wish us luck…

suggestions? foolproof tactics? prayers for success? send ‘em my way!

4-year-old wisdom

Last night, after putting all of the kids to bed, Michael and I sat down to watch the online replay of the vice presidential debate, having missed the live viewing amidst the whirlwind of dinner and bedtime. It’s pretty typical that Sprout will call me up to fix one problem or another after lights have been turned off and bedtime kisses have been exchanged. But the problem on his 4-year-old mind was not typical last night. Here is the conversation we had, as best as I can recall it. I hope you won’t focus too closely on my inadequate political and theological explanations. It’s his wisdom that I want to share with you.  I wish I could share it with last night’s debaters as well…

S – Mom, can you come upstairs? I want to tell you what I’m afraid of.
Me – (under my breath) okay, here we go again…
S – I’m afraid of a scary face with yellow eyes that might look through that window.
Me – You don’t need to be afraid of that. You’re very safe here, we don’t have any scary faces like that in our neighborhood.
S – well, what if one comes over from England? Can’t we make a big chomper that will kill those scary guys?
Me – Oh, Soren, we don’t make things that would kill people. And those scary monster faces that we sometimes imagine, those don’t really exist in the world. God didn’t create monsters like that.
S – but isn’t there a war in the world right now?
Me – yes, there is.
S – where is it?
Me – a place called Iraq. It’s very far away, across the ocean.
S – what are they doing over there?
Me – they’re fighting with one another.
S – what are they fighting about?
Me -  . . . um . . . well . . . they’re fighting because they disagree about how a country should be run, and who should be in charge, and what decisions they should make.
S – but why are they fighting? Why can’t they just make a better decision, instead of killing each other?
Me – wow, that’s such a good question. I wish the people who are making decisions about the war could hear you say that, because maybe then they’d realize that they really need to try harder to find other solutions.
S – well, I have a really BIG idea about this war. You should get a piece of paper and write my idea down and send it in the mail to where they’re having the war.
Me – okay, what shall I write on that paper?
S – write down that they should make a better choice. They should make a different decision and stop fighting with each other and just talk about their problems. That’s my idea.

masterpiece

Roo woke up from his nap a little early today, and had a chance to get some easel time with no one reaching over his shoulder for a paintbrush.

When he had just the right number of stripes, he stepped back to admire his work.

…and then from another angle. Masterpiece!

wrapped in prayers

I was 35 years old and pregnant with twins when I had my first extended stay in a hospital. I was also mommy to a two-year-old from whom I’d never been separated for more than about 12 hours, and I was admitted to a hospital 100 miles from home, where the doctors were trying to stop my body from delivering these twins at a mere 19 weeks. I was lonely. I was terrified. In between visits from nurses to check my IV medications and vital signs, and visits from doctors to discuss my various options, I remember calling my husband to say that we needed to name these twins. I knew that if the treatments they were trying didn’t work, if our twins were born now, it would be far too early for them to survive. I wanted them to have names while they were alive.

A couple of days after I was admitted, my dear friend Lisa made the long drive to visit me, bringing with her a prayer shawl. This beautiful, soft blanket had been knitted by one of the women in my church who make up the prayer shawl ministry. They knit these shawls to be given to people when they are going through difficult times, and each stitch represents a prayer for healing, a prayer for comfort, a prayer for peace. It’s hard to fully explain how powerful a symbol that prayer shawl was for me. During the next three and a half months of my pregnancy – three and a half months of bedrest, medications, and timed contractions – the prayer shawl was always over me, or right nearby. I am a knitter, and I know the time, energy and love that go into a knitting project. The prayers of the woman who knitted my shawl, all of the women who knit these shawls, and all of my church family were wrapped up in that blanket.

My pregnancy did continue. My twins were born early, but healthy. They are now nearly 2 1/2, and someday they’ll understand the prayers that surrounded them and all of us through that time, and the meaning of this blanket that mommy still wraps up in sometimes. The one that I prefer they not use for their forts.

Recently, I had the privilege to add my own knitting and prayers a prayer shawl. My mom and I worked together on one for someone very close to us who had been diagnosed with breast cancer.  And now, I’ve just finished another, very different, piece of a prayer shawl. This one is collaborative.

A few months ago, I travelled to the east coast to spend a couple of wonderful days with my girlfriends. While we were there, we were able to stay at a retreat cottage that is owned and operated by one of my friend’s parents. The retreat cottage is a place of spiritual renewal for many people, with a labyrinth to walk, and a full use of the neighboring art studio. To express our thanks for the gift of a few nights in the retreat cottage, we wanted to give something that could be used by people who visit the cottage and art studio in the future. The art studio is very well stocked with painting, drawing and craft supplies. There is a sweet little rocking chair. The only thing we felt it was missing was a basket with some supplies for knitting.

So we decided our gift would be the beginnings of a project. A collaborative prayer shawl. We are each knitting a square, then sending a basket with yarn, needles and directions that will stay in the art studio. As visitors come, they are invited to knit up a square for the prayer shawl. When it is finished, I will sew the squares together into a prayer shawl that will then stay in the retreat cottage for visitors to use.

Here is the first square. Like most knitters of prayer shawls, I have no idea who will ultimately lay it around their shoulders, or what sort of prayers they will be saying. But I do hope they feel the warmth and love in the stitches.

art for scientists

One of the perks of being a librarian is that you can keep a library book until it’s long overdue, and no one will say a word to you about it. Even your assistant, who runs overdue reports for all of the elementary students weekly, will ignore it. I’ve had this one for…hmm, somewhere in the neighborhood of five months. In my defense, summer vacation occupied several of those months.  People are always surprised to hear that I actually rack up overdue fines at the public library. But come on, there’s a reason I became a librarian. I kind of like books. And some of them are just plain hard to let go of.

What I love about Mary Ann Kohl’s book is that it brings an element of science into artwork. Try using your paint this way…and then add this ingredient and try it again…and then see what happens on a different sort of paper…  Many ideas, basic supplies. Some of the end results have been really beautiful, but all have been fun, particularly for my four year old scientist. What inspires him, artistically speaking, is experimentation. Mixing colors. Finding new utensils for applying paint to paper. Finding a way to incorporate the blender and the iron in the art project!

So here are a few recent artistic endeavors with my own little scientist. These don’t come straight from Kohl’s book, but they’re certainly inspired by her ideas. The first involved repurposing the crayons that arrived on our table at a recently discovered Mexican restaurant. They weren’t so useful AT the restaurant, but Sprout loved shredding them with an old cheese grater, and using the iron to melt them between sheets of wax paper when we got home. And then, because he’s all about the steps, he also got into cutting the melty waxy paper into shapes, punching holes, and stringing them to hang in our window.

And below, a sheet of Sprout’s own hand-made paper. We found a video online with directions for paper making, and Sprout watched it again and again until he had all the terminology down. He accompanied me to the hardware store to pick up some screen material to make our deckle (or was that our mold? I can’t keep them straight, I’ll have to ask the scientist later.) Then, we ripped up our favorite colors of paper (remembering from the paint mixing experiments that too many colors in the mix = brown) and made our pulp in the blender. Again, it was a project with many steps, and a bit of guesswork along the way. The scientist in him loved the process, and I love the artistic end product so much that I might just frame it.

School has begun. I really should take this book back to the library and share it with some other artistic scientists, or scientific artists. I’m sure that MANY of the kids I see in the library each week fit that category. Maybe they can wait a few more days…at least long enough for me to finally order my own personal copy.

it’s raining frogs and ladybugs

August is usually so beautiful around here, I kind of feel like we’re getting jipped. Then again, this is not bad by way of preparing me to reenter the world of the working mom. Nothing like a little cabin fever with three small children to get you excited about getting out for some adult contact a couple of days a week.

The other thing the rain has been good for is putting new umbrellas to use…

 

…and doing a bit of sewing.

I have more or less put tote bags behind me. I was really on a spree for awhile there, but I have now given totes to most of my friends and family, and I’ve grown bored with the pattern anyway.  But. One friend, who received one of my first totes was a victim of tote bag theft. I’d like to think it’s because I did such a fabulous job of creating a tote bag that doubles as a work of art. But since she was using it as a purse at the time, the thief may have had other motives. Anyway. She has been asking and asking for another. Now she’s laid low after shoulder surgery, so it seemed like a nice time to surprise her. Here it is. The print and dot fabrics are from the Wee Play line by Sandy Klop.

We’re off to deliver the bag this afternoon, along with some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, if I can get my family here to relinquish any of the batch. And then, I have a few more bags cut out and ready to sew. NEW designs! Or else a rain walk. I’ll leave it up to my kids…what do you think they’ll choose?!

entertainment

A box of buttons collected by Grandma over the years, and an empty egg carton, entertained Roo for a good long time the other morning. Meanwhile, the Canon digital SLR I borrowed from my dad after my camera died was entertaining me! If only I were as easy to please as my little ones can sometimes be.

By the way, thanks to the three friends who commented on my Pay it Forward post. You all will have a little something coming your way…can’t say how soon, but something will be coming.

we did it!

We went camping! It may not sound like a huge accomplishment, but it sure does feel like one. Before we had children, our summer vacations involved long backpacking or kayaking trips, and a weekend away usually involved a tent and maybe our bicycle paniers. But this summer, it’s proven to be pretty tough to make the camping thing happen. Even yesterday, when the weather and our schedules cooperated and we actually got packed up for a camping outing, it was . . . well, pretty tough to make it happen. Which is to say, pretty tough to resist the urge to pack everything back up in the car and come right back home.

If you have kids and you camp, please tell me it will get easier. Please tell me that we’ll get to a point when our kids can’t get enough of being outdoors, playing in the dirt and the water. And please, please tell me that we’ll get to a point when someone actually sleeps in the tent at night.

There were some wonderful moments, of course. Our new monster-sized tent was a huge hit for the kids (right up until the point that they figured out we expected them to sleep in it). The lake was beautiful. And Daddy salvaged a rough camping morning by taking us all into town for a trip to Tim Horton’s for doughnuts. 

We’ll definitely try it again. But if we happen to be a campsite near yours on some summer night, I apologize in advance. We’re a bit of a noisy crowd.

pay it forward…

This just arrived in the mail! Isn’t it lovely?

I found this post  awhile back, and was lucky enough to be the third to comment. The zippered pouch and the tissue holder were made for me by the incredibly talented seamstress who posts on Mermaids (swimming in a sea of fabric). I am in complete awe of the Ottobre designs she sews! And now I’m lucky enough to own some of her work, and it has already found a home, securing some of my little personals within my diaper bag. Thank you!

So, now it’s my turn. I’m paying it forward.  Here’s how it works…

I will send a handmade gift* to the first three people who leave a comment requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet, but you will receive it within 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is “pay it forward” by making a similar agreement on your journal or blog… or just in your life, if you’re not a blogger.

My repertoire includes sewing, knitting, embroidery, and beading.

*The “gift” you send doesn’t have to be handmade–choose your specs when you post it on your blog. If you want to join, leave a comment with your email addy (so I can reply — spell out the email if you don’t want it harvested), and we’ll hash out details.

hmmm… I guess this is one way to see if anyone is reading my blog.

tantalizing happy foot

I cast on for Bartholomew’s Tantalizing Socks soon after I finished my Arwen cardigan, but most of the work on this sock got done while we were at Holden Village. I didn’t get to spend much time in Holden’s weaving room, or pottery studio, but I carried my own little art form with me to the sessions I attended, and knitted in the hallway outside the room where my children were sleeping. The sock above was my first attempt at adult-sized sock knitting, and I actually found it far easier than I expected. Cat Bordhi’s directions are very thorough! I wish I had a better conceptual understanding of the construction, and wasn’t so attached to each pattern notation, but maybe over time I’ll get there.

The yarn is Happy Feet, and while I love the colors, I think they’re a little too dark for this design. The linen stitch design doesn’t show up well enough to have been worth the trouble. The size is…well, a little large. I tried it on again and again, but still somehow managed to get an extra centimeter or two in the length of the foot, which bothers me. Is there any chance of a little shrinkage in superwash merino wool?

I’m committed to finishing sock #2, even though I’m dying to cast on for the February Lady sweater (along with the rest of the knitting world, it seems), and feel like I’ve accomplished one sock and that should be enough. But I’m determined, and am maybe 1/3 of the way through. I’ve taken to knitting in the evenings with one foot proudly sporting a Tantalizing Happy Feet Sock, my other foot bare, just to remind me why I’m plugging away.