Just Kidding

Bad pun but cute pictures.

One Small Touch For Mankind

The second Saturday of each month is the regular gathering day for my Franciscan fellowship. Usually we meet in Austin, a trip I look forward to each month. This time, however, we decided to meet on the grounds of a religious community just north of Waco. Since there are those of us who come from the Dallas area and others who come from Austin, this location allowed us to meet in the middle.

When I first discovered the community in Elm Mott, I assumed that they were Mennonite because of their dress and obvious way of life that is grounded in simplicity and respect for the land. I learned today that I had assumed incorrectly; this group defines themselves as "non-denominational". I really don't know anything about them except that which is revealed in their public image. I am afraid that I would not be so enamored if I really knew all that they are about. So, I will live on in ignorance for the present.

I am willing to be less than knowledgeable about the ins and outs of this religious sect because I am so taken with their lifestyle. They farm, growing most of the food that they eat and serve to the public; they grind their own grain; and they practice crafts such as woodworking, soap making, sewing, spinning, weaving. knitting, and pottery.

For some reason I seem to have a fascination with pottery,. I love to look at the one of a kind finished pieces, and I am mesmerized by watching pots as they are thrown. Today, as I observed a young woman making lids for honey pots, I became more aware than ever of the possibilities that our hands hold.

With a big glop of clay that looked like absolutely nothing recognizable and a bit of water, in only a few minutes the woman crafted this slimy wet mess into a perfectly fitting lid for her previously made pots. The most amazing part to me was how gentle her touch on the clay was; in what seemed like an effortless motion, the intricate details of the pot's lid began to emerge and take shape. As I stood watching her work, I was struck with the notion of how powerful our slight touch can be. As with most things, this realization brings with it both the positive and the negative.

The positive - with just a gentle touch big changes are possible. The negative - with just a gentle touch big changes are possible. I often find myself opting out of working for positive change by whining about the fact that I am only one person. What can one person do? As I watched the potter's hands, I heard the message loud and clear that one person, with gentle but deliberate hands, can make a difference. This was a valuable and much needed lesson for me to have learned today. And, the mode of instruction was most enjoyable.

Here are a few pictures.

This first pictures shows the beginning of the process. The clay really is just a blob. The potter must center it, to prevent the final object from being lop-sided, before any detailed shaping can begin.

She is now beginning to pull the work and start the gross shaping of the honey pot lid.

More details are added.
The piece is almost finished and ready to be cut from the clay still on the wheel and set to dry before its finishing touches are added.

Never underestimate the potential impact of a gentle touch.

From Trash To Treasure

At our house, Friday is trash day. Because we live in the country, the trash truck comes only once a week to empty our dumpster. Unlike those of you who live in the city and have to put your garbage on the curb the morning of your pick-up, we can haul our trash bags to the dumpster at any point during the week. If the resident critters want to investigate our discarded goods, they can crawl into the dumpster and have at it. (And I'm sure they do.) However, we do not run the risk of having our weekly garbage strewn across the neighborhood providing our neighbors with the opportunity to wonder if we really did eat three gallons of ice cream and twelve frozen pizzas in the last seven days.

Despite the fact that I can empty all the garbage cans and carry them out at any point during the week, I always seem to wait until Thursday evening. Or, as the case was this week, Friday morning. As it turns out, in this instance my procrastination paid off. During the terrible storms we had Wednesday night and Thursday morning, a strong gust of wind turned over our dumpster, possibly because it was empty? If I had been efficient with the emptying of the trash cans, I would have had to deal with the neighbors and the ice cream and the pizza boxes. It would not have been pretty. So don't you, my fellow procrastinators, ever let anyone tell you that you'll be sorry if you wait until the last minute. Here is proof that that may not be the case.

The upshot of all this is that early this morning I was running around trying to get all the cans emptied and carried out to the dumpster before I left for the day or the trash truck came. Boy we have a lot of trash cans! I made my way through the house muttering to myself that I seem to be the only one in this household that recognizes the fact that every container has a finite limit to what it can hold. The proof here is simple. If the trash ends up on the floor surrounding the trash can, the can has exceeded its limit and you should empty it. Why is this such a difficult concept to grasp? Anyway, after three bathrooms downstairs and a laundry room can full of dryer lint, because I have finally conquered the mound of dirty clothes that was almost eligible to be counted as a permanent resident by the census bureau, I made my way upstairs for one more bathroom can and the kitchen trash. As I rounded the last turn, I was struck by the view off of the deck.

My attention was drawn from my chores to the morning's beautiful sunrise. The early rays of the sun defined the few lines of clouds. These same beams of sunlight made the newly budding leaves on the trees look like they were glowing. Simply stated, it was an awesome image.

I am often guilty of saying "that would be an amazing picture" but not taking the time to go get my camera and actually capture the sight. Perhaps I was remembering my own pontificating in my last post about making time for the things that you really want to do and this morinig I did grab the camera and take this picture.

I will admit that being in the presence of this sight this morning was much more dramatic and much more impressive than this photograph suggests. You'll have to take my word for it. I am also willing to admit that I may have been drawn to the new day's rising sun as a not so gentle reminder that there is always beauty in our midst; we just have to take the time to look at it.

I am happy to report that even though I was sidetracked by today's sunrise and my taking its picture, I still managed to get everything to the dumpster on time. It is OK to stop and smell the roses or in my case, stop and watch the leaves glow.

A belated happy spring to all . . .

A Time For Everything . . .At Least The Important Stuff

Over the past few days I have had a great deal of time to knit. (This is a good thing since it is about time for the next issue of Spirit of Knitting to be published and I was working on designs for the issue.) Much of the time I spent knitting was while sitting at our booth at the DFW Fiberfest. I worked a little and I knit a lot. Also recently we have begun knitting with a group at our local library. The group officially meets once a month but we all know that is not frequent enough for knitters, especially new ones who are still unsure about what they are doing and how to fix their own sure-to-happen mistakes. So, we have been meeting unofficially once a week at a local cafe and bakery. Knitting, coffee, friends, and chocolate croissants-life doesn't get much better than that!

Most weeks, we sit and knit together for two or three hours. I justify this as working in a remote office. I need to be knitting (it is part of my job, right?) and it really doesn't matter where that happens. Never mind the fact that I could do a few loads of laundry between rows or I could eat apples and grapes instead of chocolate croissants if I were at home. The truth is, I am working. Inevitably, every time we meet at the cafe, someone will stop at our table and say something to the effect of that looks like fun. I wish I had the time to just sit around and knit. Obviously they fail to see that this really is work. Okay, I'll admit that it is not well-paying work, but hey, does that really matter?

I began thinking about all those people who wish that they HAD the time to just sit around and knit. Last time I checked, we all have the same 24 hours in our days. Sometimes the days feel much longer and sometimes much shorter, but I do know that they all have 24 hours, no more and no less. (I know there are some extra seconds floating around out there) What do these people who wish they had time to knit do with their days? Shop? Watch TV? Sleep? Party? Read? Obviously they make time to eat since they spoke to us at an eating establishment. Perhaps if they cut one of the above out of their schedule, they could carve out some time to knit, that is if they really want to.

The deal is, we all make time for the things we WANT to do. So, if you really want to knit, you will knit. If you really want to read a book, you will rad a book. If you really want to do your laundry, you will do your laundry. If you really don't want to go commando, you will do your laundry. Though following our bliss is not possible all the time, we all have a desire for self preservation and doing those things that make us happy fall into the realm of self preservation.

I am just as guilty as the folks at the bakery of playing the "no time" card. With me, it comes with watching TV. I have caught myself saying that I wish I had time to just sit down and watch TV. In reality, I really don't wish for that. If it were that important to me, I would just sit down and do it. As it is, I don't. I will admit to being a bit culturally illiterate because of my choice not to do so. I don't even know who is on Dancing With the Stars, let alone who is winning. I have no idea who's married, who's divorced, or who's dead on ER. I am even woefully uninformed about what is happening on American Idol. I have chosen this state of ignorance for myself. I could watch TV instead of knitting, or I could watch TV instead of writing about wishing I could watch TV. But, I'm not.

I will trust that I can find someone who wishes they were knitting but is watching TV instead to tell me what is happening on primetime TV and I will continue to waste time knitting away. I may never know who wins this year's American Idol, but I will have lots of awesome hand-knit socks.

The next time you catch yourself saying, "I wish I had time to . . .", think about what you are saying. Do you really wish for the time to do that thing? If so, why aren't you doing it? If you are sincere in your desire, what can you do to allow yourself the necessary time? What are you doing that really is a waste of your time?

Does anyone know what is happening on Grey's Anatomy?i

Liesl Forever

For nearly two months we have spent every night at rehearsal for Denton Community Theatre's production of The Sound of Music. It was an outstanding production all the way around. The director was fantastic, the cast was talented, and the crew did a great job as well. And for Erin, who played Liesl Von Trapp, it was a once in a lifetime experience.

Because this was Erin's "first big role", we all thought carefully about what to give her as a memorable gift on opening night. Because she is incredibly spoiled, there was no lack of praise or gifts for her as the curtain went up two weeks ago. Liesl's big number in the show is "Sixteen Going on Seventeen." Liz found a beautiful music box of Liesl and Rolf dancing in the gazebo and, yes, it plays "Sixteen Going on Seventeen."

Surfing the Internet one night I found a book titled Forever Liesl. As it turns out it is the story of the making of the movie of The Sound of Music as told by the actress who played Liesl. Many differences exist between the stage and screen versions of this time-honored classic, especially in the character of Liesl. So, I was not sure whether something that focused on the movie would be an appropriate gift. After a little more in depth web surfing, I discovered that this actress, Charmian Carr, is alive and well and that it is possible to contact her. If I could get her to autograph the book for Erin, perhaps that would overshadow the fact that it centered on the making of the movie rather than the stage show. Charmian Carr was kind enough to write a lovely inscription to Erin wishing her as much joy playing Liesl as she herself had had.

BK also gave Erin a beautiful silver charm bracelet with a "16", sixteenth notes, and the comedy and tragedy masks. The hope is that as she does more shows, Erin will add a charm for each.

Needless to say, the memories of this show will linger for quite some time. Thankfully, this is because it was such a positive experience. In addition to all of the gifts, many pictures were taken and also will preserve the memories.

Here are just a few.

"Liesl and Rolf"

"Liesl and Maria"

"The Von Trapp Family Singers at the Kaltsburg festival"

"Von Trapp family portrait"

"Follow every rainbow, til you find your dream."

How Do I Love Thee My Hp, Let Me Count The Ways

The deep silence here, as you have probably figured out, is due to a relapse of my computer's virus. It has now been symptom free for 48 hours so hopefully it is really cured this time.

I have never thought of myself as being dependent on technology. My cell phone and I are often estranged from one another; at the moment my PDA is MIA; though I love my iPod, we are not joined at the hip, or the ear as the case may be; and, I do not spend hours each day at my computer. But, boy did I miss it these last few weeks! I am amazed at how dependent I really am.

My email was working peripatetically. Receiving messages was not so bad, but sending them was another story. Every time I tried to type something, the screen was overtaken by pop-ups and bogus warning messages. Outlook would randomly shut down, sometimes to music that started playing from a rock band whose primary venue seems to be cyberspace. I was able to communicate just well enough to tell everyone the things I was not able to do because of my ailing computer.

The Dallas Hand Knitters Guild newsletter fell victim to this recent viral outbreak. This is not a great tragedy: there was nothing noteworthy to report anyway.

I was in charge of collecting money and ordering information for the Sound of Music T-shirts. Not a problem. I'll just make a chart on the computer. S@*!, no computer. I had to do it all the old fashioned way by engaging paper, pencil, and a ruler to make the table. It was not so bad. Truth to tell, I probably spent less time drawing this by hand than I would have if I had done it on the computer. I am both amazed and ashamed at the amount of time that can be spent (wasted?) searching for "just the right font". When you do it by hand, the choices are greatly reduced. Only one exists.

My lack of Microsoft Word became problematic when it came to preparing for my classes. Here again, what absolutely had to be included as a handout, I wrote by hand. This may have been a futile effort since my handwriting is terrible. It has not improved since I was traumatized by Mrs. Humphries, who gave me a "D" in handwriting, back in the second grade. She did not like the fact that though I am right handed, but had a left handed slant. At least then it was legible! ANd, if she had let me write with a ball pointpen like everyone else, I'm sure it would have been really legible! (Maybe this explains my obsession with pens!?)

Something else that I discovered about myself over these past two weeks is that I am addicted to daily blog reading. I feel disconnected having been away for so long. I suppose I could go back into the archives and catch up, but I really don't have time to do that. I will have to hope that if the information that I missed is integral to my understanding of later posts, my fellow bloggers will include a link to the pertinent information.

I have also missed writing here. The sad thing for me is that the last few weeks have been a whirlwind because of the DCT production of The Sound of Music, spring breaks, and Easter. All is a blur. If only I had my blog posts to remind me of how I spent the month of March. On the other hand, many of those March days included late night rehearsals. Since I usually write late at night, the fact the I could not post encouraged me to go to bed a little earlier than I might have had my computer not been sick. Perhaps this whole ordeal was a blessing in disguise. Nah . . .

Another favorite late night pastime is a few rounds of my favorite computer games - Zuma and Puzzle Inlay. Again, no computer so off to bed instead of staying up late playing.

Another positive aspect of this long technological hiatus, I have "1-click" free at Amazon.com for three weeks. That may be a personal record, though I did fall off the wagon tonight when I ordered the soundtrack to Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, which Erin hopes to audition for at the end of April.

Had a cooked a single meal at home over the last few weeks, I also would have missed my access to the millions of recipes on the Internet. Since nearly every meal I have eaten has been served out a windo and on paper, there was no need for recipes that involved healthy ingrdients and fancy culinary skills. The only skills necessary for March's dining delicassies were how to eat without dripping grease or ketchup in my lap. (The lack of cooking had to do with the theater profuction, not my computer.)

I must admit that I am glad to be back in the computer business. I have read blogs, ordered on amazon, done a little safe retail therapy (just looking), edted some pictures, and posted here. My day is now complete.

It is 11:59 pm. I am off to bed earlier than I have been with no computer to distract me. Perhaps I will go to bed and read for a little while!

Irregularity

At the beginning of the year, I made a promise to myself that I would post regularly. My standard for "regular" posts was at least every other day. What I did not factor in to this little deal was my computer being overtaken by a nasty virus. After nearly two weeks of trying to diagnose the problem, I am finally back in business. It seems that computer anti-virus software, of which I was running two at the time my computer was infected, is about as effective as the medical profession at the art of disease prevention and diagnosis. As of this moment, I do believe that we have a clean bill of health. Pray that there is no relapse!

We will now return to regularly scheduled programming . . .see you tomorrow.