Making Stuff. Question of the day

When I get moody, I make stuff - muffins, slippers, origami frogs. My hands are busy. My brain is engaged and the moodiness turns from blue to bright - or brighter, at least.

 I have always looked at things and wondered. "How could I use this to make something new?"

One Easter, (I was about 8 years old) I gathered cones from one of our evergreens. It was Spring so the cones were long and tight. I decided that I could use them to make bunny figures. So I taped them together with cellophane tape- a long one for the body, wrapped in white copybook paper, and shorter cones for the legs. Then I taped on paper ears. I cringe to think of them now because they were not pretty at all. BUT I liked them.

I set them out in the living room, hoping that the Easter Bunny might take them away and share them with other children.  

They were still in the living room when I woke up on Easter morning. 

Nope! This bunny did not want my pine cone rabbits.

 

My parents just told me that the Easter Bunny probably had too much stuff to hand out already. My Dad was not very kind about it. I think he suggested that I toss my pine cone bunnies in the trash. Ouch.

I was not as crushed as I thought I would be. Even at that young age, I knew the difference between a fun idea and a successful follow-through of that same idea. My idea may have been fun but I failed in its execution.  

Sometimes, just making something is its own reward. We don't always need praise. We don't even need success. Nothing is wasted if it teaches us something or cheers us up.

So Question of the day: Have you ever made something that did not work out as planned? 

I made these bracelets. They worked out, I think.

 

Enthusiasm - Question of the Day?

 The license plate read ELMO! and hanging from the antenna was a little red muppet's face. It made me smile. I thought of how we all have enthusiasms - favorites - throughout our lives.

A friend's email address used to contain the letters "grdnr". Gee, I wonder what her enthusiam was.

My email address begins with the word "book."  Want to guess what one of my enthusiasms is?

Here are some things that catch my eye no matter when or where I see them. 

-Peeps - the JustBorn kind. I don't think they are very tasty but I love their plump shapes.

-Clouds - I get a little crazy about clouds. I have to keep my eyes down some days.

-Sparkly things - I am part crow, I guess. If I see a sparkly thing on a walk, I must stop and pick it up.

-Books - well, duh! and talking about books here are some more enthusiasms - or favorites.

-Seymour - the character in the Walter Wick books. I made a little Seymour character for us to play with one year.

-Elephant and Piggie - I know I am not alone in gravitating towards these characters in  Mo Willems' fabulous series.

-Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore and Piglet, et al. - The Ernest Shepard version. I am warming to Disney's bowdlerization of Milne's characters but, oh, I love the original Hundred Acre Woods.

So here is your question of the day. Do you have an enthusiasm, a favorite, a character or activity that you love?

Did you have one when you were younger? (Okay, two questions. You can handle it.)

In my teens, I collected little plaster elephants. I carried them in my purse to school and to work. No bigger than walnuts, they came in different colors. I had to have one of each. I have not thought of them in years. Then, I saw a car that announced that a grown-up still loved a little red muppet and I realized how much joy we can get from small enthusiasms.

Spring! Question of the day!

 Today we left our jackets at home and ventured out in our shirt sleeves! Spring doesn't arrive until Sunday morning but it beckoned to us with clear skies and balmy temperatures. The snow that fell on Saturday is G-O-N-E - GONE! 

So today's Question of the Day - or evening - is... what sight, sound or activity tells you that Spring has come?

Youngsters look forward to Spring sports - baseball, tennis, soccer - and games - pick up games of basketball, kickball, stickball, kick-the-can, capture the flag.

Gardeners look forward to snowdrops and crocuses and a chance to get out there and DIG!

Bird watchers look for migrating birds to return and nesting activity to begin. 

Last night, I am POSITIVE that someone in our neighborhood was out back grilling supper!

When I was a kid, duck eggs were an early sign of Spring.

 

My father walked to Mass most mornings in Lent and he walked home before we headed off to school.

One Spring, my brother and I took Dad's piety as a challenge so many mornings we walked with him - in to church, home again - and THEN - we walked with the younger kids back to school, which was right next to church.

At that time, the creek by our house was crowded with domesticated ducks. And those ducks laid their eggs just about anywhere. On the way home from church, my Dad urged us to find as many duck eggs as we could. Seriously.

The younger kids heard about this, and one day, as we walked home from school, my younger brother spied a duck egg in the creek. Splash! School shoes and uniform pants on, he jumped into the creek and came out holding a clean white egg.  He was so proud of himself.

Dad told us that eggs in the creek were off limits after that. His obsession for duck eggs only lasted that one Spring. My brothers and sisters still talk about duck eggs in our cakes and casseroles.

Spring is here - or soon to be. Birds will nest and lay eggs in hidden places. I will look in the grass and under the bushes as I walk by the creek looking in vain... for duck eggs.

Routine - Question of the Day

The question today is: Do you have a morning routine?

Today, I spoke with my brother who lives in Japan. During the pandemic, he started following a morning routine of self-care. I have noticed that he has become proactive about the pressures in his life. I wonder how much that morning routine has contributed to his improved mood.

I have another friend who has developed a morning routine. His health has improved and he feels more productive and less anxious.

Do you do something every morning - or most mornings - that helps you start your day?

I started my own morning routine. It gets interrupted by obligations but I try to finish each of the components as early in the day as possible. I have found that the routine improves my mood. (I HATE getting out of my comfy bed many mornings.) It gives me a feeling of control - a feeling that is missing in our lives these days. My routine also makes me feel cared for and valued. And everyone needs to feel valued.

Here is my morning routine:

Sun salutation - yoga; followed by tai chi. This usually takes 30 to 40 minutes.

Make my bed! After years of not taking the time to make my bed, I have become a crusader for this simple chore.  Call me crazy but I do like a neatly made bed.

Journal - I sit in the sun or in a sunny window. This journal is NOT about things I did or have to do or worries or gripes.  My morning journal is about what I see and hear and smell and feel. If an insight comes from observing, I write about that. If a question arises, I consider it.  I celebrate life and living, trains and crickets, birds and rabbits, squirrels, passers-by, barking dogs and snow, rain and wind. I chronicle trees and mist, shadows and clouds. It's awesome!

I'd love to hear about your morning routine.

Question of the day - Onion Snow

 The snow today reminded me of all the snows that we have lived through in March. Snow around the middle of March is sometimes called onion snow. It will take a better gardener than I to explain why.

Some gardeners want their peas planted by St. Patrick's Day, too. That's way too early for me.

The question of the day is:

What is your favorite snow memory?

I have a lot of favorite snow memories. When I was around 11, it snowed so heavily on Christmas Eve, that the Bishop announced that Catholics did not have to go to Mass that day. We went anyway! We walked up the hill from our house  (about half a mile) and a bakery truck picked us up and drove us the rest of the way to church (another half a mile at least). My Mom stayed home with the youngest children and Dad walked with us to Church. What an adventure! We have a picture of my four-year-old brother standing against a four foot snowdrift.

Thanks for sharing your memories!

Question of the day, #2

 What was your favorite hiding place?

Hmm. This is a hard one. We played hide and seek a lot. But I don't remember a particular spot. I sometimes hid in the closet, like a lot of kids.

When I worked with teens, we sometimes held after hours events. They were usually "meetings" but they always ended with a fun activity. Hide and seek in the library was a favorite. The rules were never under a desk with a computer. Never in the tech closet. After the second game, we added Never on top of the shelves. Yeah. Sigh. 

Now, I am not a little person and I am not agile. The teens asked me to hide and they found me right away. Once, though, I simply slipped behind the curtain in the corner and they were stymied. My partner in adult-ing and crime kept her mouth shut. They eventually found me but I had a few moments of quiet hiding.

Now I go upstairs to my sewing room to hide. Everyone needs a secret or not so secret spot.

The Question of the Day

 First question, have you considered contributing to the effort to help the people in the Ukraine? It takes a minute or two to contact charitable organizations that provide aid to refugees. 

This article from Forbes magazine lists the top 100 charities for dependability. The second column tells you which charities deal with international concerns.

The charity that is linked to your worship community has already started to offer support to war torn families. So ask your minister, rabbi, priest or imam for contact information. 

We are lucky that only two minutes of our time can send help to people around the world.

Question of the day Project!!!

Yesterday, my Mom could not remember when she talked to her brother. Was it last night or yesterday morning? She remembered what they said but the time of the call slipped her mind.

 Since then, I have been thinking about memory.  And I have been thinking about stories.  When I was a young mother, it was inconceivable to me that anyone could forget every single detail of their child's life. Silly me. Our memories fill up so quickly and it's hard to find those small significant details that we treasured. We don't have a database that helps us find those details.

So, for the next week or month - or until I forget - I will post a Question of the day to send you down memory lane.

Today's question is:

What did you see and hear on your way to school?

The road that led to our house was bordered by a stone wall, that was about 3 and a half feet high until we got to the the end. The wall turned the corner and continued up the road that met our road.

But near the entrance of our road, one of the stone masons (WPA circa 1932) had pressed a small medallion into the cement that held the stones together. It was a picture of a child riding the back of a dolphin. We looked for it, and touched it, as we walked to and from school.

Several years ago, someone pried the medallion out of the wall. I still look for where it may have been. Old habits...