Gratitude in August

Today's postcard. I don't much like it, but it's here. Maybe I'll touch it up with green fluorescent ink.

I have tomatoes - large purple ones and golf-ball sized yellow ones. And potatoes from my work friend. I don't know how long it's been since I've had fresh garden potatoes.

I came home today to find fresh peaches on my porch, warm in the sun.

Definitely things to be grateful for. I am also grateful that I opened a business checking account today. I've decided in my musings that, among other things, I'm getting off track in getting my business going, and that's a step for today.

Write It On Your Heart

Somewhere on my internet travels, I came across this poem. Wish I knew where, but I can at least credit the poem to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Wirte it on your heart
that every day is the best day of the year.

He is rich who owns the day,
and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.


Words from long ago to think about, my friends.

Friday Fill-In # 85

Time for Friday Fill-Ins

1. The last meal I had at a restaurant was at the Lucky Otter in Asheville. Followed by a walk to the ice cream store, which has a tiny deck tucked out back. The Lucky Otter is my favorite Asheville restaurant, small with fairly healthy choices. Always a good place to people-watch, there was a softball team last time I was there.

2. Rodents, up close and personal, are something I detest. Thanks again to Mike for fixing the squirrel entrance.

3. The full moon may bring crazy times, I don't know, but I love the references to them, maybe even the craziness.

4. Get you a plate is one of my favorite local expressions, more so in Berea than here. It seems to have two meanings - (1) to get a plateful to food at a dinner or potluck, and (2) to load up a plateful of food to take home.

5. Sometimes it's best to learn to not take things too personally. I believe that many times cruel words really aren't all about us, but reflect the experiences the person has had that day or that week.

6. ________________ is the best movie I've seen so far this year. I have to admit that I haven't seen one. The last movie I saw was Juno, and that was in December.

7. And as for the weekend, I need to regroup. I'm not happy with my lack of creativity right now, even postcards seem a chore that I've decided to set aside for a week or so.

I'm hoping for the easy solution. Could be it's as simple as missing being in my studio during the hot weather, or missing my "pocket" camera (and I'm researching its replacement, definitely have decided to not spend the $140 to get it fixed since I'm pretty sure the problem is in the design and could resurface in another 18 months.) It's been a long time since I've been on an artist date. Could be that I need to see a hypothetical movie (see # 6.) Could be that my internal clock is still set to August, which was the busy, busy time in my former Berea College job.

Anyway, I need time to ponder, to reset the "joy" button, to look around at colors, to muse on little Aaron's birthday coming up so soon and Nora's being so pleased with her little princess container filled with alphabet letters.

I need a time to be like that machine that resurfacs the ice at the hockey games, sweeping away the unevenness and making a smooth playing surface so the action can start again.

First Quilt

You've seen pictures of Olivia making postcards and getting her first sewing lesson. She's really good at it, and last night she came over and made her first crazy quilt.

Love the quilt, love the smile.

Front Yard Garden

Today's postcard

Morning time is so precious - that time between when I get up around 6 and leave for work around 8:45. It flies by at an unbelievable speed. That's when I try to do my postcards, housework, maybe a precious little quilting, not to mention ironing and showering. Evening is a little unpredictable, energy-wise. Morning is best for me.

Where I'm going with this is that I've decided that I really need to squeeze a little walking in that morning time, even if it's just 15 minutes. Especially during summer, it's fun to look at neighbors' flower beds when I'm out walking.

The only tomatoes I've seen in front yard beds are mine. I'm a big fan of mixing veggies and flowers, and my back yard isn't sunny. And when I lived at the Ecovillage, there were some dandy front yard gardens.

This winter I started tomatoes from seed with a package of mixed heirloom varieties. The package is long gone, so I don't know exactly what I have. The little yellow ones are golf-ball sized, very sweet. I'm getting about one every other day now.

Beside the yellow tomato is one with large tomatoes that are turning purple. You can see one ripening on the left side of the picture around the center. I don't think it's a Cherokee purple, but it's something like that.

And next year, ah, next year. There will be more beds, more flowers, more squash, more tomatoes, more everything. Starting earlier.

Finally

Today's postcard

Finally, after a long dry spell, I have a completed small quilt. I wanted to make a wedding quilt for a special friend and decided on a crazy quilt block since I've noticed that people gravitate toward them. I deviated from the traditional crazy quilt by using my hand-dyed fabrics and very little hand stitching, some machine embroidery, lots of beads.

Not a large project at all, but it feels good to have something completed.

The large bead in the center is made with fabric, fused with Wonder Under, rolled around a bamboo skewer, and wrapped with wire.

The machine stitching on the piece second from the right spells "love" over and over.

I've seen this woman made large-scale gardens, hauling dirt and rocks. As I worked, I realized that this quilt looks like her gardens, including the white beads that are rather like a rock path.

Sunday at Steph and Mike's

Today's postcard

Mike's mom and dad were visiting on Sunday. Nice new haircut, Grandma Janice.

Steph had a pretty new cut, too.

I don't remember what Nora was thinking about, but her body language says it all.

Here she's happier, watching the Olympics on tv with Pap and pretending to be a gymnast.

Aunt Tina's starting Aaron on his way - yes, he's walking.

Good visit, everybody.