11:39pm: link to video of my daughter's performance in the school musical!
http://gardengirl6.blogspot.com/2012/

Sorry for the amateurish video - but I am not a professional by any means.

Amanda, 12, had the lead role in the school production of "Harriet the Spy." That girl of mine can carry a tune like mad!

9:44pm: It's spring! It's spring!
I heard the peepers tonight - spring is HERE!

So this is very exciting. It's also a bit disturbing, since I shouldn't be hearing the peepers for at least three more weeks....

12:27pm: how the HECK did the timpani get there??

8:05am: an interesting essay on why (some) Americans insist there is no Climate Change
"The American 'allergy' to Global Warming"

"But the headline on the 1975 report was bold: "Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?" And this article that coined the term may have marked the last time a mention of "global warming" didn't set off an instant outcry of angry denial.

In the paper, Columbia University geoscientist Wally Broecker calculated how much carbon dioxide would accumulate in the atmosphere in the coming 35 years, and how temperatures consequently would rise. His numbers have proven almost dead-on correct. Meanwhile, other powerful evidence poured in over those decades, showing the "greenhouse effect" is real and is happening. And yet resistance to the idea among many in the U.S. appears to have hardened."


I don't understand why people insist on acting like ostriches. Heads in the sand doesn't work for them, and it doesn't work for us, either. Plus, it makes us look silly. And everyone's backside looks fat in a posture like that.

9:14pm: Say what? Who's that? It's Ron Paul, stupid, and I for one am listening!
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8:57am: can we shift this line just a bit?
Just a little bit to the north, please? I don't mind rain - it'll melt down the huge, dirty snowbanks. But I really don't need more snow.

K? Thnxbai.

9:24pm: enough! genug! basta!
From wwlp.com:

Snowfall so far this season & records:

November: 0.2"
December: 6.7"
January: 40.5" - A new record!!
Total: 47.4"

Seasonal Average (Dec, Jan, Feb): 36.4"

Yearly average: 49.4"

Monthly record: 48.0" (March, 1956)

Seasonal record: 107.7" (1996)

and 12-24" forecast for Tuesday through Wednesday night.

*whimpers*

1:18pm: Snow like we mean it
20" as of noon. That's a true New England snowfall - and I haven't seen one for way too long. Who needs an elliptical trainer when there's that much snow to slog through to feed and water the animals?

Ok, tried to link images here, and they came out huge. If you want to see pix, try my blog: blessedacre.blogspot.com/2011/01/snow-like-we-mean-it.html

Stay warm and dry, folks!

Oh - got two more mice overnight.

8:12am: Excellent blog post on local food traditions by my friend Sharon
scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2011/01/on_being_made_ashamed_of_susta.php

Read! Think! Learn!

3:19pm: a buncha books that need new homes
First come, first served. If you're local, come get 'em. If you're not, I'll need a mailing address.

Ludlum, Robert. Trevayne. Paperback
Cooper, Jill, and Tawra Kellam. Dig out of Debt. Oversize paperback
Duffy, Cathy. 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. Paperback
Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. Hardcover
Taylor, Michael. Encyclopedia of Modern Military Aircraft. Oversize hardcover
The United States: A History of the Republic. Teacher's Edition. Textbook size hardcover
Lyon, Rowen, Hamerow: A History of the Western World. Hardcover
The Story of Christmas. Boxed set of three children's books
Bountiful Blessings for busy women - finding joy and inspiration during the holidays. Softcover
God's Little Instruction Book for Women. Small paperback
Tileston, Mary. Daily Strength for Daily Needs. Paperback
The Upper Room. Disciplines: A book of daily devotions 2009. Paperback
Cooper, Jill. Penny Pinchin' Mama: 500 ways I lived on $500 a month. Paperback
Cookbook - Spring Street Preschool family and friends cookbook - 2005-2006. Four copies. Spiral bound
Weil, Andrew. Healthy Child, Whole Child. Hardcover
Tyson, Eric. Mutual Funds for Dummies. Paperback
Tyson, Eric. Personal Finance for Dummies. Paperback

11:03am: They say it's your birthday!
Happiest of birthdays, karelia !!! May the coming year be rich in joy, blessings, and abundant good health. And wool. And cheese. And good friends!

9:10am: If I were ever possessed to knit the all-but-impossible, I'd make these: www.sanguinegryphon.com/catalog/index.php

Socks with the text of Beowulf knitted into them - but would I ever dare wear them? What if I wore a hole in the heel? I think I'd have to commit hari kari or something.

This, by the way, is me hoping to post regularly this year... we'll see how it goes, ok?

5:41pm: Knitting meme
Courtesy of fitzw :

Bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies ...
knitting socks -- or other small tubular items -- on two circulars
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit (snort!)
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Ok, some of these, I don't even know what they are. Thrummed? Tubular? (does that mean in the round?) Freeform? What's a KAL, anyway? And who's Kitchener, and why does he have BO?

8:32pm: Good Friday prayer vigil
Hey everyone - I'll be sitting an hour of Good Friday prayer vigil tomorrow, and am asking if anyone has any needs they would like prayed over. I will keep all requests completely confidential, of course. If you would allow me to serve you and yours in this way, please contact me privately: gardengirlgarden@yahoo.com. I would be honored to lift up the needs of all of my brothers and sisters regardless of their faith.

5:19pm: Resolutions from which we could all benefit

10:33pm: Writer's Block: Under Protest
I boycott Domino's Pizza, ever since I learned that the founder donated money to groups that would try to prevent women having access to reproductive information and options.

9:02pm: Me! On You Tube! (well, *in* the video, anyway)
This is from Hampshire Choral Society's fall concert. I am in the very back row, right in front of the white stripe. You can see me singing several times starting at the 2:55 mark. Jenn, the soloist, has the most GORGEOUS voice, doesn't she?

Hampshire Choral Society - Mozart Solemn Vespers - Laudate Dominum - "The Hampshire Choral Society of Western MA, conducted by Allan Taylor, performs Mozart's Laudate Dominum from the Solemn Vespers, K339. Featuring Jennifer Tyo, soprano. Recorded at Abbey Chapel, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, November 18, 2008"

9:22pm:

Your result for The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?)...

The Rarity (QTAF)

Quirky Traditional Alpha Female

Take The Social Persona Test (What kind of man/woman are you?) at HelloQuizzy

8:16pm: I can haz bunnies!
My two Cinnamon does kindled today! Mocha had nine kits; Acorn, Mocha's daughter, had eleven kits. They're all warm and wiggly and appear to be nice and healthy! I'm so pleased.

9:13am: Rejoice! He is Risen!
Happy Easter, everyone! Rejoice, for He is Risen. Hallelujah!

3:50pm: Michael Pollan on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
This was HILARIOUS!


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102745034

10:11pm: It's spring!
At last, at long last, it's really spring. How do I know this, you wonder? I heard the peepers singing! Last night, for the first time, I heard the peepers. *sighs blissfully* I'm so glad!

I also acquired many pots of spring bulbs today from the Smith College Bulb Show. They were cheep cheep! I got grape hyacinths, full-size hyacinths (which smell better than anything else on earth, except maybe a newborn baby or chocolate), several colors and shapes of daffodils, and a bunch of tulips. The only tulips I had in my landscape were from Easters past, when I'd order tulips for the sanctuary at church and would bring them home and plant them afterward. These tulips I got today are stunning - pinks, yellows, yellow and pinks, purple and white, lavender... amazing. Now as soon as I get the drainage trench dug, done, and the yard put back together, I can plant these. I'll be removing an azalea, a rhododendron, a couple of pierus japonicus (sp?) and several boxwoods. Anybody local want them?

Also looking forward to, in no particular order, planting more raspberry canes, putting in four more apple trees and two more peach trees, replacing the above-mentioned foundation plants with blueberry bushes, two litters of baby bunnies due on/about 25 April, and ordering two dozen chicks.

8:54am: an "interesting" look inside the School Lunch program

7:39pm: a fantastic explanation, in entertaining cartoon form, of why and how the fertilizer is in the fan

8:28pm: egads, another birthday!
Happiest of birthdays to a_bees_buzz ! May this year find you in excellent health and enjoying unexpected delights.