"Imagine Wonder"

What a reminder this little dear is - a reminder to imagine wonder.

When looking in the dictionary for the word wonder there are all manner of definitions.  The closest they get for me is: "a feeling of surprised or puzzled interest; miraculous deed or event."  In my life that is mild for what I feel when wonder appears. 

Looking at a sunset or a dark sky filled with stars goes well beyond 'a feeling of surprised or puzzled interest'.  Having a heart filled with love by children, grandchildren, great grandchildren is almost stunning its so wonderous. 

Hopefully she won't fly away too soon -- a reminder of wonder is always welcome.

"Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experienece that reveals the human spirit." - e. e. cummings

"Sew" Unlikely

"What do you think you are doing?"  (I don't know why I still ask this question).  "I'm going to operate this machine.  You spend hours in front of it so it must be good mustn't it?"

"I doubt if you even know how it works for if you did you would know that the needle is sharp and could stick you and you not only need to operate the needle part you must make the pedal below go up and down".  "Aha -- so if I were to sit here and operate the needle you could make the pedal go up and down."  (hmmm this one has an answer for everything).

"No, it has to be a coordinated action done by one person.  I'm sorry to tell you that this is sew unlikely to happen that you might as well admit its impossible". 

"Yikes!!  Please don't use the "I" word in front of me, or any other Unlikely as it is banned from our language as being a useless and negative word".

I admired his spirit so much that we compromised and I made a nice place for him over on one of the fabric bins. He'll be in on all the action that way and won't be taking chances with sharp needles.

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default." - J. K. Rowling

"Very" Unlikely

I have found out, since your last visit here, that the “Unlikely’s” are given their designation at birth (I guess there’s some kind of ‘high counsel’ or something) and then sent out into the world with the goal of debunking any unlikely they find.  Once I knew this I was not surprised to see this small creature hiding inside my mail box.

“What are you doing in there?”   “I have always wanted to travel and it seems the best way to see the world would be to put myself in the hands of the US Postal Service”.  

“The Post Office is very particular about the way mail is packaged and you’re not even packaged at all.  You must come home.” At that point she jumped up on top of my mail box.  “It simply seems the quickest way to travel and I’m sure I qualify for ‘priority’ service”.  “That is VERY unlikely.  In fact you’re more likely to end up in the dead letter box!”  “WHAT???”

“Come home and I’ll fix you some tea, spread the Atlas out in front of you and you can let yourself travel wherever you like.”  “Okay, but I get to choose the tea.” 

"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home." - Matsuo Basho

"Highly" Unlikely

Out of the corner of my eye, one day not long ago, I spotted something.  Up on the top of the curtain rod - had a bird gotten inside?  Oh dear!

I got the step ladder to get a closer look - hoping that if it was a bird it wouldn't fly into my face.  But no, it was a strange small person - looking as if he had every right to be sitting high above the ground.

Introducing ourselves to each other I found out that his name is "Highly".  As such, it is his task in life to end up appearing in places that are highly unlikely for a little waif to be.

I asked him if his ancestors might have been explorers and he nodded his head sagely and said 'its certainly likely'.  He wouldn't tell me if there are others of his kind wandering my house at night - perching here and there - but I have a feeling I will find that out in due time.

 "From there to here and here to there, funny things are everywhere." - Dr. Seuss

"Fly"

"Fly - to move through the air on wings, as a bird; to be borne through the air by the wind or any other force."

 Whispering this word - quietly encouraging - lift yourself up - aim as high as you can - take the chance of spreading your wings - see how high your flight takes you.

That is what this Whisperer says -- and I know it because she has been whispering to me for a week or so -- giving me ideas that simply must be tried.

I love the thought of being lifted off the ground and into the air.  Although I am pretty much scared silly of heights - they are okay as long as I'm not standing atop them looking down.  

There are times when I seem to be afraid to fly metaphorically also -- perhaps when that happens I will hear a soft whisper in my ear reminding me that its never to soon or too late to attach my wings and take off. 

"And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further.  With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high." - Arton Senna

"Joy"

"Joy - An emotion of keen or lively pleasure arising from present or expected good."

What is the best kind of joy?  Is it the laugh out loud kind?  Is it the quiet kind that sort of sneaks up on you when you least expect it?  Or is it all good -- any kind of joy.

  

Where do you find joy?  Are you most often with someone else when it arrives, totally unannounced?  Or are you by yourself, doing something solitary when you feel a nudge and realize that joy is whispering to you?

Being open to it in the first place is the key.  Letting joy filter in totally unannounced and unexpectedly.  Do you know there are people who are not able to let joy in for one reason or another?  What a shame.  Perhaps a certain little Whisperer can give them a nudge.

"Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Wonder"

...and so I crept up to the attic one afternoon - with a peanut butter sandwich in one hand and a thermos of hot tea in the other.  It was sunny in one of the corners and I settled down with an old quilt and my repast to see what might happen.  After a few sips of tea my head started to nod and sleep overtook my assignment to watch the trunk.

Upon awaking I found something/someone perched upon my knee.  It was all I could do not to jump up - but my tea cup was still in my lap and so I just uttered a weak little "EEK".  "Who are you?"  "I am one of The Whisperers -- weren't you expecting me?"
  

Apparently "The Whisperers" are designated to remind each of us of the most beautiful things of every day life.  "Wonder" had been sent to check me out - to see if I was a good candidate to be given this reminder.  Others, she explained might be given the gift of 'joy', 'peace', 'frolic' or 'magic'.  I didn't dare tell her that 'frolic' or 'magic'  sounded like much more fun than 'wonder' but when I thought about it it, I figured it wouldn't be all that bad after all - one never refuses a gift. 

Now I have a goal, with this little reminder nearby, that I must greet each day with wonder, to look for it in the simple small environment of my life and to nurture it so that I may pass it along.

"Love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the Gods." - Plato

Alberta Algorythm

I was recently quite discombulated by my newest Piffle acquaintance.  You see she is a mathematician and I am most definitely not!  I had to take Algebra twice, once to get a "D" and summer school to bring that all the way up to a "C" (and only because the teacher was kind).

So imagine my amazement at finding such a brilliant Piffle -- living here in the forest, studying numbers.  She did spend quite a bit of time trying to explain to me that the whole world, indeed our universe, is based on math.  Egads I wondered, where does that leave me?

As people who have an expertise in an area are prone to do - Alberta wanted to talk about math all afternoon.  She was sure that she could explain all of the various theories and equations if I would just sit still and listen.  It was nice to meet her, but sadly I came home thinking more about my checkbook balancing than I did about the Pythagorean theorem.

"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas." - Albert Einstein

Knancy Knitington

Until recently the 'queen' of knitting in Lickety-Split conducted classes in a room at the local library.  Sadly they were evicted due to their 'somewhat' loud laughter and frequent giggles which seemed to bother some of the library patrons (probably men, if you know what I mean).

 Knancy has found an empty store front and is now able to set up her very own knit shop.  She is thrilled to be able to conduct classes in her most enthusiastic manner and at last she has room to store the huge stash of yarn that she's gathered over the years.

As a side benefit poor, patient Mr. Knitington now has a place to park both the car and the lawnmower - something he's quite happy about.  We are all very envious of Knancy's new found teaching/storage space but I suspect her stash will go down considerably as we ladies browse through the shop.

"SABLE - A common knitting acronym that stands for 'Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy." - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

"Flora Fernley"

When Miss Fernley moved from ‘the estate’ to the township of Lickety-Split she soon realized that to ‘be anybody’ in the town you had to participate in the ‘garden club’.  Her first visit to this group of dedicated gardeners enlightened her considerably.

She was told that to be a member of the Lickety-Split Garden Club you must ‘tend your own garden’.  Heaven forbid!!  In fact one of the ladies actually told her how much fun she would have ‘getting her hands dirty’.  Did she not know that Miss Fernley had never had dirty hands in her life and she certainly did not intend to start now?  

 Never one to give up easily, Miss Fernley came up with an idea. She visited a small town several miles away and secretly employed some professional gardeners .  To get around anyone seeing them – she bought miners hats – those kind with the little lights on top.  Now – once every two weeks or so, at midnight, they creep into her back yard (she certainly doesn’t want to draw attention) turn on their lanterns and get to work.  Like a busy swarm of fireflies they work from midnight to 4 am.  Miss Fernley will continue to bring her illicit posies to each meeting in the hope that perhaps one day she'll win an award.

"The earth laughs in flowers." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tilda Timeless

Earlier this summer Miss Tilda Timeless tendered her resignation from her long-time teaching job at the local elementary school.  Thus ended thirty years of regimentation. Each morning the alarm clock rang, then the school bells and buzzers  rang off and on throughout the day.  When the bell rang at lunch time, she would herd her little scalawags into the cafeteria while she ran to the teacher’s lounge to grab a bite of a sandwich – seemingly before she’d taken even one bite, the bell rang again and she gathered up her charges to go  out onto the playground.  Every minute, every second, monitored carefully each and every day.

On the auspicious day of her retirement (at which they gave her a gold watch) she stepped inside her house with a mission.  She promptly removed the hands on all the clocks and watches that she owned.  She smiled and she sang as she rampaged through her drawers, jewelry hooks and walls – taking down clocks, pulling out watches (some of which didn’t even work anymore).  She carefully unscrewed or snipped off each and every hand and then proudly hung one 'handless' watch face around her neck to show off her freedom.

I guess you could say that day was the end of time for Miss Tilda Timeworthy.

"Clock watchers never seem to be having a good time." - James Cash Penney

Summertime Giveaway

                                                           

"Star Gazing" is looking for new surroundings.  She's obviously star stuck and thinks that it would be fun to live with one of my talented blog friends.  

I need a little more room here in my studio and she volunteered .  How about it  - are you interested?

The drawing will be held on Monday, July 7th and she will soon be winging her way to new a home.  P.S. This giveaway is open to everyone, even if you've won before.

Isn't this fun???

I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy.  Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun." - Charles R. Swindoll

"Beatrice"

"Open your mind to what I shall disclose, and hold it fast within you; he who hears, but does not hold what he has heard, learns nothing." - Beatrice - Canto V 40-42

Dante's guide through paradise, 'Beatrice', was my model for this little creation.  Its so nice to have her here in my studio.  She reminds me to think and create with an open mind.  

Sometimes, when I'm struggling, I just have to find the right key or remember the combination numbers.


"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential." - Winston Churchill

"Flutterby"

This little figure - based on one of my favorite themes - butterflies - looks at me with a somewhat longing face.  Perhaps she wants to fly away?  Her name comes from the "Urban Dictionary" which tells this fun story:

"Flutterby was the original name of the butterfly until Mr. Jiminy down the road invented a machine in 1912 to fly.  When he named his machine the 'flutterby' anyone who used the name had to give him 2 pennys for copy write laws."

Lots of fun stitching on this dear little thing.  I shall try to keep her away from open windows so that she'll stay here for a little while.

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued is always just beyond your grasp, but which if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you." - Nathaniel Hawthorne  

"Hope"

 Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all...

 

 

I love these words.  What keeps us going when things are bad?  What helps light our way each day as we wake to greet the world?  What strong sense, somewhere deep within, allows light to break through when everything seems quite hopeless?
 

 

This little doll shows the bird in the cage - who certainly must sing in hope that one day the door will be open and he might fly free.  Perhaps Hope's key can open not only the birdcage door but that door that sometimes seems closed to each of us.
 

 

With hope comes our strength - that wellspring within that keeps all of us alive and aware of who we are and waiting for whatever miracles and magic might come our way.

 

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

and on the strangest sea;

It asked a crumb of me.

 

Emily Dickinson

 



My very special thanks to my friend Phyllis who sent me all of the fabric that I used to make this doll.

"Autumn"

 

Its truly Fall here in the western North Carolina mountains.  The trees are all showing off their warm, rusty, yellow colors.  The leaves are drifting down into piles, piles and more piles.  The air is cool and crisp and the sky even seems a bit bluer when seen behind  the colorful trees.

Someone is out on a collecting trip.  Although this little basket won't hold a whole lot, I guess its the thought that counts. 

This little 'devil' knows that he gave me no end of frustration during his creation - but he thinks he's worth it!

"And now, this is the sweetest and most glorious day that ever my eyes did see." - Donald Cargill

An "InVESTment"

Who would think that design of a small lined vest would be so complicated?  Who would think that after several practice pieces the 'investee' would want to tear these bits into scraps and throw them all away?  Who would think that after 'three strikes and you're out' a successful prototype would be accomplished?

 

 

Meanwhile someone is waiting patiently, with a slight smile on her face, as her creator goes through all sorts of gyrations.  And we haven't even gotten to the shoes yet!

"Practice is the best of all instructors." - Publilius Syrus