Her presence, with presents!

Last Tuesday was our monthly Pizza Hut Book-It luncheon. We got there a few moments before Pizza Hut opened to find Kayte already there in the parking lot, sitting in Blue Bernice and busily engaged in deleting unwanted photographs off her digital camera. I have to say, I was shocked that she wasn't knitting, with Bernice's interior getting more and more stuffed with wool, kind of like that sheep in Through the Looking Glass.

Meelyn, Aisling and I went on ahead to carry a stack of board games and prizes into the restaurant, but as I was walking in, I heard Kayte call, "I'm coming!" and I turned back to see her climbing out of Blue Bernice with a fouffy-looking gift bag.

When we got inside, she gave it to Meelyn, saying, "These are your prizes! See how I wrapped them in matching paper with ribbons and tags?" It really looked nice -- one of those kind of gifts that is almost too pretty to open. Almost. We opened our little packages to find the knitted dishcloths we won at Grandma's Kitchen Table during her Great Dishcloth Giveaway a couple of weeks ago. They were very nice and are, in fact, my favorite type of dishcloth because they actually absorb water so that you can wipe down a counter. (There's that other type of weird dishcloth you can buy in numerous places, made out of a waffle-type weave, and those things are the worst. They seem to actually repel water, which is not a favorable characteristic in a dishcloth. If you've ever bought one, you know what I'm talking about. There are also tea towels in that same troublesome fabric that do nothing towards drying the wooden surface of the kitchen table or your grandmother's wine glasses. I've never figured out why those things are even sold.)

I was vastly pleased with my dishcloth, which was worked in the very same buttery yellow color I'd requested. Meelyn's, I believe, was bright yellow, and Aisling's was a washcloth of many colors, being worked in a multi-colored blue, red, green and yellow in jewel tones.

But there was more! "There's something else for you in the bag, Shelley," Kayte said mysteriously, so I reached in and pulled out the most darling market bag I've ever seen, just like the one she took a picture of over at GKT. I was completely delighted and wanted to go out right away to the nearest boulangerie and buy several baguettes so that they could stick adorably out of the top, perhaps accompanied by a shiny fashion magazine and a florist-wrapped bouquet of Gerbera daisies. (The Concorde is pretty fast, but it only takes me moments to go to Paris in my head.)

Kayte revealed that she had a private contest going on in her head, which was that she would make a market bag for anyone who posted on her site and admired the one in the photo. Her sister Karen and I were the only ones who squealed over their cuteness, so let this be a lesson to the rest of you: from now on, when Kayte posts a picture, tell her how cute it is. You may wind up with a pear tree in full flower, a fruit salad, or maybe even Matt and Alex emptying your wastebaskets and not rinsing out your milk bottles!