I go through the day with methodical mania. It's just a way of checking off the "To do" list, but the past couple of days have been a little different.
On Sunday, my Siblings and I spent the day clearing out our Mothers unit. of course now in her 'resort' she just has one room and trying to go through her 'precious' things was difficult, she just doesn't have the space to store them. It was sad watching her trying to choose which piece of work she could take.
I'm working through my Mums lifetime of art and creativity. I will archive it all and put it in special archival boxes with digital images and descriptions along with the patterns...
There are so many pieces.... sadly many of them are unfinished...
It's the least I can do for the family history.
It adds to the resolve of revamping my personal belongings.
One treasure, is a beautiful 2 foot square Huon pine box made by my Father for Mother to house her collection of DMC threads... she had every thread produced.
I hope one of the relatives take up embroidery in the future.
I also found the books I made for Mum as I traveled... she would share them with her friends and they are basically my blog illustrated with paintings and photos... I don't know why I didn't keep a copy myself... but now I have hers and they can be archived with my journals...
I spent the entire day working on the Rhino yesterday, each tiny piece is special to me and I finish each one completely before going on to the next section.!!!!! I'm getting there...
However, with a visit to the Ear Specialist this afternoon I should have an idea why I have a truck revving in my left ear.
I receive lots of emails a day and I do have permission to share this one with you.
I am flattered.
Dear Pam,
A few days after your quilting class here in Ajijic finished Ken and I went to pick out glass for our planned art piece for the March Ajijic Society of the Arts show. We had a color scheme in mind but were not able to find the colors we planned on using in stock. I don’t usually pick orange and neither does Ken, but we found we were drawn to orange as the inspiration color for the piece.
The film course I attended in the past week has given me a gift. Of course anything new we do does exactly that, it depends on how we implement the new knowledge.
First of all I shared experiences with other students and instructors who left me with no doubt that there are different ways of seeing exactly the same thing. We, as a group were three different nationalities and cultures.
We were not just a group of people learning a technique. For just a short time in our lives we became part of a much larger 'group', the village of Teotitlan.
The people we filmed live their art, it's who they are, their art is their being, their livelihood and their heritage.
Virtually every home is a showcase for the talent of the artisans. Brick and adobe homes on rough cobblestone streets. Decoratively painted walls, rugs hanging from the doorways and bright painted signs offer a hint of the delights you will find inside. Generally a series of rooms surround a central courtyard. Most we encountered have cement or tiled floors, sometimes neatly swept dirt. The walls are painted violet, orange, yellow and inspire you with their choice of color.
In the courtyard of the Arte de Sega family is a huge tree which shades the surrounding verandas. Amid the sound of turkeys, chickens and smell of wood fire is the sound of the looms click, clack, bang.
We filmed the process of growing silk worms, harvesting the cocoons, the dying of the garment and the weaving.
Our film was shown to the community in a gathering on Thursday evening and I was a little nervous about their reaction to our endeavors.
The reaction was one of emotion from several of the participants, the subjects of the documentaries and from the community in general.
A man we had met casually at a restaurant, stood and expressed his thoughts with deep emotion, thanking us for sharing the talents of village with the world. It was rather a shock to me because I figured we needed to thank them for allowing us to film and be in the village.
Seeing with new eyes has been their gift to me.
Thanks for the advice.
Yesterday, a young woman in class came up to me at the end of the day.
She took my arms in hers an nervously asked me to listen.
"I have something to say" she said emotionally. "My English is bad, so my son wrote this for me."
She pulled out a piece of notebook paper folded in four from her pocket. The note in pencil had been written by a young child. Simply she read the note, her voice breaking and tears forming in her eyes...The words rolled into an emotional bubble and I can't even remember them fully, but she thanked me for sharing my ideas with her.
That's my bliss... that's my place and it's different to being a Mum, or a Wife, a daughter and a friend.
It's my bliss, it's my place and it's taken me almost 60 years to find it.
But how lucky I am.
Finally the weather has broken and after a night in the mid 30's we've had rain.
So no pool frolics today.
I have one more treatment on my shoulder and I'm pleased with the results... I just need to remember to favor it when I'm traveling.
I'm in absolute heaven, quilting the rhino. I can't show you any more because it will be for competition... but you will see it eventually.
It also has taken my mind off the fact that son Matty had to be rushed to hospital to have his appendix out last night... less that 24 hours later he's home and insists on going to work on Thursday.!!!!! OI!!!!!
When I constructed the quilt with the Mexican Tile... I got real excited... I wish I could make the quilt.. they really do look like tiles and I was thrilled with the overall appearance... it's almost got to the stage of having people make quilts for me, any one interested?
Photo from Animal Planet of our Son Jamie. He's filming Whale Wars in the antarctic. I should be on TV in June/July.....
I could barely watch it last year, It was very dramatic.
This is Jamies second season with the ship.
Tilly learned to fly yesterday.
Father Christmas asked Papa and Uncle Ben to erect a play gym in our backyard because he was going to be exceptionally busy tonight, Christmas Eve.
Yesterday was her first experience of the play gym and with the impulsiveness of youth, she learned to fly.
I think we can all relate to that. It's pretty much taken me a bit longer.!!!!
