Bay Area Knit Shop Hop August 2011

OOOO-EEEEE, What fun.  Three days of leisurely browsing in a number of yarn shops in the Santa Rosa/Sebastapol and South Bay areas of northern(ish) California.  Beautiful weather, really nice people, the best sidekick ever, and wonderful privately-owned yarn shops.

First stop: 
Balls and Yarns
899 Gravenstein Hwy South
Sepastopol, CA 95472
Service & Friendliness:  5
Yarn Quality:  5
Yarn Variety:  5
Knit Samples:  4

There was a cozy sitting/ knitting area and the owner/ proprietor was super friendly, helpful, and encourag- ing.  There was some frilly black yarn that I didn't get and now wish I had.  I did get some really cool slippery lime & cranberry rayon ribbon yarn (Gelato made by Fiesta Yarns) to make a long, horizontally-knit scarf.  Wonderful shop.  Will happily return.


The next stop, also in Sebastopol was an unfriendly, unforgettable shop, so I won't even mention it here.

Shop #3:  Cast Away
Santa Rosa, CA
Service & Friendliness: 4
Yarn Quality:  5
Yarn Variety:  5
Knit Samples:  4

On a quiet, tree-lined main street sits this inviting yarn shop with a seafaring decor.  The windows have white paper-mache birds wearing brightly knit scarves, and as you enter the shop you're greeted by an old wooden dinghy heaped with colorful yarn.  There was lots to drool over and lots of beautiful project ideas.  I tried on a beautiful, draping scarf that I would have never picked for myself in a zillion years...and it looked really, really good on me.  The pattern was designed by one of the employees, Ramona Gaynor, so I splurged and bought not only the pattern ("Ruffle Scarf"), but the yarn to go with it, Rowan's "Kidsilk Haze" in a deep aqua color.  What a beautiful sheen it has!

Next stop,
Knitterly
#1 Fourth St.
Petaluma, CA 94952
Service & Friendliness: 4.5
Yarn Quality: 5
Yarn Variety: 5
Knit Samples: 5

I've been here before, it's a really special shop.  It's on a great side street with a tree-lined parking lot across from it.  The store is older, dark wood, comfy sofa, huge oak table to knit at.  Great books and patterns....and they even sell stuff that comes in the packages separately.  In other words, if you want one stitch holder instead of the 20-in-a-package, it's yours!  Now that's customer service!

She had samples of an "Improv Scarf", where you hold two yarns together, gartering and putting in a couple of lacy/eyelet stitches in any way that you desire to create a pattern.  I loved it....so of course I went hog wild and bought enough yarn for three scarves!  One of the yarns was Koigu KPPPM by Koigu Wool Designs.  It's 100% Merino Wool.  I got a cranberry with touches of orange, an aqua/green with touches of orange, and a beige with touches of aqua and pink.  Debbie Bliss' "Angel" Super Kid Mohair & Silk yarn is the second yarn in each sweater.  Delightful, huh?

I also bought some Denim Blue Cascade 220 worsted weight yarn to felt myself a belt -  I'm tired of my capris falling down after I've worn them for a couple of hours.  This was her suggestion.  She's says that after it's felted you can even cut it!  Sounds like the felting shrinks it about in half....can't wait to get this one done!

The next morning we headed west from Novato to
Black Mountain Weavers
in Point Reyes, CA
11245 Main Street
Point Reyes Station, California   94956

Although they have a small amount of gorgeous hand-dyed and locally spun yarns, needles, and pattern books, this is a coop of knit and fiber artists, who show and sell their crafts.  It was ultra-inspiring, the creativity, the elegance, the, the, the.....glory! ! of the beautiful works in this shop.  I wish I'd taken some photos of some of the items.  It was a very small shop, and the woman who was holding down the fort was just lovely.

(We ate lunch just down the street at  the Station House Cafe --  I'd LOVE to go back there, mmmmm.) and also did a bit of Christmas shopping next door in ,which carries handmade goods from all over the world...for incredibly reasonable (inexpensive) prices!

Yarn Bombing!  I've finally seen it with my own eyes!  In the middle of Point Reyes Station, on Main Street!  I've GOT TO DO THIS MYSELF! ! !

After leaving Point Reyes, we headed to south Marin Country and
Bluebird Yarn & Fiber Crafts
328A Pine Street
Sausalito, CA  94965
Service & Friendliness:  5
Yarn Quality:  5
Yarn Variety:  4
Knit Samples:  5

What a darling shop!  It's just off the main street and a little half-door greets you, allowing the clean ocean air to flow in with you.  The shop has a little entry way with displays of  yarn and samples to greet  you, then goes quite a ways back.  There are overstuffed chairs to sit in while reading the pattern books, and dark shelves filled with all sorts of yarns.  The lovely girl working today, Chiaki, was helpful and so very nice.  She had designed the felted clutch pattern that I couldn't leave without.    She has her own website, chiakiknit.com. Both Dede and I bought yarns to make a beautiful cowl that was on display, it looked terrific on both of us. (We both started on the knitting of it that night -- Maggi's Mist Slub (100% Viscose) was a very frustrating yarn to work with.  The colors Dede chose....blues....made a beautiful cowl.  I'm not so crazy about mine, but I couldn't get the second yarn with a sparkle in it, like Dede did, so mine was without sparkle and is probably why I like it less than hers.  



 Still in Marin County, we headed a little north to
Atelier Marin
217 San Anselmo Ave.
San Anselmo, CA 94960
Service & Friendliness:  5
Yarn Quality:  5
Yarn Variety:  5
Knit Samples:  5

 Dede's taken lots of classes here, and I've been here before, too.  The gal that owns and runs the store has terrific taste and has set up the quite-large shop in a very appealing way, putting all the baby yarns, fingering yarns, sport-weight yarns, aran-weight yarns, worsted, bulky, chunky...all together with their like kinds along the perimeter of the room.  In the middle are samples, yarn displays, needle racks, chairs, and a big table in the front.  Wonderful shop (she has one in San Francisco, too, although the floor space is smaller, the shop is crammed with yarns of every type and variety...been there before, too.)  I didn't buy anything at Atelier today.

MOVIE - The Double Hour

Good movie.  Good mystery.  Great storytelling.
in Italian, with subtitles
limited release 4-15-11
Unrated (1:35)
July 30 at the Loft, alone
RT  82% cag 91%
Director:  Giuseppe Capatondi

Guido, a handsome guy in Turin, Italy, has been part of the speed dating scene for awhile, hooking up for one-night stands.  But then he meets Sonia, a conscientious hotel chambermaid, and they instantly hit it off.  He takes her to his security job in the country, and while there, the huge country estate he guards is robbed and neither Guido or Sonia come out of it unscathed.  The rest of the movie is a mystery, billed as a psychological thriller, I would definitely agree.  As an onlooker you're trying to figure out what's going on and just as you have a glimmer, a real  twist is added , and then another, to keep you just enough off balance ..... in a great way.  A good one.

43. Ruby Red - Kerstin Gier

Translated from German by Anthea Bell
1st in a Trilogy
Henry Holt & Co., 2011 (2009 in Germany)
HC $16.99
330 pgs.
Rating:  4

Another vampire-less story in the genre of paranormal fiction for young adults.  Alchemy and science seem to be the basis of a gene that only passes through the years to twelve people, and although Gwyneth's snobby cousin, Charlotte, has been trained for the time traveling ability that the gene produces, it's the unsuspecting Gwyneth that got it.

An average teenager in upper class contemporary London, after the first unexpected time-traveling episode Gwen's life will never be the same.  Although it's all supposed to be top-top secret, she's share the secret with her best friend, who loves the mystery of it all, and researches every kind of clue that Gwen can give her on the internet.  This adds a really fun element - and there's quite a bit of subtle humor throughout.  And, OF COURSE, there's the irresistibly handsome young man that is her time-traveling sidekick/companion.  Gideon deVilliers is two years older than Gwyneth, and, unlike her, has been trained in manners, habits, and skills of the centuries they will be visiting.

I read all 330 pages in one afternoon/evening.  My one complaint is that throughout the first half of the story, the protagonist truly seems like a younger girl, a middle-schooler instead of a high-schooler.  She starts thinking a little older as the story progresses, but I had to change my thinking and attitude toward her,'cause she really did appear to be very young.  And it's not really a Twilight clone!

(HIGHLIGHT THE INVISIBLE FOR SECRETS) The prologue and epilogue totally give away one of the secrets (that the runaway Lucy and Paul are her parents), but that's okay. And you figure out immediately that the Count Saint-Germaine is evil, manipulative, power-hungry.  The book stops abruptly, making you wait for the further adventures of Gwyneth and Gabriel. 

I found it interesting once in awhile to flip back to the male and female lines of descent, which can be found on pages 141 and 203.

42. Evermore - Alyson Noel

#1 in Immortal series
for:  YA
St. Martin's Griffin, 2009
paper, $9.95
306 pgs.
Rating:  3

I'm almost ashamed of myself for reading this book in one gulp, I couldn't put it down.  I spent the whole time comparing it to Twilight, which was a great higher skill on Bloom's Taxonomy for me to use, right?  There are so many similarities, but MINUS THE VAMPIRES, yippee!  Although Immortals seem pretty similar, with an  almost-more-plausible beginning.  There's the super hunky immortal (Damon), the nasty, hurtful immortal (Drina), the innocent young girl (our protagonist, Ever (Ever Bloom, get it???), and the loving but clueless guardian (Sabine).  We also have the two best friends - a goth girl (Haven) and a gay boy (Miles).  Throw in an exotic setting - southern California.  Another YA paranormal fantasy. 

But wait - I liked the protagonist!  She beats Bella by a long shot, at least in this first installment.  She has a head of her own, a will of her own.  She may become a "can't live without him clone" in the second installment, but so far, so good.  One of these days I might even read Blue Moon. (Hmmm...how similar can titles be?????)

41. The Girls of Riyadh - Rajaa Alsanea

translated by Rajaa Alsanea and Marilyn Booth
for:  Adults (and YA's too)
Penguin Books, 2007 (originally published in Arabic in 2005)
paper $14.00
286 pgs.
Rating:  4

This is the story of four upper class Saudi girls and the customs and foibles they live with when it comes to dating (huh!), men, and marriage.  Even though I had some background, some pre-established knowledge, there were many eye-opening new facts to learn. It was written in an interesting way.  Supposedly, every week for a year or so, a "friend" of the four girls writes an email to a list of subscribers to uncover more and more of the girls' story. She gets quite a backlash - both good and bad - from different Saudis.  The book itself was very controversial in Saudi Arabia and other Arabic, Islamic countries.

Read no further unless you want spoilers.  The four friends:

Gamrah - first married, to a man who takes her to Chicago and goes out of his way to show his distaste for her.  Come to find out, he's had a loving relationship, but his parents would not allow him to marry her.  He continues this relationship, Gamrah gets purposely pregnant, and they divorce.  She is left bitter and angry.

Sadeem - becomes engaged to Wahleed, it seems to be a love match until she gives herself fully to him shortly before the actual marriage and he dumps her.  Then she meets Faras, an older-than-her politician and they are practically glued at the hip....until his family refuses to let him marry a "divorced" woman and forces him to marry another.

Michelle - half American, but fully a Saudi, since she's lived there through adolescence.  She falls in love with Faisal, but his parents have someone else in mind for him.  She eventually goes to the United Arab Emirates and becomes a producer.

Lamees - the most playful, flirtatious of the four, she knows how to have fun and finally, in medical school, sees the man she desires as a husband, plays her cards right, and follows the traditional path without too much glamour and fireworks. She was also the character that interested me the least.

40. Sullivan's Law - Nancy Taylor Rosenberg

Carolyn Sullivan #1
audio read by Sandra Burr
Brilliance Audio, 2004
10 cds
384 pgs.
Rating:  1.5

Carolyn Sullivan is a probation officer in Ventura, California.  She is also a single mother and part-time law student.  Daniel Metroix is being let out of jail after spending over 20 years in jail for a murder, Carolyn discovers, he didn't commit.  He is a schizophrenic, a brilliant unschooled physicist, and an innocent.  Before long Carolyn is trying to protect her two teenaged kids, Daniel, and herself from people that want them dead.  She is befriended by a physicist professor and relies heavily on her physics-loving son.  There seems to be a trend going here......

There were two things I didn't enjoy about this book.  The protagonist...I just couldn't like her, no matter how hard I tried.  And the reader, I couldn't stand the way she read the different voices.  She made Daniel sound like a low-IQ'd mental deficient.  She made Carolyn sound incredibly goody-goody, which may have exacerbated that attribute even more than it should have in my mind, which may definitely add to the reason I didn't like her.

The story dragged on and on....and on, then the ending was neatly tied up in a few short pages.  WHY do some authors do this?  When compared to the writers of this genre that I really love, Connelly, Crais, Coben, Grafton, etc., there is simply no comparison.  Perhaps if I read the book instead of listening to it I wouldn't feel quite so strongly, but I can't imagine reading it unless I have a true book emergency.  It was a long couple of weeks listening to this...but I never gave up.  I wish I had.

Movie - Transformers DARK OF THE MOON

"If you like fighting and lying, you'll like this movie." (Brendan G, age 6)
Released 6-28-11
PG-13 (2:37)
7-21-11 at Ellsworth Movie Theater
RT:  36% ... Okay, I'll go along with that.....cag 36%
Director: Michael Bay
Shia LaBeouf (Sam Witwicky - what a great name.)

Brendan was afraid this movie would be scary, but he was happy to say it wasn't.  The theater was really "refrigerated," which prompted him to ask several times when them movie was going to be over.  He was freezing. It was a really looooooong movie. But he was completely enthralled.  I was not.

I couldn't believe the actors...Patrick Dempsey, Frances McDormand, John Turturro, John Malkovith, Josh Duhamel.  Gorgeous puffy-lipped female star that I've never seen before.  But this was a story about huge vehicles that turn into machine-monsters.  A handful are the good guys, and there are a lot of bad guys.  The bad guys crash landed on the dark side of the moon in the early 1960's, and NASA found out about them then, but information about it all is just coming to light. There are some comical parts, some clever repartee, but other than that.....

I enjoyed Thor, Avatar, and Iron Man.  I can't say the same for Transformers.  Not my cup of tea at all.  But Brendan loved it, and it was a pleasure to watch him loving it.  It was the last day showing at this theater (Captain American started the next day), so he gave Brendan the poster he took down from out front.  Needless to say, Brendan was thrilled.  That WAS pretty cool.....

The only other people in the theatre (it was a matinee on a beautiful day, everyone else, if not at work or camp were at the beach)were a dad and his 6 or 7 year old son.  The young man seemed to enjoy it, too.  I wonder what it cost to make this movie? 

39. Pink -Lili Wilkinson

Harper Teen, 2009 Australia, 2011 US
310 pgs.
HC $16.99
YA
Rating: 4

This book has a bit of a different premise than the norm - a highschooler who dresses all in black, including her dyed hair, and has a "cool" girlfriend---happily accepted by her parents---decides she wants to go to a tough school, study hard, and try to discover her real self. Her parents love it that she has "come out", and they like Ava to be as nontraditional as she possibly can be. But Ava isn't so sure...she wants to be "normal," and isn't even sure if she is, indeed, a lesbian. She's never given boys a chance. She has to fight her parents to go to this tougher school. And she can't wait.

So she somehow gets her hair back to it normal color and dresses for her first day at the new school in a pink sweater, a sweater that she loves. So begins a comedy of errors as Ava traverses the halls of popularity, geekdom, boys, and difficult schoolwork.

The majority of the book is about the musical that the school puts on. It's ultra-cool to be a singer/actor, and you're a pariah if you work on the sets and backstage. Because of a horrible audition, Ava has to balance herself between both groups of kids. And, she has told no one about Chloe, hoping she doesn't run into her when she's with her new friends.

Cute story. I enjoyed it a lot.

38. The Last Little Blue Envelope - Maureen Johnson

Sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes
for: YA
Harper Teen, 2011
HC $16.99
282 pgs.
Rating:  5

What's not to like about a teenager that gets to travel through Europe with plenty of money and on her own?  I loved the descriptions of the cities that Ginny traveled through....London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris.....I loved the wacky adventure that she encountered and the message that by not freaking out, things WORK out.  I loved the mystery of where the story....and her relationships with the other characters....was going to end.  That's what good stories do.  Keep you guessing, keep you interested, teach you a little along the way, and make you think.

Ginny has returned to London from New Jersey to complete the tasks that her dead aunt had set out for her before her death. But this time there is a mysterious, very tall, young man accompanying her, along with Keith, the "love interest" from 13 Little Blue Envelopes.  Oliver is an interesting, multi-faceted character that added greatly to the story.  And Ginny's infatuation with Keith, and her liking for Ellis, are real.  They are palpable, these feelings, as well as those for her dead aunt and her Uncle Richard.  I have purposely left plot details hazy, because I totally enjoyed not having a clue about what was happening or what was about to happen.  It was a good story, totally captivating the 18-year-old adventurer in me --- it's the sort of story that I'd love be part of myself, whether as an 18 year old, a 38 year old, or a 58 year old.

37. Biting the Moon - Martha Grimes

Adult Mystery
An Onyx Book, Penguin Publishing, 1999
paper,$12.00
301 pgs.
Rating:  2.5

First line:  "The girl's hair was white below the scarf, now a scarf of snow, and there was a fine rime of ice on her eyebrows."

The story starts with Andi Olivier out in the wilds of the Sandia Mountains near Santa Fe, NM, rescuing trapped coyotes and healing them.  Andi Olivier is the name she gave herself when she saw the initials AO on her backpack.  She has no memory of her past, only that she woke up one morning in a B & B in Santa Fe with a man who was supposedly her "Daddy."  She knew this wasn't true.  But she had no idea at all about her background, her name or even her age, which she guesses to be about 17.

Then she meets Mary, and lonely 14 year old, and together they set out to figure out Andi's backstory.  They become close friends immediately, the fearless, clever, implacable Andi and the questioning, not-so-sure -of-herself, Mary.  And what an adventure they set out on...following the clues to Idaho and rescuing dogs, intimidating bad guys, making friends with unlikely characters, white-water rafting, witnessing dog-fighting and illegal big-game hunting,  murdering....  about as unlikely a story as any two teenagers could be a part of. But...well.....not exactly silly, or even ridiculous, but....improbable.

There was some great writing included, like:

"Yet Mary, who had not been violated, felt her own life to be a tangle of conflicting needs.  Her sister, Angela, had always talked about "centering," finding one's "center."  Mary felt she had no center.  She was the Scrabble letters spilled across the table, letters she could not put together to spell anything sensible.  Andi, on the other hand, had mastered the game; as if magnetized, the letters flew together."

MOVIE - Queen to Play (Joueuse)

Wonderful lead actress!
in French with subtitles
Limited release 4-1-11 (made in 2008/2009)
unrated (1:41)
7-16-11 at The Loft by myself (not a seat left in the upstairs theater!)
RT:  67% cag 79%
Director:  Caroline Bottaro
Sandrine Bonnaire, Kevin Kline, Jennifer Beals

This was a very lovely movie.  The setting was the island of Corsica, and it was a bout a mom who discovers the game of chess.  She's a house cleaner, and she sees Jennifer Beals playing chess while sitting on the balcony of a b & b that overlooks the ocean.  It's a lovely, somewhat sexy scene, and Helene is mesmerized by the memory of it.  So much so that she buys her husband an electronic chess set for his birthday, even though neither of them have in any way encountered the game before.

Now...although the movie does not really focus on the actual game of chess, most of the rest of the movie revolves around learning it and playing it.  Got a little too much chess-y for me.  Kevin Kline plays the reclusive chess player that teachers her how to play - and who gives her the confidence in herself to go farther.  This is another movie about a woman who breaks free of her long-standing cocoon and emerges as a butterfly.  Sandrine Bonnaire plays the protagonist beautifully.  What a lovely smile she has!

Movie - Larry Crowne

reviewed as "bland and conventional," I'll call it "light and entertaining"
Released 7-1-11
PG-13 (1:38)
Monday, 7-11-11 at Orleans 18 (Las Vegas) by myself
RT:  36%  cag: 83%
Director:  Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Wilmer Valderrama & Gugu Mbatha-Raw

This movie is about a makeover, the makeover of a man. This is Tom Hanks’s show. Julia Roberts did her part really well (disdain and boredom were acted superbly!), but it is ultimately the trip Hanks takes changing himself – both mentally and physically – after 20 years as a Navy cook and a handful of years at the local “big mart” employee-of-the-month. After reading the reviews I was looking forward to a ho-hum movie, but I found this fun to watch and really quite thought-povoking.

The Julia Roberts part could have been played by any pretty womanl Two parts that really stole the show were the two young, hip scooter enthusiasts who take Larry Crowne under their wing and teach him how to live in the current era...including his choice of clothing.  I think this movie had a lot to say and said it well, and the reviewer that panned it are way out in left field.  It may not be the best movie of the year, but it's linkable, enjoyable, and just plain fun.

36. A Million Miles from Boston - Karen Day

Wendy Lamb Books, Random House, 2011
HC $15.99
for:  kids
genre:  CRF
218 pgs.
Rating:  4 (as a kid I would have loved this story)

Setting:  Southern coast of Maine, contemporary summertime

One Sentence Summary:  Lucy can't wait to spend her summer at the family cottage on the southern Maine coast, but is chagrined to discover a disliked (male!) classmate is also going to summer there, and her widowed father wants his girlfriend to visit.

The story centers on Lucy, the longing she feels for her dead mother, the responsibility she feels for her family, the unsettled feelings she has both toward her father's girlfriend, who's really very nice, and Ian Richards, a schoolmate who she's caught lying and who has gotten her in trouble more than once.  She helps take care of her younger brother, Buster, and is always accompanied by her dog, Superior.  She loves her connection to all the families on Pierson Point, babysitting and even preparing a morning summer camp for a handful of the younger kids.  However, of all the families on the point, there' no one else her age, until Ian arrives.

Most of the story is very believable.  Lucy is particularly mean to her dad's girlfriend.  Makes sense.  She's super nice to everyone else.  She figures out how other people think and expects fairness from everyone.  She's trustworthy - all believable.  There's one place where she apologizes to the girlfriend (darn but I can't remember her name) that I can't quite picture a kid doing, but this is a really good kid, so I shouldn't be such a doubting Thomas.  Everyone - except one person, Ian's sister Allison - is almost a little too nice.  There are a lot of nice people in this book.  A few too man?  Well this is MAINE after all!!

The setting is written so that I get a good feel for the place.  However, summertime in Maine (even on the coast) would have more discussion about bugs (mosquitoes especially) than just the fireflies that are mentioned.  That I know for a fact!  Black Flies- the Maine state bird.......

Trainstop - Barbara Lehman

Houghton Mifflin, 2008
HC $16.00
32 pgs.
Rating:  34
Endpapers:  bright green
A wordless story

A young girl is taking a subway/train home with her parents.  As they progress through the city they pass through a tunnel and when they come out on the other side...they are out in the countryside!?  The train is stopped by a boy waving a flag.  Everyone else appears to be dozing, so the girl steps off the train, to be greeted by a hoard of....LITTLE....umm....SMALL....umm....MINIATURE kids.  Their airplane has gotten stuck  high up in a tree.  Together they figure out how to get it down, a warning comes from the train that it's about to leave, she says goodbye to her new friends, and returns to the train.  It enters another tunnel only to re-emerge back into the midst of the bustling city.  After she gets home, in flies the plane she helped save, loaded with two of her new friends and a tiny potted tree, which she plants in the yard.

Barbara Lehman has done another great piece of storytelling without uttering a single word.

It's Okay to Be Different - Todd Parr

Illustrated by the author
Megan Tingley Books, Little Brown & Co., 2001
HC $9.99
32 pgs
For:  kids
Rating:  4
Endpapers:  Solid purple

I think I'm going to use this book to introduce "Owning Up" this year.  Each of the pages highlights a way that people can be different and opens up all sort of conversation about differences which could lead easily into teasing and bullying.  I have lesson plans bouncing around my brain right now....

It's okay to be missing a tooth (or two or three)
It's okay to need some help (blind girl with seeing-eye dog)
It's okay to have a different nose (pink elephant with a long trunk)
It's okay to be a different color (normal zebra & colorfully striped zebra)

.....and many more......

Questions to ask PRE and/or POST reading (I think I'm going to do both.)::

How are you different?
Have you ever been teased or bullied about something?  What?
Be honest - have YOU ever teased or bullied someone about anything?  Explain.

R/A the book page by page, not quickly from beginning to end.  Perhaps have students respond in someway after each page, thinking about things they relate to, or what is he REALLY talking about....

After the reading and responses, I'd have kids brainstorm and pair up to come up with their OWN "It's okay to..." ideas.  

Create a class book adding pages for Parr's words that they illustrate differently and/or adding their own "it's okay" statements and illustrations.  OH!  And then I could coordinate with the kid's Hebrew class and write each line in Hebrew.  Brilliant!