It's been dark and cloudy and still windy and chill here and my mood has kind of followed. I'm struggling to think spring. It shouldn't be this hard--flowers are beginning to bloom everywhere. The front of our building has a mass of bright red tulips--and one lone daffodil.
You'd think these lovely ribbons sent to me last week by Lula would help--and they do. I took a "group shot" of them last week but this weekend decided to explore them a bit closer. The first image really brightens my mood. The one here, with the green, gold and velvet, immediately made me think Elizabethan dress.
I don't yet have specific ideas for the others. It'll come. They're just lovely.
We went back to East Chicago to see the Century Plant. It still hasn't bloomed. Poor thing is probably frozen! I didn't take another picture, we went in the late afternoon and the light wasn't good.
I do have things to show and I've been busy but the light's been bad and I haven't been able to get good pictures (I've been beading and sparklies and camera flash don't always work well together).
Last weekend I went to a memorial service for my friend Pat. She'd been battling heart problems for about a year. Pat was one of my mentors when I joined the Homewood Embroiderer's Guild--she was always practical and plain spoken and made sense. She also was very funny and had a ready laugh. Most important to me was that Pat taught me to tat.
My Grandmother tatted. She and her sister would sit and tat and talk, fingers flying. I have tatted trim they made, wound on cards.
My Mom tried and tried but never "got" it. My Grandmother tried to teach me when I was about 10. Let's just say neither of us had the patience (my Grandmother was a doer but not a teacher, much to my Mom's frustration). I'd tried off and on but never could get it until Pat took me (and several others) in hand and with great patience and humor led us so that we all "got" it.
Now, I'm not good at it, but that's my fault for lack of practice. But, for me, it was magic to be able to follow in my Grandmother and Aunt Addie's footsteps even a little bit.
Pat will be missed.
