FIBERGUY

Someone turned me on to the companion site, Icanhascheezburger, some time ago. I guess you have to be in the mood for these sites to strike your funny bone – and I’ve been in the mood for a while now. If you are a pet lover, you’ll love to spend some surfing time checking these sites out. They make me smile and laugh.

(Click on the photo to see the slideshow of our trip!) On Saturday I headed down to Iowa with three of my quilt buddies, Joan, Karen and Dawn. It was a perfect fall day for a car trip. We were off for Garner, Iowa, about 145 miles from my house, and a fabulous quilt store on a little town west of Clear Lake. On our way back, we stopped in Northfield. We were going to go to a yarn store called Cottage Industry, which we discovered had closed over a year ago. So we went to Digs instead. They took over the yarn stock of the place that closed. What a fun little store. Actually, all of downtown Northfield is fun – great little shops along Division Street. If you haven’t been, you should make a day trip of it. Just don’t show up at the Indian restaurant expecting to eat between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm. They won’t be waiting on you.

Several weeks ago now I attended a quilt show given by a local guild to which several of my friends belong. The name of the guild is “Women of the West”, or WOW as they are known to many. I’ve been terribly tardy in getting the pictures off my camera and onto my site, but I offer these two links for you to peruse. The first link contains some of my favorite quilts that were on display. There were dozens and dozens more, but I couldn’t shoot them all: http://www.fiberguy.com/slideshow/slideshow.html#id=wow2007 The second slide show is from a “bed turning” they did at the show. The folded back each old quilt over the bed, and told it’s story, where it was from, how it was made, what people remember about it, etc. It was most fascinating. Almost a “quilts as journals” type of thing. http://www.fiberguy.com/slideshow/slideshow.html#id=bedturning Enjoy!

You may now refer to me as an “Award Winning” apple jelly maker, thankyouverymuch. H’s sister took in a jar of jelly to submit to the Target Corp. HR’s annual applefest today and it won in the recipe competition – the word just came from the contest judges. Hey, those Target people aren’t easy to please or persuade, dontchaknow! Ok, ok, so there were only a half-dozen or so other entries it had to beat, but we’ll just keep that small detail to ourselves, shall we? As H’s mom said when I called to share our success, “so far everyone who tastes it says it’s the best apple jelly.” Too damned bad I didn’t know about the half-pint jar requirement, or I could have entered it in next year’s State Fair. I told Karin nobody would mess with her now that they know she’s a serious jelly maker – nobody wants to tussle with people who are at ease handling boiling pots of lava! A suitable end to a week, dontchathink?

To see the entry from earlier this year when we made our jelly, click here.

Could you guess who, even before you got here? In my defense, I will tell you it was Harald who bought the dress for her last Sunday when he took her to the pet store, but doesn’t she look cute?

However, I can tell you that she was definitely NOT amused by the experience. (Shhh … between you and me I suspect she’s the kind of dog that prefers flannel and boots!)

From the quiz, What Kind of Yarn Are You?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.
You are a very hard worker, most at home when
you’re at home. You are thrifty and seemingly
born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain
Jane, but you are too practical to notice.

What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I suppose the truth grates every now and then. There are worse things than dishcloth cotton, aren’t there?

Now here is a line you won’t see repeated very often, fresh from Yahoo news:

“This year, the World Toilet Organization celebrates World Toilet Day by highlighting the plight of 42 percent of the world’s population, especially women, who do not have access to proper toilets,” the statement said.

Yes, there really is a World Toilet Organization, not to be confused with the American Restroom Association. And to think we just missed the World Toilet Summit 2005! Oh, and do visit that last link there, paying particular attention to the Summit Objectives page. Go ahead, I’ll wait on you.

How could anyone, referring to the event, say something like “This an extremely prestigious event…” I’m sure.

Or, what about this compelling teaser of one the speakers – “who will set out the Singapore model of public toilet excellence.” Ugh.

I’m sure the attendees where the butt of jokes amongst their friends. Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week.

OK, you gotta check this out for yourself.

http://homepage.mac.com/whump/ujname.html

Yours,
Brother Cutlass of Desirable Mindfulness

(OK, I admit the humor may be lost on those unfamiliar with Unitarianism, but try it anyway.)

Well, I’m more of a linguistic mutt than I would have thought. I guess it makes sense given my Southern roots, my Yankee stepmother and her family, and having spent the last 10 years in Minnesota. Take the test and see what it says about you.