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March 29, 2007
Things That Make Me Go Hmmm
*I had a dream the other night that I was at a fiber festival with Blogless Sharon and Lois. We were staying at a hotel and as I was getting ready to leave I said to Lois, "Listen, if you're not winning then you're losing and don't let anybody tell you any different." This is pretty far from what I believe when I'm awake so I'm intrigued by the fact that I said it so emphatically in a dream.

*Why is it that I can knit a pair of socks in 36 hours when it's for competition but it takes me more than 6 weeks to finish a pair that's not part of a competition? I've been working on these socks since February 16th and I'm just now getting to the gusset decreases on sock two. Sheesh.
*I came home to some junk mail on the kitchen table yesterday and Dale had edited the one from Sears just a little bit. I think he's still feeling bitter about the fridge.
*I've kept track of the books I've read for many years. I finished a book the other day and went to record it in my notebook and was shocked to see that it's the first book I've finished since January. This is pathetic for a librarian.
*I always listen to Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell at this time of year to psyche me up for Palm Sunday and Easter. Even after 30 years of doing this (I started in 7th grade) I never get tired of this music.
*After several years of talking about it, Dale and I have finally purchased a share in a local CSA. It will start in mid-June and I'm really excited to see what we'll be getting each week.

*I won a prize in a contest over at Lisa's and it arrived yesterday. I love prizes in general but a prize package that includes roving from dear Teyani and a book signed by the author plus chocolate - well, it doesn't get better than that. Thanks, Lisa!
*Last week at "quilt night" not one of the 6 of us was actually quilting - we were all knitting. And yet we still call it quilt night. Go figure.
*Dale and I are holding a Civil War Living History in our home town. This is the third year we've done so and you wouldn't think we'd have any problems. However, the committee who "oversees" the property is giving us a very hard time, claiming that we've left trash behind and stolen shingles off one of the buildings and then used those shingles for kindling. They say we refused to move cars that were parked on a septic system and that our guests were observed using the great outdoors for a bathroom rather than the portable facilities we provided. (That's my personal favorite of this entire list of ridiculous accusations.) I wrote a three page letter to our Board of Selectmen about this committee. I feel better now.
Posted by Carole at March 29, 2007 7:00 AM
Comments
Shingle stealer. Snort.
Posted by: Anne at March 29, 2007 6:33 AM
Shingles...for kindling?! Those don't work very well- noxious fumes at best.
Great spoils!
Posted by: Manise at March 29, 2007 6:53 AM
Off to Reenactment Jail for you scoundrels . . .
Posted by: Kathy at March 29, 2007 7:03 AM
I find that I too knit faster when I have a deadline or something I really want to start next.
Posted by: Karen at March 29, 2007 7:08 AM
Hmm, you are a rowdy bunch eh? :)
That is an awesome prize package you got there. Have you had a chance to look through the Spin to Knit book. If so, how do you like it?
Posted by: Karen at March 29, 2007 7:46 AM
did you tell them that during the civil war it was common to burn shingles? duh.
dale's edits made me snicker.
Posted by: maryse at March 29, 2007 7:49 AM
Oh, oh, oh! You joined a CSA! You will take pictures of what you receive, won't you? Puh-leeze? :)
Posted by: Bakerina at March 29, 2007 7:52 AM
Since February 15th you've knit how many socks? Maybe this one is just for the times you want to knit and relax...not race!
Lisa gives good prizes!
I have no doubt you set the Selectmen straight.
Posted by: margene at March 29, 2007 7:57 AM
I'm trying to come up with a bad line about shingles, but all I can come up with is that they should stop singling y'all out because you've never stolen a single shingle. Heh.
Bitter? Whatever for? ;-)
Posted by: Anne at March 29, 2007 7:57 AM
If you're not winning, then you're stealing shingles.
I signed up for my first CSA this year too! I'm looking forward to it.
Posted by: Amy at March 29, 2007 8:10 AM
My mom was right: there are some mean people south of Quincy! ha ha ha. Dan and I are CSA members up here (Lexington) and we love it. Ours works a little differently ( a coupon system and a PYO per week) ,but for just the two of us, it's great. I am all about eating local if you can. Which is why we eat so much fish!
When's the re-enactment event?? Are you gonna post some info when it's coming up?
Posted by: kate at March 29, 2007 8:12 AM
I go back and forth about growing my own veggie garden or joining the local CSA. I think I am leaning torwards the garden in the yard though right now.
Love that roving! haha!
Posted by: Kim at March 29, 2007 8:21 AM
Love the box of goodies you won! Sounds to me like they let someone else use the property and are confusing the two! Writing letters always makes one feel better...even if I don't send half of the ones I write!!!
Posted by: Robin in VA at March 29, 2007 8:30 AM
I love the socks! Did you already mention the yarn you're using? (I bet I missed it.)
Using shingles as kindling, huh? Naughty little Yankee!
Posted by: Susan at March 29, 2007 8:34 AM
Hmmm indeed. Enjoy that prize, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who's extremely envious of it. Dale's edits on the Sears mail are funny. The gripes about your Civil War Living History are not. People need to lighten up.
Posted by: hillary at March 29, 2007 8:56 AM
Wow, those are some wacky accusations!
Love the prize package; lucky, lucky you.
Posted by: Julie at March 29, 2007 8:57 AM
A shingle thief! I wondered what that was you were hiding under your shirt last time I saw you.
Posted by: Cheryl at March 29, 2007 8:58 AM
I am impressed that you are being so historically accurate. Of course those 1860's New Englanders were still loving as rough as the Pilgrims and when in need of kindling they would absolutely start stripping their roofs for shingles. That was an early move towards recycling as taught to them by Squanto! A hole in the roof was sometimes necessary!
Yeesh- sounds like the town building hadn't been repaired in a few decades- I am shocked (NOT) at the town committee trying to blame your group for their issues.
Posted by: Lisa C at March 29, 2007 9:09 AM
First you tick off Sears and now you and Dale are peeing on lawns... sheesh, what are we going to do with you two :-)
Posted by: Kate at March 29, 2007 9:10 AM
Serves you right for not going to the local appliance store in the first place! Hmph.
I'm kidding-we had the same experience with Filene's furniture, and when I called to find out about our refund for all the angst they caused us (let's see-over four weeks without a bed and three days of work lost becaused they claimed our mattress was on the way...), they called me a liar!
Does the living history day include another cow-patty bingo game?
Posted by: Heather R. at March 29, 2007 9:19 AM
hmmm... cedar would be a great kindling, but climbing up on a roof to get it takes real desperation. lol
and about peeing in the woods, or wherever, who cares!
Posted by: Judy at March 29, 2007 9:36 AM
I love the idea of a CSA...made me look into it in my area. Sharing it with DH to see what he thinks :)
Posted by: ck at March 29, 2007 9:45 AM
You gotta love small town politics!! When are you planning to hold your event? My family would love to see that! Maybe we will take a ride to see it.
I am going to check out the CSA. It sounds like a nice way to support local farmers and get some healthy organic food in the process.
Posted by: Donna at March 29, 2007 9:52 AM
I lilke the shingle part of the story best. Because goodness knows there's nothing better for kindling than stolen shingles. When I want to build a fire, that's the first thing I ask myself... "hmm, are there any shingles around here I could steal?"
Heh.
Love the socks. I have some of that wonderful Trekking too, but if I knit it up, then I can't fondle the skein anymore. Dilemma.
Posted by: Beth S. at March 29, 2007 9:54 AM
I like the shingle part the best, too. It just seems the most unlikely. Are they still going to let you hold the reenactment?
Posted by: Martha at March 29, 2007 10:04 AM
ICE CREAM SOCKS. Everything else was covered in the other comments. heh
Posted by: Emily at March 29, 2007 10:28 AM
Well, you know how those Civil War buffs are. I guess your reputation has finally caught up with you. You're so.....unCivil. :)
Lord save us from committees that are too impressed with their own authority.
Posted by: Elisabeth at March 29, 2007 10:34 AM
I love random little snippets like this :-) Dale's edit to the ad is hilarious. You guys will love the CSA share. My parents split one with some friends of theirs and they didn't get around to it last year and really missed it!
Posted by: Kristi aka Fiber Fool at March 29, 2007 10:40 AM
You couldn't pay me to start a fire with shingles. Yuck! We use Bordeaux cases here and the best of the woodpile in Montana. None of that dirty old stinky cedar. Eww. Those Selectmen are tacky for even having the thought!
Did you mail the letter or deliver it in person?
Lovely prize. What *do* you think of the book?
I've had to accept that I have only two hands and when they are busy doing other things, they cannot knit. And, when I am silly and cast on eight projects, a few of them are going to take way longer than usual. You could make a prioritized chart of WIPs so the socks know their number is coming up soon?
Dale's handwriting looks as I'd expected, except for those R's. What's up with the R's?
CSA's are wonderful. I loved my customers in Montana, especially the ones who smiled when I showed up with 5-gallon buckets of beets after a particularly good crop...
Posted by: Sylvia at March 29, 2007 10:42 AM
I'm trying to recover from the reading update... Yikes! Will they kick you out of the librarian secret society? ;)
Posted by: Chris at March 29, 2007 10:43 AM
Pretty socks! By my standards they're zipping right along.
Posted by: Lucia at March 29, 2007 11:01 AM
Wow! That's a wonderful package.
I hope everything works out with your Civil War Living History.
Posted by: Kirsten at March 29, 2007 11:10 AM
I love that you get psyched up for Palm Sunday and Easter. When I read that I laughed out loud and everyone in the computer lab is now staring at me.
Posted by: elizabeth at March 29, 2007 12:38 PM
AhHAH! I KNEW you were a shingle stealer!
Posted by: scoutj at March 29, 2007 12:49 PM
I bet the Sears people were the ones stealing those shingles. ;^)
Posted by: Cookie at March 29, 2007 12:59 PM
The edits by Dale make me go "hahahahehe" and the prize package just makes me go MMMMM M M M M MMMM!!! Be sure to let us know what you think of the book. :)
Posted by: Laura at March 29, 2007 1:24 PM
Hmm indeed! This was almost a good, bad and ugly post...good prezzies, bad Sears, UGLY outdoor "watersports" :)
Posted by: Debi at March 29, 2007 1:32 PM
Those Neopolitan socks are SO CUTE! What lucky recipient will be getting those?
Posted by: ~Kristie at March 29, 2007 2:22 PM
Oh, good luck with the CSA! I've thought about joining one but haven't ever yet. I'd like to hear about your experience.
Also, the NY Times had an article about disease-resistant roses that I thought you might be interested in:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/garden/29garden.html
Posted by: BigAlice at March 29, 2007 2:31 PM
Cool package and love the socks!
Posted by: Kelly at March 29, 2007 2:31 PM
I just signed up for a new CSA in our area, and I can't wait for it to start.
Small town committees are the best - the one where we work voted down a motion to thank someone for helping them get funding. He came back the next week and the motion passed. Sheesh. The emotions run so high because the stakes are so LOW.
Posted by: Kim at March 29, 2007 3:19 PM
So...did you know that Jesus Christ Superstar will be in Lowell in April? With TED FREAKIN' NEELY playing Jesus? I'll tell you, I've seen him in JCS at least three times, and every time he's been as good as he was in The Movie.
Ahem.
Posted by: elisa at March 29, 2007 3:27 PM
I love the colorway of your socks. Hope the overseers don't put a damper on this years festivities. Enjoy and let us know how it goes. sandy
Posted by: sandy at March 29, 2007 3:42 PM
WOW CAROLE THAT WAS A WONDERFUL JAM PACKED BLOG ENTRY. I LIKE THE CONCEPT OF A CSA AND OH YEAH JCS AND GODSPELL ARE THE BEST IN FACT THE BEST OF THE 70'S
Posted by: BLOGLESS SHARON at March 29, 2007 3:57 PM
DH watches Jesus Christ Superstar, the play, every year. (I still have my album.)
I watch Michael, a movie, at Christmas. Those are the only things we watch over and over, every year.
Strange traditions, but we like them. Glad to see someone else shares one of them.
Posted by: Becky at March 29, 2007 5:43 PM
Glad to hear you joined a CSA! Our family, and another friend/grower are starting a CSA this year, and the response has been overwhelming. We already have a long waiting list for next year. I'm happy to see that more and more good people are helping out family farmers. Thanks!
Posted by: aimeedewar at March 29, 2007 6:17 PM
Since January?? Gasp!
Posted by: --Deb at March 29, 2007 6:18 PM
That's terrific that you joined a CSA -- I am about to start my third year in mine. The more I learn about industrial agriculture in this country, the happier I am that I take advantage of supporting local farms in this way. Plus you get great veggies in great variety!
Posted by: Rachel at March 29, 2007 7:00 PM
a 3 page letter sounds as though it was in order. i hope it was a terse one. love the gifties from lisa -- isn't she the bomb?!
Posted by: amanda at March 29, 2007 7:43 PM
Jesus Christ superstar... I just love that song: Everything's alright... remember, let the world sleep without you tonight... such a great (and true) line.
Love Dale's commentary on the Sears propaganda!
hugs.
Posted by: Teyani at March 30, 2007 12:56 AM
You're accused of stealing shingles? You've gotta be kindling me!
Posted by: Binky at March 30, 2007 7:49 AM
I've been in a CSA for three years now and I can't wait to get the fresh veggies! It starts out slowly (like any crop) and then builds until you can barely carry your share home each week. We love it, and it's supporting local agriculture too :-)
Posted by: brenda at March 30, 2007 9:02 AM
Helloooo Civil War times, no potties. They must be thinking of the group that came in after yours. Love JCSS-a cool tradition you got there!
Posted by: Carol at March 30, 2007 9:52 AM
Please post about your experiences with the CSA -- and pictures of the spoils, too, if you want. I've been going to do that for several years but haven't managed quite yet.
Re: books. Have you looked at LibraryThing.com? I used to keep a Word document every year of what I read; now I open a new account at LT an list my books there. The cool thing is they have a widget so you can have the list show in your sidebar.
Posted by: kmkat at March 30, 2007 6:24 PM
Your pace on those socks is right up my alley! Sounds about like my usual. I can't imagine finishing a pair in a day or two. I love that Dale took time to edit the junk mail...perhaps you should mail it back to Sears! (Recycling, you know.)
Posted by: Leslie at March 30, 2007 7:23 PM
I know you ACW types, bunch of trouble makers... I know your types ;)
You know the peeing outside, almost seems plausable.
BUT, the using a shingle as kindiling??!! And littering. Nope. I totally can't see that.
&
I'll send you some pink and grey crayons so you can edit your copy of spin to knit, so I actually look like me. :)
Posted by: pippi at March 31, 2007 8:00 AM
that last item . . . .is that property owner from another planet?? why wait all year to mention these grievances?
Posted by: anne at March 31, 2007 8:45 AM
What a fabulous prize package, you lucky gal!!
Posted by: Kim at March 31, 2007 11:03 AM
I, too, play Godspell for Easter; one of my favourite musicals. I took my 16 yr old to see it recently and he loved it, too.
Socks in 36 hours! That's impressive.
Li
Posted by: Li_B at March 31, 2007 11:41 AM
Gosh, you get tons of comments so I'll make this short. I love your blog. Well, a little longer than that. What colorway are those socks-they are sooo yummy!
Posted by: Kimberly at April 2, 2007 4:14 AM











