Tai Chi and stuff...

I miss Tai Chi. From 6 days a week (MWF with the park group during lunch hour and Tues and Thurs. nights and Sat. classes) to maybe 8 times total in the last 4 months. My neck and shoulders are showing the effect of not getting that exercise, as well as the plumping out of various parts of my anatomy. I miss Qi Gong, a form of standing meditation that concentrates on breath control. Excellent means of relaxation. When I got home from Tai Chi at 9:30 or 10:00, I was both relaxed and alert, a wonderful combination. Interesting that Tai Chi provides physical, mental, and spiritual stimulation and peaceful relaxation at the same time.

When going regularly, I scheduled everything around it, but when the habit is broken, it seems hard to make the effort to re-establish it. Now that we have some sitters for Mother (and so far, I'm so delighted with the two who cover the day and evening shifts- the 11:00 shift lady, I've only met once), I'm going to try to get to the park at lunchtime maybe on Friday. That way, I can check on Mother and then meet the gang in the park. Or do the park and then check on Mom. So far though, things are still pretty new, and I've not been able to manage.

I did get to the post office Wednesday and mailed "Exotic Vines" to Sylvia. That was a relief. I delayed in getting the sleeve on and then, with package in the car, still didn't get it to the post office yesterday. Wheeew! Wiping stressful sweat from my forehead - that chore is done. Why I let things like that pray on me, I don't know. Sylvia was in no way rushing me, but I said I'd get it in the mail Monday, and today is Wednesday, and I was frantic.

Serendipity Redux

Life has been a bit hectic lately, and I failed to mention that Rhonda Blasingame (whose wonderful quilt Alice's Restaurant I was lucky enough to get in the Swap) is from Jackson, Miss. where Erin lives. Then in further emails, discovered that she grew up in the Fondren area (a small town with distinct artsy flavor within the "city") and currently lives just 8 houses north of the boundary. Now, my hope is to meet her soon and have more than a "virtual" acquaintance with a member of the QA digest.

To continue in a humorous vein:

ACQUAINTANCE, n.
A person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. A degree of friendship called slight when its object is poor or obscure, and intimate when he is rich or famous.

from Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary, one of my favorite little volumes.

The following are from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary (published in 1755):

Oats: A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland appears to support the people (this was one of Johnson's prejudices, inspite of the fact that one of his best friends and biographer Boswell was from Scotland - nothing personal Frances!)

Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.

Nothing to do with anything, but I just found this poem by Philip Larkin that I'd never read before; I've read a lot of Larkin's poetry over the years, don't know how I could have missed this one. Daughter Amelia's full name is Amelia Larkin Mullen, but she wasn't named after the poet.

Some Talking in Bed

Talking in bed ought to be easiest,
Lying together there goes back so far,
An emblem of two people being honest.

Yet more and more time passes silently
Outside, the wind's incomplete unrest
Builds and disperses clouds about the sky,

And dark towns heap up on the horizon.
None of this cares for us. Nothing shows why
At this unique distance from isolation

It becomes still more difficult to find
Words at once true and kind,
Or not untrue and not unkind.

Philip Larkin

I started this the other day and saved it to draft. Just got home from a rough night at Mother's so I'm posting this and settling in for a nap.

What a nice surprise!

I love biscotti! This morning, I found these two charming characters left by my own personal Santa. Aren't they adorable? Better yet, they are each FULL of my favorite treats!
This arrangement is thanks to Hobby Lobby's sale - 1/2 off the price of ceramic vases. The flowers and greenery cost more than the vase! These fungal pics are from the deer camp trails. Love the lichen on the broken branch.

No turkey this year...

Mother broke free from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and is greatful to be home. Hospitals are some of the least comfortable places on earth; as important as they are, the tangled IV lines, the constant interruptions for torturous procedures, the uncomfortable beds and chairs, the confinement, etc. make sure that release is a longed for event.

Over the 13 days, Mother had so many doctors and nurses and techs and orderlies. The orderlies were super - especially Cedric, who took her to most of her procedures. We are all greatful for the skill and kindness of those who help us when we need it (Dr. Lieu is absolutely and angel in disguise, so cute and competent and cute, really cute), but home is better.

Fee brought over enough food yesterday to feed an army - not regular Thanksgiving food, though. He made a huge roast with wonderful gravy, carrots, and potatoes; grilled fish with dill sauce (mmmmm!), rolls, vegetables - especially the cauliflower dripping with cheese, coconut pie and red velvet cake (purchased). He then went back to his deer camp to cook for Amelia and big Chris, little Chris, and some other friends.

Something is wrong, and I'm unable to post pictures, but I've have some wonderful snaps of Lady Carolina Belle, Amelia's new little English bull dog. OK! Now it is working.

I ate a little with Mother and Dad, knowing that I would be going out to the camp for more food later. Mother practiced running into things with the battery operated wheelchair, that little devil will turn on a dime, and at one point it looked as if she were dancing.

In answer to

K.'s question:

Karoda, here you can see my fancy cut work on the
vines. I thought this was so cool - all these curly little
pieces. Let's make more, more, more! Until I started
stitching them, and they wound around and around
and on and on and on!!!


Lesson learned: intricate is as intricate does. Which
makes about as much sense as "pretty is as pretty
does." OK, so I don't know what that means, really,
but I will be more sparing with intricate bits in the future.
















Here is my first attempt at hand quilting. Occupies a
lot of hospital time. And I'm running late, must get
back up there.

:) QuiltSwap Completed!

Got home this evening and discovered that Karylee had completed matching everyone in the
Quilt Swap! . What a wonderful experience! My quilt "Exotic Vines" will go to Sylvia Weir, and Rhonda Blasingame's "Alice's Restaurant" will come to me!!

Thinking about...

My new table and chairs. Got them on 11/10 before Mother went into the hospital the next day, so I haven't even unscrewed the seats to get the plastic off, but I like it anyway.
Mother is doing much better, and I left the hospital about 9:00 this morning to come home and get some things done... Did some beading and some more embroidery on this during the time at the hospital until I just didn't have anymore desire. It is essentially finished, will just take a few more stitches and put a sleeve on it, I think.

I have so much to do, but really tired and directionless. Have finished all the books I had, so must make another trip to the library. The last two days have been spent working on Maggie's self-portrait. Decided to try some hand quilting. Hmmm. Will need a lot of practice to improve on the sloppy stitching, but think it will fit nicely into a very primitive "primitive" category. I'll take a picture and post it later.

Also on my list of things to do, is to practice machine quilting. My inspiration is Mary Manahan's
Capitulation Room which is such a beautiful piece in every way and shows me that where I want to go will take a lot of practice. The entire quilt and the title make me think of Galileo; think I need to ask more about the title. Here is the entire quilt.

Discoveries in Clutter

Dijanne's post appeals to me and contains the following quote:

"In clutter, you may not be able to find what you are looking for, but you may find something else instead. Clutter may not be about the way we hide things from ourselves but about the way we make ourselves look for things. It is, as it were, a self-imposed hide-and-seek." From Promises,Promises by Adam Phillips as quoted in Isabel Huggan's book "Belonging."

Another way of associating my cluttered lifestyle with serendipity.

Coincidentally...

Thinking again about synchronicity (time in sync) and how much satisfaction it gives when one notices these coincidences. I looked up the word, expecting a lengthy etymology going back to the Latin, and discovered that Carl Jung coined the word. Another example (for me) of synchronicity as I love Jung's theories in literary criticism - especially of archetypes and "the persona, shadow, and anima/animus" aspects of personality. Synchronicity may be "magical thinking," but how strange and fascinating these coincidences can be.

http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/jung.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity

I also love the idea of serendipity (a much older, if not ancient, word coined by Horace Walpole):

NOUN: pl. ser·en·dip·i·ties
The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.
An instance of making such a discovery.

or "In general, serendipity is the act of finding something valuable or delightful when you are not looking for it."

Family newsletter :)

My sister-in-law brought my nephew Matthew to visit Mother in the hospital today. He is three years old and quite a character: a unique combination of charming and mischievous. He went to the State Fair on Friday and would like to go every day, but unfortunately, the fair moved on after the weekend. Nevertheless, he has decided that "the man" has brought the fair back and that he will be going again. Ever hopeful.

Teresa also brought My Memory Book which niece Maggie created for me because I'd asked for some pictures that she had drawn. The book has a lovely dedication to ME and says, "May all your dreams come true." Now I'm ever hopeful! It also has a wonderful self-portrait of Miss Maggie, herself, and a list of many of her memories including: "My very first memory was comeing home from the hospital." Remarkable, don't you think? I can barely remember what I wore yesterday, but Miss Maggie can remember coming home from the hospital!

Nephew Cody was the star of his high school playoff game when he managed to kick 2 field goals last Friday. Outstanding relatives!

Daughter Amelia and big Chris brought home the newest addition to their family in the warm and fuzzy form of Lady Carolina Belle, a six week old English bulldog; Lady Carolina Belle joins L.J. (aka Elvis) and Jezza Belle (aka Snow White from the Halloween party). I'm looking forward to the Mardi Paw Parade this year and the Crewe of Barkus and Meow to see my grandpuppies in their full regalia. Bayou Quilts: Party Crashers?

I've been reading and beading during the hospital stints, but have about worn out my interest in the "Asian Blues" quilt and need to get something else started - so I'm transforming Maggie's self-portrait to fabric.

Mila's apron

I made this apron for Mila while she was here (actually, bought the little apron at Hobby Lobby and fused and stitched - quick and easy). The "cheese" pocket was quilted and then sewn on. She kept saying, "Cooking, Mommy, cooking!" Started a larger one for Erin, but haven't had time to finish it.

Wonderful visit from my girls, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Still working on Asian Blues quilt - the handwork, although I love doing it, is time consuming, I haven't had much time lately. The machine quilting goes so fast, but the embroidery parts are slow. Still has beading to go - if I still want to bead. :) Should be able to finish it soon, though.

On waxing philosophic

On loving wisdom...I so love wisdom in the abstract and am so unable to achieve/apply wisdom in my own life. My love of poetry and a certain kind of philosophy is a Gestalt process; my reading vocabulary is large, but my ability to access the precise word(s) is negligible and my ability to express myself is minimal -- thus, my admiration for those who say what I think in a lucid manner has that "AHA!" sensation. Or even better, discovering/rediscovering those whose words make me question what I think and broaden my understanding...

Another thing I love is synchronicity, and today has been one of those days. I've been reading Omega at Threading Thoughts lately, and she has led me back to my many books on Myth -- and today a conversation with my daughter as well as Julie Zaccone Stiller's post for Tues., Nov. 8, combine for that synchronicitous effect.

As I said, Omega has been pondering the importance of Myth, our tendency toward voyeurism, and "celebrities", which encouraged me to return to Campbell's The Power of Myth where Bill Moyers says in the introduction, "One of the many distinctions between the celebrity and the hero, [Joseph Campbell] said, is that one lives only for self while the other acts to redeem society." Stiller's post of Nov. 8 (under Poetry Tuesday) has a wonderful poem by William Stafford and her response to it. Stafford's poem contains the line, "and following the wrong god home we may miss our star" which appealed to both Karoda
and myself, and Stiller's lines, "Please Don't Go Back To Sleep./ You Must Stay Awake./ Be a witness. /Be an educator. /Be an instigator. " And back to Moyer's on Campbell: "The unpardonable sin, in Campbell's book, was the sin of inadvertence, of not being alert, not quite awake." (emphasis mine)

Erin and I had talked about the attraction to voyeuristic/reality television this morning (I'd already responded to Omega's post which was what brought our conversation around to this topic, but had not yet read Stiller's or hauled out my books). There is much to be said for reality television that encourages people to improve, to aspire to better things, to feel the possibility of improvement, but the kind that encourages negative traits and behavior is offensive to me. Blogs are perhaps another form of voyeurism that can perform either a positive or a negative influence.

I know these separate items are not completely cohesive, but I love the connections that do exist and the digressions they lead to.

On Fairies...

These pages from the fairy book I bought yesterday (as a Christmas gift) are like a commercial version of the altered books many of you have seen. I tried to post the link to Deb S. 's Fairy Post where she has some lovely fairy postcards, but with no success - so I'm trying here.

Final postcard in swap...

With all that has been going on lately, I forgot to post this postcard from Sandy Marcoux at Dangling by a Thread. Beautiful, sparkly, and fun! Thanks, Sandy! I hate that there are no more to come, but thanks to Lisa for putting the swap together!

Family pics

Budding artist Mila

Amelia, Fee, me, big Chris, Erin










Amelia, big Chris, little Chris, me, Erin








a little experimentation ...

Monday, Monday...

I know it is actually Tuesday, but I want to revisit yesterday briefly. My horoscope yesterday said something like "The day will go from bad to worse," and I kind of chuckled and thought that anyday that began with having to clear the guest bedroom of all the junk moved into it from the sewing room was pretty "bad." The reason the guest room had to be cleared, though, was good: Nov. 7th is my birthday and Erin and Mila were coming for a visit!

I'd worked on clearing and sorting and organizing the room Sunday afternoon and night after Erin called to say she was coming, but to tell the truth, the more I worked, the harder it got, because the decisions about what to do with/ where to put stuff got more and more difficult. I got up Monday ready to tackle the remaining decisions and all of the "lares and penates" (tired of using "stuff," I looked it up in the thesaurus and found this legal term meaning portable property) and resumed my quest to find the room underneath the piles of boxes, books, desk and sewing materials.

Then, a phone call around 9:00, and things did go from bad to worse for awhile. By about 3:30, however, there was good news on that front. And I eventually got the room cleaned out, the house clean, and was ready for the arrival of our Mila, who made her entrance around 7:00 in time for dinner. Big Chris and Amelia and Little Chris came, too. There was beer, wine, food, and celebration.

I had a wonderful birthday with family, friends, and gifts! Among other things, Amelia gave me the soundtrack from Working!!!!

Mila is up; I'll continue this post later.

SSL & "Winning Combination"

Yarnstorm has one funny post today about books, chocolate, wine, and knitting!

More SSL considerations. I have this feeling that the end of the month will roll around, and I will still be posting possibilites!

Asian blues quilt

I'm still not crazy about this piece, but I don't think there was any way for me to like it even with all of the re-working. Have started quilting - and was up until about 12:30 working last night. For some reason, like it or not, it has become imperative that I finish this. The need to finish is way out of proportion to its value - almost as if I can't get around to all of the other things I need to do until this is out of my hair.

Here is the way it looked in June, with all kinds of potential color additions, and/or embellishments pinned on. I wish I'd asked for help earlier because all comments were right on target, and if I'd asked for suggestions when I still had some connection to the piece, maybe I would have been able to to keep a good attitude toward this wayward child. Now, if I can just finish it and set it aside, maybe I will be able to get on with things. :0 Quilt and bead and set it aside.

SSL#3 possibility

Another possibility...

SSL #3

I loaded these to my other blog after playing a bit with several different photos on Picassa.


I shot several photos of threads, threads & bobbins, and bobbins.

I'd like to translate into another medium, but we'll see if I have time.

Simple Still Life: Round Three Challenge Guidelines.

studio lack of progress

I'm feeling completely overwhelmed. My house is still a mess with sewing and craft stuff in every room. Since I took over the closet in the studio for a computer desk, my ironing center is displaced. All the out of season clothes, clothes to be ironed, and clothes that no longer fit (and should go to Goodwill) are looking for a place to go.

As I try to organize and put sewing stuff back in, I find my old problem of refusing to throw stuff away is causing stress because I don't want to think or decide. Val's Wed. entry says she is going to " send stuff to unsuspecting people who might have once been my friends but won't be when I add to their problems with my throwouts!" I really like this suggestion!

I have boxes of stuff like this and
this and
this that I can't seem to part with.

Gabrielle has also been busy and has the pictures to prove it!

All right, quit dawdling and get busy.

Your Linguistic Profile:

45% Dixie

45% General American English

10% Yankee

0% Midwestern

0% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

#6

in "Cool Kelp Forest" series by Jen G.. Color is not accurate, but you can see how pretty the fabrics are and the variegated thread. Love it - Thanks, Jen G