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I had made this little log cabin some time ago but decided to applique on some circles and make it a baby quilt. Turns out that I like it very much.
I went to see both grands play basketball Saturday since their games were both close to home and both in the afternoon. This is Aaron waiting after Nora's game. He always takes a basketball with him, hoping to get in some shooting at half time.
Like some of my friends, I'm trying to look through things at my house with a critical eye. Do I really need, or even like, this and that? When I moved here ten years ago, I was pleased with how I'd gone through things before the move. Of course, there have been times since then when I've thought, "I can't believe that I paid to move that."
But it's the little stuff that tends to collect at my house. In drawers. On closet shelves. In the basement. And it's the art supplies. I like art supplies, and quilt supplies. They are hard to resist.
One of my friends says that she doesn't want her things to end up on the 25 cent table at a yard sale. A good philosophy for using up the good stuff.
These are little potholders. They go over the end of the pot handles that are metal, without the rubberized protection. A nice lady gave me one she'd bought years ago and asked me to duplicate it and make six. They went out in the mail today.
Also in the mail, this bib:
Maybe there will be a big snow for us yet this year, there surely will be, and a preemie baby's parents will be happy for this quilt to remember the snowy birth. Or, maybe next winter.
Yesterday was a day off school for the grands and we went to play laser tag. Their local laser tag location will be closing in about a month, so there were gift certificates to use. OK, maybe we went a little crazy with using them up.
I think most people around here are following the story of the Cincinnati Zoo's preemie hippo, born in late January. Last week a team from Cincinnati Children's Hospital helped zoo vets place an IV line for the little hippo. Its veins had collapsed with previous IV's, but this one is still doing well.
Table runner for a class to come. The little notes are to identify the fabrics listed on the supply list. Project from Husqvarna Viking.
I am marveling about the snow in Maine. And I am glad that it isn't here.
I thought a lot yesterday about immigrants and the many ways they work in our country. And I thought about my mother, who went to school not knowing the English language well, even though her family were not first-generation or even second-generation immigrants. My grandparents spoke English fluently, but it wasn't their first language at home in their Swiss settlement. She spoke from time to time about how she was shamed (her word) by her teachers. My heart hurts for that intelligent little girl who had to keep going to school when she probably just wanted to stay in bed.
I would from time to time ask my parents to speak something in Swiss, referred to as low German, and I loved a poem that my father would recite. My mother, however, because of her earlier hurt, wouldn't speak the Swiss language.
Roughly translated, my father's poem was
A, B, C, the cat walks in the snow.
The snow melts.
The cat walks in the dirt.
I feel certain that my mother made certain that her brother, seven years younger, spoke English when he went to school. He always enjoyed speaking the Swiss language and welcomed the chance to speak it.
Thinking about all this yesterday, I decided to stay at home and not make purchases or to eat out, in solidarity with our country's immigrants.
You may have not had a chance to watch my favorite Super Bowl commercial because I suspect that it was local.
But, you can watch it here.
I love it because the grands and I walked across that bridge to watch the All Star game two seasons ago. It was closed to car traffic during the parade.
On our way back, the wind picked up and blew up through the grates as well as all around us.
A wonderful memory, that's why I love the commercial.
After a Saturday of basketball games, I got to take the grands to Dairy Queen and catch up with them.
They were both HAPPY (no, their teams didn't win) and chatty. They talked about the referees and about Aaron's school football story from yesterday. I asked them if everyone knew that the Lockhart kids were good at sports, and they said, "Oh, yes, and not just us but our older cousins too."
Then I took them home and out came a football and they played outside in the sunny and mid 60's weather.
This week the solar lights on the back fence and on the back porch railing are turning on at dusk. I'm loving that.
I have been in a depressed state, just wanting to retreat into fluffy books or sleep. Checking the news and facebook far too often. Making calls to which I fear no one is paying attention. Writing, learning, feeling guilty about not doing more. Finding some relief in work or going out.
I am trying hard, because that's what I do, to find the commonalities on both sides. To look for that thing, those things, we can agree with, all of us. Something to build on. Pondering what we can do to reduce the hatred, the distractions. Feeling like I'm spinning my wheels.
Then yesterday, something I heard on NPR resonated with me. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying close attention so I can't credit the speaker. I think it was on 1A.
"This is not a marathon or a sprint but a relay." I can take comfort in that. Sometimes, when things seem too much, I can pass on the baton and rest a bit. It's a Sabbath concept, too. It's ok, good even, to take a Sabbath. To let the next runner carry on for just a little while.
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