A Little Knitting

A few months ago the TSA confiscated my waiter's corkscrew, forgotten in a pocket of my purse. This past flight to/from Puerto Rico found me breezing through security with two sets of knitting needles. Someone would have to stand still for a long time for me to screw my corkscrew into some part of them, but I could put an eye out rather quickly with the knitting needles....or, for that matter, a simple ball point pen. Go figure the reasoning. Perhaps the TSA takes seriously the motto "I knit so I won't kill someone." 

A Snake in a Basket

Take care that you buy handcrafted items at festivals because you really like them, and not because of any claims the hawker makes. Here's a fine fellow who sold baskets to me and my friends at a local festival. He said that his family made them on a small island near Savannah.

Happy Independence Day!

"Many public-school children seem to know only two dates: 1492 and 4th of July; and as a rule they don't know what happened on either occasion."
-  Mark Twain
Don't forget the reason we celebrate the day! Happy Birthday, America!

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States.  ~Wikipedia


With love from me to you...
GG

And My Heart Soars

Eel River, California, USA

And My Heart Soars

The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,the fragrance of the grass, speaks to me. 
The summit of the mountain, the thunder of the sky,the rhythm of the sea, speaks to me. 
The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning,the dew drop on the flower, speaks to me. 
The strength of fire, the taste of salmon,the trail of the sun, and the life that never goes away,They speak to me. 
And my heart soars.

~Chief Dan George (1899-1991)

With love, from me to you...

GG

Clam Chowda & Bar Harbor Buoy Bell

Bar Harbor Buoy Wind Chime

It was a very windy day today. We have three wind chimes hanging from the big oak tree that grows up through the back deck. The first one hung was a gift from my husband to me, and is melodious and my favorite. Its sound is like the old kind of church bells. The second one (in chronological order of acquisition) is a heavy, hand-made chime that was ringing merrily when we happened upon it in the desert southwest. It takes a tremendous wind to move it to chime here in South Carolina. We begin to worry when our "desert" wind chime begins to rock 'n roll. The third is one that we brought back with us from a driving tour of New England two years ago, and was crafted to sound just like the buoy bell out in the middle of the harbor at Bar Harbor, Maine.

Happy memories are often triggered by sound, and little did we realize when we bought the buoy bell wind chime during our visit to Bar Harbor that it would bring us so much daily joy. It rang merrily today. I sat on the deck this evening and closed my eyes. I listened to the buoy bell clanging, now with the wind instead of the waves, but I could still taste the chowda.....

"A New England clam chowder, made as it should be, is a dish to preach about, to chant praises and sing hymns and burn incense before. To fight for. The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought for--or on--clam chowder; part of it at least, I am sure it was. It is as American as the Stars and Stripes, as patriotic as the national Anthem. It is 'Yankee Doodle in a kettle.'" ~Joseph C. Lincoln (1870-1944)

The best chowder we had was at a small fisherman's co-op and was made by the fishermen's wives. Of course, they didn't have an exact recipe, but had a "method," and I'll share it with you here just as they shared it with me there on the pier, on a sunny, breezy day in New England.