Confessions of a Grandma

With sincere apologies for my photography skills (or lack thereof--these photos do no justice to the actual artifacts) and the difficulties I seem to be having with formatting this post tonight.......  All these pictures hang in our office space.  The George Washington and the Abraham Lincoln above are "school house" pictures.  They would have once hung in a classroom.  This is a newspaper front page that Mike found in a barn in Rhode Island.  It is The New York Herald , dated April 15, 1865 (price: four cents). The important news was that President Lincoln had been assassinated. This is a map of the United States showing 30 states and the District of Columbia.  I am not sure of the date.  It was published by Ensigns, and Thayer of New York.  There are pictures around the border of significant historical events--the landing of the Pilgrims, Battle of Bunker Hill, and more.  Mike found this in a ditch behind a building where he was working ...

I sorted more books at the library on Monday and then went back for the poetry workshop.  The theme for this year's program is "The Ear of Poetry."  We spend some time listening to poets read --either recorded or members of the large group--and there are amazingly talented people in our small town area.  Then we  break into small groups for work sessions.  I am really appreciating the two other women in my small group.  It's eerie how we are on the same page without having known each other from before.  (Ha!  I made a small pun.  Ear-y, get it?) Yesterday I got out and did some cleaning up in the yard and garden--some raking and a lot of bending over to pick up debris.  I went for an exercise walk, but the yard work was much more of a workout, I think.  I can still stand upright and walk today, though. Last night I went to a "rockin rivets" class at a local bead store.  We learned how to drill small holes in ro...

A recent post on A Slower Pace got me thinking about recycling once again. Mike calls it my hobby. My children grew up with recycle bins under the cellar stairs. There was one for newspaper, one for cans, and one for glass (which then had to be further separated into clear, brown, green), and one for plastic like gallon milk jugs and shampoo bottles. The first time my daughter came home from her college dorm, she said, "Mom, there are people in the world who don't recycle!" She'd been amazed to see one of her roommates toss an empty shampoo bottle into the trash. You try to protect your children from the cruel realities of life, but eventually they have to leave the sheltering nest. One of the things that really put me over the edge at work was colleagues who tossed paper in the wastebasket when we had a paper recycle bin in every room. I mean I can feel my blood pressure spike just recalling that. Just pure laziness in my book. My family thinks I am a bit of a trash ...

It was just one of those days. I made the first baby booty and it went so fast, I started on the second. I got all the way to the instep before I noticed that the second was not looking exactly like the first. Thinking I had lost concentration the second time around, I pulled out stitches down to the sole and started again, this time being especially careful to check and recheck the pattern instructions. Once again it was not matching. Obviously the problem was really that I had screwed up booty number one. I had to pull out stitches AND figure out the mistake I made with the first booty so I could make it again with the second. Mike suggested that I "Put the needles down and step away from the knitting." Okay, so then I had the bright idea to cut out some apron fabric. I cut two pieces with the fold on the wrong side. "Measure twice cut once," but NO not me. I feel like a dyslexic crafter. All sharp instruments were taken away from me at that point...for my own saf...

According to the Herald Tribune , Venice has been named one of the top ten locales for hobbies. I’m not sure exactly how that distinction came about, but I do see lots of people playing golf, fishing, and bird watching. There is also a large arts presence in the area. Mike’s hobby is walking the beach each morning searching for sharks’ teeth. There’s a competitive little group out there every day--the serious ones getting out there first with flashlights in hand because it’s still dark. Mike found these two nice teeth this year even with waiting until the sun is up and without consulting a tide chart. I go for a walk on the beach, but I am avoiding picking up any of the detritus that tempts me there. I have boxes of shells and coral and rocks enough to fuel any craft project I may contemplate (and never actually carry-out anyway). There are only so many bowls of shells and rocks you can pass off as decoration. I've been doing some knitting. I find that is a good way to keep my han...