A Country Evening....

Yes, even out in the country, we are treated to fireworks. For all the years we have lived here, we still have not figured out what small town, campground or individual puts them on.
And it is not just the man-made fireworks that make the viewing special; the yard was ripe with fireflies, blinking on and off. Sufficient to say that even without the explosive type, the gentle lights glowing in the humid warm air was a display in and of itself.
It is a private celebration. When the weather is dense enough, the scent of sulphur will drift foe miles and the concussion of the explosions may be felt. It is as though the display is strictly for you. It is most special.
The slightly sad item from the evening is that normally there are many familes in the miles around us that have their own small fireworks displays, but alas, an economy that has failed here has brought an end to that small summer's night pleasure. I noticed that more than anything.....how quickly it all ended.
When we first moved here, all about would be displays. It would begin to the north, then head south, then several places in the western sky would be alight with the magic fires.
I am of course, being a bit selfish with this memory. I know exactly what it is connected to. One does not buy fireworks when there are no jobs, when gas has skyrocketed and when food cost are as high as the explosions in the night air.
And I held that close as I watched the last of the exquisite fairy-dance creations.
But my little fireflies dance each night, quietly, adrift on the humidty-haze.
Summer is here in Indiana.
And I miss the more prosperous ones.

Pax....

The remains of the day.........

 (yes, there is a Grinch ornament in the tree........!)

.....a lovely day spent with DH and the quiet of the country; no snow but pretty red lights on our table-top tree that was plenty and a delight to do! (would you expect anything else but red from me??? Really???)

Exchanging gifts, recalling holidays past, good times, lounging, napping......I can't remember a Christmas that was this low key and lovely! Delivered treats to the Budgie Boyz from *Santa-Budgie* which was pretty much like taking ten pounds of sugar and giving it to a couple of kids and encouraging them to eat it straight! Oh my...we laughed at their antics and squawks all day! Seriously, all day......they were pretty happy and wired! And LOUD......

We noshed on tidbits I had tucked away in the pantry and fridge, a day of no cooking! Watched movies---"A Christmas Story" being one of my favorites because it reminds me for some reason of my early days and it is just too funny, especially the bunny suit. (remember, I own and wear bunny slippers...) Plus, Darrin McGavin is perfect as *The Old Man*.......reminds me somewhat of my Dad, the facial expressions!

Closed the evening with a drive around in town to look at Christmas lights and enjoy the nightfall out in the car. Then back for some more time snuggled in the warm house with the red tree aglow until finally I had to call it a night. Still need a bit more stamina and getting up at 5:30 every morning is not helping! LOL! I would say I'm too old for these early hours but I'll blame it on the surgery instead.  ;-)

This was a great Christmas for all the reasons we never see promoted---small, simple, time for sharing talk, a drive, being with someone you love, having enough which is plenty, no pressure. Could you ask for a better day?

I couldn't.

Being home.....on my couch, with DH......the best Christmas ever!!!

I wish the same warm feelings for all of you. Sometimes we have to slow down to see what we really need, or want, or are thankful for.

Pax.

My Wish Come True.......(and another Welcome!)

....this past Saturday I was released from the hospital, walking good (but VERY SLOOOOOOW), had a wonderful drive home with DH in the snowfall, a quick stop for burgers and finally, home for the Holidays!
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers; I cannot begin to say thanks individually because I know I would miss someone, but when I opened my e-mailbox and watched the overflow of messages, from individuals, from FB posts, the mail on the table when I got in the kitchen....it was truly overwhelming.
Now I have to brag a bit on the facility I was at, due to the *vault-of-horror* experience I went through earlier in the year at "Brand-X Hospital".
The  proceedure was done at Orthopaedics North East on the Parkview North Campus in Fort Wayne. (my surgeon was Dr. Harris, who has officially earned the Anne-Lockard-Says-YOU-ROCK!-Award) I have never in my life had the pleasure of meeting so many fine, well educated, caring people--a professionally run organization, but individual care and concern, from the cleaning staff and dietary, thru the Chaplains and MAs right up to each and every RN and Doctor/Surgeon....to my favorites, Physical and Occupational Therapy. (simply because they, ultimately, were the ones who gave me the mobility and dressing skills to come home and torment my gentle readers again! LOL!) So a stay for a major surgery was as pleasant as it could possibly be......Yeah, that sounds odd but it is true.
As to my computer time? Limited. I need to be mobile as much as possible and do my exercises. That's cool. We all have things to do right now and DH is not--I repeat--NOT going to let me out in the snow with the camera balanced on the walker.......ahem......There are many things I will have to relearn mobility wise and work wise, and that is for a bit later so no studio and frankly, I'm not even sure if I can figure out properly sitting to do ATCs. That's cool.

The best thing yet, the biggest present (and why the surgeon rocks):

I am back to a 34" inseam on both legs!!!! My surgeon was able to get the right leg back to what it was before the Abomnible Dr. Phibes worked on me, so I literally am learning to rebalance, etc. But I am soooo happy!!!! (okay, I never was too well balanced in the first place but we won't discuss that since it had nothing to do with the leg...SNARF!)
That's it Kiddies; comments are ON, I may not be able to reply to each but they will all be read and, dang, there is no place like Blog for the Holidays!!!! <:-)
I am so blessed and I wish the same for all of you, and of course......

Pax.


P.S. Welcome to wackysaks.....and I apologize for this being at the bottom, but I still have *hospital-head* and had to do it while the thought was in the brain........before it completely dribbled out.....and I love your bags!

For Holiday Fun.......

.......for the big kids and little ones too, go to the following link.

DH  called me from work to tell me to check on the Grissom ARB homepage website for a link to Fun Things To Do In December; this goes directly to the NORAD page and there is a LOT of great stuff! A grand time for all!!!

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Anne

P.S. Pass this link on to anyone with children; they will have the best time especially closer to Christmas Eve!!! I am sure I remember seeing a Santa Tracker on the site!

While I should have been cleaning and finishing the decorating....

...I discovered my friend Jan in Oregon sent me this YouTube video, and I watched it not once, but three times because anyone who has had someone touched by breast cancer will find this uplifting and dang it, I want to go to a hospital where they dance!!! (super job!)

And I heard that apron pattern calling my name again........

... so I chose instead to escape for the afternoon to the studio and play with the short apron in the pattern envelope---I knew that Day of the Dead fabrics would be just right for it. Although this one was in some ways quicker than the other, I screwed up the first set of ties thanks to the *hemming-foot-that-hates-me* and had to redo them, and they still are not stellar, but servicable. Hey, it's a work apron.

There are two pockets on this one, as it just felt unbalanced with one (much like the maker--LOL!!!) and quite by luck I ended up with the little skellie drinking beer, and the bass player as focal points of the pocket! Trust me, this was not planned.....
Again, it was fly by the seat of your pants sewing day, and then it was go clean up the mess started in the kitchen, in the process of thinning out junk that somehow breeds at an appalling rate.
I have to run the sweeper, which the Keets HATE....it is war, usually when Mr. Sweeper comes to visit, but the house is in desperate need.
I have hit that time of year when I cannot think and don't want to do what I have to; I am doing my imitation of a naughty child misbehaving before the Holidays.
Which is okay......get it out of my system now.
Now gentle readers, it is back to the real salt mines for me; since I played, the house fairy didn't show up, soooooo........
Off to clean.
I'm hoping you're creating something fun and wonderful instead! Or at least, go dance!

Pax.

How I Spent Black Friday....And It Wasn't In A Store!

First off, I do not leave the house on Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving is a day for me to recoup and do things here, with DH, or in the studio. I cannot take the crowds, the traffic nor do I want to end up with a cell mate called "Large Marge"..........nuff said there.

And so, the other day when I was digging--and I do mean DIGGING-- for the instructions for my felting machine, I came across this apron pattern I had purchased in the dark ages and for whatever reason, put in the plastic bag with the machine gizmos.

So I looked it over and it seemed to be a pretty quick sew, and my old aprons have or are currently rotting from age, therefore........

I dug through my scrap bag and pulled some of my favorite pieces, exiled there because I haven't quilted and could not bear to part with them. Also, one large piece that was never cut into for fear of the *Fabric Cutting Police* paying a visit to the studio.......ahem! Any others out there like that???

And, a few hours later, this is what I ended up with! A happy, bright and lively apron, that I made without consulting the instructions for the most part, so there are some things that are different......

I must, absolutely MUST, have a pocket on an apron and I pieced a scrap of batik to make it wide enough to cut the piece, then lined it with a vintage light blue flowery fabric. Yum! The flounce was to be cut as one piece but that took a LOT of fabric, and if I accordian-folded the pattern, I could cut multiple fabrics and have an extra bit of ZING at the bottom! (yes, all those pieces were hemmed with the rolled hem foot first, then pinned with the hem edge matching......and my rolled hem foot hates me, for some reason......I mean, reeeeeally hates me......)

Even the facings and neck strap were made from different favorite leftovers; I wanted all the apron to be special, and definitely *me* when worn, or just hanging in the closet! And best of all, I was able to use up or put a dent in fabric I had lying about. That made me very happy! A scrap apron that just rocks....  :-)

I have to admit I have not sewn for myself in a long time, and eventhough this did not require bodily measurements (thank God!!!) it was sort of odd doing something strictly for me. I had to allow myself to make the apron. I mean, that is NOT right! LOL!!!

Then, I sucked up all my courage and threw one old apron in the garbage and brought the other out to the studio, to try and see if I can cut a pattern from it. Then it goes. Honestly. I promise. For real!

And yes, for those of you wondering, I do have fabrics MUCH BRIGHTER than these.....I was trying to keep from glowing in the dark...well, I do have glow in the dark fabric too, which might have uses for candle lit evenings......

And then there are all the psychedelic prints.....and the skulls and Dia De Los Muertos fabrics.....it is not a bland studio, to say the least!

Hope you've had a few creative minutes yourselves over the holiday, and I am going to have to get the house tended to for Christmas really soon, as my life will get interrupted. Pooey.

Now off with ye, and have a creative day, whatever you get into!

Pax.

Still running and running.......

.......I sort of feel like the little red guy with the flames! ;-)
It's getting that time of year that I want to decorate for Halloween; haven't even thought of digging things out.
I did manage to get myself way too tired the other day on my work-a-thon and spent a good portion of Saturday snoozing on the couch. I'd like to say "watching TV and knitting" but the TV was on and I was holding the knitting and snoring......that doesn't count as either.
None the less, the rest seemed to help and let me head off to a great church service yesterday, then home to try and keep DH comfy and get him healthier.
I did have a chance to rip apart a cheap frame, paint it red and think I will do something orientally inspired, collage of course, while giving the hip, hands and back a rest from the sewing. I seemed to have forgotten that a whole day of it leaves me immobile the next.......I don't know the meaning of the word *moderation*.
No.
Not at all.
I have to find a good balance of sewing to standing time. (need to take a Sharpie and write that on the machine)
Today, if DH is at work, it's studio time. If he's home, it may be "go visit the doctor" time. And that leads me back to the title of the post.....the harder I try and sit still, the more I go. I'm remembering a science class....something about "A body in motion STAYS in motion"......I should have paid more attention! LOL!
Anyway, I'm hoping everyone's Monday is the start of a great week and a productive and fun one too, but take some time to smell the roses before they fade!

Pax.

Holidaze......

Where is it written that every long holiday weekend you have to end up on your knees, working like a dog? Somehow, that's the weekend here. But this pic of me is sooooo humiliating that I thought for those of you also working yourselves to death, you could get a laugh and that might relieve a bit of the stress! Believe me, on Sunday and Monday, I am NOT working, unless it is art and I don't consider that work.
Or getting my hair back to *naturally blonde*.....ahem!
Hope you all are having a productive holiday weekend but not one to break your back or put you in traction. Have some fun and enjoy the days!
And no, I have no shame......yes, I am a HAM.
You knew that! ;)

The end of vacation, not the end of Holiday

This is DH's last day of vacation; tomorrow it is back to the grind for both him and me come to think of it. I leave the decorations up through Epiphany, so I have one more week of joyous light in the house, then back to the usual Winter hum-drum. It always seems so bare and sparse (even with all my JUNK!) when everything is down and tucked away till next year. That is when the real sense of the dark of the year sets in.

Oh yes, they have all this stuff to decorate with for the in-between "non-seasons" but it has little appeal to me. Maybe it was because I grew up in the military--Army-- and spent Christmas and the extended holidays in Germany. Europe's celebration, at least at that time, was a gentler, less commercialized one, with the season starting at the beginning of December and lasting through, hmmmmmmm, was it Epiphany? It was long, with no hurry to move on to the next holiday. There was a sense of tradition that centered and grounded the holiday.

I remember being at the apartment on one of our German friends and who should appear as we were leaving but St. Nicholas! Armed with switches for the bad in one hand (Dad got chased into the car with those) and iced Lebkuchen for good children in the other (which I got) was absolutely magical. As an adult, I realize it was a kind old man, who grew a snowy white beard, donned a beautiful red robe over his slim frame---remember, this is Europe and not America--- and went into the neighborhood and made children truly BELIEVE.

The streets were so dark that night, dotted with the soft glow of the streetlamps and seeing the silhouette of St. Nick coming toward me was breathtaking. It was an experience hard to put to words. But it still lives in the Christmas lights each year; when the tree is up and covered with glass ornaments from about the world, from my Dad and Mom's travels via Uncle Sam, when I am cozy and content as the storms howl outside, as I sit and contemplate what Christmas is supposed to be about. Belief like a child; responsibility of doing for others.


Carry the light from this season in your heart all year; it doesn't have to go away.

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!!

Yes, Idiot Stick is going to town to fight the masses and see what is left of Holiday decor at a very discounted price.

This is PROOF that your gentle author is completely and utterly mad. (those who know me already were aware of this fact, but I share it with you early on in the blogging stage.....so you can run if you wish!) One of my friends had given me a sticker I have on my studio door that says;

"Scream and run away now. It will save you time later."

Somehow I think that quote applies to my venture today! (thanks Vicki! it's a gem!)

So if I survive and if there are any rants worthy of the time to sit and type, I will add to this later in the day. My traffic rants don't count........those are constant!

I did want to add one thing art related that is really cool. I subscribe to the Robert Genn Twice Weekly Newsletter and today he had a superior article about painting abstracts, which I am clueless to doing. But it is one of those niggling things that I want to do but cannot quite figure out where to start. I feel doing it, learning it could be beneficial from two aspects;

1. I learn a completely new technique, which always is beneficial to creative growth.

2. I can't help but feel that there is a buried link between abstract and quilting/fiber art, so there would be a definite benefit there.

You can go to the page through the "Clickback" section or you can go directly to the photos of painting the abstract here and it also includes the background of the *artist* doing a good portion of the work! A very interesting story, even for you nonpainting folks!

And now I'm off....any way you look at it.....

And the winner is......

.......Marion Barnett (artmixter) of Dereham, U.K.! She guessed correctly---the photo is of poison ivy berries, safely encased in the ice. We have tons of them along the fence rows, and they are a good source of food for the wild birds. Alas, that means that after they have, ummmmm, *digested* them, they usually end up in my yard, as new little plants I get to pull out. :( And that frequently entails a trip to visit my dear doctor for a big nasty shot and I don't mean the tasty drinkable kind either.

At any rate, Marion, I'm proud of you for your keen eye! And gentle readers, if you'd like to see some cool stuff, check her at artmixter. I believe she has a book out about the uses of Lutradur, co-authored with another of the FiberPirates, Dijanne. You girls rock!

Since it is Christmas eve, I am a little rushed today, so perhaps later in the evening I can make a post season-specific. Mixing poison ivy with Holiday Greetings just didn't seem RIGHT.......ah yes, I hear some of you saying "It's more right than you think!"

My DH and I do Christmas alone, and it is fine, but there is that longing for the whole company/family thing.....until we do it once in a blue moon and then need to come home and hibernate! To quote the Grinch; "MAX! Fetch me my sedative!"

(I'm not THAT cynical...really.....heehee!)