The Stitching Weaver

Sunday thoughts

Been a while.. More than a year. What happened in a year could be a novel. Just today matters. Sunshine and birds singing, wind blowing and life quiet on a Sunday morning. Been up since 5 and couldn't go back to sleep. Sat on the deck and read and watched birds. Saw a purple finch! Been here at the cabin for a couple of days. 

Sean and I just talked about his friend losing his father. I said how hard it is to lose a parent and he replied, He couldn't even imagine. Made me cry.

This whole virus had been so scary. It comes and goes, the fear and grief for so many gone. Fear of getting sick and being on a ventilator like mom. Fear of dying and leaving the kids. That is the worst grief. I know how hard it is to lose a parent and I have dreaded that for my kids. It changes your life and leaves such a hole in your heart. You hate those times of the day you want to call your mom and then remember she isn't there. I just hope we can get thru this without losing anyone in our family. 

I hope the best for everyone out there. I don't think this blog is read anymore but I found it this morning and decided to write my thoughts. Maybe I will keep it as my daily journal but that doesn't usually happen. I think there are too many things on my mind that I don't want to put anywhere. We'll see

Sunday morning

I just got home from London. I was gone 12 days and so am totally jet lagged. I hate this feeling of not being whole. My soul must be over Greenland somewhere and I feel like I am almost empty. This was a trip I had wanted for years. I dreamed of a trip that was just for my daughter and me. For my birthday my partner gave me a ticket to London and I bought my daughter one. We planned and talked about it daily. It was all I hoped it would be and more. We did everything we wanted to do, went to great places, had lots of time in the pubs and ate like Queens. Now if I could just get over jet lag. 

When I was a kid I wanted to travel everywhere. I lived in a family that went no where and didn't want to. My mother would always say "It's just as nice in Illinois."  My father was in the war and traveled then and during the war my mom worked in Chicago. I can't even imagine her doing that. We were never able to take a real vacation. We visited relatives during the times my dad had off or we stayed home. In my life I have been to 26 countries. There are so many more and I think it is a lot. I had a friend die recently at 88. He had been to 98 countries and was still traveling.

 I find that now that I am older, it is just getting harder to go. Give me a couple of weeks and I will tell you how great it is to travel. 

 

 

2019

I haven't posted in so long, I decided to check out this space and see if it still works. Not for anyone to follow or read, but maybe just for me. 
Who knows what I would even write, but I am still here. I still weave, knit, read, drink tea and think way too much. I like to keep my mind full of something so thinking just stays as far in the background as possible. 

I am going to see how it goes. A new computer to play with and a new year to stretch ahead. It always feels like a new beginning. This year not so excited since so many things are dragging here from the past year. It was a hard two months at the end and I wish I could just push them under the rug. Where is that rug?

so here goes nothing, as they say

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 4th, 1970

I was suppose to get married on August 4th 1970. I was 17 and "going with" a boy who I had dated for a year. We were off to college and wanted to keep our "relationship" going. We made a date to marry after college and it has stuck in my mind for all these years. I will call him the boy because that is what he was and I was the girl.

We were the typical kids of the 60's in our part of the world. You had a steady boyfriend and went with him to everything, prom, homecoming, Holiday dances and dating every weekend. It was a given that you spent all that time together. Then there was SEX...  This isn't going to be about teenage sex. There wasn't any. There was a lot of parking.. parking meant going to the local cemetery and making out. 

I often wonder what my life would have been if I had married the boy. I think we all wonder that. The road not taken.. I have had many twists and turns this life time. Times that I have wondered what to do and where to go. Times I wish I had a crystal ball that would tell me what was right. The relationship with the boy ended before Valentines Day of freshman year. 

I have never had any doubt that I made the right choice about not getting married on August 4th. 

 

Wedge weave

 

I have decided to blog again. I have been so excited about all my projects and the time I have now to work on them. Wedge weave is something I have loved for years. I don't have a teacher but I have researched it a lot. I am not there yet but it is getting better. I do love doing it and I love the colors.

This little loom is empty and I try to not let that happen. I have a rule about looms not having things draped over them. As you can see I am breaking the rules. Time to change it

 

I bought this yarn yesterday and plan to use it for the little loom. I also have a rule to not buy new yarn till I use whT I have. BUT someone gave me a gift certificate at a yarn store for my birthday. Had to buy something.

So I am also using my time to learn calligraphy, try sketching and knitting a lot. I feel like I can stretch out and learn what I want. Time is so abundant right now ... When have you ever said that? It has taken so many years to reach this time and I wouldn't give up that time of having little kids or teenagers but I love this time.

So I'm back and I don't care who comes by or not. I am doing this for me right now. I have the time.

 

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Here I Am

i recently saw that i had paid the bill for type pad out of my banking account. I haven't written here since last june, so I had to make a decision to either give up this blog or actually use it. 

i had an amazing year last year of travel and adventure. this year is more a stay at home year and i'm not sure i have much to say. i still am weaving and happy to be in my weaving room with something on the loom. actually, i have two floor looms and two small tapestry looms, so there is always something happening in there. is that what i want to talk about?

i have not stitched in a bit. i still long to do it, but it isn't happening right now. i wanted to concentrate on weaving. i have so many ideas and i'm so eager to learn more. i recently rejoined the local weavers guild. i found there was a rug study group so i even joined that. i bought the classes on cd's of archie brennan. i am working my way through those too.

i think i will continue with the blog and record my weaving adventures. i am not sure anyone is interested but it will help me to have a commitment to blog and weave. i will try it for a month and see if that happens. 

just going...

Last two weeks

 

I don't take many pictures but this one was so beautiful. I had my ipad with me and it turned out well. It is the National Gallery and St Martin's in the Fields Church.

We are down to the last two weeks. We have had loads of visitors and it has been really fun. As the time passed, I was able to show them around pretty confidently. When I started I was lost every day. I still get lost, but I am pretty sure of the map and my walking abilities now. I walk 5 to 10 miles a day. My feet are tired, but they are still trucking.

I love it so much here, I could easily stay another year. I walk by places like the one above and I almost cry to know I won't see it for a while. I will be back. The architecture and the history astound me every day. I still get out every day and go places. I am now going to go back to my favorite places and see things for the last time. The National Gallery, the Portrait Gallery and of course, The Victoria and Albert. I will dedicate one full day to that one.

Some of the highlights..

War Horse was incredible. If ever you get a chance to see it, go. The puppets were more than puppets, they were alive.

We also saw Lion King and it was also amazing. London theater is always good. We have seen at least 6 plays and it has been such a good experience. We even saw one in a pub theater. A musical about WWII and you could drink all the ale you wanted in the theater.

Hampton Court was where Henry VIII lived. He is actually still there. An actor that looks like him walks around and talks to you. There are many people there reenacting certain events in history. So interesting, I know it sounds corny, but it isn't. The castle is old and beautiful and you feel like you could have lived there too.

We went to Paris for the weekend!! We took the train under the English Channel and was there in two hours.

PUBS... I will miss pubs. We have such a different idea of a pub. They are so nice to walk into and have a quick lunch and an ale. The ale was an experience that I learned from our friend Jeremy. What to drink and what not.. we have dinner in the pub at least once a week.

Well, I could go on and on. It is wonderful and I will miss it but I will be back. I think all our visitors had a good time. We have had 11 people so far and I am on my way to the airport to pick up our last one. I think it was so good to have people here. I was able to go places with them and share my favorites places. I spend a lot of time walking alone, so fun to share with others. Connie's niece lives here and I have had many lunches with her. Plus our dear friends that Connie met in medical school live here too, lots of dinners with them. So a good experince. My sabbatical has been a success.

I had a dream about work last night.. where did that come from? It was one of those dreams where you didn't know you were suppose to take care of that baby and it didn't get fed all day. We all have work dreams, mine just involve babies. Guess the thoughts of going home bring up my life at work. It is going to be quiet different to not work. I will do 2 days a month.. I'm calling it travel money!!

 

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London Ale

when i was in 4th grade we started studying geography. there was a book that had children from all over the world and each chapter was about a different child in their culture. i remember the boy from norway that skied to school and the pigmy children from africa. it gave me this yearning to travel and see all these cultures. unfortunately, i came from a family that thought home was the best place to be. no one in my family traveled away from illinois/kentucy except for my dad going to war. when i moved to seattle they had to start coming there.. the joke in my family is that mom always said..."it's just as nice in illinois".

so now i travel a lot and i have passed on the yearning to my kids. above is three generations in london, all drinking beer (before you call protective services, jake is drinking ginger beer.) jake's favorite thing to say was "london, baby"..

i don't have any other pictures because the kids took them all and haven't sent them yet. i will post them as soon as they get over their jet lag and send them to me.

we had an amazing time. my grandkids are 24 and 6 years old. to have them and mariah here was such a blessing. i wear a little fitbit that tells me how many steps and miles i walk in a day. one day we did 10 miles and jake still ran up the stairs of the tube on the way home. he danced and laughed at the end of every day and he never complained.

the museums have little scavenger hunts for kids and that became a great thing for jake. he loved the museums and loved showing us things. his favorite thing was the Tower of London. he loved all the armor. allie (the 24 year old) got to go to oxford for a concert and did it all on her own. she is so independent and ready to tackle anything. so different than i was at her age, of course, she has been traveling alone to seattle since she was 5.

the most amazing thing we did was go to a play. we went to see Billy Elliott and it's a musical with lots of dancing. jake never looked away from the stage. to sit there and see my kids loving the theater in london was such a highlight for me. giving them the joy of traveling is something i have always wanted to pass down.

we have been here in our house for three weeks. friends, josie and hannah were here the first week. we had a really good time walking and seeing lots of textiles (joise and i love fabrics and hannah was nice not to complain.) i hope they send pictures. i am going to have to start taking pictures.

connie and i are on our own for a while. we are getting used to the house and neighborhood. connie is working hard on a grant and her topic for her sabbatical. i am getting us settled and planning which things to see next. i don't think i will run out.

 

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London

we are now in our house in london. it was a long journey to get here and a huge shock to my poor feet. i only had sandals when i got off the plane. i am adapting to a huge change in weather, from summer to early spring in one day. didn't seem to bother me when i went from winter to summer in one day. it is early spring and the daffodils and forsythia are blooming but the leaves on the trees are still not happening. we are getting some days of warm weather and then it's cold and rainy.. like springtime in seatte too.

our house is really nice with three floors and three bedrooms. the kitchen has a glass roof with a little garden outside.

we walk 10 minutes to the tube and 15-20 minutes to the village of Crouch End.. true name. it has lots of shops, grocery stores, and places to eat. we have no car here and walk everywhere. after all our car karma in South Africa we are ready to walk. i am not sure i mentioned car trauma, but just take it from me, it is good to not have one.

i went to downtown london yesterday and it took me a half hour. .. not bad.

we have friends here and that has been so wonderful. jeremy and arshia have been friends of connie's for 30 years. they are both doctors working for the national health system. jeremy is the best tour guide you could ever ask for. he knows so many facts and never gets lost. he could be a great taxi driver if he quits his day job. their kids are leo and amy and we love spending time with them. connie's neice also lives here with her husband and we are so happy to have them here. we have been alone for three months mostly. (we had sean and jean for three weeks) so having people around will be great. plus, we will have lots of visitors here. going to be a different experience here.

 

i will take more pics here and let you know what we are up to. connie went to cambridge today for a conference. up early and walked to the tube and then the train.. a different commute.

 

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Eureka

If you look to the left at the top, you will see that there is a new tab. It is called photo albums!! I only have one album to try it out. I will continue to add pictures of our adventures. I am so thrilled! I have struggled with trying to show pictures all along. My friend, John, can tell you how hard it's been. I have been trying to make a tab for the books I am reading. I have so much time to read, I am flying through books and want to share them here. I couldn't find a way to do that but did find this photo album tab.

If anyone knows how to add books, let me know. In the mean time, I will be adding some albums from the last few months.

We will be leaving Cape Town on Sunday. I will be so sad to leave. I have loved being in our apartment. I have become fascinated watching the tugs pull in the container ships. I even went down to the waterfront and looked over the tugs. If there had been someone on board I would have asked all about it. I also love the boats coming and going, the cruise ship that leaves on Friday and comes back on Saturday... where does it go?

I have learned to get around by bus and have my own bus pass. I have walked miles and miles to the waterfront, downtown and to the little grocery store.

I have seen the markets and the museums and the gardens. I have made friends with the neighbors and the dog next door. I have loved the sunshine and the summer warmth..

so now it's time to move on. Not a hardship, when you know you are going to London. I am hoping that springtime has arrived, though. I really look forward to exploring all the textile places I have read about. I will be there for the spring blooms in the gardens. We have many friends coming to visit and my daughter, grandson, and granddaughter. That wil be so wonderful.

So be patient while I load pictures and stay in touch for more adventures.

 

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