noro scarf

Inspired by the Yarn Harlot and just about everyone else in blogville who seems to have knitted a noro scarf in November, I ordered the yarn from WEBS and made one up for my mom.

I kept interrupting the kids to show them the way the "colors look now". In the beginning they were able to feign interest, but after awhile it wore a bit thin for them.

. . . but look at the way the colors look now!

it's hard to eat when . . . .

you're missing 8 molars!

do i need a pet owl?!

more on the lemon tree

In my last post I was talking about how much I liked The Lemon Tree. Here is the NPR link to the original story, sent to me by my friend Paula who is also reading the book. It's great to hear their voices!

http://sandytolan.com/the-lemon-tree/on-writing

4 books and a pair of mittens

My nephew Jonah is turning 4 (four!!) and the girls and I made him this pair of mittens from a felted sweater from Morgies (Good Will). I got the idea for combining it with the book The Mitten from Write Mama Write http://writemamawrite.typepad.com/blog/2007/11/mitten-tutorial.html



I've been reading a lot of great books lately:

The Heretic's Daughter--great historical fiction about the Salem Witch trials written by a descendent of one of the accused--I got to hear her speak at Porter Square books--fabulous!
The Lemon Tree--the story of the Israeli family who moves into an old Arab house in 1948 and the Palestinian family who were forced out
The House at Sugar Beach--a memoir about a Liberian childhood
The Zookeeper's Wife--true story of a Polish couple who hid Jews in their Zoo during the Polish occupation, beautifully written

another thing to be angry about

The Beverly Birth Center may be closing. Where is the outcry over the limits being imposed on this reproductive right?!

http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_312222245.html?keyword=topstory

we the people

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/cartoons/11_03_08_inktank?pg=12

happy not to have to move to Canada

Check out the future President of the United States in cupcakes--how sweet it is!

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2008/11/cake-headlines.html

and as usual the Onion is right on the money:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/black_man_given_nations

got your vote

I went and voted--no lines and everyone was so cheerful, like we're all doing something good. A much more cheerful civic duty for people, it seems, then when I had jury duty last week.

Here's some info about election day cake:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/ElectionCake.htm

Here's some info on why Starbucks can't give you a free coffee because you voted today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110401899.html?hpid=topnews

halloween

It's hard to see--but here are the kids at the barn in a costume parade. Sophie got the prize for funniest and Rebecca for best matched to her horse.

A fairy house pumpkin complete with fleece smoke carved by Miss Sophie.

Here we are all decked out to go to Salem. I've always wanted to go for Halloween. There were between 150,000 and 200,000 people, most dressed up. We saw some great costumes--I wish I had photos to show.

a big day at our house

Eli asked at the door to go out and then peed outside! While Rebecca was out with him Sophie made this sign.

hangin' out at home

The weather has taken a turn for the cold and I twisted my ankle and well, I already mentioned the puppy, all of which are conspiring to keep us at home. I've been reading The Heretic's Daughter, which is excellent, historical fiction about the Salem witch trials written by a descendant of some of the accused and The Magic of Fire, a beautiful book about hearth cooking, with lots of recipes and folk lore. We made cookies and bean stew with beans I ordered from Rancho Gordo.

Rebecca sewed a skirt using the free pattern at http://www.oliverands.com/.

I made 2 pairs of mittens and one pair of fingerless gloves out of felted sweaters. The mitten pattern is from Warm Fuzzies by Betz White.

Sophie woke up one morning recently and said "I want to sew a pair of pajama pants!" And competent kid that she is--here they are.

the girls fiddle at a halloween party for twins and the puppy comes along

Eli was so good and calm in all the noise and chaos of two hundred small children in costume and their families.

Some of the kids were in matching costumes--so adorable!

a blog on a Northstar dog in action

http://charliethenorthstardog.blogspot.com/

Read about Charlie and the awesome work he's doing with his boy Tim in California.

birth bumperstick fundraiser

I just bought a bumper sticker to support birthing women in Africa.

"Keep your kids off drugs....Choose an unmedicated birth" (an adorable pregnant belly drives the point home)!

To buy one http://babysbirthbenefits.com/events.aspx

More info:

My passion for birth has led me to pursue my degree in Midwifery and I'm well on my way!
As part of this journey, I have been offered the opportunity to intern at a hospital in Malawi Africa. Embangweni Hospital was founded by International Health Ministries and is a Peace Corp. partner with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. It serves a rural population and has 2000 births per year. There are only a handful of care providers, and 3 Staff members. I plan to serve birthing women of Malawi in March and April of 2009. In an effort to raise funds for this mission and to bring supplies and gifts, I am offering these bumper stickers for a MINIMUM donation of $5.00 (of course anything over $5.00 would be extremely helpful). If you make a donation, I will promptly send you a bumper sticker. Donations can be made by paypal to liljoy143@aol.com. 100% of your donation will go toward this mission. I sincerely appreciate your support.
My Best and Many Thanks- Student Midwife, LaNette

saw the yarn harlot when she came to town

I saw Stephanie Pearl McPhee in Cambridge last night. Great fun to see her in person! I feel like I know her from reading her blog. I covet her job! My favorite part was the Q and A at the end. My favorite new tidbit--put your keyboard on the floor so you can hit the space bar with your foot while knitting and reading knitting blogs.



Here's what Stephanie has to say about the Cambridge reading:

http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/

cool fossil discovery

Here's the story on the oldest flying insect fossil discovered in Mass!

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/10/16/mall_sprawl_site_yields_a_treasure_from_eons_past/
And here's a cool photo of it:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/10/worlds_oldest_f.html

foster therapy puppy

He's here! Our 10 week old Golden foster therapy puppy has arrived. His forever home will be with a teenage boy in Maine who is on the autism spectrum and wants a dog to cuddle. The runt of the litter, he's tiny and he's a cuddler! He came with the name Eli, but that may change. He's part of the Northstar program, http://www.northstardogs.com/, the same program we are hoping Honey will be a breeding dog for.

Sophie figured out how to video on my camera so here's our first uploaded video.

linus blankets

My girls finished their blankets for the Linus Project (www.linusblankets.org). An organization that gives blankets to kids in need (in the hospital, in foster care, etc.). Their blankets are going to a refuge family from Africa. Kids helping kids!

Fall in New England

We're having a glorious fall. Here are some poke berries and some milk weed seeds in midfluff.

The girls are on a walk with Honey to the river today.

We've been drying apples with a borrowed dehydrator. The peeler/corer/slicer is great fun.
Yes, another goat photo . . .

We went up to Common Ground Fair in Maine. All the food there is organic and grown in Maine--no chocolate, no coffee. We had yummy raw milk icecream. These photos are from the farmers market there. We took classes on rug braiding, mushroom wildcrafting. and dowsing.

And what would fall be without apple picking??!