No Yarn Budget This Month

That's because my yarn budget has been allocated to a much more worthy cause - a donation to the American Red Cross for the Hurricane Katrina Fund. Even better, my company will match the donation.

I was really out of touch with what was going on in the Gulf coast states last week, but now that I've caught up with the rest of the nation it feels like someone kicked me in the gut. I lived through a hurricane that took an unexpected turn from the North Carolina seaboard and travelled inland. I grew up taking tropical storms, flooding and tornados spawned by hurricanes for granted because they happened so often and we knew how to deal with the after affects, more or less. The conditions resulting from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi are deplorable and shocking. I feel very helpless here, donation or not. I wish there was something more tangible that I could do.

Isn't it weird that life goes on even in the face of tragedy? While we go about our normal routine, whether it's sitting at our desks at work, dropping the kids off at school, or attending class ourselves it's really distracting to know there is a more important, critical event going on and people's lives are at stake. I would rather be working on that and trying to make a difference instead of wondering what I'm going to do about dinner.

So I was going to tell you about my weekend and the latest knitting news, but I don't feel it's appropriate. It's a bit belated but consider this my little candle being lit for the people of Hurricane Katrina: may they find comfort and solace from all the prayers and thoughts directed their way, food and shelter from helping hands generously extended.