Hostile..

Our word for the last few day has been "hostile." With the election and all, I haven't found the time to write, until now. For better or for worse - here it is.

Yes, we live in hostile times. One year under the Trump administration and Canadians have been turned away at the border, insulted often and, generally, treated like some nasty disease. Sigh!

Even if we ignore the border and focus on what is Canadian, we see so many problems, as well, at home. There is gun violence, unheard of in the past. There is no affordable housing. It's hard to find meaningful work that pays a decent wage. Our infrastructure is rotting. Huge high rises dominate the landscape. Construction is everywhere. Common activities, such as, biking and walking are dangerous. The world seems to be against us.

Words, like peace and harmony, rarely come to mind and if they do, it's a memory. Even our quiet neighbourhood has been decimated. Eight house to the east of us have been sold to build townhouses, which will increase the density from eight households to forty or fifty. Families that we have known for thirty years have moved. It's sad.

A good deal of the unrest in the world is because of climate change. There are now deserts where arable land once was and the farmers have moved. There's no work for them or their children. It's easy for right wing ideologies to bind jobless people into a fighting force to destroy what they can't have.

Hordes of people are trying to escape this destruction, forcing themselves on other countries, which have their own problems. There is a huge imbalance now, too much unrest.

At some point, though, the pendulum must swing to the left and we will again have a sense of freedom, peace and harmony. Unless, of course, the pendulum is a wrecking ball.

The pictures?  -  peace and harmony

Have a thoughtful day.

Patches...

My word for this post is "patches." Finally, I found sometime to write. I know I've been holding up my writing partner, but I got a rush of orders for Infiknit and well the orders come first!! Anyway, the delay has given me time to think about the word. It is actually my word, in the sense that it was my time to set the writing topic.

Well, what can I say, I live my life in patches. For some their life is a linear progression, you know - birth to death, Monday to Friday, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring. Certainly the progression of time is linear, in my life, but how I fill that time is erratic, much like a Crazy Quilt design is erratic. A small piece here to play the piano - A larger piece there for domestic "stuff" like cooking and cleaning - A very unusual polygon for the creative escapes, that happen, when there is time. Repetitive blue patches for my morning writing. Weird and wonderful prints in Chagall-ian placements for my dreams at night - the pieces go on...

In crazy quilting all of these patches would be joined with the fairy-like feather stitch. I can see myself in this stitch too, jumping from one activity to another in shades of pink and orange. Other patches would hold appliqués, or more embroidery - those rich moments that add depth to a few colourless hours - meeting a friend for coffee or reading a good book. Ribbons, beads, buttons and other oddments will find a home somewhere on the quilt, like gems of thoughts that brighten our days.

I wonder if this is the cosmos speaking to me. I have been reading a lot lately about the slow clothing movement, about up cycling, or mending, or repurposing the garments we might other wise throw out. There was a time when no one threw away anything. Fabric was expensive. Every scrap was re-used again and again until it ended up in a patchwork quilt. Slow clothing is a movement to bring back this way of thinking. There is also a part of this movement that asks you to leave something of yourself behind. Something you have created to make the world a better place.

My mother, towards the end, crocheted everyone an afghan. She used yarn from resale stores and created some lovely throws. I do, however, miss her smocking, which might have been captured in a quilt. When I did work with fabric, I selected scraps from the garments I remember members of my family wearing. It was a way to hold onto them a little longer.

Quilts are photo albums in fabric. Certainly we can touch a photo, but when we touch a piece of fabric, that was actually worn by someone, we come very close to touching them.

I quilt, but I knit more than I work with fabric, so my patches for the moment are knit. However, when I hauled out my old Crazy Quilt wall hanging, I though hmmmm, maybe I need to start doing some fabric stitching too.

Have a crazy day!!

Poise..

Our next word is "poise" - grace, especially grace under pressure. It's a word for our times. For women coming forward to address the issue of sexual harassment, the worst being rape. Certainly Christine Blasey Ford showed poise - grace under extreme pressure, in her testimony against Brett Kavanaugh, which was televised.

It takes a very strong woman to come forward to accuse an even stronger man, with even stronger connections of rape - we should all be as strong and poised. Poise also means balance, equilibrium. We have to know what is right and act accordingly. We have to expose what is not right!!

Truth and equilibrium hang in the balance. Will the US seek truth and elect a balanced government in November? Will a nation that holds the balance of power for the world be realigned? Or will a few who seek power and privilege sway the "balance" in their favour and destroy the equality, the equilibrium for everyone?

Stand tall, stand true. Carry your weight - vote for what is right for everyone. Restore equality. We are poised - balanced on the brink of keeping what shreds of justice we still have or losing everything. We need strong poised people to vote and help others to vote and speak the truth, however difficult that may be!!

No pictures today. Some things can't be captured in a photo or at least in the quick pics that I take. It's difficult to take a picture of hope!!

Have a balanced day!!