Linda, how wonderful. Most of my family has managed to stay pretty close to "home", but Elery's family is pretty far flung and he bemoans the fact that he has three grandsons in California that he sees a couple of times a year and so barely knows. I told him when we got the house built at the farm, we'd buy plane tickets and let the boys come in the summer and spend as many weeks as they cared to, fishing with Elery and riding horses and playing with ATVs... the last time they came David and a friend brought out the 4 wheelers and those three boys thought it was more fun than they'd ever had. That and gathering eggs, go figure. Have lots of fun! Annie

I'm sorry about the link... let's try this one. The Apron Book It's very special indeed. Part of the reason for posting about it here is to honor her thoughtfulness and time she put into this gift. She has sewn some curtains and pillow covers but really doesn't care too much about sewing. And that just adds another dimension to the specialness of the gift.

Isn't it great so many places are giving away/selling cheap the tote bags? I like the recycled soda bottle ones, altho' I'm still partial to sturdy canvas. (A friend of mine made a good 10 bags out of a painters drop cloth. Talk about cheap!) I don't have a picture of them, but last year I found $1 totes at Garden World in all sorts of hideously bright colors. I got three for a friend in eye-gashingly garish yellow, and painted the symbol for radioactive material on the side. You don't overlook them very easily! I still get plastic bags ocassionally, if I forget, or if I have ice cream or chicken. (Baggers are pretty well trained to automatically wrap chicken in a plastic bag no matter what else you've got.) I also use them for kitchen garbage and to clean out the litter boxes, so I figure I get at least one more use out of them. But I've definetly pared down my consumption of them. Someone mentioned on one of these forums that the standard practice in Europe is to charge shoppers for plastic bags -- that might be the fastest way to encourage people to bring their own!

This is a totally different idea, but I wanted to mention it because I recently rediscovered my immersion blender. I wanted something I could take out of town with me that was small and easy to pack, and...I know this would sound odd to some...offered a little bit of ''help'' in case I decided I wanted to bake. (A readily-available kitchen is a good thing.) Anyway, I realized my immersion blender (Kitchen Aid) had a whip attachment (like a miniature hand-mixer) that I'd never used. Eureka! Of course I had to try it out, and it works beautifully. If your friend doesn't have one, she would probably love it for blending soups, making smoothies or chopping things. The best part is they're not terrible expensive. (FYI; maybe not for now, but for the future.)