In Which I Show Another Six Part Vignette

This morning's sunrise:

The Purpose-Driven Blog

That's me! Or, rather, the blog I write. According to my pals over at Four Friends and a Blog, that is, which is in itself well worth a read. These four women (Heather, Samantha, Nicola, and Katherine) blog about food, knitting, gardening, kids, art projects, and chocolate. And if you click on their names you'll find their other blogs. Indefatigable, you lot are!

So thank you thank you thank you! I'm delighted. My hat is off to you all as well.

I wish I could get Alan Rickman to deliver my thanks in person, but he's very stubborn about stuff like this. He said something about a bad hair day, but said if you click on his picture he'll show something good...

Boo hoo hoo

Oh woe is me,

My computer is in the shop,

And who knows what might be wrong.

If I were more immature,

I'd go down to the garden and eat worms.

But it's cold out.

Sigh.

E Is For Exciting

I had my thrill of the week last Thursday when a blogpal of mine, Becky from Farm School, sent this my way. There is something SO heartening about connecting with other like-minded people out here in Blog Land; thus I was delighted to see this accolade from someone whose blog I admire so much it's almost indecent, particularly as I was in truly wonderful company: Cami at Full Circle (she's better than a DK text) and Jen at Jen Robinson's Book Page. As I wrote to Becky, I was so excited I even burned my kids' lunch. I almost forgot I even had kids, well, that is, until the smoke alarm went off, the cat hid under my desk, and Max ran shrieking into the family room, asking me if I was going to turn off the smoke alarm or should he and was the house on fire or had I burned something again. Then I sighed, turned my gaze from the computer screen, and went off to see how I could salvage their grilled cheese. Fortunately I was able to scrape off some cinders and present it to them as a new type of bread. FDPG ate the insides and told me not to buy that kind of bread again.

And as is usual with these sorts of events, I am, in my turn, going to send this blog smooch off to other people who write blogs. Blogs I read. Blogs I like.

First, this one goes out to a blog I read because it has some of the best pictures of Life In Japan around. And it comes with a generous dose of humour about life in Japan: Diane at Popcorn and Sushi.

Second, this is a new blog to me, and it's piloted by not one person but four: Nicola, Samantha, Heather, and Katherine. It's called Four Friends and a Blog. These women are busy in ways I admire but can never hope to replicate. They are ferocious knitters. I'm not. Wish I was.

And finally, a blog I lurked on a lot when I first discovered the world of homeschool blogs - it was one of the first blogs I ever read and it sort of inspired me to start my own blog. So there. It's called Nurtured By Love, with one Miranda Hughes as its head writer.

Okay, a toast to you all (glasses clinking).

R.I.P.

Norval Morisseau: 1932 - 2007

What the NPR shop should sell...

My NPR affiliate is having it's bi-annual fund drive this week, and since I am too hooked on Morning Edition (what CBC should aspire to, IMO) to find the fund drive pleas all THAT irritating, I've been hearing all about what one gets when one subscribes for more than $50: coffee mugs, t-shirts, CD boxed sets, HD radios, etc. And while I'm sure these things are popular, here's what would REALLY get my $:

- adult-sized underwear with Morning Edition or Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me! on it

- NPR socks (Imelda collected shoes, I collect socks)

- NPR stickers (with the faces of Peter Segel, Carl Kasell, Kai Ryssdal, or even Lakshmi Singh)

- goofy bumper stickers

- branded NPR pencils (then I could send my pal Sandy a few)

And if they HAVE to offer coffee mugs, how about some amusing slogans on them, instead of the more sedate retro design they are currently sporting? How about "This cup powered by NPR" in Latin (to go with our "Sona si latine loqueris!" sticker on the car)?

Okay, enough of my station break ridiculosity, back to your regularly scheduled programming, now, all of you.