Volunteers do it for free.

What makes Dunwoody truly great is the limitless capacity of friends and neighbors to volunteer their time and talent for causes near and dear to their hearts. 

In the past few weeks, I've had the privilege of working with volunteers at Dunwoody High School, Dunwoody Nature Center, Campaign Guy's energetic yard sign brigade, the DeKalb Master Gardener program, and St. Luke's Presbyterian Church. As I've shopped, carpooled, and run errands, I've also encountered volunteers like the firefighters collecting for Muscular Dystrophy, a sweet woman staffing the gift shop at Scottish Rite, parents loading and unloading instruments for the Friday night Marching Band performance, a young mom carrying a bag and picking up trash as she walked her child to Austin Elementary School, bloggers spreading the news about community events to Dunwoody's virtual neighborhood, the Young Professionals of Dunwoody planning a spectacular block party benefiting the DHS Band program, and .... well, frankly, seeing volunteers isn't just an occasional thing in Dunwoody. It's a don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-'em, integral part of life in this It's a Wonderful Life town.

John F. Kennedy gave us all an echoing call to volunteerism, asking us to give, not receive; to look for opportunities to serve, not to benefit.  The Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity, and other world-changing volunteer organizations are a legacy of my childhood, that era when a passion to change the world preempted practical considerations like retirement funds and keeping up with the Joneses. Dunwoody is well represented by volunteer service organizations like the National Charity League, Dunwoody Woman's Club, Rotary and Kiwanis, faith groups, medical-focused charities, and others.

As this economy makes all of us look over our shoulders and fret over savings and expenditures, volunteers are even more critical to the quality of life we enjoy.  According to The Nonprofit Times,

"(t)he total estimated value of volunteer service in 2010 reached $173 billion with the proportion of volunteers serving more than 100 hours increasing from 33.2 percent in 2009 to 33.8 percent in 2010."

My unsubstantiated guess is that the percentage of Dunwoody volunteers serving that 100+ hour mark is even higher.

As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 draws near, remember. And do something. Honor our men and women in uniform by using the freedoms they fight so hard to defend. Including volunteering your time and talent to enrich our community. Check with Dunwoody's own Pebbletossers,  Hands on Atlanta, and the City's volunteer opportunities board. Grab a trash bag and talk a walk around town - there's always windblown trash in natural areas and rights-of-way. 

Volunteers do it for free .... and from the heart.

A Mother's Charge to the New Eagle Scout

Adam and his Troop 764 Scoutmasters: Brian LaRose (current), Phil Cohen, Steve Barton, and Bob Smallwood (the troop's founding Scoutmaster)

Adam and his dad, both Eagle Scouts.

Our son's Eagle Court of Honor was this past weekend, held in the Chapel of St. Luke's Presbyterian Church. We were humbled by the many friends and family who traveled long distances and shared their busy weekends with us.

Adam asked me to close the ceremony with the Mother's Charge, which traditionally means poetry and tears. As an inherent stoic, I really couldn't decide what I'd say, right up to the night before the event. But, during chats with visiting friends, I finally figured it out.

And here it is ...

Seventy miles.

The Boy Scout Hiking Merit Badge requires five hikes of 10 continuous miles each.

Plus one hike of 20 continuous miles.

You had to choose hiking trails close to Atlanta. No high adventure because they’re too remote. Crohn’s meant staying close to help if needed.

I volunteered to walk those seventy miles with you. As your mom, I needed to watch over you since some of the hikes came between flare-ups.

I also wanted this time together with you, before you decided that time with me wasn’t nearly as fun as time with friends.

So we hiked. On the Big Creek Greenway, over Kennesaw Mountain, around Dunwoody, through Atlanta, and along the Cherokee Trail at Stone Mountain. Sometimes you listened to your ipod. Sometimes we walked together in silence. Most often, we talked.

Because of Crohn’s, you have to work harder to get what you want. It doesn’t matter that you don’t feel good or are weak because of your meds or can’t sleep because of a flare-up. You still have to keep moving.

You decided you wanted to be an Eagle Scout just like your Dad when you were a Tiger Scout. And you followed through, until all that lay between you and beginning your Eagle Project was seventy miles.

You never balked. You put one foot in front of the other and finished what you began.

And now you’ve reached your goal. You’ve taken the road less traveled and achieved something rare and valuable.

Adam, my charge to you is to keep moving. Never balk because something you want is hard. Life is filled with obstacles, both expected and unexpected.

You’re an Eagle Scout. And I am very proud of you.

Holiday Shopping at St. Luke's!

Knitternall is also Shoppernall during the pre-holiday season. Between knitting gifts and finding special things for dear ones, this is a really fun time of year.

I highly recommend one of my favorite venues: St. Luke's Presbyterian Church Preschool (aka Little Saints) has an annual Shopping Spree that is a high quality, easy to navigate experience.

Stop by:

Wednesday, November 3, 9 am - 1 pm and 5-8pm
Thursday, November 4, 9 am - 1 pm

St. Luke's is located at 1978 Mt. Vernon Road in Dunwoody.

Packing up.

My daughter and I are traveling to the Cumberland area of Tennessee's Appalachian Mountains for a mission trip with St. Luke's Presbyterian Church. Half of our group of 30+ will do repairs and light construction on homes in this very poor area; half will conduct a day camp for 20 or so children. We're in the Day Camp crew, and I'm very much looking forward to meeting the children in our charge. I'm driving a 15-passenger van for the first time in many, many years and will be responsible for picking up, shepherding, and delivering each child in my charge to and from their homes.  I'm sure the backing up part will get better with each day's practice.

The organizers of the various mission trips we have each year figured out that trying to stow a wide assortment of luggage shapes and sizes was the biggest headache at the beginning and end. So they ordered one duffle bag for each participant. Everything . . . clothing, bedding, tools, toiletries, amusements, pillows, rain gear, shoes, Bibles, etc. . . . must fit INSIDE THE BAG. Since ours is the first mission trip to use the bags, we're the guinea pig of sorts for how much better things go.

The extra-large bags are huge. Nonetheless, packing to fit the available space has been both a challenge and an opportunity. Do I really need this extra pair of pants? Can't I make do with one pair of shoes all week? Will I have time to read more than one book? Can I use a small backpack instead of a purse? Should I go au naturel and not blow dry or style my hair all week - hence, no dryer or hair stuff? Do I leave vanity at home and take a servant attitude instead?

The basic routines of my daily life seem superfluous when confronted with such limitations. Perhaps our organizers understood that limiting us to a single duffle bag would be both a spiritual and a practical lesson.

They're pretty smart that way.

Handheld Games for Children's Healthcare at Scottish Rite

My son asked me to post his Eagle project on my blog as he spreads the word about a special collection to support Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite.

Adam says:
 

I am conducting a handheld video game donation drive to benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. I was inspired to do this by my personal experience as a patient of the hospital in the Intensive Care Unit and primary care floors.

Due to my Crohn’s Disease, I have had five hospitalizations at Children’s Healthcare between sixth grade and this past Thanksgiving (11th grade). Two of those were in the ICU for more than a week each. I was not ambulatory and the only thing the hospital had (at the time) to entertain me was kid videos, coloring books, and other rather uninteresting things to do. The exception was the TV in my room, but it stopped playing my channels later at night. One of my father’s business associates gave me a Nintendo DS, for which I was very grateful because it gave me something to do besides the uninteresting activities. Since each of my hospitalizations lasted a long time (twice I was there for two weeks), all that time in bed was really difficult. 

The hospital now has a Teen Activity Room. That’s a great thing, but it doesn’t help patients who can’t get out of bed. So the Volunteer Services department is really excited about this project and the entertainment value for kids who are too old for coloring books and cartoons.

The hospital's Volunteer Services staff will loan patients a handheld system and games during their stay. Each set will be packaged in a sturdy plastic container and labeled according to the age range of the games and gender, if applicable.
 
Adam and his fellow Scouts are collecting used, working-condition Nintendo (DS, DS Lite, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Color), Sony PSP, battery packs, power cords, styluses, and games (lots of games) for these systems rated E or T (no mature). The project goal is 30 individual handheld game systems plus at least 2 games per system and necessary cords, adapters, and power packs.
 
If you have a neglected, out of date handheld game system, consider a donation to benefit Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite.
 

An Eagle Project by Adam Nall, Troop 764
(St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church, Dunwoody)
 

For more information or to donate, post a comment on this blog!
 

Scouts will arrange for pick-up anywhere in the Atlanta metro,
or you can deliver to St. Luke's, 1978 Mt. Vernon Road, Dunwoody 30338

(place his name and "Eagle Project" on the package).

It's cold. It's early. And I feel good.

T and I just returned home from our early morning assignment for the Tartan Trot. St. Luke's Presbyterian Church's 5k/10k race (this year a Peachtree Road Race qualifying event!) had 600 runners, several hundred volunteers, a large contingent of Dunwoody Police monitoring the route, and our usual frigid, rainy weather.

(One runner asked me if we felt the need to live up to our Scottish heritage - all that knees bared in the snow stuff a la Braveheart. "Yep," I said. "They don't call us 'the frozen chosen' for nothing!'")

Our assignment was the satellite parking and shuttle service at Dunwoody High School. T took one intersection; I fashioned a flag out of a race shirt so I could keep my heavy cold gear on and directed traffic into the parking lot. There was a steady stream of cars arriving right up until race time; then a few stragglers ran towards St. Luke's, hoping to catch the start.

The Tartan Trot is St. Luke's fundraiser for Youth mission trips. Early calculations indicate that we may do very well indeed for the three mission trips and two retreats planned this coming summer. (The tween and I will head to Mountain Top for the first time!)

After our shift was over, we headed to Olde Hickory House for a celebratory breakfast. I pretended I didn't have hat hair or looked like a doughboy with all the layers I was wearing. It was just good to sit down in the smoky warmth and enjoy eggs and sausage.

Now it's warm at home. It's mid-morning. And I feel even better.

10 Ways I Know It's Christmas.

In the past few days . . .

1. Decorated the house and picked out the annual perfect tree at Home Depot. $24 7' Douglas Fir. These trees are fresh and last well into the New Year. (Side story - I'd given up on the Douglas fir because all they seemed to have left was little 6' trees. But the tween forged through the stacked up inventory, to emerge triumphant with the last taller tree in the pile. So she's the Christmas tree elf this year!)

2. Ordered the last Christmas gifts. Yay.

3. Knitting madly to finish teacher gifts and something special for my mom.

4. Listening to Christmas music on Live365 - I'm a huge fan of streaming radio and music broadcasts on the internet. I listen to Sky FM's free classical music at work and enjoy jazz and folk at home.

5. A Christmas Story has started popping up on TV. Hello, Ralphie - it's great to see you and your folks again.

6.  The kids are cramming for finals. Nothing like added stress to make the holiday break even more of a relief.

7.  Chrismons! I've been working with the ever-energetic and wonderful Laura to coordinate a 17-year tradition - Chrismons hand-made by the Presbyterian Women at St. Luke's. This Sunday we'll attend both services and hand more than a hundred to the children of the church.

8.  Christmas cards are arriving. I mailed ours this weekend and now look forward to catching up with family and friends via photo cards and annual letters.

9.  Christmas-centered services at church. Ah, the warm embrace of scripture, familiar carols, children's festive clothes, the Living Nativity, holiday sweaters, fellowship parties, and the lighting of the Advent candles. Simply wonderful.

10. Baking, baking, baking. Snowball cookies and buckeyes, cheese straws and pumpkin bread, peppermint bark and fudge. Yum.

Ho, ho, ho!

Proverbs 31:13

"She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands." - Proverbs 31:13


I've been working on a new shawl design (it'll be posted here shortly!) and my first Mason-Dixon log cabin blanket. Fun! One of my favorite stores, the Jake's House shop in Dunwoody, has a new design for "close-knit" friends. Shopowner Beth Dresher let me know it was in stock, so I dropped by this weekend to add the pink tee to my stash. It's soft, comfortable, and fun - perfect for weekends.

I took the tee along with me when I joined some fellow knitters at St. Luke's this past Sunday to participate in the Time & Talent Expo, a marvelous buffet of programs, classes, missions, and fellowship made possible by the extraordinary people who make up our congregation.

In the ROCKERs "booth" (Reaching Out Through Crocheting & Knitting), we displayed layettes for Share Atlanta, prayer blankets and shawls. We chatted merrily away, our needles flying, and encouraged everyone to sign up for lessons (FREE!). As visitors and church members stopped by for the homemade cookies and cheesestraws some of the knitters had prepared, the most common thing they said to us was, "I'd love to knit, but I just don't have the time to learn."

Neither did we.

In most cases, knitting was born from need, whether sitting bedside with a critically ill family member and waiting not-so-patiently in a series of doctors' offices or filling the empty spaces left by a spouse suffering dementia.

God put needles in our hands because we needed them. We're not alone . . .

Expectant mothers on bed rest in the high-risk unit at Montefiore Medical Center in New York are dealing with their boredom by learning how to knit. ...

Staff at NHS (National Health Service) Highland have been learning to knit as a way of staying healthy and to provide items for a Homecoming Scotland celebration. A number of employees have spent their lunch-times knitting squares which will be sewn together and handed over to the Stitches on the Bridge project.

Beginning September 1st, for every Lands' End FeelGood
sweater purchased, the company will donate signature FeelGood yarn to One
Heart Foundation's Warming Families, a nationwide knitting charity.  Lands'
End expects to donate thousands of pounds of yarn to the charity where
volunteers plan to knit up to 25,000 hats and other items to warm the homeless
and displaced.

Knitting needles could be classed as weapons in Scotland

Okay, that last one is there because it's so darned funny. The greater risk to the general public is if a knitter is denied the meditative and calming benefits of knitting on an airplane (I hate flying) or train (I hate waiting).

Life . . . and knitting . . . is good.

Energizers

From: Mom
To: Teen and Tween
Re: School Mornings

Henceforth, each school morning will begin with several Energizers. We will walk like an Egyptian, do the Charlie Brown, peel bananas, go fishing, dance like penguins, and other silly stuff. You will roll your eyes, begin half-heartedly (and sometimes even rebelliously), and end up fully awake, laughing at the sight of your mother trying to keep up, and ready for the day.

Each morning of this Middle School Youth retreat begins with 20 minutes of jumping, turning, shaking, nodding, clapping, waving, twisting, yelling, and singing. The tweens LOVE this part. They roar when a favorite is repeated, try gamely to follow the new ones, and laugh at the rubbery, stretchy moves of the two adult leaders on the stage. (I've taken lots of photos, Phil. You're going to see them on the St. Luke's monitors next week.)

One interesting result of chaperoning this week: my college dreams are back. I lived in Carroll dorm at N C State, an un-airconditioned high rise right next to the railroad tracks. The first two or three weeks of school each year included nightly dreams about monsters getting closer and closer and louder and louder - until I'd awaken with heart pounding as one of the nightly freight trains roared past. After awhile, everyone stopped hearing them. The smells (mildew and sweat), the sights (worn wood cabinets and squashy beds), and the sounds (you can hear EVERYTHING) are very, very evocative. So last night I had the dream where I can't find my dorm key and I'm late to class and I really, really need to get the paper I spent all night finishing so I can turn it in on time.

For pete's sake.

Retreat!

The Knitternall gals are retreating this week with St. Luke's and a gaggle of tweens from across the South to Presbyterian College for a Middle School Youth Group Retreat. The tween is thrilled at the prospect of sleeping in a college dorm, college food, and activities that go on late into the evening. I'm the "back home" parent for our little group, there for meals and after the program ends in the evening, with devotional and discussion about the day's events. The schedule of events is filled with fun and spiritual explorations. Small group gatherings! Choir! Communion! Variety show! Movie! Music! Silly games on the lawn! Lights out at 11:30!

We'll be back on Sunday . . .

A Chorus of Hallelujahs

Happy Easter! The day has dawned beautifully here in Dunwoody. I wakened to birds chirping merrily and a soft breeze tinkling the wind chimes next door. The kids discovered the Easter Bunny had visited yet again (he doesn't stop just because they're hitting the teen years). We're dressing in our finery, doing a few last-minute preparations for our Easter lunch, and will soon make our way to St. Luke's.

All is not well in the world. And that's all the more reason to live faithfully.

Have a glorious day.

Pie.

A guy at church started it. When we had our Mission Miles fundraiser at St. Luke's, he suggested we offer pies as prizes. The fact that he is passionate about pies was of course at the root of his inspiration. So a parade of homebaked pies entered the hall, from chess and apple to fudge and pecan. Bagged and bowed, tagged and adorned, each pie was enticing and memory-evoking. One church member baked at least four because she couldn't decide which one she wanted to donate. Lead runners got their pick of the pies, and not a single one was left orphan at the end of the fundraiser.

So we started talking about pies. How they're a distinctly Southern thing. That there are pie people and cake people, and it's rare to find someone who likes both equally well. One Sunday School class learned that some folks pronounce them "pahs," and some crisply enunciate the long vowel i. That pies should be plain, a la mode, warm, room temperature, crustless, crusty, deep dish, bite sized, homemade, special ordered at Fresh Market or Wright Gourmet, and so on. The only consensus was that pie is GOOD.

Of course we started making pies at home. The first was a long-treasured buttermilk pie I remember my grandmother serving, fresh from the oven and unadorned with whipped cream or ice cream. That one lasted two days. Next came the favorite chocolate fudge pie, half gone before the filling had a chance to cool into brownie mode. I'm thinking about a layered strawberry pie next, with strata of cream cheese and fruit and rich praline.

Rather surreally, there are knitters who knit pies. They also knit vegetables, alien creatures, entire three-course meals, and even wedding cakes. Personally, I'd rather invest that time in creating food for the soul. It may not last as long as that knitted thing, but the memory goes on forever.

The Golden Ax

Troop 764, out of St. Luke's Presbyterian Church, WON THE GOLDEN AX COMPETITION at this year's Camporee at Bert Adam's Scout Reservation.

For the 4th year.

So they get to keep it.

Yes!

(To win, the troop has one solid piece of wood and one match. They have to make a fire with flames high enough to burn through two suspended strings, then cook a pancake and eat it. Sounds simple? That wood has to be chopped, split, render kindling and sufficient logs to build the fire, sustained and tended to reach the proper heat for cooking - all after days and days of pouring rain.)

Troop 764 also won the campsite award thanks to excellent set-up and management by patrols (they got their gear unloaded, set up tents, and stowed gear under rainproof tarps during a lull between downpours).

We learned all this last evening, during a ceremony at St. Luke's for the troop's 72nd Eagle Scout.

Very cool.

Church-wide luncheon and Easter Egg hunting

The rain broke in time for St. Luke's annual Spring Luncheon and Easter Egg Hunt. With a potluck, you never know what you'll get - just that it's all GOOD. Some years we have an amazing array of salads to go with the fried chicken provided by the church. This year, our family cooks were in a sweet mood, so the dessert table was laden with fresh pies, cakes, cookies, cupcakes, an amazing chocolate-banana trifle, strawberry shortcake, and more. We prepared a coconut sheet cake and surrounded it with hot pink Peeps bunnies, a huge hit with the Easter Egg hunters (as well as a few parents who grinned sheepishly and popped a Peep). Presbyterians love any opportunity to share and enjoy food, so the turnout was wonderful.

We had much to celebrate: a successful Mission Miles fundraiser (5K, fun run, and tot trot) that reached our goal for Youth Group missions, plentiful rain after a lengthy drought, a sleepover and camping trip for the tween and teen, and even a mini-date for T and me, margaritas and chips at El Azteca.

Meanwhile, back at Bert Adams Scout Reservation, the guys were breaking down their campsite and working hard to win the Golden Ax award for an unprecedented 4th year in a row. Can't wait to see how that one turned out. It rained the entire weekend, they had to shelter from a few severe storm warnings, yet still they had a great time, according to A, now en route back home.

The cycle of Church events and services punctuates the year, keeping us all attuned to the intertwining patterns of spiritual and everyday life. Easter means the end of another winter, the transition to the calmer days of summer, and the moment-by-moment miracles of life and living. It's poignant to hear the Cherub Choir sing "All Things Bright And Beautiful" and gather baskets in hand for the hunt - just a few short years ago, our children were wriggling and singing while their eyes were poised on the prizes waiting in a few dozen plastic eggs. Now they're in a new, wonderful time of life and just as entranced with each discovery and experience.

It's Spring. In happiness and hardship, through warming sun and gusting storms, without interruption life blossoms once again.

Because it's the right thing to do.

My husband and I were talking yesterday about the people who do things without recognition. They aren't looking for praise or accolades - they just do something because it's needed or it helps someone.

Take the people who showed up yesterday at Dunwoody Nature Center, despite the frigid temps and biting wind. It was our monthly Hands On Atlanta workday, a fact in itself that is wonderful and amazing. Random volunteers show up one Saturday morning each month and tend to the unending chore list. Coordinator Martha Moore is the constant, leading the troops and never flagging in her commitment to do the right thing. This group included six Kohls' Department Store employees. They cut privet and ivy, laid mulch on trails, and even hung a wall cabinet in the office. Wow.

At St. Luke's Presbyterian Church, quiet volunteers take care of hanging and taking down Christmas decorations, refill children's worship activity binders with worksheets and crayons, keep Sunday School class members apprised of prayer needs and celebrations, move the baptismal font into position, clean the communion trays, and so many other necessities.

Last week, someone dropped a load of small bits of paper for about a quarter mile down Chamblee-Dunwoody Road and Roberts Drive, between the village and the Nature Center. I saw the mess as I went to work and decided I'd pick up a bag and start cleaning up. But someone was ahead of me. A woman with a large black garbage bag was stooping and clearing, steadily taking care of the mess. I don't know how far back the mess had started, but she was leaving a clean roadside behind her.

None of these "jobs" is high profile. But just imagine life without someone taking care of things, just because it's the right thing to do. For our family, "It's the right thing to do" is our credo and the deciding factor for many choices we make.

Volunteering is also an opportunity to step away from our own cares and worries. Between jobs, during stressful times, while trying to make a decision, or waiting for something to happen . . . volunteering can put things in perspective and open new options. Help build a house or knit blankets for stillborns while you're job-hunting. Pick up a rake or hammer while you're trying to make an important decision. Deliver a meal or make sandwiches for the homeless while you're waiting for a diagnosis or working through a broken relationship. Everyone hurts and everyone can help.

Choose to help. It's the right thing to do.

Knitting wishes for Christmas

Just a few weeks after our son was born, we celebrated our first Christmas as a family. It was quiet and modest, a peaceful time together that became the benchmark for all future Christmas celebrations. In church for Christmas Eve, at home for Christmas Day, and three gifts for each child . . . just as the magi honored the Newborn King.

Certainly there are gifts from family and friends and wonderful gatherings throughout the holidays, but Christmas Day was and is just us, a few well-chosen gifts, a stocking full of candy and trinkets, the scent of homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee drifting through the house, and hours lolling in our pajamas.

Those traditions continue today at the Knitternall house. We'll have dinner at home, drive around Dunwoody to see the Christmas lights, and be at St. Luke's for the candlelit Christmas Eve service at 11:00 pm. For breakfast, I'm baking a new cinnamon roll recipe - one by Alton Brown's that is absolutely perfect. I've made them twice, and they don't last long.

Our kids deliberate carefully as they prepare their wish lists. They ask only what they really, really want, with some gentle guidance from us. T and I, too, tend to be somewhat pragmatic about our wishes.

A has a few manga and Wii games that he'd enjoy on his list.



AG is into shoes, journals, and animals.





I'd like to have a fire pit. I have a perfect spot for it in the back yard.

T wants some new sneaks, something simple - not flashy. And ties are always welcome, especially those with his favorite shade of federal blue.

The economy is scary and this is not a good time to go overboard. But since we've always kept things simple and focused on the spirit of the holiday, our Christmas will be just as meaningful this year as it always has been.

I can't wait to savor those cinnamon rolls!

Ponderings

Dunwoody's temporary City Hall will be in Sandy Springs. At first, I didn't like the idea very much, no matter how practical and cost effective the decision was. But now it's gelled a bit and I'm glad our first City Council is so frugal.

In the past two weeks, I've heard several instances of parents not taking responsibility for their own inattention/oversight/ignorance and threatening lawsuits against whomever. For Pete's sake. It makes it hard for those of us volunteering and trying to make things happen to even try in the first place.

Light Up Dunwoody has a trolley! It's going to travel from the Shoppes at Dunwoody to the Farmhouse to Dunwoody Nature Center for Cocoa & Candles and back again. Fun!

Fast Nall School Night Dinner: boiled a bag of tortellini, heated up some Hunt's Traditional Spaghetti Sauce and mixed in a dozen frozen meatballs. Mixed together, topped with mozzarella, and tossed in oven. Baking 30 minutes while A's Algebra tutor works with him, and dinner will be ready.

John Heneghen and Pattie Baker are two of my favorite Dunwoody bloggers. One keeps us in the loop with the City of Dunwoody birth pains and the other keeps us looking ahead to a sustainable life in this wonderful town. My favorite website? Dunwoody Nature Center, of course!

Dr. Christopher Price, senior minister of St. Luke's Presbyterian Church for nearly two decades, preached his last sermon this past Sunday. I was fairly dry-eyed until he paid tribute to T for his service as Clerk of Session through two epochal changes to the church. Tears flowed, friends patted me on the back, and the kids stared wide-eyed because I never lose it.

T and I had breakfast Saturday morning at Olde Hickory House. Over plates of not-so-healthy but yummy Southern fare, we discussed holiday plans and caught a few adult moments together. Meanwhile, a young fellow commanded and demanded his parents' undivided attention in the booth behind me. "Wow," T said. "I don't think those parents said one word to each other." Oh, we remember those days!

There's this amazing new wine/beer/liquor place called Total Wine in the Perimeter. They bestowed a much-appreciated $2,000 donation to Dunwoody Nature Center in celebration of their grand opening. I will most definitely be shopping there for the holidays!

As Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines merge, the hiccups are just beginning. For example, T travels EXTENSIVELY, mostly on Delta. He had a day trip today. The "new" airline is adopting Northwest's policies on priority seating for frequent flyers, which is a horribly inept system. T spent way too much time trying to move out of the middle seat, a process that would have taken five minutes on the computer before the merger. Favorite bit of stupidity in the process: the new system says you can't change a seat until 24 hours before the flight. But in a day trip, the return trip can't be changed until you're in the city of departure. Come on.

I love the Dunwoody Library. I love it in spite of its quirks, due largely to the fact that it's funded and managed by the chronically dysfunctional DeKalb County. I love the staff and their obvious passion for all things library-ish. I love the fact that I can reserve books at home and then pick them up whenever. What I don't love is their disdain for knitting books. Come on . . . when are you going to add Mason-Dixon Knitting's sequel and Nicky Epstein's latest?

I'm on Ravelry! To date, more than 150 people have favorited or queued Sox Shawl, Trimiters, and Knitting Tote.

The Sunday Night Knitting Circle is going strong, though only a handful of us come each week. It's peaceful in the St. Luke's library and we have a marvelous time with our WIPs, chats, and confiding moments. This past Sunday we used my swift and ball winder to turn a mass of donated yarn into center-pull balls. Fun!

One of my favorite breaks is to take a walk with Scooter the Wonder Dog in the late night darkness of Dunwoody Village. The lights are glowing, traffic is light, and the crisp air smells faintly of the hardwood fires wafting from Olde Hickory House throughout the day. Peaceful, comforting, and familiar, it's a marvelous transition from busy day to quiet sleep.

The pleasures of a free weekend

Most weekends are filled with must-do's in the Knitternall house. Homework, school projects, Quiz Bowl, church activities and retreats, freelance copywriting assignments, and never-ending chores make the time fly too quickly for respite. 

This weekend has been an unexpected exception. Such wealth of free time. So many options for fun!

Saturday I transplanted four shrubs, divided hostas, cut back some overachiever hollies and hydrangeas, turned the growing compost pile, and planted two dwarf gardenias. Today, after church, I'll focus on seaming 60+ squares for a huge prayer blanket. I have two DVD's ready to go and plan to enjoy myself completely.

  I've also been busy with Christmas knitting:  Rolled brim hats, Urchin berets, Maine Morning Mitts and a few felted handbags will fill the stockings of teachers and friends. 

Funny how I'm just as busy as usual, but because the work is my choice, it's so much more pleasurable.

 Now it's time for church. A beautiful day, the satisfaction of completed labors, and time with my family: bliss.

It's kinda fuzzy

If you have one of those amazing memories filled with important things like the actual DAY you joined your church, graduated from college, met your husband . . . as well as your first telephone number, the address of the first place you lived after college, or dorm room number: wow.

I'm not that person.

Facts kind of float away from me as time passes, making room for the here and now. I can't remember the street we lived on (well, we lived on 13 different streets as we moved from air base to air base), the names of the neighbors in Kirkwood (our first house as newly marrieds) my children's preschool teachers' names (unless I check their scrapbooks). I forget names, volunteer jobs, the ways and means of fundraising campaigns I've led, and so many other details of my life.

It's not that I don't care. I have a dozen scrapbooks that prove otherwise. It's just that my brain is FULL.

There are so many details to tend to in the present that I've had to tuck away the past into some synaptic files that are gathering dust with each passing year. 

Which brings me to this morning. We were gathered at church over a tasty luncheon sharing our beginnings as a get-to-know-you activity. Memories I thought were well out of mind came quickly to the forefront as we shared backstories about first impressions and why we finally chose to join St. Luke's. I was quite happy that details were right there when I needed them.

So I'm feeling better about hazy history. 

Things to do when gas is not so much

At looooonnnnngggg last, the gas shortage has eased here in Atlanta. Dunwoody has gas, even the BP station, which has much more frequent outages than any other stations during normal times. Of course, it's way above four bucks a gallon, so it's a good news/bad news proposition.

Our Sunday School class discussion centered on the issue of simplicity, choosing what and who are important, passing on the unnecessary. Yes, we've grown technologically in the past 2,000+ years. We still haven't learned a thing. While Martha was cleaning up after feeding Jesus and his entourage (and in a mighty snit about having to do it all by herself), Mary was enjoying the visit. Guess who Jesus praised? Not the busy Martha.

So, despite the nerve-twisting and costly gas crisis, it did offer one silver lining: it forced us to slow down and think thrice about how and why we drove anywhere. Staying close to home was easy for us, because Dunwoody has all the basics right here in town. Groceries and a few things from the hardware store? Check - just three blocks from home. Pick up the kids after school? Check - a couple of miles away. Breakfast at Old Hickory House with T early Saturday morning? Easy. Church on Sunday? Right around the corner. Walking to the bank and post office, as well as work at Dunwoody Nature Center was a peaceful option. Our family is blessed by proximity.

And, because it was a slower week all around, I finished two prayer ministry projects (a shawl and a lapghan), cast on the Side-to-Side Garter Stitch Vest, and finished one Maine Morning Mitt. The compost pile for next spring's Square Foot Garden is coming along nicely, and I raked up a ton of acorns falling across the driveway and sideyard.

Bliss!