Category Archives: Deep Thoughts and Musings

I should probably include ramblings.

Quilting

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Why would anyone in their right mind cut perfectly good fabric into a million pieces and then sew them back together again.  Think of the waste!  Our pioneer foremothers  would probably roll over in their graves at the thought.

Well, that was downright rude, I realize.  I’ve recently been instagraming with Luke Haynes.  He is an amazing artist and quilter.  I’ve enjoyed Joe Cunningham’s articles and quilts in magazines for years.  Ricky Tims is an accomplished quilter and magazine owner, writes articles and…..his Dad is a quilter.  Men are huge in quilting.

I’ve seen a lot of quilts in museums made from the usable parts from worn out pants, dresses and shirts…..even from military uniforms made of wool.  Some are beautiful works of art and others are obviously inventions of necessity.   Some are sewn by machine and others are sewn by hand.  The stories that accompany many of these quilts are fascinating.

I was inspired by several magazine articles about Anna Williams.  She lives in Baton Rouge.  She and her quilter friends have developed their own art in the form of scrap quilts.  When I read about how they sewed strips of fabric together and then took their scissors and cut through them…..it seemed so reckless, I just had to try it.  What freedom!  No worries about matching seams or corners.  No worries about planning out the whole quilt before construction begins.  Just the adventure of seeing how the whole thing will evolve.

The two pictures are small sections of the larger quilt.

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If you’re a quilter with a ton of scraps, this is a great way to make use of them.  It made me feel so thrifty!

 

 

Lost Art of the Thank You Note

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It had been my habit, when I received a thank you note, to put it in the cookbook I was reading as a bookmark and there it would stay.  Well, yes, I read cookbooks like novels.  I figure the author has a unique  philosophy he/she wants to share and a story about the restaurant, the education, the culture or the mentor that inspired the book.  I want to know this story.

This morning while looking for a recipe, I opened a cookbook and there was a note.  In fact, there were four notes in that book.  I reread each one.  They brought back so many memories:  two new babies, moving into a new house, and a birthday gift.  It’s fun to run into these notes occasionally and reminisce.

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And right then, an aha moment:  It’s been ??? how many years since I received an actual physical, paper, thank you note?  In the three or four year range anyway.  Thank you notes  and letters have gradually faded from consciousness.  Today we email and text.

When was the last time you bundled your emails  and texts with a red satin ribbon and carefully placed them in a special box stored on the top shelf of your closet?   When was the last time you stopped by a neighbor’s unannounced and spent the afternoon visiting?  I remember my Mother lamenting about the disappearance of meat markets as the supermarkets came on the scene.  Change.  Day to day things seem the same…..but look back over just the past year and yikes! so much has changed.

Today we share news on facebook and twitter.    Yes, everything is always in flux…..ebbing and flowing.  The average American moves every five years.   Our neighborhoods are expanding to include the whole continent.  We have friends all over the world.  This is an exciting time to be alive.

Socrates is quoted:  “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new”.  So…..I’m not going to throw out those thank you notes.  I’ll still enjoy running into them at odd moments and having them trigger memories.  But…..I am going to enjoy blogging, facebook, twitter, etc. and try to remember to express my gratitude more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make Your Own Bookmarks

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If you almost always have a book with you, you probably treasure a good bookmark.  They can be a really enjoyable part of your whole reading experience.

I started making bookmarks as gifts.  I wanted to share my favorite quotes.  Most of the short quotes I love become mantras, well, short-term mantras.  I repeat them over and over because they seem to apply to every situation in my life.

For example: ” You only see what you’re looking for and you only look for what you know.””  It’s amazing to me how many ways that applies to every facet of my life.  Then, I get a new one.  Recently, it’s:  “It takes ten times longer to put yourself together than it does to fall apart.”

One of my long time mantras is “Stand on your own two feet” akin to Napoleon Hill’s admonition, “Do your own thinking on all occasions.  The fact that the human beings are given complete control over nothing save the power to think their own thoughts is laden with significance.”  A little too long to be one of my mantras.  But I love reading it often because it’s on one of my bookmarks.

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I am typically into DIY projects.  The first time I read Napoleon Hill’s words:  “It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project”, I laughed out loud.  I couldn’t help myself.  It’s so obvious when you think about it.

Consider the possibilities.  Make your own bookmarks and share them with me.  I need some thought provoking new ideas.

Why Keep All The Books?

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I’m a book collector.  Every room in my house has a bookcase with no more room on the shelves.

Book collector sounds serious.  It’s not like that.  I’m not talking first editions, just areas of interest.  The books I’m reading are stacked on end tables, night stands and desks.  The ones I love after reading go on a shelf.  The ones I don’t go to the Salvation Army or Amazon for resale.

I can look at my books and recreate my life.  When my kids were babies, I was into parenting and health books, cake decorating and gingerbread house making.  Cookbooks are a huge section.  They include my idols:  Paul Bocuse, Julia Child, Wolfgang Puck, Michael Pollan, and Jacques Pepin.

The art and quilting section, the religion and alchemy section and the novel section have all become a reference library.  They’ve passed their active studying phase and are now waiting for the occasional use.  Then, there are the “how tos”.  How to make wine, cheese, kefir, yogurt, sour dough and canning are subjects everyone is passionate about.  Right?

In the past,  if I had a question, I went to the shelves.  Today, I google.  It’s so immediate.  So the question:  why keep all the books?  The last time we moved, I got rid of stacks of books including two sets of encyclopedias.  It’s not like I’m not trying to thin the herd.

The thing is that I use them.  I love holding them in my hands, turning the pages, even smelling them.  I love paper.  I love ink.  I love the fact that like anything you’re passionate about, you can lose yourself in a book.  Your imagination is sparked by reading a book.   Your life is enriched just by reading a book.

“Books can be dangerous.  The best ones should be labeled “This could change your life.”–Helen Exley

 

Ode to My Grandma Orabell

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My grandma didn’t have a dining room.  The table was in the kitchen and was a bright, cheery, red, metal one.  It was the place to be.  As a kid, I remember my Grandpa sitting at that table drinking coffee in the morning or after work having a beer and cigarette.  Grandma kept a ceramic “Aunt Jemima” with a red and white checked apron in the center of the table my whole childhood.  Years later, I gave Grandma a white ceramic chicken  covered casserole that she put on that table.  After she died, it made its way back to me.  I’ll always treasure it because she did!

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She agreed to teach me how to make chili.  I loved her chili.  I was 17 and living in the dorm at college.  I walked a couple of miles to the grocery store and then to her house.  I can remember coming through the alley and through her back gate and then through the red rose covered arbor to her kitchen door.

She told me to bring hamburger and catsup.  I misunderstood and brought four big bottles of catsup.  In fact!  She hadn’t said catsup at all.  What she had said was tomato sauce and canned tomatoes.  She belly laughed when she saw them and then giggled off and on all afternoon when she looked at them stacked on her cabinet.

She had soaked the pinto beans overnight.  She showed me how to brown the beef.  We chopped the onion and red and green peppers.  She showed me how to taste as the chili simmered and gradually add the spices and taste again.

I don’t remember her ever having a dishwasher.  We always did the dishes after we ate meals, snacks or worked on cooking projects.  Someone would wash and someone would dry.  At some point in the ritual, she would dance around and snap a large white tea towel like a whip in the air  (tea towel is 1950’s for dish towel) and chant:

Oh Captain, Captain, stop the ship!
I’ve got to get off and walk.
I feel so flippity, floppity, flip;
I’ve never seen New Yok!
(It had to be “Yok” or it wouldn’t rhyme with walk)

My Grandma Orabell taught me to bake in that kitchen.  She taught me how to can peaches, tomatoes and cherries.  She taught me how to make jelly and jam.  She even taught me how to embroider in that kitchen.  She said every young woman should have at least two sets of tea towels in her trousseau….and I did.  I love my Grandma and I loved dancing around her kitchen with her.

As we pass through the seasons of our lives, it seems each one will always be…..but inevitably we move on to the next.  You know how time slips through the cracks.  I’ve shared my thoughts about that before.

Magic Is Believing In Yourself

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is quoted as saying ”  Magic is believing in yourself.  If you can do that, you can make anything happen.”

Through the years, I’ve read lots of wonderful, uplifting quotes about belief.  Some had to do with religion, others alchemy and even science.  I’ve read them and pondered the basis of my beliefs.  Most of them have been handed down through my english, swedish and irish ancestors.

My Mom and Dad very carefully taught me what they had been taught.  And I believed.  I believed not only them but also my teachers in school and church.  For that matter, I believed what every authority figure in my life had to say.

I do have to admit that many of these people are great in my eyes.  My english teacher in high school inspired my love of words and books.  My seminary teacher, a couple of college professors and several art teachers achieved a measure of success  in their own lives and inspired my love of learning.  However, as I’ve grown older and become aware of them as human beings with frailties, I realize that all they could give me was their own best guess.

I accepted the values of others verbatim.  What does that say about my intuition and judgement?  It would have made more sense to accept them as input, accumulate them, weigh them against what I saw in my life around me and come to my own conclusions.  Because, as I look back, there was a lot of “do as I say, not as I do” going on.

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I love the quote from Napoleon Hill:  “Do your own thinking on all occasions.  The fact that the human beings are given complete control over nothing save the power to think their own thoughts is laden with significance.”

This sculpture, The Thinker, by Auguste Rodin is a image of a man thinking…..lost in thought.  His muscular body suggests a great capacity for action. It was commissioned to be part of an intricate monument:  The Gates of Hell.  I like to think he was contemplating his beliefs:  which values are worth living for and then what was he going to do about it.

For years I made resolutions in the spirit of  ringing in  the New Year.  Some I kept longer than others, but for the most part, they were quickly forgotten.

I asked my husband if he planned to make any this year.  Not surprisingly, he said no.  But then he added that he makes resolutions almost every day and that as he reaches goals or milestones toward goals, they invariably spawn new ones.  It’s an ongoing process for him that has evolved over the years.  He is a thinker and a doer.

So, I’ve come up with this:  I resolve to learn more, to think more and to do more in 2015!   Let’s make MAGIC!  Let’s learn to BELIEVE IN OURSELVES!

 

Be Vulnerable

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Joseph Raffael told a story about his daughter coming into his studio while he was looking at pictures he’d taken trying to choose the subject of his next painting. She told him she was sick of water lilies and asked when he was going to paint something else.

He let her choose his next subject. It was a rose. He had taken pictures of roses for years but since “men” didn’t paint roses, he never had.  He said “it’s one thing to paint water lilies, they’re symbols–transcendental–metaphysical–but how could I paint a rose”.

He painted the picture she chose and now it’s one of his favorites.   Then he commented:   “the point is that, in order for me to be my whole self as an artist and as a person, I have to  open up those parts that are most vulnerable”.

I recently attended a CEO Space Conference with my husband expecting a two week vacation in the sun while he networked with other business people.

But…..I spent every meal with 6-7 other entrepreneurs and a faculty member and lasted 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  The focus was on cooperating rather than competing and helping each one of us crystallize our purpose and formulate specific steps to achieve our goals.

The whole process was a giant wake up call for me.  In the beginning, I couldn’t even articulate what I wanted.  I didn’t know what I wanted. How sad is that?  As I soul searched through the first days…..imagine spending six hours a day with coaches and mentors eager to help you find yourself, not your facade but your real self.  Then, between meals were hours of workshops and seminars.

I kept looking around the different venues, at all of the accomplished people around me, feeling alone.  Feeling less. But, as I made friends and heard others’ stories, I realized we were all the same. Yes, some of us were more composed and confident at the moment. But, life has a way of presenting ups and downs…..challenges and solutions.

At the graduation ceremony , Berny Dohrmann, the CEO and Chairman, thanked us for being vulnerable!  I sat there for a moment, struck by that statement and realized that’s what had happened.  He had created an environment that was safe and all inclusive as well as stimulating…..energizing.  Creativity blossomed all around me.  This large group of people had let down their barriers and become vulnerable to one another. It was amazing!  I felt amazing!

That experience is why I’m blogging…..why I’m painting again.  That’s why you’re seeing my paintings on my blog.  That’s why I’m loving life again. The message I received and the message I pass along to you is “be real, be you, be vulnerable.”001

Christmas Morning 2014

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The weather stations were forecasting snow for Christmas Morning.  We took the news with a grain of salt because the whole month of December has been, with the exception of a few drizzles, dry.   The mountains all around us got all the snow but not the valleys and foothills.

We woke up Christmas Morning to five inches of the fluffiest white blanket. We giggled.  (We’re living with a six year old).   We ran to the windows and then the doors in wonder. It was a gift!  We were grateful.  Through the day, it snowed another eight inches.

My husband’s grandfather started a tradition that my husband treasures.   He would call Christmas morning (no Caller ID at the time).  When my husband answered “hello”  his grandpa would say “Christmas gift”.  That meant he had to give him an extra gift, usually hugs when he saw him.

But the game was:  saying it first.  So all of the calls that day were answered “Christmas gift” instead of “hello”.  Some callers were very surprised and certain they had the wrong number.  This went on for over 50 years until his grandpa died at 100 years of age.

It was a very special link between a boy and his grandpa…..and then between a man and his grandpa. Now, it’s a memory…..a gift!   He is so grateful.

Through the day today, we’ve enjoyed the snow and the blessing of family and family traditions.  I kept noticing these bright Christmassy red geraniums and their vibrant green leaves.  Through the window behind them I could see the snow covered tree branches and bushes.  What a contrast!  Inside we are protected, warm and cozy, and outside it’s freezing and harsh!  There are gifts everywhere we look.

And, yes, we’re so grateful.

The Red Umbrella

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Do you have a special place to go for 30 minutes, when you can’t take the day off,  or a weekend?  But, things keep piling up on you.  You’re feeling overwhelmed or frustrated.

It helps me to find a quiet place by myself with a big glass of water, if it’s early in the day, or a glass of wine if it’s evening.  It gives me a minute to reflect on what’s happening and why I’m reacting the way I am.

In colder weather, I have a window seat in a cantilevered cubby that’s a perfect place to read or to write or to think.

In the warmer weather, I crank up the red umbrella on my back deck and sit under its rosy glow.  It is an artificial enclave; but, it does the trick.  I feel embraced in a reflected light that is at once comforting and liberating.  That’s my best explanation.  Well, yes, it’s all in my mind.  I’m grateful that my mind will do that for me.

I have a friend that doesn’t know how to say no.  She is the kindest, most compassionate person I know.  To the naked eye, she is superwoman.  Inside, she admits, she often feels overwhelmed and frustrated.  When she recognizes these feelings building, she calls a friend and makes an appointment for lunch the next week…..so she has something to look forward to.

The first time she called me for a lunch date, I asked her if everything was okay.  I thought something was wrong and she needed to talk.  She laughed and explained this was her coping mechanism.  I was so impressed.

We all need a coping mechanism.  During the holidays, that need becomes even more pronounced.  If you don’t already have one, this might be a good time to take a good look at your life, what or who pushes your buttons and formulate a coping mechanism uniquely your own.

I was struck by what Finnick Odair said to Katniss in the Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1.  He said…..it takes 10 times longer to put yourself together than it does to fall apart.  So, an ounce of prevention…..you know what I mean?  A red umbrella is not a bad idea.

My Libran State of Mind

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I was recently told “You shouldn’t feel that way”.  “How the hell do you know how I should feel?”  Oh my goodness.  Did you hear that?  That was my mothers voice.  And…yes…she was right.  Feelings are so uniquely personal.

When I was younger and was uncomfortable in a situation, I would just endure it and be relieved when it was over.  Was it peer pressure, living up to family expectations…..trying to appear to be someone I’m not?  It was all of that.  It was fear.  Fear of disappointing.  Fear of not measuring up.  Fear that if I spoke up and said how I really feel, no one would like me.

I googled “feelings” and “trust yourself”, etc.  One thing lead to another and I found some great quotes.  One attributed to Goethe I loved:  “As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live”.  Another went something like…..never waste your feelings on those who do not value them.  And, it hit me, that’s me.  I’m the one who doesn’t value them.  I share them.  I wallow in them.  Why am I not acting on them?

I spend a lot of time in a Libran state of mind.  I weigh the pros and cons.  I try to see all of the angles, perspectives and set up a value scale. What a waste of time!

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Maya Angelou is quoted as saying:  “Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God”.

I resolve to add “I listen to myself” and “I trust myself” to my affirmations each day and then act accordingly.  Does that mean letting go of my baggage and focusing on what will make me healthy, wealthy, happy and successful?

Well,  I’m going for it.