Hi Shelly,
Have you got a recipe for watermelon rind pickles? I think you would find one among Mennonite recipes.
The only books I have wanted to read over again include J.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Anne Michaels - Fugitive Pieces. There are clear definitions of what is good and what is evil in the Lord of the Rings. I really enjoyed Fugitive Pieces because of the lyrical writing - it reads like poetry. I am now reading Anne Michaels' second book: The Winter Vault and am having a hard time with it.

My mother "forced" me to watch Anne of Green Gables on television when I was 14 or so. That led me to read all of the books, and re-read them well into my 20's and 30's. The other thing she "forced" me to do was to take sewing lessons when I was 13. I went kicking and screaming and when the classes were finished (I think I went twice a week for six weeks), I had a wrap-around skirt and was begging to enroll in the next session of classes! My love of sewing has grown over the last 27 years. I just made your Collapsible Shopping Tote last night and want to thank you for two things: 1) In all my years of sewing I've never needed French seams, so it was a new technique for me. 2) I was able to de-stash some kelly green with white dots bias tape that I can only imagine my mother de-stashed to me!