We The People

My parents, this month, left the frigid north for a visit to the warmer south.  They don't make the trip often. It was a granddaughter's wedding that got them moving but once out they get the most from their road trip.  I am stop number eight on their nine stop tour.

My folks live in a rural community where my father was born and grew up, thirty miles from where my mother grew up.   I lived in the same community until an industrial accident caused us to move when I was 14.  My parent's returned to the same homestead 20 years ago and retired there.

Their roots are deep; active members in the Congregational Church, the American Legion, Historical Society and the Seniors Association. They are a part of a close knit community that expresses a life dreamed of, written about, yearned for...and common in towns across our country.

They shared this story, a perfect reflection of the lives that knit the fabric of America.

Ed, 58, was a local truck driver, divorced and living with Ellen, 56, in the small town.  They lived on little spending their meager earnings and socializing regularly in the corner pub.  Ed died of cancer with only Ellen and a few dollars to mark his passing.

Jerry, a member of the community who knew Ellen's circumstances, called my Dad, the Commander of the American Legion and shared that Ed was a vet.  Jerry knew that Ed was never active in the local chapter but perhaps the American Legion could help out.

My father contacted Ellen and learned that the hospice chaplain would perform the funeral service. Through her grief he visited with Ellen about Ed's life in order to write an obituary and send it to the paper. He also offered the Legion building for the location of the funeral.

Phone calls to fellow Legion members procured a guitar player to provide music for the service. Women of the legion provided and served the meal. Another member searched the web and published a funeral pamphlet highlighting Ed's military career including the history of the ship he served on.

The Legion Honor Guard honored Ed 's passing with a twenty-one gun salute.
In a manner of those communities we idealize, they took care of their own.

There is often a caring community that counts us as a member but we don't fully realize what that means until those souls are the only ones who show up at our door with food, encouragement or the staples we need to make it another day.

Or perhaps you are the member that sees the need and steps up to offer your hand.  We all make up the threads that knit our neighborhoods and towns together.

What close knit communities are you a part of?

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Creativity Takes a Turn

Followers are well aware of my sewing mania manifested by our Empty Nest experience.  Two years have passed and the sewing has been kept alive, in part, by a friend who has provided some wonderful quilting remnants.

Projects are chosen through a recycle/reuse philosophy.  I like to reconstruct and the materials at hand have driven most ideas.  R. is a quilting friend, who has other quilting friends and on more than one occasion has blessed me with some outstanding remnants.

Her gift of minkee remnants provided three child blankets for the family reunion auction.  Her second gift of coordinating yellow pieces made this raw edge quilt.  Her third gift arrived in D.s trunk this past weekend and is a wonderful array of mixed patterns.

My excursion into the world of re-upholstery is semi-complete (finished the chair, haven't started the ottoman).  I squeezed in another t-shirt quilt (a collection of youth group shirts from church) having just finished the binding I wasn't looking to start another quilt.

With quilting remnants the pieces are not large but the fabrics are so pretty....what pretty thing could I make that takes a small amount of fabric?

It is hard to pinpoint what exactly brought the idea to mind but I was off to Goodwill where I found a cute dress that looked easy to replicate.


 I pulled it apart to use as pattern pieces.

Three days later and ... ta da!

The only change made was putting snaps on the shoulders instead of three buttons on the back.  Interestingly, the snaps were the most difficult part of the process!  I am very pleased with this first effort and already have the second project in mind.  There are still plenty of
t-shirts left to use and Pinterest is a gold mine of cute clothing ideas.

This is a new turn in my sewing journey, one I'm excited to follow.
What new places has your journey taken you?

Google image:
redbamsews.wordpress.com 

A Shift in the Shopping Paradigm

Shopping, of any kind for me, is a chore.  I like to know what I need, have a list if possible, get in then get out with minimal fuss.

My niece is getting married next weekend and the hunt for the right outfit has been 'on' for some time.  Family from all over will be coming in and although we are no fashionistas we are having great fun sharing each other's hunt for the perfect outfit.

In the last two weeks I've been to more clothing stores than in the past year.  There are two discount, 'go-to' stores that I drop into periodically which will usually meet my clothing and shoe needs.  I branched beyond these (stopped twice at each with no success) to the mall for Sears and Penny's as well as Kohls and TJ Maxx and a couple of boutiques.

What has happened in the world of department store shopping?  Has a cultural shopping shift occurred?  This comic has an funny take on what I experienced at the all these department stores.

Where were the floor clerks?  I don't require anyone to carry my selections or bring different sizes to the dressing room yet, where are the department clerks that are available to help if you need it?

What happened to the dressing rooms?  There was no employee present to count the garments and provide a card with the appropriate number or to take those items you didn't want.  The area was a mess with discarded clothing crammed on every wall hook overflowing into piles on the floor.

What happened to merchandising?  It is end-of-season sale time and the discounts are down 50% and more.  It's a hunt with the victory going to the shopper willing to dig deepest.  Racks are tightly stuffed with last season's hot items now gone cold.  With no room to browse the clothes they are pulled out, along with three additional garments, that fall off their hanger onto the floor.  What cannot be put back on the rack is thrown on top.

Is the economy causing customer service to exist only at the cash register?  Are there not enough applicants to fill these service positions?  Is the department store dying and this their last gasp?


I realize my purchasing methods are adding to the downfall of these once, shopping meccas.  Online shopping is my first stop and often my last and yet, after my experience of the past weeks there is no compelling reason to change.

Am I alone in this thinking?  I'd like to know your thoughts.

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Upholstery Project Complete

In January I shared the post 2013 Kickoff, highlighting my efforts to reupholster a chair and ottoman.

We bought this chair almost 10 years ago with the intention of having it recovered.  It was always in the back of my mind to try making a slipcover.

Like many good intentions the chair remained in it's original, ratty state but became a favorite down in L.'s Man Cave as his commander chair.

Before L. left for the spring semester he helped me open up the bottom and retie the springs plus calculate and pick out the new fabric.

 Since, I have worked steadily on cutting, pinning, sewing and recycling all piping and the zipper for the re-do.

Here, two months later, is the completed chair.  It has come together better than I anticipated.

The cushion gave me the most trouble with several seams ripped out and resewn but that was to get a better fit.  And, as in most projects I can sit and see all the problem areas, but for my first upholstery project I am quite pleased.

The ottoman has yet to be done falling to #2 on the sewing list.  There's a t-shirt quilt on the cutting table.

My new year list of minor home repairs is slowly being accomplished but the call of the sewing machine was too loud to ignore.

There isn't another furniture project in the near future, I'm still gauging how much I enjoyed the process, but the possibility exists.

What are you working on?

Healing Kindness

The regular weekly schedule was disrupted on Wednesday.  I met three new people who were required to share an intimate experience with me.  It could have been a terribly embarrassing and tense situation except that these three treated me with kindness, compassion and professionalism.

My annual mammogram came back with microscopic calcium deposits in my left breast that were not there the year before.  The new digital mammography is excellent for seeing the smallest things but they also require that all the smallest things be investigated.  A biopsy was ordered.

A breast biopsy is a awkward ordeal.  The machine is an uncomfortable table where the patient lays on their stomach and their breast hangs through a cut out.  A mammography machine compresses the breast and film is made of the affected area. The breast stays compressed through the procedure leaving the patient in an uncomfortable and awkward position for about 40 minutes.

A Valium and pain pill was given to ease the process and the area was locally numbed before the needle was inserted and the biopsy performed.

I am not a modest person by nature so stripping to the waist with the female nurse and x-ray tech was not difficult.  The unfamiliar procedure and possible results had me on edge.

The nurse took her time in explaining the process, what would happen, where everyone would be and what I was expected to do.  Once I was informed and comfortable these two women pulled me into a companionable conversation, asking about me and my family as preparations were made.

I was loaded onto the table, my head and arms locked in position, then the nurse stepped into my line of sight where she would be throughout the procedure providing a running commentary on what was happening.

The doctor arrived, stepping into view to introduce himself as the ladies provided him with some information they gleaned about me so he seamlessly entered the easy chatter keeping the atmosphere casual and relaxed.

These three have done this same procedure many times and even though I was one on that road of many I want to thank them for seeing only me at my turn; for caring that I was comfortable and taking measures to see to my peace of mind.

I want to particularly thank N., my nurse, for holding my hand through the poking, prodding and cutting.  It was a gesture of compassion and a warm and welcomed comfort.

Footnote: The results were back on Thursday and all was clear and benign.







Google photos:
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Super Sunday Holiday?

D. and I have been enjoying the Superbowl pregame shows, we've taped, because they started at 9 this morning.  You don't have to like football to enjoy the stories of: players, coaches, the stadium. the host city and people in the host city plus those who are nationally noteworthy, i.e. The Sandy Hook Elementary School choir.

Super Bowl Sunday is just a presidential distinction away from being a national holiday.  Given the lack of traffic on the streets and the crowds gathered at sports bars, friend's houses and even churches it may be appropriate to say Super Bowl Sunday is a holiday recognized by the citizenry.

I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing. This event is full of patriotism, nationalism, volunteerism, love for our teams, love for the fans, teamwork not to mention the substantial amount of money pumped into the local and national economies.  

Sitting here watching the coin toss I hope for a good game.  It's more entertaining to watch evenly matched teams battle for field position and scoring opportunities than be bored at the half by a blow out.  The commercials will keep us watching through the end no matter the score.  Product saturation is a holiday requisite.

Super Bowl Sunday is an American celebration of a national pastime.  It may not be your thing or your sport but I like that anyone who wants can be a part of the entertainment and fun.

What would you grant holiday status?





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Two Totally Different Planets

Through 51 years of life, married to the same man for 32 years, (although the formative years were spent with three sisters), and years spent raising a son, (yet it is clear that as the mom my perspective ruled on most occasions), I can be perplexed by the male/female, Mars/Venus exchange.

It began like this:
A quiet moment at home and D. asks, "What are you thinking?"
A pause, my response, "Nothing,...really."
D., "A guy can say that and really mean it but I don't think women can."

Later, the same week . . .
A friend and male co-worker, C., sits across from my desk and we are discussing the work schedule peppered with general, friendly conversation.  I'm speaking and typing at the computer, glance over and observe C., deep in thought.
Me, "What are you thinking," he blinks me into focus; smiling I insist, "just now what were you thinking?"
His forehead wrinkles in concentration then offers, "Nothing."
Surprised, "Really, you were somewhere else completely."
"I know" he admits, "I was somewhere else but I wasn't thinking of any thing."

Is this what D. meant?  I went to my next "go to" male expert.

L. is back at school but this same week we were visiting and I explained the exchange with D. and C., "Do you agree with Dad?"

"I think it is a difference in men and women." he opined.  "When I'm thinking it is more like blocks of distinct things that I'm passing over, not giving any one thing attention just scanning, but from that scan I can make decisions on any one block.  It's not a stream of thought, one specific thought leading to another so if you asked me what I was thinking I couldn't say a particular thing, so my answer could, and would, be 'nothing.'"

No one will argue that men and women have different perspectives and often times have difficulty seeing/understanding the other.  As a society we have always wrestled with opposing male/female perspectives seeking to provide insight.  The media thrives and prospers on this.  Two popular examples are the humorous movie, When Harry Met Sally or the relationship book Men are from Mars Women are from Venus.

The interview from Good Morning America between the host of The Bachelor, Chris Harrison and Lara Spencer provides a glimpse of the male/female misunderstanding as it happens, (their interview starts at 1:45 into the video with their differing perspectives around 3:00).  See if the differences are as obvious to you.

I enjoy the male/female differences and realize there are some things about men I will never fully understand but that provides me with the opportunity to practice love, patience, acceptance and respect for the men in my life.

This particular item bounced around me all in one week, providing food for thought.  What has recently given you food for thought?

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