So accumulating 40 gifts wasn’t hard enough, what could I do to make this even more difficult? I know, I should pack each of the 40 gifts in a unique wrapping paper. Man, I’m a real idiot, what did I do to deserve myself? Where do these dumb ideas come from? Buying the first 5 wrapping papers was easy enough, but wait a minute, pull out the fingers and start counting, at this rate I will end up spending hundreds of dollars on packaging and wrapping paper. Oh well, once committed to stupidity don’t go asking us guys to back off a perfectly cool waste of time and money – we are in for the long haul by that time. If I had a recommendation to anyone else taking inspiration from my wonderful idea, do this for someone before they turn 20, er, 10.

I present you, the Charkha. This gift was pivotal amongst the 40 gifts for Caroline. Matter of fact, this was the first thing ordered. Originally it appeared it would have to come from India as no one on E-bay had a Charkha and the other online sites were sold out or just informational. No problem getting one from India as our friend Rinku would be leaving soon to her little village with one bullock cart in the state of Guj in India to get ENGAGED to the new love of her life – Yagnesh. Oh, if only I would tell you the stories about her swooning love for this guy, OMG. Anyway, I digress, I found this wonderful lady, Eileen Hallman of Charkha.biz in North Carolina, who sells them along with a DVD on how to use it – perfect. So now I wouldn’t have to wait for Rinku to wait in line a month for the bullock cart to return her to civilization to take more modern transportation back to America with Caroline’s Charkha in tow, it was here in a week instead. Oh, did I tell you? Rinku is getting ENGAGED! Weeeee!!!!

Like the title? Another paronomasia for you. Get it? As in, Dieing and becoming compost! Maybe this one wasn’t so funny; composted death didn’t find play in my tired imagination so I was left with that boner.

So what’s going on with these postings? Well, I had this bright idea to give Caroline 40 gifts for her 40th birthday and over November I chased, read, talked, researched all matter of things pertaining to fiber, yarn, dyeing, spinning, knitting and was coming up short finding enough gifts that were somehow meaningful. Every so often inspiration would strike, like this coup when I ran into the work of Kimberly Baxter Packwood of Prairie Fibers in Iowa. Kimberly dyes using an unusual technique of rusting, composting, and fermenting substances on fiber, yarn, and cloth giving stunning results. It was great finding the author of the two books dealing with these unique processes; she dedicated and signed them for Caroline.

Doing a bit of backtracking here by posting pictures I shot while preparing Caroline’s birthday that I couldn’t post on these dates as it would have exposed the surprise coming up on the 12th. So you ask, who gives their wife Kool-Aid for her birthday besides the Reverend Jim Jones? The same guy who gives her a dyeing station, that’s who. Suppose some youngsters reading this will scratch their head regarding this reference. Well, I thought it was a funny paronomasia. And shouldn’t everyone have at least one paronomasia for their birthday?

Mwahaha, now I have the secrets required to build my own futon, start a nationwide chain of stores and destroy the puny competition. All thanks to Tom at Futon Favorite in Phoenix, Arizona. Actually, Futon Favorite custom-made our new futon mattress to my specifications – what a treat. We started with a six-inch layer of latex, wrapped that with multiple layers of cotton, threw on a thick layer of wool, which allows our futon to be fireproof and not have to be treated with boric acid. Finally, it was all wrapped up and sewn into a cotton cover. Tom was hundreds of dollars cheaper than anyone else I could find who was selling healthy futons. Now, a month after sleeping on our new mattress, all I can say is, WOW! We love our new bed. Ok, Tom, this was my pitch for your store – Futon Favorite at 509 E. Camelback Road with the toll-free number: 1-888-763-8866 his website is at www.futonfavorite.com – now what kind of discount are you going to give me on those Tatami Rice Mats?