-HEARTS
After my last post, about Ecological Grief and Anxiety, I thought a more light hearted post might be appreciated. :-)
On Valentine’s Day Batman baked sugar cookies and we decorated them together. It’s been a tradition in our family for years and years. Some went out the door to neighbors, some stayed in the cookie tin here at our “bit of earth.”
I do spend a bit of time over at the American Heart Association’s website these days. (Knowledge is power, don’tcha know). A wonderful story was posted over there on February 1, 2024. I thought I’d share it here with you.
-BOOK TALK
Our book group has chosen our next few books for 2024, maybe you’d like to follow along. We had a lively discussion of The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store last Friday night. (I was really thinking I’d love it, then I sort of slogged through it, but once our group had discussed it, I liked it better. Thank you, friends.)
March Gather, by Kenneth M Cadow, a very local author. He was a National Book Award Finalist for 2023. I can’t wait to read this!
April This is Happiness, by Niall Williams, set in rural County Clare in Ireland.
May I Never Thought of it That Way, How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, by Mónica Guzmán. Need I say more?
June Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel, by Anthony Marra.
I just purchased a copy of The Comfort of Crows, A Backyard Year, written by Margaret Renkl and illustrated by her son. I had picked this book up several times in the past few months before I actually bought it at Bear Pond Books up in Montpelier. Composed of 52 chapters, one for each week of the year, I thought I would read it that way…a chapter a week. (My friend Anne also recommended it to me).
-STITCHING
I’m still loving my 100 days of stitching project, hand stitching for at least 15 minutes each day. I have revisited some of my favorite themes for this page…embroidered balsams, raw selvedge scraps and constellations. The piece on the right was my first take on the scene. I didn’t like it at all. I altered one of my original guidelines for the project and I did decide to take some stitches out. #autonomy I like the one on the left much better!
Orion, my favorite constellation, wanders through the night sky at this time of year. Robert Frost wrote a beautiful poem called The Star-Splitters.
"You know Orion always comes up sideways.
Throwing a leg up over our fence of mountains,
And rising on his hands, he looks in on me
Busy outdoors by lantern-light with something
I should have done by daylight, and indeed,
After the ground is frozen, I should have done
Before it froze, and a gust flings a handful
Of waste leaves at my smoky lantern chimney
To make fun of my way of doing things,
Or else fun of Orion's having caught me….(cont.)
I’ve been meaning to get a STUDIO TUNIC for Gretta underway for ages. Once again, my blogging buddy Anne had the right words at the right time. Even my somewhat little project benefitted from Anne’s strategy to get going on something, to hatch a plan, to begin!
Gretta purchased the teal and citrine fabrics, but there wasn’t quite enough to make the whole tunic. I had some gorgeous bug fabric in my stash and when I pulled it out I gasped. Now I have enough fabric, I just need to figure out how best to juggle the pattern pieces.
-BREATHING
A few days ago I took a walk on the road to stretch my legs and clear my head. It was cold and windy. My eyes were watering and my breath was visible. I went to say hello to the cattle who were sheltered in their shed, out of the wind. They took no notice of me as they chewed on some hay and buddied up to stay warm. On the way home I stopped again and again to watch the changeable sky, darkening as the afternoon faded into evening. How lucky am I to have this pocket of peace right outside my door?
4:49 PM on Valentine’s Day
I send you light and love and hope…always hope…from my home to yours, dearest readers. xo