A woolly christmas to you all

Merry Christmas. It has been a day full of pies, luminarios, family, and presents. My mom has been knitting me a pair of socks for Christmas for several years now. And then I go and walk holes in them. This year I was cutting it close, I only have one pair of homemade socks left, and they are on their last leg (or foot, as it were). This Christmas was special because I am finally at the point where I can knit a pair of socks for my mom as well. Here are our feet thoroughly enjoying the new wool!



Socks are a wonderful gift. They are practical, they are fun to make (at least the first on is...), and as Stephanie McPhee (aka the Yarn Harlot) says, they are the ultimate expression of love. There is a lot of design that goes into knitting a seamless sock, getting just the right number of stitches, the heel flap, the heel, picking up stitches for the gusset, the long time it takes to get to the toe. And then you have to do it all over again (although mine don't usually match, on purpose). To quote the Yarn Harlot:

The knitter then gives the finished socks to a worthy recipient, who will, the first time that he or she puts them on, undergo a transformation, a moment of sacred joy, swearing off machine-made socks forever. And then--in a celebration of the knitter's art, a festivity of yarn, a homage to knitting in the round and needleworkers everywhere--the recipient will walk big honkin' holes in them.

That's love. That's why socks are special.

Winter harvest and back to the southwest.

Before leaving for three weeks, I decided to harvest the herbs I could, assuming that they would most likely not survive the break. Perhaps they are magical plants, with camel-like super powers to store water, but I'm not taking my chances. I think we'll have enough dried basil, cilantro, dill, and mint to last us for quite a while. Here's some pictures from the harvest:

Basil at it's wildest.

Mr. Mint needs a haircut.

I learned this on the internet. You cut the stalks then bundle them and hang them upside down in dark, warm space.

My dark, warm space is inside a paper grocery back placed next to the heater. I'll let you know how it works...

And now I am back in the Southwest, not under 2 feet of snow, and enjoying the sun and 60 degrees. Oh, and it stays light here till past 5:30! Oh, and my parents took me out for green chile enchiladas straight from the airport. Such amazing people! It's good to be home.

From The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

It was then that the fox appeared.
"Good morning," said the fox.
"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.
"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."
"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."
"I am a fox," the fox said.
"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."
"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."
"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince.
But after some thought, he added:
"What does that mean--'tame'?"...
..."It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."
" 'To establish ties'?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."
"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince...
..."My life is very monotonous," he said. " I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all them men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."
The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.
"Please--tame me!" he said...
...So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"Then it has done you no good at all!"
"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields."...
..."Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."...
..."Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for whatever you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."



And that, my friends, is love.

Free Rice

If you haven't seen this yet, check it out. It's kind of addictive. www.freerice.com

snow day.

SNOW DAY!!!! WOOOHOOO!


After finding out that the schools are closed and thus I did not have to go into work at 6:00 this morning, I promptly fell back asleep. Waking up at a much more reasonable hour, I knit for a few hours this morning while my roommate made scones, then we went out to play. We gave birth to Gertrude the Snowwoman, several snow angels, and an almost completed igloo. Some kids even came by to help us with the igloo, yea outreach! I feel like a six year old who spent all day playing with friends. It's wonderful...get outside and play if you haven't in a while!

Here's some pictures:








Now I'm cuddled down with a snack to write a lesson plan for tomorrow. This evening I'm going to go see John McCain speak in Manchester and it's going to be filmed on MTV. Not a bad day!