The chief blogger, cook, and bottle washer has blogger’s block.  So I’m going to do a guest post.   I don’t intend to make a habit of this, my spovely louse.

This morning I had a bizarre dream.  I was on a beach somewhere in North Carolina.  There were people singing “We Shall Overcome”, and a bunch of trailers right down at the edge of the surf.  In my dream, I was napping on the beach.  I woke up (in my dream, still) to the singing, and thought, “That’s right, it’s Martin Luther King Day, and these people are cleaning up the beach as a service project.”  Then I heard soft voices right behind me.  I sat up, and there was a small group of students and a teacher gathered around a hole they had dug in the sandy gravel.  The hole had water in it, and two small octopi.  They were about the size of a small hand, and were tan and black speckled, so they were well camouflaged.  I was trying to ask the adult in charge if octopi would bury themselves to survive low tide, or if the students had dumped the octopi into the hole to see them adjust their camouflage.  This is when I woke up for real. 

The radio was playing NPR, and I’m sure they played “We Shall Overcome” and probably had talked about service projects.  But what about the octopi?  Did anyone hear anything on NPR about them, or was that a fragment from my own vivid imagination?

What did you do for National Service Day on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday?  Mark had to go to work.  I had planned on helping a book pantry collect, sort and distribute books to the U City Schools.  I had an appointment with the eye doctor in the morning.  They dilated my eyes, and driving home in the bright sunshine was doable, but not pleasant.  So I called the book pantry sponsor.  She said someone could come over and pick up my books, even if I didn’t want to come help distribute them.  Two boxes of books will find new homes, and maybe one of those books will spark a love of reading in another child.

I didn’t give away all of the kids’ books, though.  Some were too beat up, and some are my favorites, like the “Winnie the Pooh” books and “Paddle to the Sea”.  What books are your favorites, which would be hard to give away?

Thanks, Anne, I’ll try to do better tomorrow!  Now if you get more eye balls than I, then you will be in trouble.  This post’s picture shows Anne modeling one of her latest creations, a scarf for Joanie.   Today’s header is ice floes on the Mississippi.  They are bigger then you think.