May 28, 2011

Laughing at the Dishes




Cupboard to the left over the stove.


Yesterday and Today
Himself: Had a good day at work, and got home just as I was tossing the salad. Didn’t have to work late either.

Herself: We went for a long saunter through the two story Target in the valley. We bought some of their yogurt in the giant food section, and I found it grainy. Aleve is making my life worth living again, but I know this stuff is addictive.

Purelandmountain.com offers the latest news from Japan on days he isn’t fighting his local flora and fauna.

There I am, sensibly half way up a ladder, scrubbing shelves again. The dishes in this center section aren’t half as sticky as the ones to the right, but the shelf itself is brown. Perhaps, I think to myself, I’ve used the dishes but never washed the shelf…ever.

Nope. I can’t remember how to put those few serving platters and bowls back on the shelf.

Yes, I took a picture of the remaining shelf so I can put things back in the same places. Yes, I laughed at myself. Sometimes little things like this are defining moments of the day. Perhaps my childhood hours spent in an old fashioned farm kitchen structured my thoughts about kitchen cupboards. Shelves one plate deep rose from a narrow counter straight up to the ceiling. Mother’s good dishes were displayed in her dining room. When I inherited them, I sent these acres of good dishes up to live with the kids and Bee. My good dishes are Russell Wright and Blue Ridge Southern Potteries that have always lived on open shelves.

I want to see my follies.

This is the first house I, and we, have ever had the money to have glass doors over the cupboards. I ruined my grandmother’s set of white Haviland by keeping them on open shelves when we lived on a dirt road. No ruined dishes here behind their doors….but sticky dirty dishes if I don’t use them regularly. Did I note there are three sets of dishes in this small cupboard? Well, they are going to be cleaner today. Yes, in reality, I’m laughing at myself.

May 27, 2011

Smiling




Strip quilt, 1930’s/40s. Wool. One of the quilts in the “Bold Expressions/African American Quilts” at the Mingei Museum, Balboa Park, 2011.


Yesterday and Today
Himself: Got to estimate a 72 Olds 442 that had been rear ended. When he got there, he was greeted by a gathering of geezers. They questioned him until they were satisfied he really knew what he was doing. G tried to get them all to join the museum.

Herself: Ate a salad at a Hamburger joint, and it was really good.

Purelandmountain.com offers the latest news from Japan on days he isn’t fighting his local fauna.

I never did get to the laundry. I did get one whole set of shelved dishes in the dishwasher. Got the shelves washed. Felt triumphant too. More stuff is down and ready to be washed. Only the stove side was really bad. That’s encouraging.

I did learn something from yesterday’s dishes. Photograph the shelves before you dismantle them.

I did learn something from my piecing too. No matter how hard I try, none of the hundred and some blue quilt blocks I so carefully made are square. Do I want to take them all apart, or do I want to cut them all down to size. Resewing them all would be the correct way to do it. Cutting them down might be the easier softer way.

Today books and stuff too at the store.

Keeping life simple with a smile, that’s the goal.

May 26, 2011

Hero's In Our Own Home




Strip pieced quilt with bars made about 1930/1940, Texas, Cotton. From the show African American Quilts/Bold Expressions at the Mingei Museum, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. 2011.


Yesterday and Today
Himself: There was a virus in an web based email this morning. Our hero conquered the horror and was able to start his day again. He went to my WW meeting with me last night. Kind guy. Still don’t know if sugarless chocolates are fewer points.

Herself: Other than not altering my diet and unofficially gaining five pounds this week while officially losing one, life is good.

Purelandmountain.com offers the latest news from Japan on days he isn’t fighting his local fauna.

I need to participate in my own house cleaning more. What? My kitchen is filthy, and elsewhere my house is a breeding spot for dust mites as they party their days away. What happened to wake me up? I went to move some plates up a shelf and my hand stuck to the shelf. Euwww….

In four hours every two weeks, my housekeeper, Marta, dusts what she can reach, vacuums, and mops the floors. My place sparkles…on the surface. Four hours is four hours. It doesn’t mean washing dishes on the shelves, or washing the shelves either.

Yes, I climbed a ladder, took one look at the top shelf behind the door, and I was appalled. I’m responsible for the good looking but sticky and dirty display. Obviously I need to rearrange things more often. The plates we are not using right now went up. The bowls we are using every day that were up, came down. Today everything we don’t use every day on those three shelves can go in the dishwasher while I scrub the shelves. Next week I will do three or more shelves. I’m not going overboard with this clean stuff, mind you.

While G fights his virus, I shall fight my mites and be a heroine in my own kitchen...a little at a time.

May 25, 2011

Orts, Leavings, Detritus, and Finishings




A full photograph of the “Tipton Quilt made at the turn of the 20th century.


Yesterday and Today
Himself: Every day he’s been going to the gym. Everyday he’s gotten everything written before we got home. Last night we had time to curl up with a movie.

Sunday May 22 offers the latest news from Japan on Purelandmountain.com.

  • I read that latest piece to the class yesterday, and they laughed. Delightfully. Enthusiastically. I was much cheered having thought this was just a boring ditty with no redeeming value. After they were done laughing, several questioned my decision to use a word they didn’t know. They felt the piece would have more impact if a different word had been used. I used the word “detritus,” and those few who didn’t know the word felt I should have used “trash, leavings, or even orts” instead. Everyone else understood the word and liked its use. That was quite a lively and noisy discussion too. Heartening.




  • Some books leave a bad taste in your mouth. Some images put you off the book. I confess that photos of one children’s author looking angry, strung out, and stoned sporting his broken teeth, made me put his famous books in the adult section. If I were frightened by the image, would a child be scared too. Perhaps I just should be ashamed of myself.




  • Speaking of books, I’ve been reading a mystery by an author I don’t like. Jeffrey Deaver writes his detective as a selfish, selfcentered, angry man. Why in heaven’s name have I been drawn to this book not once but twice. I took it out of the library a few weeks ago…and again last week. I didn’t read it the first time but did the second. Was there such a dearth of new volumes that I had to bring this home twice?




  • Late yesterday afternoon, the Geezer came home early and I was able to corral a neighbor to both hold up sides of quilts so I could take pictures. It was the first time I was able to see the “Tipton Quilt” in it’s entirety. Ruined, certainly. But a historical treasure none the less. It was the first time I was able to get photographs of all the individual blocks too. Frankly, it’s a fascinating piece. I wrote a letter to the Cedar County Historical Society, got it vetted by the store boss, shrank the image so it wasn’t two feet by two feet, and sent off the letter last night asking if they wanted the quilt. I’ll take both quilts, for I photographed the suiting quilt yesterday also, back to the store today. I like finishing projects.

May 24, 2011

Tulips




Tulip applique quilt with the top and bottom borders cut in half to applique. Cotton, Mississippi, 1930's.




May 23, 2011

Monday Lite - et al




Strip Quilt, Texas, 1930’s.


Yesterday and Today
Himself: Saturday was drive Model T’s, docent at the museum, and eat dinner with the Feasters. Salad, soup, and lasagna. Today is weigh in day, pre WW (Weight Watchers). He had a giant bag of popcorn at the movie, and no cake.

Herself: Italian food Saturday after a day out. Soup, salad, and ravioli in a sweet sauce. I didn’t eat it all. Points….oh dem points. Not only did I do well with them yesterday, I managed to have M&Ms with the new Pirates movie. No cake at the meeting. I felt mildly heroic.

  • Movie Spoiler: If you don’t want my opinion, read the next bulleted item. (Different cast, Johnnie Dep excellent as a less drunk Captain, and we got to see our own Maritime Museum “Surprise” sailing back and forth off our coast. The first half really needs editing, the second half moves very fast. The movie follows three disparate groups off to find the fountain of youth. I won’t tell you who get’s it.) My M&Ms were really, really good.


  • Slowly the poets group dissolves. After Marion’s death, the group moved over to Joan’s house on the cliffs where Kay lives. Kay was a powerful voice in the world of poetry, and after a head injury now only does editing. Now Kay is taking Joan, who remains on a feeding tube, to live in Montana. I wonder how they will get there….Joan is the driver. They say they are leaving on the 30th of this month, and this last meeting will be the final one. I worked as Joan’s general factotum and chief bottle washer for well over five years. She was difficult to work for tho an inspiring woman. Her husband was a kind and fascinating person. I’m going to attend this one gathering despite cat hair and emotions.


  • My body responds to all this attention at last. I can climb up out of the pool with ease now. Climbing up two flights of stairs isn’t really fluid, but I can do it all at once. My good leg gets tired now and that really worry’s me as it is a symptom of a blocked artery. I’m trying to walk through this. I’m still wearing the same old clothes, but I can actually see I am losing weight tho from the top down. My face has twice the wrinkles and my chin is considering reappearing. Someone called me the Geezer’s mother at the Model T drive-a-thon, and I accepted the lady’s apologies with good grace. Progress but certainly not perfection.


  • I sort of took over the quilt stuff at the store. The lady who was doing it all has been so busy she doesn’t remember her own name. Not only am I lazy, I’m retired. I have fractionally more free time. So I wrote a nice letter to the Tipton IA, Cedar County Historical Society, and ran it by the head of the store. She thought it was great. Trying to get the Tipton Quilt back to photograph has been difficult, but the lady who has it says she will have it for me this afternoon. I did bring the other Suiting Quilt home to photograph also. It is remarkably like those dark suiting quilts I saw in the Mingei Museum this weekend. As soon as I get these photographed, I will send an email off to Tipton. For me this has been a little like an exciting side job.


  • This week’s calendar looks so peaceful in comparison to last week. Today, after I swim and talk with Bee, I have the day off. Imagine. The rest of the week is a one thing a day week unlike last Saturday when we left the house at eight and got home at seven. Meals have been planned….note that I am the only one who eats dinner then goes to WW to weigh in. Most days note swimming and one other thing like school or store. Life will be simple this week, and I reach out for it.



  • I hated to see the Geezer going one way up the street this morning and I the other way. I don’t know why it bothered me so, but it did. He waved; I blew kisses. It still brought a tear to my eye.

  • I’m an addict/alcoholic as you all know. On my birthday in 1981, age 40, I stopped doing drugs. In 1983 on this day, I stopped drinking. Amazing. What a miracle. I try and live each day “as if.”

  • Talking with Bee this morning, and it appears that age is now all important in the art world too. The schools are now grabbing graduate students, getting them shows, getting them good galleries, wringing them dry, and casting them off. Then it’s on to the next graduate student. If you are over a certain age, your work is judged by how old you are. This began about twenty years ago when money began to enter the art world…..I am so very glad I missed this. It’s like turning your soul over to the devil for fame and money. I couldn't live with myself if I had to take part in this sort of world.


May 22, 2011

Inspiration






House top quilt, wool and cotton, 1920’s.


Corrine Riley began collecting these quilts thirty five years ago when she was a student at The Art Institute of Chicago. Today these unique African American quilts hang in the Mingei Museum in San Diego’s Balboa Park for all to enjoy.


Triangles in Changing Patterns, 1970s, Illinois.


One of the most creative of the volunteers at the Discovery Shop gave me a ticket to go see the show. I confess, I wasn’t jumping up and down with excitement about going, but when I arrived I was mesmerized with joy at the bold creativity of these women. They had so little, and they created so much joy, passion, and power from this unknown well.



I was not only inspired, but galvanized into action by the creativity of these generations of hard working women. I’d show more, but himself is dragging me off to see the newest Pirate film. I need to go back to get a better record of the show itself. I’ll spotlight many of these quilts in the next few months for your enjoyment and the energizing effect they have on my art and my soul.






Strip Quilt in “X” Pattern, Texas, 1930s - 1940s.

postcards

Celebration of Life