Go here.

http://katejharrison.blogspot.com/

If you’re interested:

http://rabbitchasing.blogspot.com/

EVERYBODY:

Free cone day is NOT happening today. I repeat — NOT.

It will be happening on the 29th instead. I just double-checked.

I’m pretty mad about this because I don’t think there’s a Ben & Jerrys in Asheville.

Actually, really mad.

Listen carefully.

 April 17

Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day.

 Every Ben & Jerry’s store IN THE NATION will be giving away free ICE CREAM CONES.

FOR FREE.

I don’t know about you—I don’t care if Chattanooga doesn’t have any Ben & Jerry’s Stores.

I’M GITTIN ME SOME O THAT CREAM 

New Years are sneaky, aren’t they? They just sort of pounce on you, like this:

 So, since me and the lil blog are a year older, I have decided it is time for me to take on a bit more (but not too much!!!) responsibility. I have decided that I need to up my blog a notch, from “!!?!?What the Heck?!?!!” to “!!??!What-the–Maybe-Something-In-Here-Is-Helpful-to-Humans–Heck??!!”

Realistically:  I won’t be posting more often. No, I’m probably not going to start posting all these probing, philosophical questions any time soon. No, I don’t think its going to be any more cohesive or orderly. No, I’m not going to stop glorifying the random, the obscure, or the wonderfully bizarre. But I’m going to start tucking in little installments of knowledge or practical advice that I think are useful.

so, lets get started.

FTBOH #1

Responding to a Stroke.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in America and the No. 1 cause of adult disability.

Yet if caught quickly enough, the damaging effects of a stroke are dramatically diminished.

Here are the symptoms:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg – especially on one side of the body.
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause.

Sometimes these things are extremely hard to detect. But if you are aware of any of these symptoms in yourself, or in someone you know, err on the side of caution. Do the following (all tied up in a nice lil acronym!):

S — SMILE. Ask the person to smile. If there mouth droops to one side, something is wrong.

T– TALK. Tell them to repeat simple sentence, i.e. “The car is red.” If the speech is slurred, or if they are unable to repeat, something is wrong.

A– ASK. Ask them specifically how they feel. Investigate as to whether they feel that numbness or dizziness mentioned above.

R– RAISE ARMS. If one arm drifts downward, something is wrong.

S–STICK OUT TONGUE. If they have a hard time sticking it out, or if it sticks out crooked, something is wrong.

If a person shows any of these symptoms, immediately get them medical help. They need help as quickly as possible. If they are having a stroke, brain cells are dying rapidly.

 So there you go. It could be handy.

Happy Christmas everybody.

(PS: Hope the Incarnation brings you this much (or more?) joy)

as with last year, I knew it was truly Christmas when these guys greeted me in the shop this Saturday morning.

Even though they are quite handsome and organic, being entirely handmade out of natural materials, these Nutcrackers seem to be in a perpetual state of panic. I have to speak soothing words to them regularly, or they begin to gnaw off their nice yarn-y beards.

Also, Libby decided to invest in Randolph, the Red-Bowed Reindeer, to festivize things.

such a champ.

Check out his unwavering stare. “I think he knows all my secrets,” says Lib.

(There is always something rather lovely about coming back to the Cottage.)

So exams will be hard, and this week might be a bit difficult, but we’ll come out on the other side.

Just like this guy:

http://www.joshuaray.com/myspace/tunnelbaby.gif

CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS IS COMING SOON!

(thanks to Drew T. Belz for the linkage)

Winter is now slowly swallowing Autumn up. Most of the trees have shrugged off all their color. Its a good thing—I think we might all just rupture if we had it like that for too long. There are certain glories I think humans can only have in doses.

 But glory remains, even though the color has not. The funny thing about beauty is that there is no one sort. Autumn beauty twists into winter beauty–which can be just as overwhelming.

The colors this year were fiery and full. Orange burning and yellow bursting and red smoldering. Butl I have been noticing this autumn that

there is something

quite

fine

about

brown.

________________________________ 

We noticed the smallest things–

Things overlooked before

By this great light upon our Minds

Italicized — as ’twere.

-emily dickinson

________________________________

We’re always looking for friends here at the little Burrow. This week we made a new one.

I would like to cordially introduce you to:

Mr. Little Little Nutkin, Nutkin John Marchsquirrell

Little Little Nutkin (as he allows only Lisa and I and selective relatives to call him . . . he would not appreciate strangers being this liberal with his name. He takes his name very seriously. And wouldn’t you, if your name was “Little Little Nutkin, Nutkin John Marchsquirrell?”) likes to visit the branch outside our window and nap and give himself baths.

Do we really appreciate squirrels? I definitely have not. Not until Little Little Nutkin showed up. We noticed him hanging out there one afternoon, and it suddenly struck me what wonderful little creatures squirrels are. I guess they’re just so common and so greyish-brown that we forget that they are special. They often fall into the same unfortunate lot as oatmeal cookies and pennies and dandilions—-muted wonders. Underappreciated or ignored.

Plus they’re always the first to be put in stews.

Granted, Little Little Nutkin is quite a SHARP and EXTRAORDINARY squirrel. But, he made me realize that God spent as much creativity and carefulnes on ALL squirrels. Just as he did the stegosauruses and the hippopotami.

This is how we found him—-lounging. “What is your name?” we asked him.

“Little Little Nutkin, Nutkin John Marchsquirrell, if you please,” he replied in a rather annoyed tone.  ”Now if you will excuuuuuse me, I am very occupied just now, resting and cleaning my very fine coat and contemplating this life.”

And so he did

just

 that.

 And then I think he heard Lisa and I musing how we could possibly claim a squirrel of our own, and so he did this:

and bid us farewell for then.

Later, Lisa looks at me intently, and says,

“Hey did I ever tell you about that time I watched a squirrel bury a nut? When it was done, I dug it up and moved it. And then I felt bad, so I dug it up again and moved it back.”