h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I keep forgetting I have a journal here--I've been mostly lurking, and most of my few postings have been in the Atelier, which has kept most of you informed, but not all of you. So, it looks like my last journal entry was in October... Yeah, there's been a few changes.

While I am still working for the local school district, I'm now working at a different school. The change was necessary for the student I was working with, and I've done plenty of whining elsewhere on the internet, so I won't whine here, especially since I've mostly settled in at my new position.

Remember 2009's fudge marathon? 70-80 pounds of fudge made in a week. Well, in 2010, I made 150 pounds of fudge and 10 pounds of peanut brittle in about 2 weeks. It sold well again.

Reach Out Ministries (the ministry Tom is director of, different than the one that ROM was helping a few years ago) will be opening a christian book store in 2011--we've got the space right now. Heck, we've got the keys to the space. One of the things that will be sold in the store is fudge, assuming that I can get access to a commercial kitchen (which I should be able to). My share of the fudge proceeds will be going into a special savings account, earmarked for travel to the UK So it's quite possible I'll be meeting some of you IRL before PaperKid hits 2 digits

Or at least before Notepad does

Any interest in Christian musicians in this bookstore? I've got a friend who's just recorded her first CD...

B

If not there, I do have a wife who very much likes Christian music ...

Do Bach cantatas qualify as Christian music? I'm listening to some of them now -- no, wait, it's a Christmas oratorio by Georg Gebel, a contemporary of Bach... heck, I have three boxes of Christmas CDs. All I can tell you is that every little German or Italian city-state had its own court and religious facitlty in the 17th and 18th centuries. Every choir master in every one of these places composed a steady stream of religious pieces, many of which are being recorded on CDs now that Bach and Handel and Vivaldi have been recorded and rerecorded and rererecorded. Matheson and Pascha and Homilius and Praetorius and on and on and on. I never knew there were so many composers .

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you're doing so well, Amy -- unless you're fudging things.

MB--So far as I know, yes. I'll ask Tom when I get a chance. I do know that Tom's been planning to record a CD himself sometime, in his oh-so-abundant spare time.

Paul-- I do need to remember to look up sugar-free fudge recipes, though, since that's been a huge request this year. For some reason, a lot of the recipes I've spotted so far call for cream cheese

http://www.nicholaseager.com/

Here she is. I knew her well (and fancied her quite a lot) when we were in our teenage years. She's found religion pretty heavily since then, but I still retain a lot of fondness for her regardless.

B

Amy, this is a local gospel quartet that has performed at the library for me several times. They're really good. And on the way up. It would be cool if their CDs were available in northern California. If Tom is interested, let me know and I'll mail you a sample.

http://nhquartet.com/

I talked to Tom and, while he's enthused that cd recommendations are coming in, he also said that, to start with at least, stock for the book store will be gathered by donation (and we can order things for people). We won't be buying stock for awhile, and he wants to avoid the paperwork that comes with doing consignments. (Of course, there's paperwork involved with donations, since our ministry is a 501c3*, but it's much simpler and doesn't involve keeping money separated.)

And here I thought I'd get *some* reaction to the bit about my getting to go to the UK before I'm a grandma








*All donations are tax deductible, if the donor wants a receipt.

Sorry, Amy. I glommed onto the "Cristian music" and "fudge" parts of your post, and didn't think to comment on the trip to the U.K. The U.K. researchers are in for a huge treat when they meet you . Of course this assumes that, grandmother or not, the giant three-headed frogs haven't already risen out of the sea to swallow England and the Scottish lowlands...

Amy, you will love England when you get there. And your friends on that side of the pond will love you! Don't give up. You'll get there.