Once again, and in consideration of the this year's blue Christmas, we are going for minimalism. I'm liking it. The best part for me is the cleanup. The ceramic Christmas tree and Nativity take about five minutes of work to dismantle. The essence of the holiday without the stress. We're still hosting our annual Danish…

Location: Bremen, Germany. Sweet little Nativity sheep in the Schnoor. I believe next door to the place I found the hat from my last post. Bremen is special to us, not just for the location, but for the family we have become close to as the result of the German exchange program in which our…

Here's the story of the 10,000 mile hat. While strolling Bremen's Schnoor with my friend, Ingrid, she showed me a hat, knitted from Noro Silk Garden, with a price tag of 79 Euro. She told me she's contemplated buying it for two years now. What's a knitter to do? Offer to knit it, of course. …

In the Pacific Northwest, when prolonged rain stops, within 15 minutes you'll observe cabin fevered people leaving their houses; modern ark passengers after the flood. Walking, washing cars, raking lawns of fallen cedar fronds.  On Sunday I followed the pack and headed for  the trails of the North Shore mountains. I found, that although sunny, it's…

….or what I've learned from my mother's death, including, excuse the expression, some cold hard facts: 1. That expression in post title really happens. 2. The cost of medical treatment is high, the orthopedic surgeon's bill alone was $50,000. 3. Some cemeteries close for the winter, not based on temperature or the ability to prepare…

  Elsa Hernandez Lesinski-Brenner, passed away November 15th, in CRVNA  Hospice House, Concord,  after complications from surgery, with her daughters by her side.    Born in 1929 in New York City, her careers included professional Latin dancer, early childhood educator, community volunteer and loving mother. Married to Hendrick Lesinski in 1950, they became parents to two girls.…

I've just returned from vacation to face the trip you never want to take. Most of us get two such sad opportunities in life, the death of each parent. The first for me occurred when I was 16 and my sister, 12. Our father had a long death from debilitating heart disease. Now, 40 years later, it's our…

What's the past tense of knit? Knit? Knitted? As in "When I knit my Emerald sweater from Iceland yarn…"  I'll start over. When I knit my Emerald sweater from Iceland yarn, my chidlhood friend, Rosie, requested a scarf from mint green yarn with the same kind of snowballs. Right, I thought. That's a yarn reqest…

First grade. Halloween. Dressed as a gypsy, we lived in an apartment complex, four units per floor. Trick or treating was a breeze. I still remember the song we learned in school: "Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate, the first one said, Oh my it's getting late. The second one said, There are witches in…

Gracee turns ten on Halloween. I remember a made for TV movie in the 70's called "Devil Dog, Hound of Hell" Sometimes we refer to Grace as our devil dog, but only sometimes. Her issues stem from her rescue history, but we love her a lot, our Gracee girl: