about grandmothers and mittens

(thumbless mittens for our wee girl up north )

Sometimes I suprise Gabrielle and the grandchildren with a weekday visit; if it's lunch time, they invite me to share their good food. Then maybe Amaleah narrates a little school work and I ask Julia, Want me to read you a book?

I like to read my favorites, but Julia has favorites too. . . the other day I was firm about my choice, The Mitten by Jan Brett.

So- Baba, the grandmother in the story, wears a crown of braids and a brightly embroidered outfit-she knits mittens for Nikki, her grandson-white mittens, and just as she suspects, one mitten is lost in the clean, white snow. . .

(Gran, you were going to knit us mittens, green for Amaleah and pink for me-you forgot, interrupts Julia. . . I read on.)

However, the woodland creatures, both tiny and huge, claim Nikki's snow white mitten, squeezing their bodies in. . . "It was pulled and bulged to many times its size. But Baba's good knitting held fast." (ahh, what a knitter!)

. . . squeezed in and cozy until the bear's colossal sneeze.

Today is my Julia's birthday. . .mmm, maybe next year there will be pink mittens (it's almost spring in Texas!)

But there's something on the sewing machine I think she'll like.

And a new book. . . for us both.