SUNDAY STROLL - SNOW TO ICE

Yesterday the world was white and grey. Stepping out the back door I was greeted by the winter world of snow and ice. The evergreens were laden with ice that lay heavy on out stretched limbs.

I wanted to record the sights for today's stroll. I immediately discovered the snow was crusted over with thick ice. I almost thought I would be allowed to glide across the deck to the stairs until in the first step out there was a crisp crunch announcing a firm opinion of too much weight concentrated on the small footprint of the hapless photographer. I don't have snowshoes to spread the weight out evenly and I don't even have boots. So I crunched my way carefully to the steps and turned to show my telltale trail and broken ice shards.

The path down to the creek was much narrower than usual and I took a detour through the woods.

I paused at the Sit and Ponder Bench to record the beauty and treachery of the Ice.

The Rhododendron leaves were coated and forced to hang uncomfortably until the sun and warmth could release them.

The creek flowed excitedly toward the lake carrying run off water from all the higher ground. There must be a certain warmth somewhere upstream. I've never seen it frozen completely.

The holly hangs over the creek and wears the crisp coating delivered over night.

This morning the sun came out and the scene glistened and shown bright as the sun began the task of releasing the leaves and needles from their icy overcoats.

The Quiet Country House is the place to go next to see who got out this week to stroll on a Sunday. Watch your step, it is still slippery.

GOD'S LOVE OF VARIETY

I would love to fill a corner of my garden with a whole bunch of these curious flowers. Any ideas what I should look for in catalogs and at the garden centers? I suspect it is a mint because the stem was square. It was a volunteer in the old vegetable garden field.

THE URGE TO GARDEN

Impatient garden inhabitants looking for spring. Silly Daffodils, this is the only group I could find who had peeked up out of their comfy bed to check the landscape.

LIFE AND DEATH

I am a Hospice volunteer. I celebrate life as I work with people who are ending this portion of their life. I hold to the belief that life is eternal and death a doorway. Yesterday I made a first visit with a family who were tenderly caring for their loved one. It was an honor to meet them and share a short time of getting to know them and their life's story. It was all too brief as they had entered hospice care so late in the process that my first visit was also my last. I have learned the patient passed away and I will not be needed to be of assistance again.

I would like to share a passage from 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran that addresses death as a tribute to the family left behind.

Then Almitra spoke, saying. We would ask now of Death.

And he said;

You would know the secret of death.

But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.

Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?

Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.

And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

Kahlil Gibran

Early in writing my blog I wrote about my choice to be a Hospice volunteer, if you would like to read another lovely analogy about life and death check it out at How May I Serve

EMPTINESS

Have you ever explored the concept of emptiness. It is an aspect of 'non-being' in the Taoist philosophy found in the Tao Te Ching, a wonderful little book written 2500 years ago in China. Please consider the following translation by Stephen Mitchell.11

We join spokes together in a wheel,

but it is the center hole

that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,

but it is the emptiness inside

that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,

but it is the inner space

that makes it livable.

We work with being,

but non-being is what we use.

Lao Tzu

Taoism became a religion, but it started out as advise for leadership and living a simple useful life. I enjoy comparing the 12 versions of the translations that I own. I also have The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff which relate the simplicity of Pooh and innocents of Piglet to the same virtues in the Tao te Ching.

If you journal or set aside time to contemplate I hope you will consider the merits and usefulness of emptiness and non-being and let me know what you discover.

SUNDAY STROLL - COZY AND WARM

This is how I like my winters these days. I'm on the inside looking out. Once upon a time I preferred it the other way around. I would go downtown to Detroit to ice skate or just outside to catch snowflakes on my tongue and lay down to create snow angels just for fun. But back then I wore snowsuits, mittens, a hat and muffler and warm cozy boots and I was 12 years old.

These days I find my pleasure with fabric, nature walks and story books. Here is my latest project in the quilt studio, I've finished basting my quilt together and will quilt it later. But for now off I go.

I hurry away from all of this undoubtedly lovely scenery to the warmth of my reading chair. Doing my part for global warming I'm going to cuddle deep into my chair, sip my coffee, put a quilt to good use and provide a lap for a little warm bodied feline who never passes up a chance to sleep on a friendly lap.

I'm just about to time travel back to the days of the French Revolution in England where there are spies and French refugees and serial murders all tied up with star struck astronomers who are also musicians. I'm reading the novel "Music of the Spheres" by Elizabeth Redfern and she has me hooked. I love music, star gazing and a good murder mystery.

So just before I disapear into my book may I encourage you to see if anyone else is really strolling out and about the good earth. Stroller meet at Aisling's Country House.

SUNDAY STROLL - QUILT STUDIO

I've always had a sewing room or area I claimed for my sewing 'stuff' but moving to Tennessee allowed me the luxury of a place set apart just for my passion. Since, to my way of thinking, a Stroll is just another way of saying a leisurely saunter and there is no way a saunter is what I want to do on this very cold, I mean really, extremely cold afternoon, let me take you the short path from the back door over to the HOBBY SHOP. I share the space in this busy little shop with Flutemaker. His side is a wood and metal shop and

of course I use my side to play with fabrics. Here we have stepped in out of the cold and you can see it is jammed packed. The cutting area is high enough to cut and baste fabric without the pain of bending over a desk top height for any length of time.

Look up at our 'plain-sight' attic. We had the ceiling built two feet higher so that we could store all our extra paraphernalia where we could get at it easily. The true attic is also stuffed to the max.

Here in the center with the cutting table is my sewing station at an office desk I have jerry rigged to accomodate the sewing bed at desk top level. I have so much room now to manipulate my quilt size fabric for machine quilting. You can see my chair swivels to work at the second desk or the sewing machine.

Sitting at the machine I can look straight at my design wall and be inspired and think of different ways to move blocks in different patterns to decide which I prefer.

Although I have had my ironing station at the desk beside where I sit, I prefer to get up and stretch and iron my work so that my hunched over sewing posture gets relief from time to time.

Here are just some of the tools of the trade. Things have certainly changed since I started quilting and we drew our patterns on newspaper or opened out cereal boxes to cut templates. Cutting has been revolutionized with rotary cutters and plastic rulers that don't distort after several uses.

The right hand wall is to my back as I sew, but that is my thread area and storage for fabric and notions. I also have a wonderful distraction when I get stumped or very tired. Under the black striped fabric is one of Flutemakers musical instruments.

Here is the first Hammered Dulcimer he made for me. It is on a tall base for standing and playing. The stripes are cardboard cheater sheets that name the strings they are under.

Over on the left wall behind my design wall are two tall kitchen cupboards that I pushed together for storing fabric, lots of fabric.

Here is a quick peek into the wood shop. Since all wood needs sanding we have a double curtain at the doorway that can be dropped to fill the space and keep all the sawdust on the other side of the shop.

Here is a second sewing station where I keep my old and very dear friend, my faithful Singer. My new machine has a deeper area for stuffing large bed size quilts in for quilting. But little seamstress is still in good working order. This also happens to be winter storage for my front porch plants.

Before we go back out let me show you my computer station and give you a glimpse of a quilt program for designing patterns and quilts. I don't use it often but it's there when I need it. Also I can play quilting music CDs or games from time to time.

Button up your coat and lets scurry back to the house and have some hot cocoa. Then if you want to stroll with someone else go on over to Aisling's house and see who else is waiting for you to share their stroll.