Tangled Stitch

Peace.  It was a beautiful morning.  She woke up with the song Homeward Bound singing in her head.  She had always loved Simon and Garfunkel.  She watched the video on YouTube the concert in Central Park.  A lovely song in a lovely setting.  She pulled her hair back, put her shoes on and took Dixie out.  It was a warm but cloudy morning but it felt like spring.  It had been cold and snowy for a few days so the warmth and the lack of the wind felt good on her skin on this day. The birds were chirping, not just one bird but she could hear the songs of many different birds.  Silently she just listened to the sounds of the birds talking to each other.  Then she heard the ducks, she looked up to see two of them together flying overhead.  I guess they were on a special date.  Silently she just stood thinking how beautiful it all was.  How normal, how sweet, how lovely a morning it was. For a moment she forgot why it was so...

When I was a little girl my mother had to work in a store.  She was a sales lady in the millinery department of National’s Family Store, a precursor to Walmart.  When she couldn’t find a babysitter she would bring my brother and I to work with her and plant us at a table in the snack bar area for however many hours that she had to work.  We would eat lunch usually grill cheese and French fries both of which I still love today unfortunately.  She would give us two dollars each and tell us we could buy whatever we wanted.  I would usually buy a skein of yarn and some knitting needles, even back then I was always losing them and a book.  My brother could get whatever he wanted to and we would just sit there for hours happily occupying ourselves with our treasures. Here I am at 60 years old still remembering the joy of spending that money on something I loved.  I was always a reader even as a small child and I loved the feel of books.  I loved to ...

I’m gonna veer off the beaten path today and speak about Jo.  Jo was my mother in law.  She was such a vibrant, loving woman.  She was a collector of quilts and needlework and loved the needle arts as much as I did.  I think that is how we bonded.  She was not a maker but she really appreciated them.  It is because of her that I sell my art, she was so supportive of my talent.  I would make her Scarlet Letter Samplers, so much harder than my usual fare.  I would make her embroidered gifts long before I tried to express myself through hand embroidery.  I used to make christening outfits and she bought a couple of them too, she used to say even the princes of olden days wore christening gowns.  The longer the better.  She framed them and they were on her walls.  Everything I made she loved, she was so very supportive. She loved my son and my son adored his nana.  The sun rose and set on him.  She adored him from...