This is the completed scarf! I worked on it over the weekend (it took a long time!) and turned out very . . . wide. : - )



TITLE: Mia

AUTHOR: Laurence Yep

COPYRIGHT: 2008

ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: American Girl Publishing, Inc.

NUMBER OF PAGES: 122

PLOTLINE: Mia St. Clair has just recently taken up figure skating, after playing hockey for years with her three older brothers. Her brothers don’t think she’s good enough to skate competitively---they think she should go back to hockey.

But Mia doesn’t want to follow in their footsteps any longer, and she’s determined to show them that she’s got what it takes to become a successful figure skater. And her determination is only doubled when a new coach arrives at the local rink, a coach who was once a famous Olympic skater. Coach Schubert seems to think there’s something special about Mia, and is willing to help her become a competitive skater . . . but in the end, Mia must decide: is this what she really wants?

This is a great book with superb writing and gorgeous illustrations. Highly recommended!

*****

“{Coach Schubert} said, ‘Let’s see your double lutz next. Coach Nelson’s notes say you’re having trouble with it.’

Half the time I botched it---which I’m sure he recorded faithfully.” - Mia

































This is a scarf I'm knitting . . . I think it's going to take a lot longer than I hoped. :-)





TITLE: Depend on Katie John

AUTHOR: Mary Calhoun

COPYRIGHT: 1961

ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.

NUMBER OF PAGES: 181

PLOTLINE: The highly entertaining sequel to Katie John is just as good, if not better than its predecessor.

Katie John’s family has just turned their home into a rooming house, and Katie is excited. She’s going to help with the housework, find boarders and everything!

Unfortunately, the excitement soon fizzles out when Katie John realizes that living in a rooming house isn’t as much fun as she thought it would be. The boarders are fussy, and the housework is hard. She can’t even escape to fun when she goes to school, because she’s still a new girl among the other kids, and no one pays any attention to her. But maybe, she reasons, if she changes herself from a tomboy to a lady, things will be different.

“Things” don’t exactly turn out the way Katie had expected, but in the end, she discovers that it’s all for the best.

Depend on Katie John is an interesting book about a funny almost-eleven-year-old girl.

*****

“They were playing checkers on Cousin Ben’s bed, or at least they were supposed to be playing checkers, but mostly Cousin Ben was talking.” - Depend on Katie John































TITLE: Two Little Women on a Holiday

AUTHOR: Carolyn Wells

COPYRIGHT: 1917

NUMBER OF PAGES: 171

PLOTLINE: In this well-written sequel to Two Little Women and Treasure House, Dotty Rose and Dolly Fayre are invited to spend a week in New York with their friend Bernice. They will be staying with Bernice’s uncle, who collects and sells valuables to museums.

Also staying with the girls is the frivolous and flighty Alicia Steele, Bernice’s older cousin. From the first day in New York, she and Dolly have a testing relationship, which comes to an exciting climax when Dolly accidentally overhears Alicia making plans to elope!

This book has many wonderful twists and turns, and everything is resolved most beautifully at the ending, when the four girls find out what Mr. Forbes’ big secret is, if Alicia is really going to elope or not, and who stole the precious antique earring from upstairs . . .

*****

“Leave it to me. I’ll engineer the conversation and all you girls need to do is chip in now and then.” - Two Little Women on a Holiday





This is a scarf for a stuffed kangaroo that my sister and I knitted. I think she looks adorable!







This is a knitting project my sister and I have been working on. We finished it yesterday! We think it turned out looking very cute.




TITLE: Katie John

AUTHOR: Mary Calhoun

COPYRIGHT: 1960

ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.

NUMBER OF PAGES: 134

PLOTLINE: Katie John’s family moves to Missouri---right when Katie is old enough to become a Campfire Girl! For years, she’s been waiting to go on the camping trip in the Sierras, and now she’s stuck at a hundred-year-old house, just recently inherited by her mother from Great-Aunt Emily.

Katie John is positive that she won’t like living in the sleepy little town of Barton’s Bluff, even if it is only until her parents can sell the house. But by the time summer is over (and many escapades later), Katie realizes that she loves living in Missouri and doesn’t ever want to leave.

But time is running out---can Katie John convince her parents to stay before it’s too late?


This wonderful book is accompanied by refreshingly excellent writing, and the copy I own has beautiful illustrations by Paul Frame. If you’re in the mood for a good story about the adventures of a ten-year-old girl and her best friend, then this is the book to read!

*****

“It’s all my fault!” {Katie} cried in despair. “I wanted to make a nice fire, but the smoke didn’t go up the chimney.”

“Because the chimney is capped!” - Katie John

























This is a list of some peppers I'm thinking about planting in my garden this year:
*Note*: All of the varieties are sweet peppers.


Jimmy Nardello Peppers

1. Feher Ozon Paprika Sweet Pepper

2. Alma Paprika

3. Garden Sunshine

4. Jimmy Nardello's (I've had good luck with these---they've won several ribbons at our county fair!)

5. King of the North

6. Sweet Chocolate (These ripen from green to chocolate on the outside and red on the inside :-)

7. Red Delicious

8. Sweet Banana *Heirloom*


I wish the snow would go away so I could start planting!







TITLE: Two Little Women and Treasure House

AUTHOR: Carolyn Wells

COPYRIGHT: 1916

ORIGINAL PUBLISHER: Dodd Mead and Company, Inc.

NUMBER OF PAGES: 270

PLOTLINE: Two fifteen-year-old girls, Dolly Fayre and Dotty Rose, find themselves in a wonderful situation: they’ve just become the owners of a house that is entirely their own!

“Treasure House,” as they call the little building, soon becomes their second home. They study, read, and have picnics in the house, and after awhile they wonder how they ever got along without it.

Then Dolly receives the terrible news that her family is going to move away! How could she ever leave Treasure House now?

Through a series of coincidences, Dolly learns there is one thing that could keep her from having to move---if she could somehow make the snooty Bernice Forbes popular in school! But how in the world could she do that . . . unless Bernice wins the class president election?

Two Little Women and Treasure House has quite a happy ending (which is always satisfying). Another one of the pluses of this book is that the writing is very old-fashioned and sweet!

*****

“Oh! I do abhor, detest, despise, abominate these cubed XY’s!” - Two Little Women and Treasure House (One of the characters is speaking of geometry.)







                                         This is a bookmark that I knitted this morning!


I’ve been thinking a lot about which flowers I’m going to plant in my garden this spring. Here are the names of the flowers I’m thinking about planting so far:



1. Elke Hardy Geranium


2. Rozanne Hardy Geranium


3. Siberian Iris (a mix of blue, purple, violet, yellow, and white iris)


4. Muscadet Lilies


5. Kentucky Lady Slipper Orchids


6. Roses (yellow, blue, white, pink, red---I like them all)


7. Moonflower (Moonflower is a white plant with heart-shaped leaves---and it blooms only at night!)


8. Ladybird Poppies


9. Milkmaid Nasturtium


10. Johnny Jump-Up Violas (you can eat these with salad, but I don’t think I will … they’re too cute!)


11. Butterflyweed (attracts butterflies, moths, bees, and hummingbirds)


12. Winter-Hardy Glads


13. Hardy Mixed Carnations


14. Ensign Mixture (known for centuries as Dwarf Morning Glory)


15. Bee’s Friend Herbs






I can’t wait for spring!