coming back

"love can change a person

the way a parent can change a baby -

awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess."

-lemony snicket, horseradish: bitter truths you can't avoid 

i was reading terry pratchett's a hat full of sky this morning and in it he asks, "why do you go away?" and answers, "so that you can come back.so that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. and the people there see you differently, too. coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving." i can see the truth in this every time i find myself coming back to this blog. whether i've been gone for only a few hours, or a few weeks. each time i sit down to compose my thoughts i find new colors creeping in from the corners to add their hue to rainbow of my experience. i used to lament my time away. but now...now i rejoice in my leaving. and returning. for i know i will discover new delights both simple and convoluted!

in honor of this revelation, i've been making chocolate chip pancakes for my oldies here at the cottage. the scent that fills the house is divine! even though i am no longer eating wheat or sugar, i can still tantalize my nose with their delectable scent. i can already hear the stirring sounds of our early risers. probably in search of what smells so delicious...

namaste'

noter & drone

i have found that i have to pace my stitching at the moment as my slashed finger aches and has a tendency to want to break open and bleed if i over use it (if you don't follow me on facebook, i slashed my left middle finger tip at work a few days ago while prying open a can after using the sub-standard can opener my employers seem to think are acceptable. fortunately, i have a very caring partner in my life right now who has provided me with a most excellent pampered chef can opener to save my finger tips in the future!) since the damaged finger tip is on my fretting hand, i had been moping about town because it precludes me from playing guitar, cbg or most other stringed instruments, thereby dropping music out of my life. not a pleasant thing to contemplate. however, in a lucid moment while gazing longingly at my appalachian dulcimer collection, i realized that i *could* still play in the traditional noter & drone style!

as you can tell, this is quite a different style than i'm used to playing (though not completely unfamiliar since this is the method i learned oh so many years ago when i found my first - and still favorite - dulcimer and coaxed my mom into loaning me the $450 - omg! that was so much money back then! - to purchase it from the luthier who created it, joe sanguinette of branson, missouri). if you listen closely, you can hear the noter (a wooden dowel turned from hardwood) slide between frets so it is slightly reminiscent of the blues slide style i've been experimenting with lately.

stitching. music. love. life is good!

namaste'

s'mores cake decadence

a little sugary decadence for my oldies at the cottage. i don't have a recipe, since i rarely cook that way, but i can tell you how to make your very own sugar coma inducing delight!  bake your favorite, super moist devil's food cake. once the cake has cooled, cover the top with a generous pile of marshmallows (i used mini's since that is what we had on hand, but any sort will do). place in oven set to a high broil until marshmallows have browned nicely (watch them close! one moment they are pristine and white, and then all of a sudden, poof! they're done!!). tuck graham cracker rectangles into the cake at random angles. then melt a couple cups of chocolate chips along with 5-6 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of corn syrup in a double boiler to create a creamy, rich ganache. spoon the ganache over the top of the cake and tadaah! there you have it!

in case you missed my facebook post the other day, we had our second round of early winter snow!

namaste'

sunday musings

sometimes i seem to careen off into a tangled forest of thought and distraction. these journeys may last a few minutes, if i'm lucky...weeks, or even months, if i am inattentive to the moment. our first snowfall this year woke me from this current slumber. nothing like a face full of snowflakes to bring ones attention back to the moment!

my creativity levels are still on the sluggish side, so i have simply picked up the pile of tiny little 1 1/4" squares of salvaged fabrics and begun stitching again. it's rather like walking, isn't it? first you take one stitch. then another. and another. pretty soon cloth is materializing beneath your fingers!

namaste'

another bite of the elephant

still just looking....and contemplating. i'm finding myself spending time looking at things i haven't looked at in a long time.  time worn books. baskets of aged trim. parcels from india containing vintage sari that i had forgotten i had. bits and bobs from all over that either had intentions at one time or simply whispered of future possibilities. i'm beginning to feel the creative flow trickle around the rocks of grief...and inaction.

namaste'

just beginning to look again...

am

baby steps, my dears....baby steps. (besides, it's chilling down outside)

namaste'

missing you...

it's been a tough month. first nicky passed and then one week later sachi had to be put down... haven't felt like creating much lately...

namaste'

they're here!

at long last, the pixies have figured out how to use big cartel and have loaded up the first batch of goodies over in the manhandled threads shop.  you'll find rust-dyed suns of various sizes, small cloths and keeper cloths, and even an antique hand-crank singer sewing machine for sale there!

just click on the link at the top of the right side bar. be sure to click on the categories as there are many more treasures listed than what appears on the front page.

more will be flying in soon, including fragment scrap books and a host of other treasures!

namaste'

twang deep...twang darkly

what does a creative mind with a musical bent do with 130 year old coffin-style violin case? re-purpose it into a mountain dulcimer, of course! i have purchased a couple others in the past and turned them into sewing boxes for my slow cloth fragments, but this one had something entirely different in mind... having housed music for so long, this time it wanted to make it's own music!

very little was done to the box itself, aside from removing the side panels on the two curved shoulders at the top to create a surprisingly resonant sound chamber after removing felt linings and dividing walls. add to that a hand-cut, scrolled headed fret board made of oak, stained to compliment, and...twang! instant dulcimer! okay, so maybe it wasn't quite *instant*...but you get the idea. given its dimensions, this unique beauty has a lovely, dark bass timbre. why don't you pour a little of its magic into your ear?

namaste'