Monday, October 31, 2011

A Special Rug

I have been documenting some of my arts and craft phases lately.  I didn't include knitting, crocheting, watercolors, or oils.  And another I didn't include is rugmaking.  I have made quite a few rugs by crocheting long strips of torn fabric.  This one below is the most recent and kind of special.



March 2008, my youngest son was T-boned by a truck going 65 mph.  We stood by the side of the road praying, crying, and trying to breathe as firefighters went through 2 jaws of life to cut him out of the vehicle.  He was medi-vacced away by helicopter, and the next few months were a blur of pain, surgeries, recovery, and therapy. 

Below is the remains of his Grand Am, now called the Grand Was!  The rug above is his recovery rug.  I gave myself carpal tunnel pain, working working working hour after hour, day after day, as I took my turn at hospital vigils.  Thankfully, he has recovered with only minimal residual damage, except for the 7 screws and the 15 inch abdominal scar.  We are thankful to God for His intervention!

Everything Changes

Everything changes in the light; hope becomes something you can hold . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD83Y6EVpZQ

Sunday, October 30, 2011

OK, I’m a Bad Housekeeper

It’s not that I don’t know how to keep a perfect house.  And it’s not that I don’t like it clean, orderly, and dust free; however, other pursuits take priority. 
I have a watercolor print in my office with a little mouse writing at a desk:  The last line says, “I will create while other mice play.”  Insert work for play, and that’s me in a nutshell.  Mom would be calling me to do the dishes, and where was this suddenly deaf Lilly?  Perched in the top of the apple tree writing stories and poems. 

You’ve heard of Van Gogh and his blue period; I have had various artistic periods, as well, some of the evidence of which lies below.

My cross-stitch and needlepoint:



My doll period:







My press-flower phase:






My folk-art phase:



My ceramic period:













My quilt period:








All of these phases continue to ebb and flow in my life, skirting in and out of the clutter and chaos of my not so orderly home, but music, writing, and books are forever!  He who dies with the most . . . songs, crafts, art, rough drafts, and books wins!




Saturday, October 29, 2011

Taking Pictures--A Happy Bill!


I almost called this blog "He loved me enough to stop at Starbucks."  For the coffee-drinker, no big deal; but for a non-coffee drinker husband to make a coffee stop for his poor headachy and addicted wife--well, let's just say that is definitely my love language!  Along with all the pit stops to snap photos, Kel definitely made our 38th anniversary jaunt to the ocean a pleasant day!


We stopped by the cabin which is not a cabin.  Kel's grandfather had built a cabin in the 1930s and added on a few rooms in bits and pieces over the years, in addition to planting fruit trees out front.  I remember the wonderful stone fireplace--the only heat.  Kel's mom has childhood memories there as does Kel, but we didn't go inside because it is now much changed with other attached buildings, and the trees are gone.  It was so different, we didn't want pictures.  I did snap these flowers out front, though.




Near the cabin is the park where in 1974 we spread the ashes of Noelle, our first child--stillborn.  In my memory, the park was small, rustic, and wooded.  This one is now much bigger with RV access at $125 a night.  The trees are original, and the ashes of her wee body are part of the top of the mountain.  But again--no pictures, except for some trees who witnessed all.  It's better looking up.  Things change.



We circled Casitas Lake, stopping for pictures.  Okay, I know it is a man-made lake, and it probably ticked off some environmentalists at the time, as well as some wooded creatures, but it is very pretty, nonetheless. 









Onward to Santa Barbara and the ocean.  We had our anniversary lunch at IHOP--big spenders!  :-)  But for healthfood nuts, if you're going to eat something unhealthful and non-organic, IHOP's not a bad place to sin.  Tasty and cheap!  (But no pictures!)










 











No picture of the Starbucks, though that was indeed momentous!  :-)  But one last stop in the farmlands to capture fall pumpkins in all their orange and ochre glory. 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Happy Anniversary--38!

Kel and I went to a marriage seminar put on by our church last weekend.  I’ve decided I can give him another 30 years. J
Once upon a time, there was a young girl and a young boy who met at a Jesus people type church.  That was July 29, 1973. 




They got engaged on August 15 in a frenzy known as Marantha Madness (more on that some time!).  They met the boy’s parents Aug. 19, her for the first time, to announce their engagement.  Said parents went to work the next morning with . . .mm . . . headaches.

The young girl and boy married October 28, and there was no have-to, if you know what I mean.  Except for the fact that the Lord was coming back by 1984!




And folks thought it wouldn’t last—the world that is.








Here we are celebrating 38 years of marriage, and my hubby is a better man today than even the day we wed.  We have a secret to success:  It’s the other partner—the one that holds the roadmap and keeps us accountable!  J

So happy anniversary to us!