TV background).

Pictures and Music Accompanying the Craftlit Tour

Please sit back and relax as you tour through London, Bath and Wales on the Craftlit Tour:

Oliver! Stage Play

A quick message to say the stage play Oliver! that the Craftlit group saw in London last week at the Royal Drury Lane Theater was over the top!

The synopsis of Oliver Twist can be found here. 

Charles Dickens wrote Oliver! which was published in 1838.  Why did he write it? Look here:

To make money - it's what he did for a living.

He wanted a subject which would appeal to his audience - readers of Bentley's Miscellany, which was published monthly. He probably based it on the account of the life of Robert Blincoe - an orphan whos story of his life and hard times was popular in the early 19th century - but Dickens's work had originality and it is probably the first novel to have a child as the protagonist.

Dickens used his novel to draw attention to social problems, particularly the Poor Law and child labour.

What struck me was the familiar song "As Long As He Needs Me" that the prostitute character Nancy sang to both Bill Sykes and then later to Oliver could be interpreted as strongly anti-feminist in its lyrics because Sykes regularly mistreated Nancy.

The complete lyrics to the song are here:

As longs as he needs me 
I know where I must be 
I'll cling on steadfastly 
As longs as he needs me 
As long as life is long 
I'll love him, right or wrong 
And somehow I'll be strong 
As long as he needs me 

If you are lonely then you will know 
When someone needs you you love them so 
I won't betray his trust 
Though people say I must 
I've got to stay true just 
As longs as he needs me 

If you are lonely then you will know 
When someone needs you you love them so 
I won't betray his trust 
Though people say I must 
I've got to stay true just 
As longs as he needs me 
(lyric provided by John Bol)

Wow!

Some of us at intermission ...

Favorite Audiobooks Currently on MP3 player

This is a partial listing of books I've been listening to, along with a few quick notes about the books/authors.

Excellent! one is The Help by Kathryn Stockette.

Set in the late 50's, early 60's, five characters speak in Southern dialect about racial issues and social mores that keep you wanting more from this author.

Anything by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, such as this one available at our local library:

Larsson is a mystery writer, and his character action takes place in Scandinavian areas.

The Good Apprentice by Iris Murdoch: (read most of her books in the 80's, and she is still going strong)

Olive Kittridge by Elizabeth Strout (give it an "A" score)...

This is a toughie, and another excellent reader which makes listening a pleasure.

Any of Jane Austen's books ... see them here on Amazon!

Failure to Appear by J.P. Beaumont (he has a series, but this is the only audiobook I could currently catch at the library). 

A Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.  Here is what a Ravelry friend said about it, and I concur:

That narrator is magnificent! She’s doing wonderful Australian accents, mixed with English, Irish and the occasional AMerican (which seems to be the only one she can’t swing btw). It took me a while to get sucked into the book, but now I’m finding it to be wonderful!

So much to listen to, so little time.

Repurposing Used Books

Found this here the day AFTER I took a huge load of books to Goodwill:

There must have been a lot of glue involved.

Antiquarian Books for Sale

Over the past five years, I have held onto some old books for a friend.  She told me to try and sell them if I could.  No book establishment in our small county was interested in purchasing them.  But some one MUST want them, right?

Today, I sent this brief email to Great Britain to the bookstore of Addyman Books in Hay on Wye in Wales and a similar one to Rose's Books, a purveyor of old children's books. 

For Sale:

FROM SEA TO SEA, Rudyard Kipling, copyright 1899.. very good condition; on the flyleaf it says "Mattie A. Weaver, Xmas 1899" handwritten in black ink (Doubleday & McClure Company, New York, 1899) There are TWO copies of this book, with the same handwriting on the flyleaf

ENGLISH LITERATURE , ITS HISTORY AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE LIFE OF THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD, A TEXT-BOOK FOR SCHOOLS by William J. Long, Ginn and Company, copyright 1909 (The Athenaeum Press, Ginn and Company Proprietors Boston USA)(fair condition, wear on all edges and the front hard cover is well worn; pencil writing on the inside of the cover)

CHILD-STORY READERS PRIMER BY FRANK N. FREEMAN, GRACE E. STORN, ELEANOR M. JOHNSON. W.C. RRENCH, COPYRIGHT 1927 BY LYONS AND CARNAHAN - This is illustrated with color pictures. The name "Annie Laurie" is written on the fly-leaf. Very good condition.

If interested, I can provide pictures of the books in an email attachment.

I will be in Hay on Wye, Wales in October, 2010 and plan on visiting both bookstores. Hay on Wye is renown for its reputation as a book lover's haven.  "Hay-on-Wye has become world famous for its secondhand and antiquarian bookshops. At present there are approximately thirty major bookshops in the town some specialising whilst others carry general stock." (it says so here)

Maybe they will buy these books and have them in their warehouse(s) by then; one can only hope.

China Court & Other Read Aloud Books

Written by Rumer Godden in 1961, China Court: The Hours of a Country House was reviewed by The Book Diva at Viewpoints with this quick summarization:

Rumer Godden spins a complex and delicate tale of family, and time, and love. Past, present, and future weave around each other in layers of story centering on an old family home and the generations who live and hate and love there. I first read this story many years ago, and I still find many of Ms Godden's strong characters and unique turns of phrase vivid in my mind. I would recommend this book without hesitation - a re-readable joy.

Prolific reader, blogger, and all around marvelous personality and strong soul Julie, who writes at Forgotten Classics (and two other blogs!) has recorded this book on audio. I have recently downloaded her readings of China Court from this site: complete-episodes-listing, starting at episode number 23.

When downloading, each episode (a chapter or two) is copied automatically into my iTunes account. For some reason, it is saved to my "music" folder. But when saved onto my iPod, it is easy enough to pick up the first episode in that folder and begin listening to the book either in the car or my favorite easy chair (while knitting, of course).

These audible books in the public domain are easy to record onto a CD, or you could listen to the recorded podcasts/books on your computer, although those venues are not so portable.

Julie has recorded the entire China Court: The Hours of a Country House book (over 14 hours of recording time) in a clear voice, that although is not a professionally trained reading voice, Julie's tempo and lack of regional accent is very easy on the ears. What a gift to hear this read, and at no cost to the listener!

Try Julie's website, Forgotten Classics, and spend some time poking around there. She has a lot to offer.

Another of my podcast favorites, Craft Lit, hosted by Heather Ordover from Arizona, spends some time each week talking about things going on in her life (actually, quite interesting) and then either she or other readers read one or two chapters of a book each week. The past month or so, Heather has been reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. As a literature teacher, she has lots to add from her literary background which aids in content understanding.

Here is a listing of books which Heather has read/reviewed since 2008:

Frankenstein; Little Women; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Scarlet Letter (and probably one or two others I have forgotten or missed over the past 18 months)

You can find Heather's recordings at Craft Lit; just look on the left hand side under "Library".

Since April of 2006, Ms. Hardover has recorded many books in the public domain that have been read aloud by faithful followers of her blog. Like Heather says, "If your hands are too busy to pick up a book, at least you can listen to one." She is another amazing woman who has so many stars in her crown, like Julie at Forgotten Classics, it would be a full time job just to shine them.

There is a wealth of goodness at the sites of these two podcasters, and I encourage you to take advantage of them to increase your knowledge of the classics.

Knitting Projects and Contest

After reading A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber several years ago, my sister-in-law and I got hooked on reading all of her books. The main character in her books owns a small yarn shop and has various entertaining adventures.

Charlotte and I absorbed about a quarter of Macomber's more than sixty books. Then, lo and behold, guess what Charlotte and I took up after a long respite? … You guessed it, KNITTING!

Debbie Macomber has five knitting project books out now that are on my current Amazon Wish List.

Here is a link to those booklets: Debbie's Projects

You can check out this author and all of her books on her website: Debbie Macomber

And, she has a contest….

Take a stroll down Debbie Macomber’s famed Blossom Street this month, where the grand prize winner will receive a copy of The Shop On Blossom Street, A Good Yarn, Back On Blossom Street and an advance reading copy of the latest Blossom Street title,Twenty Wishes and much, much more...

The drawing will take place Thursday, April 24, 2008, just before Debbie departs on her 20-city Twenty Wishes tour.

Here is the website to enter: Contest

Just sign in to her guestbook, and you will be entered into the drawing.

Good luck to all entrants!