les tricoteuses

     Les tricoteuses were the women who supposedly knitted the fates of the condemned during the French Revolution.  Their knitting supposedly contained a record of the names of those who were to be put to death. Very creepy. Now we have "yarn bombers", who knit things around trees and posts. I wonder if the CIA has been working on breaking their code, and what secret messages might lie hidden in this knitting?

raising money for charity

     The walks for charity--you have probably seen or heard of them. It's great to raise money for a cause. I went on two 25-mile walks when I was younger, for a charity. But I'd really like to see the charities pick a product or a job--that's right, a job. How about being the charity that offers to rake leaves every fall for a fee? The money to go to the charity, of course, and the labor to be done by volunteers.  The volunteers could show up with paper bags and take the leaves to the composting center. How about an annual pick-up-the-park day for charity? More than one charity could use this one.  How about a highway clean-up for charity? Or a playground clean-up and fix-up? Or annual chimney sweeping, gutter cleaning, or anything else you can think of? Once word got around, the charity would become known for its service, and people would save jobs and money for the charity. So much more useful than walking about.