That State Up North

Bruce,

I'm comin' at you live from my parent's new house in Alma, Michigan. Alma is a small town in mid-Michigan about an hour north of Lansing. My parents love the town. The church is huge and pretty awesome, and everyone seems to really like my dad as the minister. Also, even though it's small, it's a college town. It has a really cute little downtown section that reminds me of Oxford, with all these little independant businesses.

Here are my parents sitting by their POOL!!!!!!
They pretty much hate the house they're in now, pool nonwithstanding. All the rooms are small, it doesn't have central air, it's not well maintained, and as my mom puts it, the house just "isn't a good fit." I think that's Pam Brackbill-speech for "they have way too much stuff." Here's the living room, which is actually an addition on the back of the house.

Stuff piled against the wall! They're moving soon. Again. Here's the kitchen. I think the kitchen alone would make me not buy the house in the first place.

The basement has an old Kelvinator fridge built right into the wall. Pretty sweet. Again, my parents have a lot of stuff.

As I was sitting on the couch, watching Air Force One and knitting away at my scarf, my mom pulled out a box and gave it to me. Inside was a set of woven placemats:

Apparently, shortly after I was born, my great grandmother in Texas made me those placemats on a loom at her church. Mom says she made something for every girl that was born into the family, so I guess these placemats are supposed to go in my hope chest. I think it's SO awesome to get stuff like this. My great grandmother died when I was about 3, so I barely remember her at all. But I still have something that she made with her own two hands.

(I don't really have a hope chest, by the way. How funny would that be?)

Ever since I learned how to knit, I can really appreciate all the various gifts I've gotten through the years from different family members. Of everyone, my grandmother is probably the most accomplished crafter: she does knitting, sewing, quilting, and cross stitch. If I hadn't learned how to knit, I don't think I could have really appreciated all the things she has made for me over the years. I really hope that someday I can make something that gets passed down through the generations. People will say, "Your great great aunt Karen made this blanket. If you look closely at the stitches, you can see the fur from cats long gone."

Awwww, here's a nice one. It's from before those pesky brothers came along.

My mom likes to tell the story of how I cried when I had to give that bear back to the photographer.

Later Gator,

Brax