Sunday round up

We've got a few loose ends to darn in today.

First of all, for Cassie's legion of followers, we offer these:

Second, we received a lovely gift way back before Christmas that we haven't mentioned yet. Our sister-in-law, Lorelyn, the potter, made us this beautiful yarn bowl and asked us to test drive it for her. She works under the name CoachHouse ClayArts and she's in the process of creating her own website. Isn't this yarn bowl fabulous? AND, we can confirm that a yarn bowl is a great device for keeping those slippery balls of yarn from rolling away when you're knitting.

And, finally, move over Laura Secord! Yesterday, at the final holiday get-together of the season, we received a wonderful assortment of gourmet dates. Yes, dates!! But not the dates you'd chop up for good ol' date squares. No. These are fabulous, moist and chewy dates stuffed with wonderful things like candied lemon or orange peel, or crystalized ginger!! or nuts!! Our nephew, his wife, and Bernard's delightful girlfriend brought them for us straight from Saudi Arabia. You can read about the dates at the company website: www.bateel.com  (Some tiny part of our [non-travel-loving] heart would really like to leave the Kingdom and visit one of those shops. Just as soon as they perfect that "Beam me up, Scotty!" thing.) Who knew there were so many varieties of dates?? The world is wide, and there is so much we don't yet know.