Quoting Wednesday

Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark.  

~Rabindranath Tagore

One of my friends, a deeply religious person, has lately found herself surrounded by friends and family who are experiencing many troubles in their lives.  For her, I created a prayer pocket, with a hidden place to tuck in papers that have names and intentions on them.  And all the while I was hand stitching it, I was saying a prayer for her.

If you listed all the reasons for your faith, 

and all the things that make you cry, 

it would be essentially the same list.  

~Robert Brault

Wednesday quote -- and a new beaded bracelet

“Do not be satisfied 

with the stories that come before you. 

Unfold your own myth.”

― Rumi

This quote has been one of my most important guides through life.  I think of the best possible "myth" I can imagine for myself, and I try for that, believing that working toward making that myth a reality will always steer me in the right direction.  I remind myself that every day brings me a chance to write my own story -- whether I liked the previous chapter or not.

I was recently inspired by my friend Sox to try beading. She shared with me the work done by the incredible bead artist, Sherri Serafini.  I took one look and knew I had to learn how to do this.  It took me a while to assemble the supplies I needed, including cabochons, brass bracelet blanks, the special colors of seed beads I liked, bead needles and glue, but once I got started, I was hooked.

Here's the finished bracelet from the front

And from the back... 

 And here is how I started.  The bracelet is stitched onto a separate piece of material, cut to properly match the brass bracelet blank.    

After all the stitching is finished, the beaded strip is sewn to the prepared bracelet blank.  

I'm in love with my bracelet and I think I'm kind of hooked on this style of jewelry making.  My friend Eileen cautioned me that purchasing beads can become an addiction, and I believe it.  

Baby Shower

Today was the day!  After many long months of trying to become pregnant, and more months of the pregnancy itself, today was my baby's baby shower.  Below are some pictures of the celebration.

For centerpieces, we had baskets of daisies (Ally's favorite flowers) tied with bunches of blue balloons, and topped with elephants -- our theme -- created by my husband with his 3D printer.

Here's Ally, in brown, and her cousin and maid-of-honor Aileen.  Ally and Aileen are both pregnant with little boys and are due only a few days apart. Isn't that amazing?  They grew up together, like sisters.  Only God could give them such a blessing.

We played a "match the celebrity to their baby picture" game.  Lou set up the photos before the party started.  Bill's sister Tara won the prize for the most correct guesses.

Here's the happy couple.

Daddy-to-be got a "tool belt" for baby diaper changing.

 My friends Eileen and Pat came over on Thursday to have some art fun, and while here they volunteered to help me making these cupcake toppers. I couldn't have done it without them!

I had lots of fun making this diaper cake...

...and treat bags.

And here I am with Ally. 

Poetry Wednesday

During the first half of this year I published one of my favorite poems each week.  For the second half, I'll be publishing some of my favorite quotes.

Five on Friday - Teachers

Last week was Teacher Appreciation day, so today's post is dedicated to teachers. 

The teacher I remember best was Mrs. Sansone.  I’d just transferred to public school, fourth grade,  and I was terribly shy.  I hated playground time because I didn't have anyone to play with, so I'd stand around awkwardly.  When Mrs. S started asking me to walk to the corner deli to buy her a cheese sandwich and two ice cream sandwiches – one for each of us -- it was such a gift.  For a month or two, I spent lunchtime inside with her.  It was a lifesaver until I finally started making a few friends.  

The teacher I liked least was a sour-faced German teacher in high school. She had taken the place of my first German teacher, a beautiful, charismatic woman whom I adored and who died suddenly of a brain aneurysm. I guess sour-puss didn't stand a chance.

Funny to think I became a teacher.  I never had any desire to teach until I had kids.  In fact, I never had any desire to be anything when I grew up, except to be a mom.

I loved reading Steinbeck’s East of Eden because I had a teacher who enjoyed it so much that her enthusiasm spilled over onto her students.  What I remember most about her, other than that book, was the day she told us how sad she’d been in high school when she found out an I.Q. test showed her to be very “average” in intelligence.  She encouraged us not to judge ourselves based on a test or on someone else's opinion.

I wish I could go back to high school for a day, knowing what I do now, feeling as I do now.  It would be so interesting to see it with new --or old -- eyes.

Poetry Party Wednesday

This poem makes me smile

God Says Yes To Me

Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes.
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is.
I asked her if I could wear nail polish -
or not wear nail polish -
and she said, honey
(she calls me that sometimes)
she said, you can do just exactly
what you want to.
Thanks God, I said.
And is it even okay if I don't paragraph
my letters.
Sweetcakes, God said,
(who knows where she picked that up)
what I'm telling you is,
Yes Yes Yes.

Five on Friday

Do you meditate?  There was a time in my life when I practiced it every day, but not lately.  It's hard at first but gets much easier with practice. I focus on the space between two letters in a word.  Yes, that's right.

My newest Journal - Cover

One thing about eReaders.  You can't take 'em into the bathtub.  I miss that.

Inside fabric page - beginning of an embroidery sampler

I've been enjoying watching "Awake" on tv, and I just read in Entertainment Weekly that it's probably going to being cancelled. I'm going to start requiring a two-season guarantee before watching new shows.  

Inside back cover of journal

I saw these interesting lightbulbs on Dr. Oz called Purely Product CFL Bulbs.  They improve serotonin levels and are supposed to improve your mood, along with purifying the air and eliminating mold.  I found 'em on Amazon.

Journal spine - outside

Is Lisa Rinna really doing Depends commercials?  

I must be older than I thought.

Leather and lace pendant

May Day Celebration Blog Hop!

Some wonderful tutorials to celebrate the month of May. Take a look.

May Day Celebration Blog Hop!

Poetry Part Wednesday

This poem by Billy Collins is the one that got me hooked on him.  I love the way he notices the little things in life, the things we each would have mentioned ourselves if we'd thought to say them -- but we didn't, and he did.  (Which, I think, is the job of poets and comedians.) 

I Go Back To The House For A Book


I turn around on the gravel and go back to the house for a book, something to read at the doctor's office, and while I am inside, running the finger of inquisition along a shelf, another me that did not bother to go back to the house for a book heads out on his own, rolls down the driveway, and swings left toward town, a ghost in his ghost car, another knot in the string of time, a good three minutes ahead of me — a spacing that will now continue for the rest of my life. 

Billy Collins