Dyeing and spinning: I'm spinning up the dark cherry first - I'm putting it with some more of the red/orange/yellow which is currently hogging the bobbins. The blue/red bump will have to wait its turn. I think I'm going to go for a graduated look from one end to the other but I'm not going to try to preserve the colors with a Navajo ply. More thought is required before I start.

Books: Robbing the Bees is a history of honey and bee keeping. Makes me want to run right out and get some bees to keep, or if not that, at least to start buying exotic types of honey and comparing them. Half the types in there that were mentioned as special are things I've never heard of. I like alfalfa honey and buckwheat honey and wildflower, but there are any number of other types I need to check out. Most excellent reading.

All of My Patients are under the Bed. Somewhat dated, but still interesting story of a vet in New York City who came to specialize in housecalls on cats. If you like amusing stories about cats, or stories of life in NYC in the 50s, it's a good book to dip into.

New Rules. Political satire and social commentary; screamingly funny.

Why is the Foul Pole Fair? A trip to a baseball game with the history of the different parts of the game, ballpark, and people explained. Very readable even for this non-baseball fan.

Baseball an Illustrated History This goes along with the PBS series on Baseball from some years ago. I enjoyed that and I enjoyed this also, even though, as mentioned previously, I'm not a big baseball fan. My interest lies in the historical commentary and there is lots of it here. Wonderful collection of pictures and personal vignettes. It's a huge book and you'll get a hernia.

Feminist Fairy Tales. I keep meaning to check the copyright date on this. I liked most of the stories, but it falls into a category I've come to avoid: stories or books that are written just to emphasize that girls are just as good as boys. There's got to be something more to the story than just that, or why bother? It's readable but not something I'll bother to keep.

The Big Over Easy. Funny, but a lot harder to read than the Thursday Next stories. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was. One of the main characters had to decide if she was going to betray another or not and I couldn't decide for a while if she would or wouldn't. I hate that kind of thing and had a hard time making myself keep reading it till she got past that decision. After that I buzzed through the rest of the book and enjoyed it quite a bit.