I don't know who. reads this blog--only numbers. I was happy this week to see that up to 55 people read my blog without a theme!
I started this on a road trip to the west coast 13 years ago and I found that this space just kept me writing.
Thank you so much to all of you who have read it!
Books I'm reading this week:
On Netflix:
The Airport Chaplain
Private Life
Paddleton
On Prime:
Mr. Burton--excellent movie about the young Richard Burton and his teacher
PBS
Here I Stand--about Dolly Parton
Saved by the World: A documentary about Mary Oliver
Online Art Classes
I won a 6 week course on gel printing that begins in mid-October.
I purchased a class on collage from the Take Two site of outstanding art tutorials; I've barely begun, but it's going to be a great class.
Lyn Belisle's outstanding classes on making reliquaries
I continue to watch a wealth of classes as a member of The Handmade Book Club--today's being a fun class, "Mixed Media Embroidery Hoop"
This is the only book I've made headway on this summer. The book is made of one 32x22" sheet of watercolor paper. This is only the beginning. It still needs content and closures, and I'll show you those when I'm done;
Some days, some years even, are like the air and solid ground. All is well. People behave the way we'd like them to. We seem to behave the way other people like us to. Stories have happy endings.
Some days, some years even, shake us up. We encounter paradoxes and disturbing things. They part the curtain and introduce us to formerly unimaginable things we'd rather not see. Or the slow accretions of aging we've gone through for years suddenly lurch into the foreground, demanding attention.
Two nights ago I had the unique-to-me opportunity to ride inside an ambulance. My back went out trying to remove a compression stocking.
Four medics showed up and got me onto a stretcher while Jan supervised. The newness and suddenness of the situation made me wish I'd packed a Go Bag for times like these. What should I take? Who would care for Luci? Should I call my family in Virginia, Georgia and Colorado? Jan handed me my phone (low charge) and the men got my pocket book and a pillow from my bed.
These men did the kind of work Will used to do: taking blood pressure, putting little sticky things on my chest, asking questions, treating me with kindness.
I felt like a minor character in The Pitt--being rolled into an emergency room. But unlike the full noisy cast of The Pitt, The NE Baptist Hospital was almost deserted as far as I could see. The main guy in charge of Back-Out-Lady stayed with me in the hall until I was checked in, and we had one of those small world conversations that revealed pretty soon that he knew one of my best friends who, like him, had grown up in Utopia, Texas.
The next day: Calls from Georgia, Virginia, Colorado: Do you need me to come? Come stay with us. I don't like living so far apart. Jan and Freda and Cecelia took great care of me and Luci, doing all the things I couldn't yet manage.
So this summer, in addition to two very pleasurable trips, one to Colorado, one to Georgia, I've fallen flat on my face in Albuquerque, had to move out for a power outage, and discovered what people mean when they say their backs are "out." I"m moving gingerly, but planning--as soon as I'm up and about better--to create a Go Bag to be prepared for the next time, if there is one. Here's my list so far of what goes in it:
A fast phone charger
A list of people to call or text
Password to phone--if you have one. (I don't).
Copies of insurance card and ID
List of prescriptions.
A change of clothes, underwear, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.
Two or three books and a good pen
Non-slip socks
In my case, a note that I have an embedded neuro-stimulator and controller--in case imaging has to be done and the stem needs shutting down.
Hand lotion.
Laptop or iPad and charger.
A can of Diet Coke
Some snacks
Luci stayed home with her new friend Jules this week, visiting occasionally with Jan and George and Carma.
Some days Jules took Luci to visit her parents and their three dogs. One night she went to game night with her and her friends.
Meanwhile, Bob and Jocelyn and Carlene and I had wonderful 101st birthday celebration. We walked the Lloyd Harris trail on her actual birthday--though she and Bob did most of the actual walking.
Carlene went with me to find a house for my next and longer stay--and I'm excited about having them all over in "my house" between October 19th and November 6th.
Meanwhile: today on Jan's birthday, our entire street was engaged in hauling off downed trees from last night's storm and returning to their houses without power. I lost a hefty chunk of my pecan tree, Jan lost two--one of which blocked the street until our neighbors called in some help, and Curran had the most damage to his house and roof.
Almost everyone I know was affected, all but Freda--and her daughter was.
Refrigerated food and frozen foods had to be given away or disposed of.
SO I have moved out to Will's house--the one he has for sale. I had a long luxurious bath and am watching The Airport Chaplain on my working computer!
I am loving spending time with family all celebrating our mama's 101st birthday!
Bob and Jocelyn put together a small pretty party in a private dining room at Presbyterian Village. This year there were only seven of us--seems like just a few minutes ago we were celebrating her 100th!
Here, you can see the backdrop and balloons and flowers--and you can tell she's loving it!
Linda, Jocelyn, Bob, Micah, and Rose....
She took those candles on the cake 1 and 0 and 9--and rearranged them to spell 110--said we could use the same candles at her 110th birthday in nine years!
So the little baby of Emma and Connor--Gus--was born two days ago in Austin. Almost seven pounds, he's already a handsome little guy.
Emma sent us shower hosts each a goddess. My pink one is now hanging happily over my sink.
It was a uniquely wonderful experience to have lunch with three generations of women. I think we should all seek out more opportunities to spend time with older and younger friends! When like-minded women of all ages get together, the vibrant spirit of the goddess shows up to play!
Carlene's 101st birthday is already on GO! She had lunch with her friend Cathy in the dining room yesterday--the same Cathy who hosted a party in her home for her last year.
My Uber is coming at 12 noon tomorrow for a 2:00 flight, Then I'l fly to Atlanta, get an UBER or the shuttle to Athens, and with Bob and Jocelyn leading the way, I'll drive to my Air BnB.
Meanwhile I have been pursuing my pocket book hobby today. Went to North Star mall today to get Elena a red pocketbook for her first day at Durango High School--whose colors are red and white.
Carlene once called me the bag lady--due to my penchant for pocketbooks (aka handbags and purses) --as well as tote bags, back packs, and bag by any other name.
Most of us women love containers--bags and bowls and baskets. I hadn't been to the mall in ages, and what did I look at most: huge arrays of bags in all colors. I got myself a cute little turquoise Consuela while I was there.
Speaking of Consuela: I remember when she was selling her bags at a crafts fair in Boerne. Now she is a big name world wide. She's also now partnering with James Avery and designing all their colorful enameled charms.
My blue suitcase is open and packed on the living room floor. Luci alternates between getting IN the suitcase ("Don't you dare forget me!") and walking around sighing and staring and looking as glum as possible. She definitely knows something's up.
Yesterday we had a baby shower for Emma, Kate's oldest granddaughter--who's just a few weeks away from bringing her sweet baby boy into the world.
What a pleasure it was for us five grandmothers and three young women to enjoy champagne brunch at Silo's and share in the joy of the upcoming reveal of Emma and Connor's son!
Kate and Lisa and Emma--a tribe of three fiercely loving and nurturing goddesses mamas!
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| This lovely dress was made for Emma by Janet, the sewist in our tribe! |
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| Beautiful Emma and Baby Boy Bump are rocking this polka dot dress! |
Happy 24th Birthday TODAY to the glowing Emma!
Back when we were newlyweds, we lived in a second floor apartment on Mulberry Street, a few houses from San Pedro. We had no TV, no radio (except in the car) and no telephone. We were, you might say, poor as all get-out.
One day a red-faced encyclopedia salesman knocked on our door, huffing and puffing from the one flight of stairs. It was a lazy Saturday afternoon, Mark was painting, I studying for a test in Texas History.
After he caught his breath and drank some iced tea, he proceeded to set up his display of books for us to peruse. I was particularly fascinated by the volume on the human body: plastic pages overlaying each other, each with a system of the body--muscles, bones, circulatory system, etc.
He could tell we were interested, but he probably knew what we knew: that we wouldn't be a sale.
But he kept up his spiel. $19 a month for all these books? How could we not buy?
He had this mantra: "All you're paying for is ink, string, paper, and glue."
On the 17th time or so, it was all we could do not to laugh. He was our entertainment for the day!
There's so much more to books than ink, string, paper and glue, of course. Behind every subject are historians and scientists and all kinds of experts who'd devoted years to scholarly research. Reductionist as it was, his phrase will remain in my mind as long as memory lasts.
I thought of it this morning when I popped into an antiques store and spied a set of two ink bottles with racks for fountain pens. HAD to have it!
At the checkout counter, four of us of a certain age talked about memories of writing with ink back in the day-- Schaeffer's fountain pens with cartridges taking us through math, penmanship, spelling tests, even math. .
I recently gave Will a handmade journal with a leather cover that I'd made--along with a fountain pen. He talks about how it slows him down when he writes early every morning.
Writing with ink slows me down too. It makes writing feel more intentional, almost meditative.
"Remember how the middle finger was always stained by the leaky cartridges?" asked a woman about my age.
"Remember writing lines with those pens?" another asked. We discovered that in spite of growing up states apart, we were all subjected to writing "lines" as punishment!
A strange and sweet man who works there (I've rarely been there when he wasn't there, seated on the same stool, talking amiably in his high-pitched voice) said he was before our time. "We always used these ink wells!" he said. "That was before cartridges were even invented!"
Funny what things evoke nostalgia. Lessons in penmanship and leaky cartridges and dipping pens in wells of ink!
