Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Blogger Guilt....

I am a Bad Blogger lately. But it has been really hard to get good blocks of time to sit down and do it. Also, much of the knitting I have been doing is for other people and I kinda don't want to ruin any surprises by posting pictures here. So what can I talk about? I work. I clean the house. I drive a lot. I knit when I can. I read very little. I take the cat to the vet (long story, see below). So all I really have for you here are some idle thoughts.

The Soundtrack of My Life
Lately, all I seem to hear is one of the following:
The High School Musical 3 Soundtrack, which CatGirl has memorized since it is on constant play in her room.




She knows all the parts, and sings them all. She prefers Sharpay, of course.













Or Viva La Vida, the latest Coldplay cd...

Rich and I went to see them in concert for my birthday, and they were tremendous. But who knew that Mathboy and his friends would become Coldplay obsessed? His birthday sleepover was quite a sight: they played board games, video games, and PC games, with this cd playing constantly in the background, and all boys sang along. Wish I had video'ed it. It was kinda weird.








Or the sounds of the creatures of Spore....


...the new PC game we got CatGirl for her birthday, and which has become one of Mathboy's new obsessions (along with Coldplay).

What else can I show you? Oh, here's something:

Amanda Hat 1
A hat for Catgirl. Isn't it adorable? She's pretty cute, too.

And look:
DSCN0576
Here's Rudolph pretending not to notice the flock of wild turkeys walking through the yard behind him. Unfortunately for Rudolph, he did notice, and it was either that night or a few nights later that we believe he had a close encounter with one of them. He has a severe injury to his left eye, and the jury is still out on whether he will be able to use that eye in the future. Did you know that there are Pet Opthalmologists? Well, there are. And they are not cheap.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

What a Busy Month!

I am not quite sure how October has ended up becoming the busiest month of the year, but, every year, without fail, this is what happens for us. And we are not alone--lots of friends are saying the same. You would think it would be September, since that's the month that school starts. But it seems like the busy-ness of school time needs a little time to get up to full speed, and it really hits max speed in October. Of course, we often make it worse by going away in October, which is what happened this year.

We went to the mountains of Virginia to hike and camp and stay at Big Meadows Lodge on Skyline Drive the weekend of October 3. We had a wonderful time, although I did discover the hard way that walking around your neighborhood 3 times or so a week was completely inadequate training for the trails we picked out. Here are just a couple pictures:

DSCN0548
DSCN0520
DSCN0481
DSCN0486

The night we camped out, of course, it was FREEZING. The fire was pretty, and good for making hot chocolate, but not much good in actually keeping us warm. By 9 pm, we had to get in our sleeping bags in the tent just to warm up. But we were lucky enough to hear the Phillies win on the radio--on the Philadelphia sports station! Awesome radio reception is, I guess, one of the benefits to being on top of a mountain.

When we got back, it was time to get ready for Cat Girl's birthday. She got some great gifts, including some new clothes for Nicki.
DSCN0558_edited
Her party is scheduled for this upcoming weekend. I would appreciate prayers: I am taking 7 girls to see "High School Musical 3," and they are sleeping over. Help!

Knitting time has been at a premium lately, because of other commitments. But I have gotten some gifts done for people, which I can't show here. I also started a Woodland Shawl for myself:
Woodland Shawl, in progress
I am using Rio de la Plata yarn in the Crimson Green colorway. I am not sure I love this project, but I will keep at it. It's a lot narrower than I wanted it to be, and the yarn is kind of stripey. It could improve greatly on blocking, though, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I also made a quick improvised Edgar scarf for Cat Girl, and it is very cool:
Edgar scarf
The yarn is very soft, and the colors are so pretty. It's Sheep Feet, from the Sheep Shop Yarn Company. Very nice. I don't have a finished picture yet, unfortunately. I want CatGirl to model it for me. I am also about halfway through a hat for MathBoy, but have no picture.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Quick Update

On Thursday, we are off to Skyline Drive, in the mountains of Virginia, for a long weekend. But before we go, I thought I would leave you with the following:

Braces and a Pig
Girl with Pig and Braces. She smiles more now that she has braces than she did before. Hmm.

Chemo Comfort Shawl all done
The Chemo Comfort Shawl, all done and awkwardly posed on an ugly office chair.

Hanging Hand Towel
My first project from the new Mason Dixon Knitting Book, which I received last week. I actually won this book in a contest that Kay and Ann had on their blog over the summer, and it was so exciting to get it in the mail last week on the day it was published. The book is really wonderful--even better than their first book, I think. There are so many projects in there that I want to do, but I started with this one. I plan to make several more of these, in classier colors (i.e., solids) and preferably without the gajillion mistakes.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Another Turkey of a Blog Entry.

It's not every day that I get blog fodder as downright cool as finding a frog on the commode. But that is what I had last time, and I BLEW my chance. I've never read a duller blog entry than my last one. Thank goodness I had a cute frog picture to make it worth a reader's while. Oh well. I am very sorry, and will endeavor to do better this time, even though I do not have the benefit of frogs to help me out. I'll see what I can do.

Unfortunately, this week's material is kinda, umm, boring. This is what I've got, people:

Braces. Cat Crazy Girl got a partial set of braces this month, and is SO excited. I know Rich and I were not this jazzed when we got our braces as kids (possible understatement of the day there), so we are a little confused. But we're glad she has such a good attitude about the whole thing. Bad mom that I am, I have no picture of the braces yet. I will post one when I have it. The plan for Cat Girl is to have the partials on for a few months to take care of the canine tooth she has that came in completely sideways, and to help straighten the front teeth that are all catty-wampus (how do you spell that?). That should only take a few months. Then she'll wear a retainer until all her grown up teeth come in and get a full set of braces to deal with a minor overbite.

Mathboy's program is a little more complicated, because apparently he has a ridiculously huge overbite. He has to start with an appliance to help move his lower jaw forward; after a few months with that, the ortho plans to put on a full set of braces.

Fun times. I had to make the deposit this month for both kids. I kinda saw stars when writing the check.

Working! I am working part-time now for a matrimonial lawyer in Philadelphia. In fact, I already got paid for my first 3 days of work, which was nice! Another check like that, and I've got the downpayment for the braces for both kids. Woohoo! My new boss is actually one of my old bosses--I worked for her in 1994, between my stints for the Judge. She was tough back then, and, from what I've seen so far, she's tough now. I hope it works out.

Are you bored yet? How about some pictures of FO's to brighten things up?

Knitting: I finished Hey Teach and I LOVE it. I've already worn it, like, 3 times? No, I think 4 times. I even wore it to the office. Why not? I'm not going to court. Hey Lawyer?
Hey Teach! is done!
To recap, this was done in a cotton/silk blend that I have had hanging around in my stash for a couple of years. It is perfect for the weather we have been getting lately and I am very happy with it.

After all that cotton, and the seaming, and the buttons ... I felt a strong need to knit something small, with no seams, and that used wool. Socks, right? No! I still can't bear the thought of socks yet; it's too close to the Summer of Socks. I'm not ready. So...
Column of Leaves HatNautilus Hat
I made hats. The left hat is Brooke's Column of Leaves Hat. A nice pattern, but completely obliterated by the busy yarn. The hat of the right is Nautilus Hat, a very cool pattern that you knit from the top of the hat down. This was a much better pattern for this yarn, as the stockinette and the eyelets are simple enough to compliment the yarn colorway. The yarn, by the way is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Peru in the Philosopher's Stone colorway (which has been discontinued). Some of you may be getting these for Christmas, so please forget you saw them. Move along.

A Shawl for a Friend. The Blanches are having a celebration for one of their members, and suggested that folks might want to send a scarf or hat or earrings--something to complement her "new look" after chemo. (The Blanches are so great.) So, being the weird knitter friend on the fringe of the group, I decided that I needed to make her a shawl. This lady is terrific, and deserves every prayer and good intention that can be sent her way. I want to make her a scarf that will be beautiful, soft and luxurious, and into which I can knit my best prayers and wishes for her recovery. And I want to be able to do this in 2 weeks, although 10 days would be better. Yikes! I started Friday night.

I think I found a great pattern: the Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl. It's very pretty, it's not huge, and the repeats are short and easy so I can work fast. The recipient can throw it around her shoulders for a little comfort, without having to deal with a full size shawl. But deciding on a yarn was a little harder.

My first try was with some Fleece Artist 2/6 I had.
Forest Canopy Take 1
The colors were beautiful, but I wanted the end result to feel luxurious and soft and comforting, and this was not. So I tried again:
Forest Canopy, take 2
This yarn was suggested by the ladies at Woolbearers. Made with Merino and Cashmere, it does feel soft and luxurious, but the color choices offered were rather boring. This looked okay in the store, but knitted up it just looks drab. So I went stash-diving again, and found this:
Forest Canopy Shawl for Laine
Laine's shawl, Take 3, with Handmaiden Mini Maiden silk and wool in "Midnight." It is beautiful and soft and luxurious. I would have preferred a cheerier colorway, but it is lovely. I am cruising along on it--it does go fast.

Other Interesting Items: So Mathboy and I got home from school last week, looked out the back window and saw ...
Wild Turkeys zoom
A whole family of wild turkeys, just wandering through. This is suburban New Jersey, not the wilderness. What up with all this? We've got a family of deer treating my tomato and green bean plants and my hydrangea as a buffet, frogs in the bathroom, and wild turkeys wandering through the backyard. Hunh.

And why is it that when I make tomato sauce and tomato soup with the fresh tomatoes from my garden and from our CSA share I get this color?
Tomato Soup
This soup is orange, people, not red. It tastes great, but the kids are very suspicious since the color is not exactly the same as Ragu or Campbell's, ya know?

Well, that's all I've got for now. Happy Fall!

Thursday, September 04, 2008

In which we get a Froggy Visitor

This morning, Rich was in the bathroom when my alarm went off so I went downstairs to use the powder room. I was still a little fuzzy in my head so I did not even jump when I saw this little visitor sitting on the back of the toilet looking up at me.
Froggy visitor on dishcloth
Kinda cute, isn't he? (or she?) I kept him in a bowl until the kids woke up, then we set him free. We hope he can stay clear of the Rudolph. We hear frog tastes like chicken. Rudolph does like chicken. C. says we are going to miss him. I'm trying not to think about how he ended up in the powder room. I'd rather frogs than bugs.

The wedding was fun. The kids enjoyed seeing their cousins. We got some hiking in and saw some pretty views.
View from Mt. Battie
Good Pic!
The annoying thing was that we did not get Maine weather while we were in Maine. We got New Jersey weather in Maine. It was supposed to be in the 70s while we were there, but instead it was close to 90. Meanwhile, friends back home reported that it was in the 70s in New Jersey. HUNH?!

I did not finish any more socks for the Summer of Socks. I got through one sock of the Cross Hatch Lace socks, but then totally lost my sock mojo.
DSCN0437_edited
See? One sock down and half a foot on the second, but I am out of gas. I need a break from socks. So...

I made 2 squares for the afghan:
DSCN0436 GAA Square #7

I started the Lace Ribbon Scarf, which will be a Christmas gift for someone.
Lace Ribbon Scarf
It is SO pretty. The camera just can't do this pattern or this yarn justice. I am using the Kraemer Silk & Silver yarn again (just like the stuff I used for my Clapotis this spring, but this time in Navy), hand-dyed at Woolbearers. I heart this yarn. Love, love.

Hey Teach
I am working on Hey Teach! in Fable cotton/silk. This is yarn that I have had for a while. I bought it a couple of years ago with the intention of making a summer top or a shell, but it was hard to find something I liked and for which I had enough of this yarn. I liked this pattern so much when I saw it; I do hope the FO looks as good as I hope! The funny thing is that tons of people are making this pattern now because the Yarn Harlot is making it--and hers looks great, btw. Anyway, it is a fast knit. I just started it last week, and already I have one front, both sleeves, and half of the second front.

I also cooked about 15 tomatoes down into this:
tomato sauce
Much sauce, now in the freezer. And I still have this bounty from this week:
Late August Bounty
I have to go now. I need to Google eggplant recipes. And maybe salsa recipes for the tomatoes and peppers? The kids are terrified.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

More Socks before Maine

Tomorrow we head up to Maine for Rich's cousin's wedding weekend, so I have a quick post with the latest sock, unbelievably finished in a mere 10 days by the grace of too much Olympic-viewing:
Spring Forward Sprung
Spring Forward, done toe-up in Woolly Boully yeah oh yeah! sock, the Fishing with my Father colorway. The pattern and sock color are hard to photograph: the camera just can't show how loud this color is, and you just can't see the complicated pattern (because the yarn is so loud). I have to admit that the color grew on me as I was knitting. Actually, my appreciation of the yarn was no doubt helped along by how really pleasant it was to work with. Very nice yarn. The pattern was OK--not too hard once you got used to it.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Lean Mean Sock Machine

First things first: No, I have not heard back after my interview. Yes, it's been about 2 weeks. New resumes are on the way out, but I am disappointed the guy did not call me back. He seemed really interested and it would have been the perfect job, I think. Rats.

I am slogging through the Summer of Socks, and being more sock-productive than ever before. This winter, I can wear handknit socks every day, I swear. I may foist some off on others, as well. Share the hand-knitted goodness, right? Here's the latest:

I finished the Fern Leaf Lace socks (although I recently discovered this stitch is actually called "Baby Fern," but who cares).
Fern Leaf Lace Socks
These are done with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport and I LOVE THEM. I am KEEPING these, for sure. This yarn is so soft and was a JOY to knit with. It also is so pretty IRL--it seems a little drab in photos, I think, but in reality is gorgeous. Am I shouting too much? Sorry!

After those were done, I worked on the Seaweed Socks, in the Tofutsies yarn. As much as I loved the LL Sport? Yeah, that's how much I hated the Tofutsies yarn. The pattern, however, was great. Although it is pretty much lost in the busy colors of the yarn, it worked out well. In fact, I really think my enjoyment of the pattern was all that kept me going on these socks. The lace stitch has a short repeat--eight rows, I think? It was so tantalizing and really kept me engaged. "Oh, look," I would say to myself when the yarn was getting especially annoying, "Only two more rows and that's another repeat done. Only three more repeats and I can start the heel. Only two more repeats and the darn things is done. Woo hoo!" And lookie here:
Tofutsies Socks
All done! These were done on a size 0 needles (ouch!), and I made them with a short leg because I could not wait for them to be done. Then I had a little ceremony and threw the leftover yarn in the kitchen garbage with the coffee grounds and shredded zucchini ... Yuck. There may have been some evil laughter. Dr. Horrible laughter. Goodbye Tofutsies, and good riddance! But, on the good side, I am very pleased with the socks themselves.

And ta da! I just finished these:
Boyfriend socks finished
These are Boyfriend Socks, which oddly enough I ended up making for Mathboy. The yarn is by Spindle City Yarns in the Camouflage colorway. This yarn was great--it was very, very nice to use, and I can't believe how much yarn there was in this skein. I could have made socks for boat-sized feet with this skein.

So now I have to work on the Coupling Socks, but am finding that pattern really hard to memorize. Must. Concentrate. And I started a new sport-weight sock, because you just gotta love those quickies sometimes:
Lattice Lace Socks
This is going to be another one of those mishmash socks, where I cram a lot of other folks' techniques into one sock. The stitch pattern is Cross Hatch Lace from More Sensational Knitted Socks, and I think I've kinda got it memorized--row 5 is the only tricky one for me. I'm using the Zen String Lotus Toes Sport in Boreal, and size 2 (2.75mm) needles.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Lazy Days of Summer

The camps have ended and the kids are sleeping in. They actually were looking forward to a week with no obligations, and they have advised me that it is my job this week to take them to the pool as much as possible. They want to see their friends and they want to stay in their PJs as much as possible as well. So, I'm wondering, the ideal week would be one in which they could meet their friends at the pool and swim in their PJs? I dunno. We'll see what we can do, I told them.

The play for Catgirl's drama camp was adorable. When we come to the big family wedding in a couple of weeks, we will bring much video for everyone's viewing pleasure: we have the play and the 95 degree piano recital from June.

New socks!
I'm working on these for this week's deadline in the Summer of Socks:
Fern Leaf Lace Sock #1
This is the first sock; the second is almost done as well. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in the Baltic Sea colorway, and it is wonderful to knit. It is very soft and the colors are gorgeous. I don't know how well the yarn will hold up over time, but right now I am in love with these socks. I used the Fern Leaf Lace stitch from More Sensational Knitted Socks, and the sportweight heel from Wendy's standard recipe.

In other sock news, I finished the first and am chugging along on the second Boyfriend Sock. It looks great, but the dark color of the yarn and the small needles make it a little less attractive to work on at times. I did forsake it for a while, turning to the Fern Leaf Lace socks, but I do want to finish it soon. I ripped out the Lotus Toes toe. Couldn't make it work for anything. I'll try again later. The Seaweed socks are proceeding very slowly because the yarn is really not my cup of tea.

The Jungle
The garden has reached that point in the summer where it would be more accurately described as a vegetable jungle.
Garden in JulyTomato bonanza!
The tomato plants have gone crazy and the zucchini plants churning out a zucchini every day. Even the broccoli plants still are giving me little florets here and there. I need to rip them out, but the guinea pig is enjoying their continued production for the time being. I planted bush beans, but the same varmint that ate all my chard in the spring is eating the bean leaves. As in the spring, said varmint is eating only that one thing and nothing else. Why?!

"Put on the Murder, Mom."
I downloaded the audiobook version of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express to listen to in the car with the kids and they are really into it. They make me pause the playback every few minutes so they can update me on how their theories have changed in light of the new evidence Poirot has obtained. It's a lot of fun. It's interesting for me, already knowing the ending, in that I am hearing a lot more real clues early on in the book than I remember noticing when I read it all those years ago. I loved Agatha Christie books when I was younger, but I became angry with her at times because it seemed like there was no way that readers could solve her mysteries. We just did not have all the onformation that Hercule Poirot had--at least until he would hold his big "this is how it all happened" conference at the end of the book. But I must admit, there are a few little tidbits of information dropped early on in this book, if you know what you are looking for.

I just found out that I was one of the winners in a contest on the Mason Dixon Knitting blog--I'm going to get a signed copy of their new book when it comes out in September! I am very excited; I loved their first book. And I won something! Woohoo! Ok, gushing over. :o)

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Random Summer Thoughts

Putting the "Sport" in Sport Utility Vehicle.
I wanted to show you a picture of the back of my car, but I keep forgetting to take one. You'll have to imagine it. On any typical day, we are carrying supplies for softball, tennis, karate, golf and possibly swimming. It's crazy, I tell you.

The Summer of Socks
So far, I have completed 2 pairs of socks in the past 4 weeks, which is pretty darn amazing for me. Here they are:

Basic 2x2 rib socks in Apple Laine's Apple Pie yarn, Blue Bayou colorway:
Still life with socks and cat
Aren't they pretty? They are sooooo soft. Wow. And here are my Peace socks by Wendyknits, done in Schaefer Lola:
Lola Peace Socks finis
These were done in thicker yarn on a bigger needle so they flew by.

I am cruising along on the first sock of a 3rd pair:
Boyfriend sock #1
Boyfriend Socks in Spindle City Yarns' Camouflage colorway. This is truly yummy yarn, by the way--very soft and lots of sproing! I love it. I started these for Rich, but the spiraling of the colors is a little less subtle than I think he would appreciate, so these are going to go to Mathboy instead. The benefit of knitting for Mathboy is that his feet are nearly the same size as mine, so I can use my feet for measuring. Plus Mathboy has been clamoring for more socks. Rich? Not so much.

I also had a Moment of Craziness the other day and cast on 2 more toes. I was looking through the yarns I have had hanging around for a while and I guess the yarn fumes took over. Before I knew what was happening, I had 2 toes: one in Tofutsies on size 0 needles and one in Zen String Lotus Toes Sport in Boreal, on size 1 (2.5mm). The problem was figuring out what to do with these toes. I tried a few different patterns, but the size did not look right, even though the gauge was supposedly correct, so they have both been ripped back to the toes a couple of times. Currently, I am trying Wendy's Seaweed Socks for the Tofutsies and Coupling from Knitty for the Lotus Toes Sport (which is pretty light to be labeled "sportweight," IMO, but I don't mind). This is how they look now:

My Lotus Toe:
Lotus Toe

And my Seaweed half-foot:
Seaweed Sock #1

Summer Camps
Silly Hat Day at camp
(Silly Hat Day). Catgirl is having the Best Time Ever at her Drama Camp, even though her group made some weird choices for their skit for the end of year show--choices she and her friend don't like. Apparently, the group has voted for a story about people who don't like waffles, and wanted the set to represent "Waffleworld." Catgirl's suggestions were rejected by the group, even though the teacher apparently liked them and supported her. Oh well. Sometimes democracy stinks. She's still enjoying it, though, thank goodness.

Mathboy is doing a half-day golf camp this week (hence the bag of clubs hogging the back of my car, see above), and really enjoying it. Next week, he has full day camp at the Y, which will include golf as well. I wish I hadn't signed him up for that, though; I think he would have been fine with another week of this half-day camp at Ramblewood. Oh well. Sometimes moms make mistakes. And, who knows? Maybe next week's camp will be great and we will be happy he did it. We'll have to wait and see.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Adamas, he is done.

The last couple of repeats seemed to take forever. There were over 400 stitches on the needles by the time I was casting off. Finally, it is done. I give you ADAMAS:
adamas porch
Adamas slouching on the porch railing.
adamas chair
Adamas relaxing in the chair. All he needs is a mint julep, don't you think? (This was a tricky shot, by the way. Wicker and lace are not really the best of friends, if you know what I mean.)

It was hard to photograph this shawl. So much of our furniture inside and out on the patio is dark-colored, so the shawl did not show up against it. I had to take it to the porch instead. The color of this yarn is more interesting in real life: it just looks like a flat purple in these pictures, but in reality it's got some heathery-ness.

So now I can say I've done laceweight yarn. Been there, done that. Not going to do it again. I can also finally say I've done a triangular shawl--this was my first. I'm not quite sure I know how to wear it, but I will give it a try. Actually, after admiring the FO, the kids asked me, "So what do you do with it?" I hemmed and hawed. Then we all played around, wrapping it around ourselves. We all agree that the over the head method of wearing it is not the most flattering. Wish I had thought to get the camera out for the modelling session we had!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Summer's here!

Summer is most definitely here. It's hot. School is out. Sports are done. We've had our big party, and it was a good one (thank goodness the forecasts of severe thunderstorms with damaging winds, etc., were wrong).

We harvested our first carrots, and boy do they look weird!
DSCN0267
DSCN0265
They taste good, though.

My summer projects are going well. Here is Adamas (am I the only one who thinks of Battlestar Galactica when I hear the name of this pattern?):
Adamas
I've done 11 out of the 14 required repeats of chart 2, then it's chart 3 and the cast off. This may sound like I am almost done, but it is deceiving since you increase the number of stitches every other row. I started with 5 stitches and now I think I have over 300. Each row takes quite a while to get through, at this point, and the last few repeats of the chart are going to take some time.

I am also working a little slowly because of this laceweight yarn. I really don't enjoy working with it. I just can't get used to how light it is. There's no weight to help me manage the tension of my stitches, and that is slowing me down. Well, I wanted to try laceweight, and now I have. Don't think I'll want to do it again. Frankly, I think this shawl would be just as nice, if not nicer, with a slightly heavier yarn. In fact, I have seen some of the Ravelers doing this shawl are using fingering weight yarn and I think the stitch definition on their projects looks great.

The Summer of Socks is underway, as well, and I have started my first pair.
Ribbed Socks
The is Apple Laine's Apple Pie yarn in the Blue Bayou colorway. I've had this yarn hanging around for almost 2 years, and I decided it finally needed to get used. It's rather light, so I wasn't able to get a good gauge with it on my usual 2.5mm no.1's, and that is why I had not used it yet. But I recently purchased a set of 2.25mm no.1s, and the yarn looks great on that size needle. I thought about doing Baudelaires but decided against that pattern because the yarn is so colorful. In addition, the mohair content of the yarn gives the knitted fabric a major halo, so a lacy or complicated pattern would be impossible to see. In the end, I decided a simple rib pattern would be best, so here it is. The fabric is incredibly soft because of the silk and the mohair in the yarn. VERY nice.

We went to the library this week and signed the kids up for the summer reading program, which was just the last little nudge CatGirl needed to start reading again (Mathboy doesn't need any help there). As Mathboy settled down with the EarthSea Cycle by Ursula LeGuin, C picked out a whole bunch of books, including--get this--a Nancy Drew. I had been recommending Nancy Drews to C for a while, but she was never interested BUT a little girl she was talking to in the Juvenile Paperback section that day told her that she had read tons of Nancy Drews and loved them. After that, C came over to me and asked which Nancy Drew I would recommend she start with, and we happily found her The Secret of the Old Clock. You know, peer pressure can be a good thing. :o) Meanwhile, I am still listening to The Pillars of the Earth, but I am ready for it to be over. I have enjoyed it very much, I just want to have something new. I am also still reading The Last Child in the Woods, and I am tired of that one as well. I think it was very interesting, but I feel like I've gotten the point and I've had enough of that.

So that's it. Summer's here!