Celebrations, Visits & Living Life

It has been quite a year, so far. The wedding was beautiful. Everything fell into place, and the weather cooperated. The wedding party was composed of all the attendants the bride and groom had hoped for, including the grandchildren as flower girl and ring bearer.

Since then, we have had a few visits with the grandchildren, including a few days while their parents were in town when they stayed with us. Grandpa got to have them help him feed the birds and there was the obligatory fishing trip. We are looking forward to another couple of visits before they return home with their other grandmother.

The garden has been going through its paces. We have milkweed growing and hope to entice some monarchs to our yard. The lilies, both day and tiger, have been blooming profusely. In addition, we have a volunteer trumpet creeper that is blooming and will, we hope, attract the hummingbirds. (We do have feeders, but the volunteer is a nice addition.) The gooseberry bush produced an enormous amount of berries. The cherry tree was also prolific. Now the raspberry bush is beginning to set fruit.

I have slowly been putting my studio to rights. I've made some progress since the picture above, but not enough to call it done. One thing I am trying to organize is specific projects with the hope that it will help me to tackle them sooner. In addition, I have been thinking more lately about mending, both to take care of items and get more use out of them.

I've been reading a lot about the latter at pages instituted by Jen Gale. She has a blog at My Make Do and Mend Life. She had a Facebook page associated with a decision she had made to blog about mending for an entire month. While I was unable to fully participate in mending during that time -- it was right in the middle of the preparations for the wedding -- I did follow it and was able to contribute some, I hope, helpful tips. Now, I am thinking more about the issue, especially in light of my continued interest in downsizing and not having more than I need. I expect I will talk more about the subject in future posts. For now, it seems enough that I have finally gotten back to the blog.

I hope you are having a wonderful season. Until next time, I wish you peace and all good.

Sprung into an Empty Nest

The last month and a half have been surprisingly busy. Our youngest decided he was ready to move out. The move was accomplished by the middle of this month, though he still has a few things here that he needs to clear out. Once that is finished, we will be remaking his room into my new studio, and my current studio will become a dedicated guest room. It means I will, hopefully, finally be able to have all of my studio tools in one place, though some materials will need to be stored elsewhere.

In addition, he and his fiance have finally set the date for their wedding - in June of this year. That brings another set of challenges. Obviously, there is the scramble to get all of the details taken care of, but I have not had to be involved in most of that beyond giving advice, especially on where to find information. However, I do need to find an outfit, and prepare our home for guests! Our older son and his family will be traveling back to town for the wedding and a short vacation. They will be staying here part of that time. As mother of the groom, of course, my outfit is supposed to complement that of the mother of the bride.

In addition, the grandchildren will be staying for the summer with their other grandparents. That means we will be able to spend more time with them over the couple of months following the wedding. So, I have been trying to plan things we can do with them that they will enjoy.

In the meantime, spring has been starting to make an appearance here. Our forsythias have begun to bloom, as have the hyacinths and daffodils. The lilacs are budding, and the grackles have arrived en masse. We have been talking about what to plant in the garden and are adjusting to being empty-nesters.

All told, it hasn't left much time for working in the studio, though I have done some organizing in preparation for the move to the other room, and while I have been working on my book, I haven't taken time out to blog. It may be hit and miss here for a while, for which I apologize in advance. I hope you will continue to check in, and I will try to get back to a normal schedule as soon as possible.

Until next time, I wish you peace.

Choices

I've been thinking a lot about deliberate downsizing and the changes we make in our lives as we grow older. Many of my family members have cut their home sizes and reduced their possessions in the process. It is something I am seriously considering, both as a retirement option and in the recognition that I will never be able to do or use all the materials I have purchased through the years.

It has become more apparent to me recently that there are some things I will no longer be able to do. I need, instead, to concentrate on the things I can do and find ways to have some things done by others. In addition, I need to let go of some things that could better be used by other people. Making these kinds of decisions can be really difficult. They signal not only the choice of one path over another, but also acknowledge the probable end of some dreams and hopes.

Have you ever had to face these kinds of choices? How did you handle them? Are you happy with the results?

Until next time, I wish you peace.

Direction Found

I went through my notebooks on my business -- from the early 1990's on -- last week. In the process, I came across a quote from Barbara Brabec about the difference between an artist and a craft person. She said the artist creates for themselves, while the crafts person creates for the marketplace. (Paraphrased)

It was an "Ah Ha!" moment for me.

I have been struggling for the last few years to define what I wanted to do with the business. What I realized, through Brabec's definition, was that, when I began the business, it was with an eye towards the marketplace. I was a SAHM and wanted to contribute to our finances. Now, I am retired, with sufficient income. I have no need to create for the marketplace. Instead, I can finally create for myself, while simultaneously using my skills to create gifts. As a result, I am feeling calm for the first time in years.

Wishing you peace . . . calm . . . and all good.

Spring Activities

The last couple of weeks have been very full. One of the things I took time out to do, however, was to watch the documentary Chasing Ice. James Balog, an award winning photographer, and his team filmed what happened to glaciers in the northern hemisphere from 2005 to about 2008 or 2009. You can find more information about it at the link above and on the Chasing Ice Facebook Page. It is an incredible film with stunning photography. They have been doing the same thing in the southern hemisphere since 2012.

I also had the opportunity to photograph some unusual visitors to my landscape.

Baltimore Orioles

I apologize for the blurriness of this one, but we were also visited by

A Rose-breasted Grosbeak

These visits are, of course, signs that the weather is turning warmer, though it hasn't felt quite like that recently around here. The vegetation has also made it clear, though it went through the flowering stage very quickly. We have, so far, avoided severe weather. Unfortunately, other areas of the country have not been so lucky. Between heat and storms, it has been a tumultuous spring.

Another thing I've been considering lately is our garden. I would love to be able to plant more and my hubby appears willing to do a lot of the work (since we're not sure how my allergies will react). I decided to check out this article: Planting your spring garden? Consider climate’s ‘new normal’ (You have to scroll down to the specific link.) As the article states: 

"Climate normals can help people understand what conditions they can expect wherever they may live… and plant. A previous article on Climate.gov explored the implications of the new climate normals for gardeners and landscapers. Not only can plants can generally survive farther north than they used to, but the fire season is longer and pests are able to thrive and spread in forests and other natural landscapes. Pollination patterns may also be changing."

For me, this is yet another reason to pay attention to the impact of our activities on the world around us. I hope that you will, too.

Until next time, I wish you peace and all good.

Blooming

There has been a lot going on around here in the past couple of weeks, not the least of which was the change in the weather, which resulted in this:

It is glorious to be able to open up the house, hear the wildlife, and feel a warm breeze. We've also had the excitement of preparations for a new great-nephew and a wedding in the family.

I've begun working on a quilt with these:

It is one that I have put off working on for quite a while because I was unhappy with the pattern I had been using. I made a change to the pattern choice and feel much more comfortable about it.

I was able to find information on ways to modify the doll heads, so I will be going forward with that at some point. Prior to that, however, I need to prepare for a visit from my grandchildren. Since they moved across the country when they were babies, it has been a long time since my house needed to be child-proofed.

Until next time, I wish you peace and all good things.

Simpler Times

What images come to mind for you when someone mentions simple living? For me, there are two different types. One is the family living off the land, providing most, if not all, of their needs themselves. The other is the type of life most people in this country lived not that long ago.

Most families gathered around the table for dinner at the same time every evening, sharing stories from their day or things they had heard about. The after dinner clean up was a shared experience, too, with one person washing and one or more drying dishes. Children would gather to do homework around the table, and then, the whole family might watch a TV show or several members might play a board game or cards together.

Even solitary activities weren't totally solitary, as family members gathered in the living room or at the table to read and do handcrafts. Many, if not most, gifts were created by hand, and possessions were few and cherished.

There were schedules for doing certain things, such as cleaning the public rooms of the house every Saturday morning, and preparing for church by shining shoes, taking baths, and curling hair Saturday night. Children wore school clothes, play clothes, and dress clothes; changing for different activities, which required a variety of clothing, but allowed school clothes and dress clothes to last longer and require less cleaning. When you got dressed up, it was special, and you felt it.

There were also fewer restrictions on children's time and ability to roam. While at least one parent was generally at home, children could go outside to play and didn't need to stay within sight. They could come home when they got hungry or cold and had to be in by a certain time for dinner and after dinner in the summer. (Usually the latter was when the street lights went on, since none of the children had a watch.) Sometimes, the parent would call or whistle for children from a front porch. Kids always knew they had to hightail it home then. There were also the Saturday movie matinees, which the children would attend without adults, spending all afternoon taking in double features, with a live show or activity in between, usually with prizes.

Adults visited in each others' homes. Occasionally, there would be a party for a holiday or birthday. They might have a garden, sometimes with vegetables, but mostly with flowers. If you were lucky, you might go on a vacation, but it usually was to the homes of distant family members.

In our shift to organized activities and love affair with technology, we seem to be missing a lot. Today, it is more likely that, even if the family meets for dinner, there will be little conversation. Afterwards, one person might load the dishwasher and run it, while the rest of the family retires to separate locations to watch shows, play on the computer, or runs off to practices. It is rare for a child to be able to play outside at all, let alone to roam freely without concern. Visits, too, are rare, with many of them taking place over the phone or via the Internet. We seem to be moving at a much quicker pace.

I suspect that much of the current fascination with vintage and some handcrafts is an attempt to bring back a bit of the sense of peace and slowness that was a part of those earlier times.

What about you? Does your image of simple living agree with mine? How does it make you feel?

World House

I know I’ve been quiet for an awfully long time. It seems I really needed to take a break from the blog to do a little . . .

 Bird watching . . .

 

Check out the flowers . . .

And watch some wildlife . . .

I also took a trip that included this . . .

In addition, I have returned to something else I’ve been putting off for a long time.

Many years ago, when I was selling my crafts at local shows, one of my sisters asked me if I would collaborate with her in creating 1/12 scale dolls. The scale refers to a size that equates to 1” = 1’. Though I was nervous about my ability to make clothing for such small dolls, I agreed to try. She would create the dolls from porcelain. So began my introduction to the world of miniatures.

About the same time, I was reading a book by Peter Menzel called Material World. He went on to do another called Woman in the Material World with Faith d’Alusio, which I also read. The books show the real life situations of up to 30 statistically average families from various countries around the world. You can find out more about it here: http://www.menzelphoto.com/books/mw.php.

Also about that time, I came across statistics for a world portrait, if the earth were populated by 1000 people. That, in turn, combined with the miniatures and Material World information led me to design a 1/12 scale house I call the “World House.” (Since then, the statistics have been updated several times. The current ones, for a world population of 100 people can be found here: http://www.100people.org/statistics_100stats.php?section=statistics. ) While the statistics have changed slightly, they are similar enough that my design still works.

In the house, I have a Chinese grandmother, Hispanic mother, African father, Bhutanese teenaged son, Italian child daughter, and an Indian baby boy. This is my solution for the problem of how to people the house in a way that models the ethnic and cultural population of the world. The “people” also conform to other details of the statistics, such as religion and education. While the house is an American dollhouse and I am still working on it, it has space apportioned according to the real world situations, material goods for each “person” as they would have in their respective countries, and the “people” have occupations similar to their counterparts.

In the intervening years, I have not had much time to work on the house, as other things have taken precedence. However, I recently began going through my materials, and then, got information about the upcoming Chicago Miniatures Show, both of which reignited my drive to continue. Many of the pieces I use or plan to use are made with recycled materials, giving me another way to conserve resources and avoid having things end up in a landfill.

Have you ever thought about what the whole world looks like in terms of human population or wondered what life was like for someone in a different country? What would your choices be if you were designing a World House?

Until next time, as always, I wish you peace and all good.

Playing

I have been enjoying the changes in the landscape and visitors to my little space in the world.

Lots of flowering bushes and trees . . .

 

A lot of familiar showy personalities . . .

And some that are not so familiar, but lovely to see.

I have been working these last few weeks on moving forward with projects and identifying next steps. It has been much more difficult than I expected it would be (when I left the day job) to settle into a routine that works and find my motivation. That frustrated me, since it seems to take so long to get from point A to point B. For example, yesterday I began working on the survey I mentioned last time I blogged, but found it will take a much longer learning curve than I expected for me to get it done. So, I am rethinking that aspect of things.

At the same time, I have been doing some experimenting with techniques and finishing up some loose ends, so I do seem to be making a little progress. Finally, I have been reminded that I promised myself I would do more to create from the heart and allow myself to play. I suspect there will be some changes coming.

In the meantime, I wish you time to play and enjoy life.

Peace.

Setting up a Schedule

I've been spending a lot of time in recent weeks trying to work out a manageable schedule. In addition to deciding how much time to allot for each of the things I want to accomplish, I have also been trying to come up with a direction for my activities. Sometime, soon, I hope to have a survey available for your input about some of the decisions.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a few of the things we have been enjoying the last couple of weeks.

A lot of these . . .

A few of these . . .

and even a pair of these . . .

Until next time, I wish you, always . . .

Peace and all good