Time Travel: A Primer, Lesson 7, Future Travel and Talk

I stumble on the remnants of the work of women who came before me, laying around in drawers, stores and flea markets. On a recent there-and-back-in-a-day trip to San Luis Obispo , I found 4 small embroidered napkins in an antique store for $1.50. I am not the person who will save the challenged economy with my spending habits.

I took the original photo of the street sign that I used to create this picture, in Madrid. (Go ahead and CLICK ON IT to enjoy the full beauty) It reminds me how much committed, work time hand embroidery takes. Even when I sit down to a spot of machine embroidery, it takes a good bit of labor.

These have definitely been well-used by a generation or more of mouth wipers, which was why they were priced so kindly. Who embroidered them? Did she enjoy herself, sitting out under the orchard on her farm in S.L.O. working away with that orange, yellow and red floss?

The napkins will work to line the inside top of a grocery carry bag I plan to sew . The embroidery can peep out and the stains will be down inside under the head of lettuce and can of beans. Somebody’s careful labor will live on for another generation or so and a San Luis Obispan farm woman, will travel forward in time to accompany me on my walk home.

She ought to be good for telling me a story.

Just Say No

Time Travel: A Primer, Lesson 6, Music Man- Time Out for a Field Trip,

Please click on this blossom to better enjoy it's stripey beauty.

If You Don't Mind Me Sayin' So, this peppermint striped amaryllis sent me spinning straight back to the year 1912 in River City, Iowa. Suddenly I find myself there in the middle of the train station, a looker-on to the arrival in town of The Music Man. Is it the huge striped-candy blossom that makes me think about the barbershop quartet rehearsing in their shirtsleeves ? Perhaps it's the memory of Winthrop's heartbreaking lisp when he is forced to greet his elder sister, Marian's, piano student who's named after this belladona lily, that sent me tumbling back in time.

Shortly after I was married, an elderly neighbor giggled when she told me that the amaryllis is also called a "naked lady", because of the way that the foliage dies down before it comes into bloom. Surely Mayor Shinn's wife and her righteous cohorts in River City would have been just as shocked by that, as they were when they found that Marian Paroo allowed the town youth to check out library books by Chaucer, Raelais and BaaaaaaaaalZAC! Quick, who else knows the ladies part in "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little" to counter against the barbershop quartet's "Good Night Ladies"?

Extra credit to all students who return from the trip with a shiny new instrument delivered by the Wells Fargo Wagon. Band rehearsal on Seventy-Six Trombones (which I indeed once played in band at the age of 10) will commence on Saturday. Until then, remember to practice the professor's "Think System".

Goodnight my Someone.

Innocence is the Keeper

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Innocence is the Keeper

Innocence is not shy

Grand Canyon Compositae

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Innocence is not shy about taking her stand in the world

Innocence es M'hija

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Innocence es m'hija

Innocence is every woman's daughter, determined to understand.

Some Days

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Some days are more challenging than others. Above is an altered photo from a trip we took to Alcatraz. No matter how hard my own projects may be or how much slower they go than I wish they would, it's good to remember how good I've got it!