First of all, a request: If you are at all religious - I care not which one - could you pray, if you pray, for some kind of peaceful resolution to what is going on between the Israelis and the Palestinians? I've heard of the four attacks over the past couple days with intense dismay. I live far, far away from that part of the world, and yet I find myself so horrified that I've had to keep the tv off (or tuned to something "fluffy" like Food TV) and the radio off for the past couple days.

The fact that these attacks are happening during a major Jewish holiday and close to the holiest of Christian holidays makes it even worse.

Imagine not being able to go to the supermarket without having to consider that there might be a terror attack.

Anyway.

Happy Easter to all who are Christian, and I hope those who are Jewish had a good Passover, and your youngest did you proud explaining why that night was different from all others. And if there are any other holidays about now I don't know about, I hope you had a good/blessed/meaningful one.

Yesterday was a day of working on neglected projects. I analyzed some prairie data I had collected last summer (and will be reporting on at the North American Prairie Conference this summer). Basically I am comparing sites that are being taken care of (former pioneer cemeteries) and sites that are not being managed in any way (sites along old Rt. 66). I'm interested in figuring out if there are characteristics of a species that make it easier for it to "hang on" in an area that is not burned, possibly herbicided, mowed, and open to invasion by agricultural weeds and other non-native species. I'm still digesting the results but it looks like the species that hang on best are bee-balm, yellow coneflower, and (surprisingly) compass-plant.

After doing that, I pulled out the baby towel thing I am knitting for my friend Emily. I think to go with this I am going to buy a package of baby washcloths, a rubber duck, and maybe some kind of special good-for-baby-skin soap or liquid soap (there's a place not too far from me that sells Burt's Bees stuff and I think he has some good baby stuff). I'm a little concerned about the "obvious" (that Johnson's baby bath with lavendar) because the ads almost imply "Drug your little terror with the aromatherapy ingredient lavendar and he will sleep deeply" Frankly, I'm concerned about exposing young children to something touted to "relax" them - it's not that far different from the criminal moms who dose their kids up with cough syrup so they won't cry.


I'm sorry, I'm ranting here. <

What else? Oh yes, pulled out a couple more neglected projects - a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt I am piecing using the English paper piecing technique (I should have this one done in time for my retirement, 30 odd years from now). (Instructions are here, but because of frames, you will need to click on "free instructions" and then on "English Paper Piecing")

I also pulled out a couple of pillowcases I am embroidering
I have a whole box of those things. I don't know why - I think it was times when I had really really good coupons at Michael's (when I used to live close to one) but couldn't find any good knitting stuff. I think it's also that I bought a couple of old embroidered pillowcases at a resale shop very very cheaply and love them (and they are good old muslin ones that will probably outlast me).

The ones I am working on right now have pansies and butterflies on them. I think I did so much knitting over break (especially on the train coming back) that it's good to do something else. I enjoy the concentration that the embroidery takes - trying to make every stitch uniform, trying to cover the stamped guidelines completely. It's a strange thing that I enjoy it because it is totally uncreative in the design end - basically an adult version of coloring in a coloring book - but I do.

Maybe we just need "coloring books" sometimes.