Forgotten Joys of Dorm Life

I think

(in my memory)

I had put

a mental fence

around all I remembered

about communal showers.

Agricola's Got Talent

(The above title was probably not what I was going to call this post but I just watched Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent and that's how my thoughts went...)

My El was in the paper this week with some of her friends. If my experience holds true for her, these will be the people she spends the most time with over the next 6 years.

In all, George County 6th graders (from Agricola Elementary, Benndale Elementary, Central Elementary, Lucedale Intermediate, and Rocky Creek Elementary) brought home 86 Superior medals from Solo & Ensemble contest. Wow!

I hope all these kids are encouraged to stay in band through Middle School and High School. They are learning skills (and not all of them musical) that they can exercise the rest of their lives: leadership, teamwork, time management, not to mention the music itself.

Good job, people. And a special thanks to Mr. Terry Slayter for all the miles he puts in!

Baker's Dozen

Yesterday, El informed me that the bonus question on their math test this week was to give the origin of the term "baker's dozen." She could write it down and take it with her to take the test. So last night we looked it up.

The term goes back to the 13th century, when King Henry III of England instituted the Assizes of Bread and Ale. It was to set up standards of measure for commerce. Apparently the consumers of the day were being shorted on their pints and loaves. After the Assizes, the penalty for shorting the customer could be severe-loss of limb!! Keeping your hand was apparently worth an extra bun in the bag.

Easter Blessings

I'm in the kitchen getting everything ready for lunch.

Mr. H is in the other end of the house getting ready for the service this morning: he's singing and playing the offertory.

I hear the end of "He's Alive." He's alive and I'm forgiven, Heaven's gates are open wide. He's Alive!!!

Life Is Good

You know life is good


when you pass


a good looking man


on a motorcycle


and he waves at you


and you realize


it's your husband!

my first knitting project

While I was attending the Women of Faith conference last weekend, I was inspired in more ways than one. One of my travel companions was knitting a shawl. I sat next to her for several hours in the back seat, watching her knit. I taught myself to crochet in college, but knitting has always eluded me. After watching her, I decided I'd give it another shot. I had a pair of knitting needles and lots of yarn from crochet projects. I even had a book called "I can't believe I'm KNITTING!"

Here is the result of my first recent attempt:

I was pleasantly surprised at the result. To give you an idea of the size, those needles are 10 inches long. The whole thing is about 15 inches in length. (I knitted until my ball of yarn ran out.) Mainly, I was just trying to figure out if I could do the stitches. I think casting on is the hardest part. That's the first step, where you get the yarn "loaded up" onto one needle. In crocheting, the beginning chain is just about the easiest part.

Below, you can see the 2 basic types of stitches. The left, center and right sections are done in what's called garter stitch. You do the same stitch on the right side and the wrong side and it looks the same on both sides. The 2 sections that look like little v's or zigzags are the classic knit stitch, which is called stockinette stitch. It's created by doing a knit stitch row followed by a purl stitch row. There are more complex things like ribbing and cables, but I'll leave them for a later attempt.


In the meantime, I think I'll use this piece to cover the table under the front edge of my laptop. The table is always cold, and this makes a nice warm place to rest my arms. My next project is a shawl like my friend was making. It uses lots more yarn (3 or 4 skeins) and bigger needles. I'll let you know how it turns out.

After the Storm

You would never know by looking outside now that a severe storm came through here a few hours ago. Everything is so clear and green.

Winter has
put on
the pale green veil
of spring

Look at all that green grass!

You know spring is here when the pecan trees start to bud. They never get caught by a frost.

I got 2 hanging baskets of white impatiens last week. One of them is beautiful.


The other has been invaded by a nesting house wren: rather droopy, don't you think?

In the bottom right hand corner of this picture is the top of my sweet olive bush. Mom would have been proud to know that it's doing well and smelling so sweet.