Xtreme English Goes Knuts!!

[I had a long, interesting discussion with Cathy t'other day on whether a pun is a metaphor (she says yes; I say not really, and I do b'lieve I'm right--it's WORD PLAY). Thus, I could not resist making the pun in the title of this post--and wouldn't you know it, it appears the knitters in Dish and Wash Cloth Mania are crazy about punning!]

Anyway, the author of Xtreme English is doing her best to be relevant to her audience, which includes at least two or three very skilled knitters, weavers, and other fabric wranglers. Thus, she is adding a great, handy blog to her list of favorites: Dish and Wash Cloth Mania. The blog, discovered on Ideal Bite, Xtreme's favorite green blog (also among the favorites), is about how to knit your own dishcloths and washcloths!!. There's loads of patterns, too, but I haven't checked it all out yet.

Finally! a knitting blog even I can grasp, out of which I and others similarly disfunctional with knitting needles possibly make something!! I must say, however, that on further investigation, even this looks pretty hard (cf. the bee stitch...tsk...who thinks of these things??)

The Egg Lady as a Bonny Young Lass....

After supper (or was it before breakfast? both times, it was always cold and dark!!), Peggy would disappear out the back door and return with her hands frozen but filled with eggs from her chickens. I don't know how many she had during the winter, but it was fewer than in the summer months, right? She just kept a few to lay eggs for the household. They were the very best eggs I've ever had.

I don't remember that Phoebe and Alice laid one egg in their tenure at the log house, do you, Peg? They were too busy running from Snowball by day and the owls by night.

The Egg Lady's blog is featuring (after the lovely shot of the loo with spider) her current crop of hens these days, and it reminded me of this picture.

Happy Birthday, Sally!

Sally was delivered on this day in Bismarck, ND, by a thoracic surgeon (in the absence of our family doctor, who had slipped out for supper). It was his first delivery since medical school, and there was much laughing, "way to go!"-ing, and back patting by the nurses. Nobody told little Sally, awake and sucking her fingers, that the excitement wasn't just for her. She has had a sunny outlook ever since. Happy birthday, sweetheart!

WDC Peace March 9/15/07--part 4 (photos)

"Make levees, not war"

"Kuchinich 2008"--little sign, great big guy

"Fake President, Fake Airman, Fake Cowboy, Fake Christian, Fake...Fake...Fake..."

"Oh, nooooo...Bush Again"

WDC Peace March 9/15/07--part 3

Before anyone complains about the execution here, they should go take a look at early Mickey Mouse cartoons or early "Peanuts" strips. Xtreme English promises to do better with the text...just slow down a little so she gets it right the first time. Katie has always been excellent at printing by hand, and Sally has always been a great cartoonist, and Peggy can write circles around all of us, although Tom is the best writer of all. He just lost his crayon when he joined the Navy during the first Gulf War. His teachers used to give him "C's" on his compositions, then they'd cross that out and give him an "A." In third grade, a teacher took a look at my drawing, dug her fingernails into my shoulder, and hissed, "There's NO SUCH THING AS A PURPLE CAT!!!" Creepy old trout. In art, what counts, what's fun, what's most rewarding is just DOING IT! So go draw something!!

WDC Peace March 9/15/07--part 2

WDC Peace March photos, 9/15/07--part 1

"another pissed-off redhead for peace" (relative of ex-Shammy?)
Drummers greeting arriving marchers

The crowd begins to assemble

here comes code pink!

One more, then back to hiatus

When I took the photo of Tom in his Navy uniform out of the frame to scan it, one of my missing treasures appeared: a photograph of the baseball team from St. Thomas parish in Ann Arbor, MI, and a visiting team from China.

My grandpa, John William Dwyer, was coach of St Thomas, and the two handsome guys still wholly visible on the right side of the top row are my Uncle Edgar (no cap) and my dad, Francis Thomas Dwyer. (Tom the birthday boy, Thomas Murray Carew, in the post just before this was named for my dad and his other grandfather, James Murray Carew.)

It's impossible to read the typeset words under the photo, but I've got my magnifying glass out, and it reads:

"St. Thomas and Chinese University teams.
Standing: J.W. Dwyer, Esq., Leo Ritz, Charlie Baribeau, Harry Gillen (?), George Kratzmiller (?), Everett Given, Edgar Dwyer, Francis Dwyer, and (partially hidden)
Jack Walsh,
Seated: Chinese University ball team."

Where the Chinese University was, and why their baseball team was in Ann Arbor, are mysteries that I hope other family members (attention Susan!) can help solve. The year was probably sometime around 1910, which would make my dad about 16. My brother Paul sent me this photocopy about 1996-1998, while I was in NYC. At least, I think that's when he sent it.