A Contemplative Life

The end of one round and the beginning of the next! From teal to medium green, decreasing by four squares, woo hoo! Usually I enjoy the Peace Round the World quilt on Wednesdays. With only seven of fifty-six squares left to add, I retrieved it this evening, thinking I'd do three. Well, four. Then on Wednesday, I could easily finish, as I get about four squares added in one Wednesday sitting. Well, tonight I went all out, which this quilt kinda calls for; seven teal squares DONE. Added one of the next round, just because. (Green, in case you're wondering.) Now it's after eight p.m., but I wanted to document this, especially since tomorrow the grandsons are coming for a week, and I don't think I'll be 1) sewing much or 2) blogging much. Lol. (And if you're wondering why it's called swan solstice it's because from here to the end, no more round the perimeter rows. The decrease begins.) Such a labour of love! So tonight was the night, the last of July, and n...

The Warm Hearted quilt neatly folded and resting on the back of the couch.   I so badly want to sew on the Warm Hearted Quilt this evening, but my forearm still has an Aquaphor-covered wound and I don't want to slap a band-aid on it because band-aids of all varieties (plastic or fabric) give me a rash. I did receive good news today that the spot biopsied was benign, which is GREAT! I juxtapose that with a dear friend's youngest son, who is in his forties and suffering from lung cancer. Enduring toxic chemotherapy in the hopes he'll survive long enough so his youngest child, three years old, will remember him. Sigh. We can't plan life other than daft outlines for what we'd love to occur. A week ago, when I had the biopsy, I stitched hearts like all the other days I'd been stitching hearts; I had a piece of gauze taped over the wound and no Aquaphor in sight. Since then, I've done very little sewing on that quilt. This afternoon I managed some Peace Round the ...

Like writing. And laundry, lol! That's when I came up with the idea for this post. Because sometimes we are enthralled with certain activities, even the boring things. Like laundry. Actually the title popped into my head earlier today while I was 1) Doing laundry. And 2) In the middle of writing a chapter. Then of course there's quilting, but lately that's fallen to the back of the pile mostly because I still have a wound on my arm covered in Aquaphor that has stained one shirt to the point it's now for when I eat chili or some other stain-worthy dish. So I can't hand-quilt, though my cranky shoulder is better, whew.... Yet I stare at my collected thread basket in the evenings, thinking back to my, ahem, younger years (BIG LOL) when I could sew at will. For now, quilting isn't what I'm talking about, though if you want you can lump it alongside writing as creative things I love to do. Um, what about blogging, Past Me quips. Oh uh, yeah, I nod, looking around...

Lately we've had loads of sunshine on the North Coast of California, as though the marine layer is being pulled in the opposite direction by some magical force for which I am quite grateful, lol. My husband isn't as pleased, but of course it is July and even here in Humboldt County occasionally warm temps creep along the shore, muscling that marine layer well off to sea. Having said all that, I still like draping a quilt over my lap when I sit in my chair early in the morning, hehehe. Right now I'm using my lightest weight cozy, pictured above. I made it in 2015, after my dad died, and I call it the Dadland Flag. Not sure from where that name emerged, but it stuck, and still sticks, and recently he would have turned eighty-two, dude! I can't honestly fathom him being that old, though he was looking pretty aged not long before he passed. His wasn't an easy life, and many of those potholes were of his own making, but he did reach seventy, which at the time I almost co...

One of the barnevelders, probably Nadia, finally stepping into the coop for bedtime. 30 June, 2026, photo courtesy of my husband. I was going to post an excerpt yesterday, but instead the better angel of my nature stepped in, insert smiley face here. Yet this morning it is again sunny, chickens have been fed, and despite usually not coming off the wall until the light is on, as I stepped into the coop, three hens were already down, waiting to go outside. LOL! Hold on hens, you're still hanging in the run these days. Owl backed up as I entered, placing their feeder in its usual spot. I exited, walked away, then remembered to turn on the light for the rest, hehehe. Anyways, all of this is to say here's an early morning post of much of yesterday's chapter. Greg is learning to trust, and Careen? She's still very much a work in progress, but then aren't we all? Insert another smiley face please. Have a wonderful day! Chapter 11   On New Year’s Eve afternoon Greg and...

Hearts along the edge sewn last night, including different colours of the same print, lol. Some people have trouble with the word blessed . It conjures a false sense of living, it conjures the hypocrisy of America's current government, it conjures anguish for pain suffered at the hands of those espousing religious sentiment or judgement. I understand it's a difficult word for some people in this moment of history. However, I'd be remiss not to use it for how it applies to my manner of living in Christ's expansive and inclusive love. If that offends, I apologize, but I also ask you to hear me out. And if you can't or don't wish to hear me out, I sincerely wish you a peaceful day. Okay, so I was going to make sausage/carrot chili this afternoon, but my goodness last night's Warm Hearted Quilt stitching did a real number on my relatively feeling good right shoulder. Sigh. I recently had a biopsy on a very small red spot on my arm, and the wound care requires Va...

Today's teal progress on the quilt. This Peace Round the World quilt has been going on for over a year. The last few rounds have mostly been sewn left-handed simply due to my wonky right shoulder. However, with one last side of swans, etc, left to go, I'm writing a little something related to how much I love making this quilt, because sometimes beloved projects don't get enough airtime. They're favored, but not savored aloud. They're pined over, yet not yapped about. They're stitched left-handed when one is right-handed because super slow stitching beats no stitching whatsoever. The reason for this quilt is I saw it on Jodi Godfrey's blog , not that she made it, but Lisa Sliva did. And I fell in love with it and had to fashion my own. This started sometime late last spring maybe? And I was pretty go go go with it until late last year when any EPP sewing went out the window after my right shoulder said No mas . But I've taught two of my three left-hande...

The sunset at Samoa Beach from a few days ago.... Yesterday morning I sat down to write. Which meant first I read over the previous chapter, which took about fifteen or twenty minutes. Maybe fifteen. I had written perhaps two paragraphs, then my computer and monitor died. For seconds I inwardly shrieked. Going to my feet, I turned on the light, which worked. Which was even more frightening; what the heck was wrong? I called for my husband, who is a superhero; he noticed I had inadvertently with my shoe unplugged the power strip my computer and monition are both plugged into. DUDE! The computer turned on fine, my document saved, though not completely. A few sentences from that day's writing were all to remain before the document self-saved everything. For another few seconds I was.... Not terrified, merely slightly downcast. Yet I was also greatly appreciative that everything in the previous chapter I had altered was SAFE. No idea what I had changed, but those changes weren't af...