ya never know

Christmas day Kyle and I spent with our friends MaryJean and Rick, and their sons Taylor and Tim.  Taylor is a chef of considerable skill, and fixed us a smoked prime rib that was divine, then made a pie crust that angels would have gotten into fist fights over- it was so tender and delicious.

Tim is going to college to be an engineer, and is involved in a project for Engineers Without Borders.  He and his cohort will be building a water purification system for a village in Thailand.  They need to raise money for it, so MaryJean and I have devised the Warmth and Water Project.  MJ and I get together once a week to make scrappy quilts for the orphanages supported by Medical Team International.  If anyone would like to contribute$100 to the water project, we will donate a quilt in their name.  So $100 will help fund clean water for a village in Thailand (while giving young engineers real hands-on experience in the real world) AND will also keep warm an orphan in Romania, or Mexico City or an AIDS orphan in Africa.  So you can go to sleep knowing that somewhere a child is sleeping under a bright cozy blanket in your name and somewhere else, a whole village is getting safe, clean water.

Here is Tim with the first quilt ready to send.  If $100 is too rich for your budget, perhaps you can get some friends together and make it a corporate effort.

(Handsome lad, isn't he? and he's taller than I am!)

Kyle made the appetizers for the day.  He created a lamb terrine that was so good, if your grandma took your share, you'd slap her.  MJ made a sweet potato pie filling that was light, almost fluffy, and so lightly spiced that you could actually taste the sweet potato!  Lordy it was good!  Rick contributed several bottles af excellent red wine, and I brought appetite and appreciation.

So today, after all that glorious food and fun, I felt the need to get myself out for a walk.  It was so cold the dogs were sticking to the sidewalks, but the sky was clear and the sun was glorious bright.  As I was striding briskly along I saw a fellow coming out of his garage with a Bernese Mountain dog on a leash.  The dog and I greeted one another effusively, then I chatted a bit with the fellow, remarking what a beautiful coat the dog had.  Nice thick undercoat especially.  I mentioned that I'm a spinner and wouldn't mind trying to work with some of the combings from this lovely dog.  At that point, the wife emerged with the dog's sister, and when told that I was a spinner, she went back in and grabbed a bag of dog wool she has been saving.  So now I get to spin some Bernese Mountain Dog and perhaps even knit mittens for the owners.  What FUN!  Bet it's going to drive the cats nuts, though.