GUARDIAN By Katie Hines!

Katie says about her book:
"This is a story about a real-to-life treasure story. It is about a boy who struggles with guilt and a personal destiny, and it is a story about family, love and making commitments beyond yourself. The cast is replete with four teens, a professorial grandfather, a wacky grandmother and a mysterious knight, whose very life is dedicated to ensuring the safety of not just one, but two treasures."
"Imagine you have made a secret promise that can lead you to the discovery of an incredible treasure and an ancient power. But in order to fulfill that promise, you must defeat an age-old sect that is determined to claim the treasure and power themselves."

Coming May 2009 from 4RV Publishing -
Read about Katie at http://katiehines.blogspot.com -
Cover Artist Diana Navarro --

A Day Out

I met a friend at "Aunt Sues," and the musical entertainment on the porch was this talented fellow.


Then we went up the road to some vineyards - these are new vines they are starting on a hillside - ahhhhh


A staircase in the winery - down, down to a banquet room, where on select Friday evenings they serve five course meals (with a different wine for each course of course) for $72 a head -- A-hem................

Guess the Baby Food

We had a tasting/guessing game at a baby shower at church. No one got all 6 correct!

Transformers, More than Meets The Eye

This transformer is 1/2 inch wide. The 42 gauge wire (to the right) is like hair. My husband makes these - by hand. Of course a precision high speed winder turns that fine wire 266 times around the bobbin. Electronic testing equipment will let us know if it is even one turn off.



This is a Completed transformer, with the core stacked, and the leads (22 gauge gold plated copper) bent just so. The unit is soaked in epoxy in a vacuum chamber.

Penguin Family at the Office

I'm proud of this friend

Jamie Estes started making natural soaps in her kitchen 8 years ago. We taught writing courses together for our homeschool co-op.

Now, she's got a "factory" and ships all over the country to shops and individuals. Her storefront/factory is in Walhalla, a town 6 miles from me.



Below, she stands next to racks of hundreds of bars of soap curing. I like her coffee soap.



My husband uses her shaving soap and it smells great!
Her website is
Thistle Ridge Soap

Uhhhh

Wait a minute - I get Elderhostel (and AARP)....I see a trend here...

What I've been up to in my mind's absence

Ah yes - I must maintain my reputation as a master burner of stuff in the kitchen.
I was blithely doing e-mail clean-up when I heard strange sounds from the kitchen - what-the-hey? Behold the utterly melted honey jar - I only had hoped for a mere warming of the contents - not utter destruction - but what is there to do when memory fails - oh yea, I DID put that on there and turned flames on under it! duh.....

Variations on a Foam Theme

Privacy --- And A Signal

When we want privacy in our phone calls - and a better signal, our family goes out on the deck. When I was growing up, my sibs and I would drag the kitchen phone cord around the corner and into the bathroom, closing the door on the cord. dd here is chatting with her boyfriend - and I snapped this through the kitchen window.