Art & Fiber Part 2

In progress

Book I am currently reading snatches of and really enjoying it.

art by K York

Art by K York

By friend Vicki - the machine quilting is amazing as are the small-feather points in teh very center

Trout Lily - everywhere on a sunny spring day

Appetizers for dinner night. 

Everyone was doing a mixture of sewing, quilting, drawing, painting.  We are all doing a online course- Lifebook 2015 with Tam La Porte.  That is where my feather is from.  I have not yet tackled faces - well I tackled one - here at Watson and it was Zombie meets Michael Jackson - suffice to say i went back to sewing. :)   I do however enjoy the lessons and concepts of the online class. I am not able to keep up- just not enough hours in the day or week.  Off to mop the floor!

Books at Chestnut HIll

 I read this one a month or 2 ago- based on recommendation from Coffee Tea and Me.  It was a quick read and enjoyable.   Just enough fantasy to have a quick escape. Yet enough faith based to make you think a bit.   I paid it forward to a co-worker who also needed a quick escape.


I read this about a month ago and was a delightful read- what I call brain candy- fun to read and escape into their lives for a bit but no real substance.  Pretty geography, romance , relationships, a wedding or 2.  Environmental concerns for developing areas that perhaps cannot sustain heavy development.



Reading this currently whenever I get a chance- non-fiction and I am about 1/2 way through and find it enjoyable.
I am reading Unbroken on my Kindle and The Shape of a Year is either travelling with my or on the nightstand.


What are you reading these days??

Book Chatterings at Chestnut Hill

       

                 I picked this book up by chance at the local Library for $1.00  the cover was attractive and I liked the name and description  Embroidered Ground by Page Dickey.  I really had no idea what it would be like.  I was not to far into it and realized that I had indeed read her first book and still owned it, Duck Hill Journal.  Page Dickey lives in "UpstateNY"  meaning in this case outside of NYC and many years back established her garden Duck Hill as she calls it. The first book Chronicles that time frame.
              This second  book delightfully written in small readable chapters of 2-4 pages  looks at the the aging of the garden or shall we say the maturing. There is wonderful wisdom about many things - from plants to light to watering to change- lots of change and how to relate to it both in the garden and in life.  I have had gardens here at Chestnut Hill for 26 years now- some have come and gone, some remain, others are still in my dreams. There were many things I learned and that I could relate to or implement because of reading this book.  If you really love gardens and outdoors then I think you would like this book.  I do not think you have to read the first book first as they can hold up independently.

" In earliest Spring, when the air is still chill and the garden beds around the house  are damp and slow to wake, this patch of woodland is alive with small happenings that thrill us.  The witch Hazels are studded with yellow, and snowdrops flower beneath them and all along the paths, mostly the ordinary . . ."  Pg 17

"We don't use paths enough in American gardens.  Of course we all have a path from the garage, or parking area, to the kitchen door, and usually a more formal but less used path to the front door.  But we don't take advantage of paths sufficiently in our gardens or along the perimeters of our properties to suggest a journey , an adventure" pg.37

" My bouquets are, in essence, a reflection of my garden, a mixture of branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits in a style that is structured  and yet loose, relaxed and a little wild.  Making them is one of my favorite occupations.  When I put together a bouquet for our house, I think in a similar fashion as I might when plotting a garden."  pg. 179

Book Chatterings . . . Memoir of the Sunday Brunch

This is a book that I started before the Holidays and finished in late January.  As the title says it was a memoir of the Authors life growing up the youngest in a large family that held faith front and central while running a family restaurant.   As soon as they were old enough ALL children were required to work the Sunday Brunch  . . . there just were no excuses  not to . Many lessons were learned through this experience although the ultimate lessons were going through the deaths of both parents. This was a book for me that held my interest but had parts that read faster than others. It is always refreshing to read of families in this day and age that still work-together, respect each other and hold each other up during the good and bad times.

Book Chatterings - The Snow Child

                This book was recommended this fall by multiple friends to read.  I started and finished this in January.  Otherwise I have been finishing a bunch of books started in December . . .  


                     I liked this book. It has a very fresh setting.  The book is  set in the 1920's Alaskan Wilderness. It is a realistic story of life and sorrow and life in the wilderness intermixed with an old Russian Fairytale. One of the first winters they are there, during the first snowfall the couple build a snowchild who somehow comes to life and is a master of the wilderness. There is great love and great loss and coming of age and beauty in all aspects of this book. There is the aspect of living off the land and living from the land/ wilderness that is often forgotten in today's world of cash and carry goods.  There is tragedy, loss and joy.  I will recommend this book to friends and family.  

             This book happens to be the " What if everyone read the same book for 2014"  for our community.  Therefore the Author will be here in March speaking at a bunch of local sites and I may go to hear her talk.   What have you read recently? 

2014 Book List - proposed

2014 Book List - proposed

So after a lot of thought I have settled on  about 18 books to read in 2014 I am not sure if this is to high or to low right now. . . . we shall see.

I have given some thought to what I want to read- there are just so many possibilities . . . . I am trying to mix it up a little, I like non-fiction, I like memoirs, I like good fiction, and not on the list right now but sure there will be a bit of Brain candy or Fufu - easy peasy reads that don't involve a lot of thought.  I get many book recommendations from patients that I work with.  Books are not as neutral conversation topic as gardening or weather but if they have one in hand, that they are reading while waiting, it can be a good jumping off point.

The tenative list is as follows:

1.  The Snow Child: A Novel by Eowyn Ivey
2. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingslover
3. Carve Stamp ,Play by Julie Fei Fan Balzer
4. The  Signature of All Things: A Novel by Elizabeth Gilbert
5. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't stop Talking by Susan Cain
6. Kingbird Highway: The biggest year in the Life of an Extreme Birder by  Kenn Kaufman
7. Murder and Mayheim in Mendon by Diane Ham
8. Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace and Learning the Hard way by Shauna Neiquist
9. Caring for the Painful Thumb by  Jan Albrecht
10. Dinner a Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach
11. Memoir of the Sunday Brunch by Julia Pandl
12. Forest Unseen by David George Haskell
13. The  Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
14. Ready for Air: A Journey through Premature Motherhood by Kate Hopper
15. Quotes Illustrated by Lesley Riley
16. The Art of Whimsical Lettering by Joanne Sharpe
17.
18.
19.
20.
 Many magazines, newspapers and Professional Journals or articles.

Book Chatter . . .at Chestnut Hill. . . .

           So I am clearly having issues with formatting this post, but bear with me. I am currently reading this book and could have finished it long ago ( just a few pages left) but am trying to savor it a little longer. It is the current read on my nightstand and I like it for that, because each chapter per Se' is short enough to read before I fall asleep although the past few nights, my eyes have shut with the book unopened in my hands to be removed by Erik when he comes in.
             This is an easy to read rich and lovingly written memoir about cooking, friends, love and time spent around the table. It is a gift to provide food and nourish our friends and family with soul filling comfort food. This book traverses the seasons of the year and the seasons of life. Each chapter is short, that it is easy to start and finish. Many include a helpful yummy recipe at the end! Read, savor, enjoy and spend time with those you love around the table!



 Bread and Wine, a Love Letter to Life around the Table by Shauna Niequest




 

Works in Progress . . .

In the quilting stage

Pumpkin Blanket- goes with book of same name by Deborah Turney Zagwyn

25th Anniversary sampler quilt needs stashing and binding

Christmas gift for daughter

Now the irony . . . while away on my sewing weekend . . . the sewing machine died and I had made so much progress on several things and was so close to getting to the next stage and then in a moment it was making a horrible noise that just kept getting worse, so we had to abort sewing and start knitting . ..  Life just never goes as planned does it?  But it is what we do when the plans go awry that counts I guess.

Book Chatterings . . . .

Ok - so if you are looking for a good November reading book, you have got to read this memoir book.  It is a quick read, once you start- forget the laundry, it will wait.  It is a wonderful story of love of family, love of God, love of Life, but not without heartache.  The author was raised not far from where I live  ( Naples, NY)  and currently resides in a different town that is equally as close.   She travels back to Germany as a 5 y/o to visit a dying Opa  ( grandpa) and while there WWII breaks out, the family is stuck there as the mom is 7 mos pregnant and the Ship captain would not let her travel.  So as a reader you get a birdseye view and more of life in war torn Germany.   This is not about the Holocaust as it is not even mentioned until the very end.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

" I'd like to honor all the angels who made it possible for me to find the strength to make it through each day"
 " We never had much money, but I think we were the richest kids that ever walked the face of the earth.  It is because we have you.  God gave us the very best when he gave you to us." ( from a letter to her mama)

Owl Cookies - Just for Fun!

So I made these today- Just for Fun!!! 

You make a white rather basic sugar cookie dough- take 1/3 and mix in melted semi-sweet chocolate- like 1/2 cup.  Roll it in a narrow roll wrap in wax paper and refrigerate.  Roll out the white dough into a rectangle, then wrap it around the chocolate dough, and refrigerate again.  Slice assemble and bake.

This idea came from the book Coming Home   This is the time of year that we often have an Eastern Screech Owl take up residence in a tree out front. It is a very cute little owl.

Neighborhoods / Community

I just finished reading this excellent book In the Neighborhood by Peter Lovenheim it is written about a neighborhood that I drive by daily on my way to work. It was started by a tragic event in which the author ponders if the outcome of the event would have changed if the neighbor hood were closer knit. ( I indeed remember this event as it occurred the night after my third child was born).
I grew up in a mixed neighborhood - in ages and professions, it was a quiet street but the bonds of neighbors were strong. Many of my early memories and things I learned were indeed and still are from these neighbors. My parents were good friends with many of them regardless of their ages. I had many "grandparents" in my neighbors. The artist with the cool cat, the one who gave us Hershey's kisses anytime we stopped by and my best neighbor lady who taught me how to plant in the garden and we drank Tang every day together.
Today I live rurally and the term "neighbor" has liberal meaning. I no longer have neighbors at a stones throw but over time have forged many of the same relationships. I am not sure that my children have as I cannot let them wander freely in 2011 as we could in 1971. Still it is these neighbors that we share everyday things with that we do not share with others. Power outages, weather related events, sunrises, full moons , new cars, new babies, losses, graduations, awards, new books, sprouts, pets, things that happen everyday that you do not share even with close friends because they are everyday events. I am thankful for all the neighbors I do have. I am ever hopeful to be more hospitable and entertaining to those I have, time and lack of a clean house get in the way of that though. Simple but true.