Little things make me happy. New slippers for Christmas.
I’m one of those refrigerator magnet people. I did get rid of the shot glasses a few years ago, so I’m improving. Finding a handmade or metal magnet with the name of the place on it thrills me to no end. It’s kinda like having a travel journal on display in my kitchen.
Happy Festivus!
Spent a good part of the day cleaning up the clutter in my studio.
Measuring and winding warp for the long-term double weave rag rug project. It was going well until the boys woke up. I’m going to try to do a little every day (when they are napping) and I might at least get the warp ready to put on the loom by the end of the year. I may have to wait until these guys are old and mellow before I can warp the loom though!
Dried butterbeans saved for next year’s garden. Butterbeans and hot and banana peppers were the only things that did well this past year so I’m going to double down on them next year.
Just a little bit more stitching and I’m done with the Magic Cloth that I started over two years ago!
I just finished cleaning most of the junk and leaves off my front porch, went inside, came back out to take a photo, and this beautiful picnic basket was sitting here.
Fungi on one of my favorite trees – not a good sign for one of the last old willow oaks in this area, but pretty.
Pablocito is fascinated by water.
homewrecker
but a sweetie pie when asleep.
Traveled back from South Carolina today, where my sister and I attended my sweet Aunt Louise’s memorial service and saw our six Jones first cousins and their families.
It is all a matter of perspective. Is he as sweet as he looks?
Root and moss.
The people who live on this street fought this church for years to prevent this parking lot across the street from my house. Now their victory is nearly complete. Idiots. I hate this church. They don’t need this parking so I assume it is so that they can rent out parking spaces to UNCG people. I also assume that Sir Zack had a hand in them getting permission.
I am not a Christmas kind of person. I am not a holiday of any kind or birthday person. I think that the root cause of this is a resentment of being told to be happy or jolly or send a card or buy gifts for someone on a particular day on somebody else’s schedule. And working in retail for years will suck holiday joy right out of you, although at the time I worked in retail I actually made more of an effort than I do now. The holiday malaise spread to all major holidays – Halloween, Easter, Independence Day…I tried a little harder when my mother-in-law was alive because she was so sad and depressed. Now we go to my family’s homes for Christmas and Thanksgiving and do little here at our home.
For years I felt guilty about this, but not badly enough that I could work up the effort to get back on the holiday bandwagon. Each loss has been felt particularly hard around Christmas. Death of family members, animal companions, friends, estrangements, complications.
My sister and I will go to my Aunt Louise’s funeral on Tuesday. My Uncle Wilton, her husband of 65 years and my mother’s brother, passed away a month ago. They were both in their 80s and in bad health. Aunt Louise was especially sick and in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. It could be said that she left us and has been stuck in a confused, angry, suffering jail of her own for some time now.
I have been pondering over my sudden desire to sing Christmas songs and decorate for Christmas this year, a desire that popped up last week. Now I wonder if this is my Aunt Louise’s last gift to me.
I associate some very happy Christmases with Aunt Louise and her family. Mama used to take me to Clemson the week before or after Christmas and I would get to play with my two younger cousins. I was a bit of a snot, I’ll admit, because I was the older one for a change, and I would always push my cousins to do things they weren’t allowed to do, like go down to the local creek. Aunt Louise was like, THE BEST mom ever. She didn’t yell and she didn’t try to force you to eat stuff you didn’t like. They had a big basement where we could make our own spook house and an RV and we would go to parks and ride around in the mountains. We picked blackberries. She gave us crafty projects to do. The first time I ever drew what I saw and not what I thought I saw was a portrait of my youngest cousin drawing me. She listened, really listened to children. She raised a very creative and loving family of six children. Wow.
So, thanks for the happy Christmas memories, Aunt Louise and Uncle Wilton. Thank you for returning the holiday spirit to me. I dedicate this Christmas to you.
Aunt Louise
Grandmother Jones and Uncle Wilton
