MCC Quilt Auction

Last week my sister, on her way home from an epic trip with her friends to France and Amsterdam, stopped in my part of the world to spend a few days with me.  I've been travelling vicariously through her pix.  When she comes we always head East to Abbotsford to see my now 91 year-old father.  We just happened to learn that the MCC quilts that will be up for auction at the annual MCC Festival for World Relief sale Sept 7&8, were on display at the Clearbrook Public Library (on display last week only). My sis took these fabulous pix.  Mennonites are known for their quilting and I have at least three of my own mother's wonderful hand quilted blankets. Seeing these up close and personal was a real treat. The hand stitches are phenominally consistent!  I so admire the work of these women (some of whom have been my friends since childhood) AND I am proud of the cause that their raised funds will go toward as part of MCC's relief development and peace work around the world.  So many opportunities to do good.  I LOVE it!

Ayden Gallery Vancouver



Had a fantastic weekend!  A dear longtime friend and I went on a day adventure to celebrate my birth.  She let me choose the destination and since I had to do some price comparing at Dressew, it seemed more fun to have a companion.  Both she and I had not been down to this end of Vancouver in a while and we dropped into a few old familiar haunts... and a few new ones.  Had lunch at the Greedy Pig.  Stopped by the Salmagundi Shop with the apothecary drawers that I remember going through as a teenager and my kids have done the same.  Could not resist stepping into Button Button and we hiked down Water St. 

Fluevog store Gastown

 Passed the gas clock in Gastown and took a peek into the amazing new Fluevog store.  Gee... those windows are a dream for a sunny day.  Can you see the sunlight on the floor indicating that almost the whole ceiling is glass??!!!  I can only imagine how mystical this space is when the rain falls.  Absolute class!  I have a pair of Fluevog Angel wing tipped boots that I bought for my birthday gift in 2000.  They are scuffed and have a few drops of paint and I consider them dear friends.  Sooo comfy. 

In the evening my SwHt and I headed out for 'The Beautiful Decay of Life' opening at Ayden Gallery in the International Village.  My daughter's work is being shown there.  So delighted when we arrived to see her three paintings front and centre when you walk into the gallery.  Quite impressive!  And they look amazing! 

 

The Beautiful Decay of Life at the Ayden Gallery Aug 10 - Sept 2, 2012

Oil on canvas, Rebekah Joy Plett



How blessed am I????!!!!  





Calgary

So I'm just back from my second trip to Calgary to join daughter-the-younger on a visit to see daughter-the-older.  Calgary Trivia: the sidewalks are only one person/stroller wide so when the three/four of us went for a walk (which was every day except for the day that we had the car), we had to walk single file or do this.  Usually little Miss E and I went ahead and the sisters would chatter behind us.  For some reason this prompted little Miss E to have to do her own chatter and she would kick her feet up and yack away to herself. 

And that one day we had the car? we were off to Costco to buy a very deserving homemaker a Dyson vacuum cleaner.  I confess that we just might have walked around the corner in the store and mocked out loud at the sight of halloween costumes being on the rack in July until we saw the little dragon and 'just had to have it' for **you know who** because she specializes in dragon speak which is one of the many reasons we love her!!! 

I am absolutely loving having this new little person around!

Commissioning

A commissioned piece that went out this week.  For a sweet one year-old.

Running the Race...

“Always concentrate on how far you’ve come,
rather than how far you have left to go.”~Unknown

Thankful



And it was good!



Who, in sitting down in front of these colourful and flavour-saturated berries, could help themselves and not say, "Who may I thank for these?"

Dear Creator... Thank YOU!

and... to the one who had THIS other brilliant idea, I need me a couple of these.   

Image from here



Unexpected

I went to a workshop last week.  Excited to learn something new, nervous that I will not qualify, anticipating that I will be surrounded by women who by their collective knowledge will raise the bar.  I take a spot off to the far side where I think I will be least noticed.  As close to a fly on the wall as possible.  We are asked to put our name in large print on a paper and tape it somewhere in our workspace.  After the instructions I am intent on the task - head down - focused on my work.  Not my old self, one who loves to welcome and finds life looking into a new set of eyes.  At the beginning of the class I lose a vital tool for the task.  It falls to the floor and bounces away.  I cannot proceed without it and have to mention this unfortunate loss to the instructor... more attention than I am prepared for.  My table mates don't hesitate, down on their knees on my behalf scanning for the rogue bolt.  I find this exercise excruciating, someone taking time away from her project to help me, feels like an eternity without productivity.  It's a fruitless search and an ask goes out if someone has an extra for me to borrow.  "Yes"  from a woman clear across the room.  I am profuse with gratitude, glad for the freeing of the others to go back to their babies.  I could have found another way to work on mine but it would have meant that I would not have made sufficient progress to keep up (more unavoidable attention).  I am humbled.  I know this is a gracious place to be in the scheme of earth living.  But it is quite expensive and I have to open my emotional nest egg to be willing to purchase it 'as is'.  Getting back to my comfort zone I am conscious of the chatter, the humming of the machines, and the periodic outburst of laughter.  I don't immediately realise that this is why I have come.  Not that I anticipate a single friendship to form for I have driven out to another town for this class and will not bump into any of these women at the local bank or store.  Yes, I had been quite brilliant in this part of the plan - no strings attached.  Unbeknownst to me a prayer that I have prayed along with David from his memoirs, is getting attention of its own.  "God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails!"

Giacomo Ceruti: women working on pillow the sewing school

 

When loss is part of your reality, especially loss upon loss.  Causes?  The curse of the earth and results of the choices of men.  There is this propensity to feel you deserve nothing more.  The verdict of others is more final than you want to allow and the nagging feeling that you possibly have done the same, is the washer that holds this emotional bolt tight.  How do you recover from this?  For healing is what I am in need of to become a giving part of society again.  And trust is a treasure that I am not ready to extend - in others nor in myself.  "Constance, did you find your bolt?"  "I like the colours you have chosen."  "What did you bring for lunch?"  Speaking only when spoken to is a new angle for me.  It affords my emotional eyes time to look around the room.  To eavesdrop and take notes.  To wonder if I can see where these women are setting their bar.  I have not been able to pick mine up.  ... Listening I lean in...  hope.

 ^26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:26-28  The Message (MSG)