SPRING 2009
May 23, 2009--Our first interanational contributor from Dublin, Ireland! Sláinte. . .
May 22, 2009--Sorry for the lapse in entries. What a spring--the animal shelter, school and the son in Louisiana is getting married--and guess who is having the rehearsal dinner at her home in October. . . but he's our blanket delivery man in Louisiana, so nothing is too good, right?
Also Spring means yardwork--and here's the latest episode. I began cleaning the pond a few weeks back, got some new fish, including 20 small goldfish and five Koi. All was going well until our cold spell--the fish went deeper into the pond for days and the frogs too. I watched daily for them to surface until one morning I went out and lo and behold, I saw something moving--only it wasn't Koi or frogs--a northern water snake. He had eaten all but the largest fish. Now I am trying to catch the creature who might not be a he!
Thanks for all the beautiful squares --one and all. Apparently, we have some coming from Ireland too--I can hardly wait to add countries to our stats! I will not send 13 blankets, so when I get luck number 22 I will!
April 26, 2009--Rain yesterday. . rain this A.M. but the mushroom hunters will be happy, and everything is greening up in the woods! The fish survived the winter in the pond. . . the shrubs and trees are budding, plants are growing in the greenhouse. . .and despite a great deal of "bad news" from some dear friends, I am trying to focus on the positive around me. It helps to think renewal . . .I guess late middle age has taught me to focus on the positive and not dwell on the negative. This is why this little project is so important--it shows that there are a bunch of us who think the same way, and when we get organized. . . well we're making families quite happy who lost everything and who are fighting to get some kind of normalcy back in their lives. There's been a bunch of shows recently on television about the Gulf States four years later--the narrators all speak of how surprised they are that people are still in trailers. But they are. . . We had a cab driver in Las Vegas at the Animal Expo Conference who was from New Orleans--had moved there following Katrina. He'll never return, but he has family there and friends who, yes, are still in trailers. Makes it so real to hear this firsthand, you know?
P.S Thanks to Ann from OREGON! The squares arrived!
APRIL 21, 2009--She's back. . . . what a month. Yes the blankets are coming in, but I need to piece together more as we've gone through the 30 or so I pieced together after the holidays. In the past few weeks, I have learned how to clean dog kennels, been to Las Vegas for an Animal Conference, graded a lot of papers, cleaned more kennels and picked up New Hampshire as one of the states contributing to us! That means we only need 16 more for all 50! As you can tell--I like goals. We fell short of the 300 by Easter, but we're closing in on it so perhaps 300 by May 15?
Spring is close here in Northern Michigan. We have heard loons, seen bear tracks, the garlic planted last fall is up, shrubs still brown have green buds, and yes CLOSE KNIT HUGS remains in operation and sending blankets. I hear weekly it seems like from Levees.org, and it reminds me that our work continues and needs to for our friends in the Gulf States.
MARCH 18, 2009--We're closing in on 300 blankets--thanks to all you workers! Today my grandmother would have been 111 years old. . . lucky numbers. She remains our inspiration whenever we think of knitting and all the work she did in World War II.
March 9, 2009--We received eight inches of heavy snow last night. . . and to think some people will be planting peas on St. Patrick's Day!
New Blanket pictures! These are some of the blankets we've sent in the past five months to Common Ground.
Thanks to Sharon who sent a finished blanket! It's gorgeous! Thanks as always to Jennifer in Illinois for two lap blankets, Elizabeth in Pennsylvannia--the squares are beautiful and so soft, and to the Canyon Villa crew for their hard work and the jigsaw puzzle--what else-- a picture of knitting projects! You'll be receiving your Mardi Gras souvenirs!
GOAL: 300 Blankets sent by Easter. . . .