I finished "From the Mixed Up Files..."...a book I hadn't read since I was in grade school! I even found a desk name tag and a note in it from when my daughter had a turn reading it. I remembered the basic outline of the book and the fact that my absolutely best girlfriend and I loved this book so much. We wanted to hide out somewhere and solve some grand mysteries. haha
I am part way through "Dr. Doolittle", which I very little actual recall about...except the memory that I loved it as a kid, wanted to have a zillion animals too and the fact that I learned to play "If I Could Talk to the Animals" on the xylophone in 4th grade summer music class - which is also where a I met a new friend, who would go on to become one of my best friends all of the way through college. Who knew that standing side by side, playing that song who become so much more.
On this day, Wednesday, there was so much beauty in the prickly!
And on that same day and the days following...there has been much beauty in the light as well.
The rock rose below was fairly glowing, it shone so brightly in the afternoon sun.
Along with the prickly and the light, there was much beauty to be found in the very well watered, sunlit greenery!
This week I broke into my big bag of old jeans. They've been too small for a long, long while. But, many of you may agree that jeans shopping is not as easy as it was when younger! So I kept them.
Now, they all fit again. A couple of the pairs had holes in the knees, which could be left alone or mended. I plan to mend them. I pulled out my Deb fabric and threads. Some choices will be made. Since it is knees on jeans being patched, I pulled out the fabrics that seemed the most sturdy. I'm considering more stitches than needed to just hold patches in place. I'm also considering leaving the pieces as is, in their organic, came this way to me shapes. I'd like to sew the edges in Liz's oft used herringbone stitch, as I like how secure and dense the stitches are. However, I hesitate learning it in this tight space. We'll see.
Back in 2013, I posted my jeans patch and the charming comment from a toddler. I patched from the inside that time. ð
NOTE~ It was interesting in that 2013 post I was whining about my computer functioning. While today, I intended to add a note here about the odd happening I noticed the other day. When checking for any new comments, not gone through correctly and landing in Spam. I found a handful of them, where I usually find none. I think they have all already been published, as they go back years. How odd. Anyway, I'll hit publish, but most likely will not go back in time to find them and post answers (if I haven't already). We can just move forward, yes? Just, please know how much I try to answer the comments that folks take the time to place here. You are important to me.
The books just keep on coming! Whatever shall I do with these? These are from my young child "mommy" phase...all I ever wanted to do or be...until I was and then while I was...this was IT...Mommy.
The insides hold my name, which includes my very first last name. You can see that youngest me could only write my first name and last name initial. Or perhaps my mom write them for me, modeling how to print my name? The second photo below was my signature for sure.
I can remember going to the 5 & 10 to find a 'new' one, as I wanted to collect them and have every mommy book there was. haha The cost 25 or 29 cents! What a bargain!
Oh how I remember each one of these, the golden binding, the interior illustrations...the pride of ownership!
This one was thrilling because my name was not only written by me inside...but it was in the title & story itself! How exciting for a young child.
You can read about some of their adventures HERE. In glancing over the pages, I notice how much her daddy did with her, so perhaps that was the biggest appeal of all! Not just the fun places every day, not my name in the story...but a little girl with a mommy and daddy in their home. Funny how that was not the part I remembered, but how it stands out to me now.
A crow landed at my place recently. He held a magic key and brought treasures along with him.
We traveled off to the "Mother's Day" spot for a brief exploration, time spent in nature. The breeze held a sharp chill and delicious scents of earth and wild growth.
Purple and green seemed to be the color scheme for the day, along with earthy brown.
Beautiful!
Recent rains left their stories behind. Crunchy! Oozy!
We saw this gorgeous purple plant on the way home this morning. I don't know what it is, but it was totally covered with bees! The leaves were beautiful, bright, shiny and a lovely shade of green.
Then we stopped by the picnic table out back so J. could show me the oak flowers he's been watching. Aren't they swell?!
We were lucky enough to receive this beautiful gift in the mail.
Young Orlo, ready to jump!
We absolutely adore this picture of him.
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An email from Wendy had me looking back at THIS POST...
at the cloth and medicine bag I'd made for her and the children she worked with at that time.
This in turn had me reading her old articles HERE and HERE.
Then I wondered about the progression of the cloth I'd made...how it had become and began reading older and older posts, traveling backwards through time. What a journey. I am a firm believer that it can be good to do this now and again...see where you've come from, what you've gone through...remember people, places or things that have held meaning in your life. To take notice of what has impacted, shaped and been the pieces of your life.
I also believe it is not necessary to wallow there for too long, but to honor your own past, while living in the present. So, that is what I've done for a bit.
This has been an interesting time for this.
I have felt a shift that eludes explanation at this time...but something has shifted within me, so I am considering that.
Thinking about Wendy and the cloth & medicine bag I'd made has been a part of that.
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For 23 years, since I was first introduced to this song...I've only known the Bill Monroe version with his yodeling-chirps and the general lyrics he sings. I've only memorized the repeating phrase: "In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines and we shiver when the cold wind blowed"...and tried to imitate his chirpy-yodel. we have sung this for 23 years together, whenever we are in the pines (trees) or whenever it has been shivering cold.
Fast forward to last week...imagine my surprise to learn of the version below and the Lead Belly version. Not that it is unusual that they exist, only that in 23 years of singing the other version, I learn of more. Magic. And today, while writing this post, I discover a CHILD, covering this song, the Nirvana version. I have some mixed feeling about this, considering the dark nature of this version. However, he totally nails it!
There is a lot more to research about this song...I don't think I am done yet.
Now onto the version below...
I guess I somehow missed the boat on Nirvana. I was a single parent of two during their heyday. I was busy. At this moment, I couldn't even tell you what, if anything, I was listening to. But, it wasn't this. So, when J. turned me on to this version...wow! We can chat about what we think in the comments, but I want to allow you to listen on your own, without my ideas.
I will tell you that I've listened to this a dozen times and been touched in a deep way.
Partly, I think this is because for the last week or so, my emotions have been just under the surface, barely held at bay. Things have been felt very deeply, raw, full, edgy, sentimental, urgent to be felt. Have you ever had times like this?
So, listening to this song a bunch and singing it with J. ( he taught it to himself) has had me feeling a lot.
Then I landed on this video:
I'll just say that I cried a bit. If only the world cared about one another this much!
I became exhausted this week.
Thank goodness for the lighthearted song of Spring birds.
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Saturday Night Dreaming:
I dream. I dream a lot in any millisecond window of sleep.
I dream in detail, with plots, locations, scenery, costumes, characters
and beginnings-middles and endings. My dreams are movies.
My dreams are complicated thoughts, not flights of fancy. No vague, floaty things for me!
Saturday brought two new elements to my dreaming, even for me.
First (and I can still kinda visualize this part) - there was a commercial.
Yes, a commercial in my own dream!!
In it, a beautiful Latina mother was with her son, who was also beautiful with dark shiny hair and big brown eyes. They are working together, smiling to unroll and lay out some blue polyethylene, to protect the floor.
In the next scene the viewer sees that they have made a large (4-5 feet) paper mache' globe, already painted to look like earth. They are laughing and smiling and the boy has some of the white paper mache' on his little nose. A voiceover speaks, letting the viewer know what is being advertised (which I can't quite recall, but 'feels' like maybe some kind of insurance?).
The End
I don't recall what was happening before or after the 'commercial' in my dream...only that it broke away to commercial. What the heck does this say about me and my dreaming?!!
Saturday Night Dreaming- Part Two:
Later, my dream was interrupted by a 'movie trailer'. This one I have no recall of, only that during my dream, a trailer for a new movie came on. Another commercial? Mmmm...
I don't recall the dream before or after or the trailer itself, just that it happened. So, again I ask, Who does this? Who dreams like this?
And if there are advertisements, can I earn some money off of them? haha
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I'm making cards and...
I'm again cleaning out books and papers again. Will it ever end?
This time around I've decided that I am done learning in this way, about these things.
Even though they are not new, the two ECE books on reading and writing are really good. I almost hate to let them go, but the truth is I have not looked at them in years. I work with babies after all. All of the other books are very good too. I still admire the work of Brene' Brown. I still think it is important to learn about self and how you operate in the world. However, none of this feels current. I did this learning years ago. I'm interesting in different learning now. I would like someone else to be offered these book in their time of learning. The two Brene' Brown books & the Rae Pica book are off to be shared with friends. Perhaps the others will go in a local Little Free Library? I still need to spend more time looking through to discover what else is ready to travel on. But, for now, I'll finish my cards and pack up what I've got ready to go. It's funny, but until last week, I never considered that I was ready to let these go. Strange how that happens.
