Inspiration for art journaling and life--thanks to Balzar Designs

Lily

I was all set to go to noon yoga with Jan today, but I woke up and realized that I have sausage fingers due to my gluttony with gluten.  (I thought the rule wouldn't apply since it was a holiday and all--cake at writing group, pizza with Elena, bread at Jan's, bread last night at Bonnie's birthday dinner.). I know better, but sometimes we humans need remediation and reminders.

I decided  to pop in for a quick pedicure--and my favorite nail tech said no problem, I could make it to yoga. I took Jan's book (I'm loving Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen) and proceeded to read, holding up the book conspicuously to avoid talking--which I actually usually enjoy.

Lily is not to be ignored, however.  She has stories to tell, questions to ask.  She told me that when her daughter turns 21, she's going to go every Sunday to nursing homes to give free pedicures.  She told me that she does that every Mother's Day.  She loves her work and she loves her people.

I've tried others, but she's the best in town.  A massage to the neck, cheerful massages to the feet, and soft music playing--not to mention the quality of her work--makes her my all-time favorite.

She has a heart for people.  "My grandfather in China--he took such good care of dead people.  And living people, too.  Like he used to write letters for Chinese ladies who couldn't write, letters to their families in the U.S.  Chinese ladies couldn't get education in those days."

So I surrendered to massage and conversation and left an hour and half later feeling as if I'd gone to yoga after all!

Hand-lettering class on Craftsy

This is the kind of class you can find on Craftsy--on thousands of topics.  The teacher is very good (and handsome) and he gives you an ebook to download with under Class Materials.

"Every act of communication is an act of tremendous courage in which we give ourselves over to two parallel possibilities: the possibility of planting into another mind a seed sprouted in ours and watching it blossom into a breathtaking flower of mutual understanding; and the possibility of being wholly misunderstood, reduced to a withering weed. 

Candor and clarity go a long way in fertilizing the soil, but in the end there is always a degree of unpredictability in the climate of communication — even the warmest intention can be met with frost. 

Yet something impels us to hold these possibilities in both hands and go on surrendering to the beauty and terror of conversation, that ancient and abiding human gift. 

And the most magical thing, the most sacred thing, is that whichever the outcome, we end up having transformed one another in this vulnerable-making process of speaking and listening."

https://mailchi.mp/brainpickings/midweek-pick-me-up-ursula-k-le-guin-on-the-magic-of-real-human-conversation?e=7940cd5ca2

A yo-yo story from Carlene

Many years ago, I gave Carlene a yo-yo quilt I found at an antiques store.  Yesterday, on the one-year anniversary of Mary Elizabeth's house, she passed it on to Mary Elizabeth.

Here's the Yo-Yo story, written by Nana:

For several weeks - even months - I have thought about 3 treasures stored in the blue trunk in my bedroom - a very special gift from you  - the yo-yo quilt, the cathedral window quilt and the bedspread I crocheted years ago ( to fend off some grief, but I don’t remember which one).  

I wanted someone to have them who would love them,  and treasure them like I had - and remember where/who they came from.
 
I had never mentioned them to M.E.

So it took me by surprise when we came on from lunch and she was asking me about Day’s quilted pillow on the sofa and was interested in hearing about her special space for her quilting and questions about the round tablecloth....

Then she told me how she always loved that quilt made out of little circles!!!    Wish you could have seen her face when I asked her if she would like to have it!   When I went to my BR to get it and handed it to her,I told her how it had been a gift from you, purchased from an antique store lots of years ago, etc. and that I  couldn’t part with .. until Now!  

I also told her I thought you would be happy for her to have it.At lunch she said she had celebrated her first year anniversary in her house so I gave it to her for an anniversary present from us--and I took the picture and asked her to send it to you!

And that is how the yo yo quilt went to its new home!

A fun and delicious Fourth!

I went to Jan and Kate's for an amazingly delicious brisket meal, corn on the cob, beans, yummy bread, and a salad with blueberries and watermelon and Feta cheese.  I can't remember a more relaxed and Fun 4th!

These two boys are unique and wonderful!

Sebastien was born in Japan, Makken in the Middle East--and as they were telling us about their two days in Austin and a sushi bar  a Japanese bookstore they all love, Makken started speaking Japanese!
Makken is usually very quiet and a little shy, but he's always paying attention and absorbing everything--and then voila!  out comes something brilliant and surprising.  Sebastien is contributing to a neighborhood newspaper a friend is putting out one street over and he told me how to make ice cream in a zip-lock bag!

There were only six of us--just the kind of party I like!

Lanelle, Jan's friend for years, came and we wound up staying three hours, eating, laughing, and sharing stories.

Sebastien, Kate and Magical Makken

Makken, Sophie the cat, and Sebastien

https://www.ted.com/talks/jorge_ramos_why_journalists_have_an_obligation_to_challenge_power

A poem by Mary Oliver, July 4th

photo and poem sent by Improvised Life

Bone July 4, 2010

1.

Understand, I am always trying to figure out

What the soul is,

And where hidden,

And what shape-

And so, last week,

When I found on the beach

The ear bone

Of a pilot whale that may have died

Hundreds of years ago, I thought

Maybe I was close

To discovering something-

For the ear bone

2.

Is the portion that lasts longest

In any of us, man or whale…

And I thought: the soul

Might be like this-

So hard, so necessary-

3.

Yet almost nothing

Beside me

The gray sea

Was opening and shutting its wave-doors..

I looked but couldn’t see anything

Through its dark-knit glare;

Yet don’t we all know, the golden sand

Is there at the bottom,

Though our eyes have never seen it,

Nor can our hands ever catch it.

4.

Lest we would sift it down

Into fractions, and facts-

Certainties-

And what the soul is, also

I believe I will never quite know.

Though I play at the edges of knowing,

Truly I know

Our part is not knowing,

But looking, and touching, and loving,

Which is the way I walked on,

Softly,

Through the pale-pink morning light.

From the Rivard Report online

As thousands in cities across the nation assembled Saturday in protest of immigration policies that have separated families at the United States-Mexico border, several hundred gathered in San Antonio’s Main Plaza to call for reuniting immigrant parents with their children.

“My heart is broken. I can’t believe this is the U.S.A.,” said Pam Bryant, a RAICESvolunteer who brought her grandsons to the “Families Belong Together” Day of Action rally.

Here's Pam--speaking out, taking supplies for immigrant parents and children, and introducing her grandsons, Ben and William, to activism when it matters most!

Three-year-old William

Green Smoothies

Here's a class you might like on Udemy: The Essentials of Making Green Smoothies--a very comprehensive and detailed class on the whys and hows of making nutritious smoothies, along with lots of recipes you can download.

I'm going outside now to pick some green chard and mix it with a banana, some berries and some pre-soaked almonds and cashews, along with a tablespoon of flax seeds.