My new hobbies

I've started quilting again. Testing a few new methods I've dreamed up and a few I've heard about. I'll let you know how it all comes out. I actually realized the other day that we had an old sheet that would be perfect for my current project, and I looked at Tim and said, "Do you think anyone would care if I cut up that sheet for a quilt?" He looked at me for a minute and then said, "YOU are the mom in this house." So, once again, I am making an art quilt with entirely recycled materials. It's going to have to be my trademark, I'm afraid!

In this awkward time of writer's block, I've been pining for a good non-fiction book, but the library is totally off-limits until Benjamin can handle it (as in not run off and not pull every single thing off the shelves and not throw the books or color in them and not tear the pages). He's getting close, and the big kids are hungry for the library experience.

In the meantime, though, I've spent a lot of time reading news websites online, and not being terribly satisfied by it. In general, I find only so many things happen, and only so much can be said about them. Consequently, the stories on the news sites tend to be sensationalized, and often not terribly edifying, and, after the first day of some something hitting the news, not very new. In other words, a quick glance at the headlines on google news once a day would do it for me, and then I felt like the rest of the time was wasted.

I want to do a bunch of stuff with my time, but the bundle of Nathanael on my lap pretty much mandates that I had to find something to do sitting in my chair. And I was so so so tired of wasting my time wandering the internet.

So I found a solution: wikipedia.

I know. You're saying, "that's the ultimate wandering the internet!" But I'm saying, "the ultimate nonfiction book!" It's like reading the encyclopedia, which I've always loved to do. But this one has hyperlinks. So now when I'm wandering the internet, I feel like I'm learning stuff. Like about Glenrio, the ghost town on the border of Texas and New Mexico that was on Route 66 but got bypassed by the freeway. Why would I need to know about that, or that there's a list of Italian Actors, or the name of that little town in India that held a speed-walking race for people over 65? I don't know. But it's fun, educational, and I pick up on fun stuff, like this phrase I found: "though more cranially reminiscent of archaic whales". Out of context, it's a beauty!

And, for those days when I just need to stop, there's always this site to stare at:

http://shibumi.org/eoti.htm