Beach Anniversary

 

I realize I haven’t written a blog in September at all! Wow. What have I been doing with my time? Working to finish new work. Doing inventory and packing it up to take it to a gallery. 

I’m so grateful to have a body of work completed. Sometimes it feels like I’m never going to get there and then, I do. 

The gift of a trip.

My wonderful husband asked me what I wanted for our anniversary. I didn’t hesitate. I said, I’d love to go to the beach. Rent a place with a great view of the ocean where I can  sit on a comfy couch and read a book. 

Not very exciting, I know. But after COVID and the flooded house and my surprising emergency hospital visit, I needed quiet and cozy. And I needed to sit and watch the waves come in and go out. I needed the softness of the sand and the tranquil ebb and flow of the ocean. And, of course a beautiful sunset or two. 

Sunsets. 

I love to watch the sun set. The changing colors and clouds moving is my kind of Zen. What I didn’t expect is to be a bit overwhelmed by it all. We’ve been to the beach many, many times in our lives but this one hit me hard. 

We haven’t been anywhere since before COVID. I forgot how much packing and planning and organizing it takes to get us to the beach and back. Dog beds and food. Our food. Our clothes. First aid and medicines. Comfy books, iPads, phones, and of course, crochet. That part was definitely stressful for me. 

But once we got there and saw the view, I knew it was going to be great. It was a spendy anniversary gift for sure. But it was really worth it. 

Sometimes you need to get away

To see new colors 

Hear new sounds

Smell the sea

Feel the comfort of coming home. 

Clearing and Experimenting

 

Taking the summer off isn’t all play and that’s a good thing for me. With all the life changes flowing my way, having things to do and feeling productive is grounding. The key to doing this without stressing myself out is space and pace. 

Clay, crochet and cleaning are on my summertime agenda. But instead of pushing and striving and making lists, I’m leaning into them softly. 

New clay. 

I wanted to try out some new clay options for small to medium sculptures. The first option did work but I wasn’t a fan of working with it. Then I got a sample of some new clay from another clay artist to try. This was a porcelain sculpture clay. It’s white, smooth and lovely.

It rolled out well. I liked working with it and the small figures seem to dry well. I didn’t have enough clay to try a larger piece, so I’m not sure how it would work out. But it was fun to play with a new clay. And to fire my kiln with some new landscape and sculpture pieces. 

Calming with crochet. 

Ok, I think I’m finally hitting that stage: Gram is making baby blankets. I taught myself to crochet about 20 years ago and focused on Freeform crochet, lacy angora scarves and felting. It’s always been fun, creative and calming. 

Now with 3 grandchildren and a need to ease my stress, I’ve been making throws and crib blankets from craft store yarn. It’s easy. The super soft yarn is not expensive. And there’s no complicated pattern, just chain and crochet until it’s as big as I want it to be.  

One slat at a time.

When we built our home 30 years ago, we had 9 custom wood blinds installed in the downstairs. It was a big expense then and an even bigger expense now. Before the downstairs flood, I looked into updating and replacing the blinds. But because of our back door configuration, the more up-to-date 2” blinds wouldn’t work. 

After all the demolition and reconstruction, the original wood blinds were filthy. There was only one way to get them clean: swifter dusters and Murphy’s Oil Soap. After dusting, I wiped across and under each and every slat. The kitchen sink was the biggest challenge. The only way to do it was to climb onto the counter and maneuver myself behind the sink. 

Releasing the old dust of the past, cleared my mind,

Crochet softened my heart, 

And new clay opened up places for new ideas. 

Isn’t that what Summer is for?

What can a Mother do?

This year has taken a turn no one saw coming and yet, we’re here. Stay at home orders. Mandatory mask wearing. Lining up six feet apart just to go to Trader Joe’s. I find it all frustrating and exhausting. And I worry. A lot. 

Having my children and grandchildren huddling under this cloud of virus fear, makes me worry even more. Are they healthy? Thank goodness, yes. Are they safe? Maybe. 

When they were little, I could always tell when they were sick before anyone else. They smelled funny or looked different. Or I just knew something was off. My husband didn’t usually get it but he learned time after time, I was right. So he trusted Dr. Mom. 

Now, Dr. Mom is also Dr. Gram. 

I have more sweeties to love and cherish and keep healthy. I love that. I am so grateful I get to do ‘daycare’ for my granddaughter every week. I do FaceTime chats and watch sweet videos of my new grandson in LA. He is getting so big and strong. He’s got teeth. He sits up. He’s even starting to talk. 

But neither Dr. Mom nor Dr. Gram can kiss and make this virus situation go away. 

Where have all hugs and smiles gone?

I miss hugging my daughter and son and son-in-law and granddaughter and grandson. I miss the smiles from the people in my neighborhood, fellow walkers and even my Trader Joe’s. 

I will not miss this situation we are in right now. I will not miss the paranoia that has everyone spinning out of control and the finger pointing of face mask wearers vs non mask wearers. 

It all somehow reminds me of the Dr. Seuss book, ‘The Sneetches’. It was combined in 1961 into a book with other stories. While it may not be one of his most famous books, it has a deep message. 

Here’s a synopsis from Wikipedia:

The story tells of a group of yellow bird-like creatures called the Sneetches, some of whom have a green star on their bellies. At the beginning of the story, Sneetches with stars discriminate against and shun those without. An entrepreneur named Sylvester McMonkey McBean (calling himself the Fix-It-Up Chappie) appears and offers the Sneetches without stars the chance to get them with his Star-On machine, for three dollars. The treatment is instantly popular, but this upsets the original star-bellied Sneetches, as they are in danger of losing their special status. McBean then tells them about his Star-Off machine, costing ten dollars, and the Sneetches who originally had stars happily pay the money to have them removed in order to remain special. However, McBean does not share the prejudices of the Sneetches and allows the recently starred Sneetches through this machine as well. Ultimately this escalates, with the Sneetches running from one machine to the next...”until neither the Plain nor the Star-Bellies knew whether this one was that one ...or that one was this one...or which one was what one...or what one was who."

This continues until the Sneetches are penniless and McBean departs as a rich man, amused by their folly. Despite his assertion that "you can't teach a Sneetch", the Sneetches learn from this experience that neither plain-belly nor star-belly Sneetches are superior, and they are able to get along and become friends. "The Sneetches" was intended by Seuss as a satire discrimination between races and cultures. 

Dear Dr. Seuss, tell me what can I do?

When we are all pointing, you!

NO it’s You! 

I know we all want to be safe now. So can we learn from with wisdom of Dr. Seuss? And find our own way - masked or unmasked -  to get along.

Mondays with Meyer: Be Lazy.

As I write the headline, I realize there is a big pull in my gut against the word, lazy. It brings up many bad thoughts, words and pictures from deep within. I know it is societal conditioning from early childhood to always 'do' something. And by doing something I will 'be' someone. 

Do. Be. Do. Be. Do.

Hmmm, I wonder what if the line started and ended with Be?

This week, Meyer was in a different toddler mood. Some might call it clingy or insecure or tired or mellow. She wanted to sip juice and listen to a music on the Raffi channel. We sat and read the same two books over and over.  Both my favorites by the way, "Frederick" by Lio Leoni and "The Very Hungry Catepillar" by Eric Carle. She made soup from rocks and splashed in a pan of bubbly water but mostly, we nestled together in the big, black, cushy leather chair. 

She dozed, snacked and sipped and listened to the wind chimes. After lunch, she napped. We picked blueberries and ate them. We made peanut butter and graham cracker sandwiches. And watched an episode of Daniel Tiger on PBS Kids while she sipped and snuggled some more. 

Be. Do nothing. 

It occurred to me after she left to go home, that I would never in a million years call a toddler, lazy. Instead, I saw her as needing rest and at the same time, in her stillness, watching her hear her world around her. The neighbors lawnmower. Crows cawing. Ringing wind chimes. Airplanes flying overhead. She was truly be-ing in the moments of her day. 

How often do I even hear the wind chimes, airplanes, crows? Or pick warm, fresh blueberries and pop them in my mouth? Or swish sweet-scented bubbles around with my hands for the pure feel of it? Or close my eyes and just take a nap?

Doing nothing doesn't mean being nothing. It means being in every moment without having to do everything. Try it. Put yourself in a comfy place, let your head flop back, and close your eyes. 

Be. Brave. Be. Lazy. Be Do Be Do Be. 

Another lesson learned from my Mondays with Meyer.

Reading pleasure.

I love to read. A good book is an enjoyable adventure into a new world. Some books become like old friends, cozy, comfortable and fun to be around no matter how you feel.
The books I’ve read lately are new to me, but not new on the market.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
It delivers. Yes, it’s a YA(young adult) novel but that doesn’t bother me. I’ve found so many good novels in the YA section and this is another one to add to my list. A compelling story, well written, great dialogue, it’s a page-turner. Three people recommended this book to me long before it hit the silver screen. I just read it, thanks to a generous gift from my son-in-law, Colin. I can’t wait to read the other 2 in the series.

If you are curious about other YA authors, I highly recommend Philip Pullman, Lani Taylor, Charles deLint to name a few.

Under the Dome by Stephen King
It’s a great story on many levels. Similar in scope to The Stand, it brings back many of King’s key character types along with moral and environmental dilemmas that link the local and global with the universe. But, it’s long. With over 1,000 pages, I really feel if King wasn’t such a famous author someone would have edited the beginning a little tighter and cut back on some of the mid-section character analysis that slows the pace of the story. However, nobody can get into a character’s head like King. I really liked the book and recommend it.

Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
A story revolving around red-neck loggers in a small town, it’s not my favorite subject matter. I usually love books told in first person narrative. I like getting inside each individual character’s mind and understanding their story. But Kesey struggles with this form sometimes having two people speaking in one paragraph. He tries using parenthesis at the beginning to help the reader figure out which character is telling the story, but it just doesn’t work. It’s confusing and slowly paced. There are areas of beauty and genius but they are few and far between. Kesey was very well known when this book was published and obviously not edited. Too bad. I did like the way he used a song connect the narratives of the different characters, a nice cinematic touch.