Encycopedia of Me Meme - N is for Nancy

When I was child I had a celluloid doll called "Nancy". I loved that doll. Then I got an N is for "new" little brother who reached the teething stage, and HE BIT Nancy's nose, leaving her permanently disfigured. I was extremely upset and never felt the same attachment to Nancy after that. Talk about a shallow, fickle, unfeeling child! Just as well no-one bit Grandpa Flea on the nose - I might have left him out in the rain!

Encyclopedia of Me Meme - M is for ... Me

In case you haven't noticed, my avatar has put on a lot of weight ... just like ME. She also has new glasses ... just like Me. She has also changed out of her jammies and gone to the beach, as the weather became so hot we all thought the winter was over a month before it should have been. But yesterday, it suddenly became icy again and today I've been shivering around in a J is for jumper.

Encycopedia of Me Meme - L is for Laughs!

I am still L for laughing about the number of hits on this blog over the last week or so. There really must be a f-l-e-a plague, especially in the USA - of the hits that I can identify, 35 of the last 48 on this blog have been searches for information on f-l-e-a b-i-t-e-s and most of those are from the USA. The Ancient One has commented that her local school in eastern NC (is that North Carolina?) has been closed because of a plague of the afore-mentioned creatures. I'm frightened to use the word as I feel quite bad that poor itchy people are being diverted from their quest. I have, in fact, much experience with those pesky, little hoppers. We have had dogs over the years and periodically would have to resort to letting off f-l-e-a bombs in the house. In fact, when my kids were younger, it was a great boredom buster to search the dogs for the unmentionables. It was always a family saying for fat little tummies after meals that "I could crack a fl** on that tummy" - the children would race around to Grandpa Flea and shout "Crack a fl**" and present their bare tummies for a tickle. It's become a family tradition and currently little Ms 5 likes to have a fl** "cracked" on her tummy.

Roxie has asked in response to "J is for ..", what we call the "hood" of the car - well, here we call it the "bonnet" and the "jockey box"/"glove compartment" is the "glove box". I guess you already know that your "trunk" is our "boot". I read a book called "Trunk Music" - "Boot Music" doesn't have quite the same ring, does it - sounds a bit like line dancing! (i.e. boot scooting).

Which reminds me, L is also for line dancing. I tried to learn line dancing last year, but my spatially challenged brain came into operation again. Whenever we had to do the turn bit, I'd end up facing a whole room of people .... I may try it again one day, as it's good exercise.

K is for Kindergarten

K is for Kindy. When I was a little girl in Kindy, we had to sit on the floor on little hessian mats with a cloth binding that our mothers had to make for us. The girl who sat in front of me had long plaits and I was fascinated with them. I was always in trouble for squeezing them - I wanted to know if the plaits could feel - I knew my own short hair couldn't, but those big fat plaits looked so ALIVE - I can still remember trying to puzzle it out. No matter how carefully I tried to squeeze them, this girl would start to flick her head and look over her shoulder - and the teacher would be on me like a ton of bricks.

J is for ....

J is for the first initial of my only sibling's name - Mr Mooney. He is a sweet, gentle man who lost his beloved wife to breast cancer just over eighteen months ago - she had just turned 47. They were true soulmates and Mr Mooney is, of course, still grieving. I love him dearly and wish I could make it better.

J is for June, the month of Ms 5's birthday and her Grandma Flea's birthday.

J is for July, the month of her Mamma's birthday and her Grandpa Flea's birthday. There is a nice synchronicity there.

J is also for "jumpers" - those things that Aussie's wear in cold weather. They are called "jerseys" in the deep south of New Zealand, and I do believe that those people who speak the President's English call them "sweaters" (I hope sweater wearers remember to bath every day!). We do have regional variations in English in Australia, maybe, just maybe, jumpers are called jerseys in South Australia, but I'm not sure. "Sweater" is becoming more common here - the pervasive nature of television is stealing our identity. I know that when I lived in Victoria as a little child, we called our swimmers "togs", and our suitcases were "ports". We also used an American "a" in words like "castle". I only ever said it once in NSW. I was a quick learner! Amazing how the ridicule of your peers speeds up the ability to learn!

Encycopedia of Me Meme: I is for icord

I is indeed for icord - a useful little trick to have up - or on - your sleeve, especially applied icord.

I is also for island - the tropical kind, where the beaches are long and white, the water is like a cool bath and little ripples run gently up the shore; where the cool, dark vegetation provides a welcome respite from the heat of the midday sun; where my cabin has a shady verandah with a view of the water and my comfy chair which sits next to a low table where my knitting awaits my pleasure, and a tall pitcher of iced water with lime slices has little cold drops of condensation running down the side - where is this island, I hear you ask? In my dreams, dear child, in my dreams.

The littlest Flea saw her cousins furry scarf with pockets for keeping little hands warm (in the absence of a magical grandma who could knit Sanna, Sorceress Apprentice's self-heating mittens), and promptly ordered one in the same colour - a colour which I could not get again. So, I used some faux fur from my stash and edged the pockets with the left over yarn from Ms 11's scarf, then used the remainder to knit an earwarmer/headband. The yarn is multi-coloured - hence the orange pocket trims and the pink headband. Ms 5 is a PINK girl - I hope she is happy with it.

H is for Hoosier ...

I had wondered what Hoosier meant, but found out when this package of goodies arrived at my door from Kathy of Indiana, winner of the prize from the knitting trip around the world on the magic shawl. But where does the word "Hoosier" come from?

I can't wait to try the sweet and sour popcorn, but thought I'd keep it until the biggest Flea comes over again, as she had a year in Atlanta as an exchange student and is still very interested in things from the USA. The wool from an Indiana sheep, no less, feels soft and lovely and I feel a beanie coming on for Master 7 - one with earflaps and pom pom trims in the two natural colours. My fingers have all split from too much getting-the-house-ready-to-move -. I seem to be washing my hands all day long, so I'll be interested to see if the lanolin soap helps - it smells beautiful. But wait, there's more! The James Whitcomb Riley Cookbook, described on the cover as "A cornucopia of delectable delights from the turn-of-the-century world and the great Hoosier poet AND MORE". "AND MORE" is piles of information and illustrations from the "olden days". Wonderful! Thank you so much, Kathy. I am so lucky. I'll have to have a few more competitions if I receive wonderful goodies like these in return! I really enjoyed the knitting trip around the world, and we might repeat it again one day.

If you get a chance, pop over to Kathy's blog and look at the socks she knitted from the sock wool in her possum parcel. She calls them a "Homage to the possum"! They are so pretty - a wonderful match of colour and pattern.

There must be a flea plague in the northern hemisphere at present - I seem to be getting LOTS of hits from Google seaches for pictures and information on flea-bites.

Being a non-technical nerd, when Ravelry started asking for Beta Testers, I assumed that BTs would be technical wizardy type people (maybe you are!) but as people started to fret about being thousands down the list, I thought I'd sign up too - the worst they could do was reject me. So slowly, ever so slowly, I'm making my way up the waiting list - it sounds almost as long as the waiting list for elective surgery in this crazy country of ours.

You signed up on July 20, 2007
You are #18956 on the list.
10335 people are ahead of you in line.
5461 people are behind you in line.
34% of the list has been invited so far

One day ..... I'll find out what it's all about!