I live on a farm ... — family

The first two squares for the Gracious Parcels 2006 project were hand-delivered to me last night by my husband. Winnie of The Buttons (my new nick name for her) made two in a pretty rust color. Winnie is moving away to be closer to her daughters in a couple of weeks, and yet she took the time to knit two squares ... what a sweet and dear woman she is. Several fellow bloggers have mentioned and linked to Gracious Parcels on their websites, and to each of you ... thank you so much. The help is very appreciated. This morning...

We had a quiet and relaxing weekend on the farm with cold rainy weather. It was a good weekend to take it easy and do a bit of Christmas gift knitting while enjoying sofa-company with my husband. Saturday afternoon even included a nice long cozy nap together on our reclining sofa ... as I have pointed out before I do love an occasional nap. I knit another pair of Knitty.com's "Fetching" fingerless gloves this weekend, this time for my niece as a Christmas gift. I used a few of the sweet little buttons given to me by Winnie (the woman...

I haven't made biscuits in a while; they are delicious and beautiful but they can be fattening if enjoyed too often. This morning I made a batch for you ... I wanted you to see the Biscuit Blanket I knitted this week stuffed with biscuits and I wanted to test the blanket to see just how warm it kept my biscuits and for how long. The pattern for the Biscuit Blanket is now posted ... have some fun with it! Much to my delight this batch of biscuits came out the fluffiest of any I have made in a long...

It is drizzling rain outside, but not very cold. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees, leaving much more of the river visible than on previous days. Fog mist lifts up from the river because the river water is warmer than the air ... very different from the ocean fogs that blanket Los Angeles and push along through canyons and valleys in a mad rush some mornings. Thick foggy mornings observed from my hillside home in the foothills north of Los Angeles are something I do miss from my time there. The wet sound of cars as they...

One of my favorite movies is Young Frankenstein by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks; we watched it on Halloween evening cuddling on the sofa enjoying popcorn and hot mulled cider. For me one of the funniest scenes is when Gene Wilder's Dr. Frankenstein character is grilling Marty Feldman's Igor about the brain he had fetched from the "Brand Depository" for the monster. Igor had previously dropped and smashed the correct, smart guy brain and had to grab one labelled "Abnormal" as a replacement. He told Dr. Frankenstein the replacement brain was from an "Abbey something". When quizzed further he said,...