Wow, finally got my things off, just in the nick of time, for the Functional Felt Swap. I used a former cardigan of mine to create a cake-shaped pincushion and a matching accessory bag. I was thrilled to be able to slow down and work with sumptuous felt, hand sewing for a change. (I won't mention the problems my sewing machine and staying up too late caused me...)
It's Friday again, and hotter than it should be this time of year. Once the door to warmer weather has been opened around here, gentle Spring is quickly and brusquely pushed aside by cantankerous Summer barging its way past. While there is usually less than a week of mild weather between chilly and inferno, I also know that it could end up close to icy again in a matter of days. Funny time of year, this is. Love it anyway.
Today, we have this:
...which is funny because I ran across a reference to this idea just yesterday, while leafing through a magazine in a hospital waiting area (thankfully air-conditioned, I might add.) The idea that we self-identify with that chatty, opinionated ego of ours, while in reality this is not who we truly are. We think ourselves to be our bodies, our experiences, our histories. While these things color our perceptions of life, they are not truly us. So who are we, anyway? Who am I? Who are you? What is it that defines each and every one of us, deep down? I suppose this is the question of ages, is it not? While I might think of "me" as slightly goofy, not-too-cute, brunette, cynical, etc...these are merely labels that the ego places on the idea of "myself". While in reality, the self is a much deeper, more connected being than the shallow self-description we generally attribute to it.
I ran across an exercise once to help delineate the self and the ego in our minds. While going about ordinary life, you can replace the almost incessant chatter in your head (if you're like most people) with a different perspective...that of the third person. So instead of "I'm going to email Jill now, and I'm wondering what's for lunch, and I'm late for class," it's more like, "Jen is typing an email. She's about to make a sandwich, and is late for class. She's slicing the toast...." It's actually pretty trippy how fast a shift happens; how fast we can distance our "self" from the egocentric thoughts that generally rule our consciousness. Things start to get to us less, we identify with our circumstances less, the agitation subsides. At least for me, anyway. Now if only I could keep up the practice.
So, what is your concept of your self? How does that differ from who you truly are, deep down? Are they the same? Wildly different? A little bit of a mix? I think there is a lot to be gained in the realization that we are not our thoughts; and ultimately, our concepts of ourselves our simply that, concepts, ideas, thoughts. We are free to be much more. Anything, really. The challenge is in the remembering. Breaking away from the everyday stupor that most of us live in to become more than we think we are.
Are we up for it?
I think May is my absolute favorite month of the entire year. Everything is so green and full and bloom-y, without any sign of withering yet. (Kind of like a twenty-something. Sigh.) Summer days are approaching, yet the weather is still fine...begging us to become lazy, in spite of the bustle that invariably accompanies this season. Aaaah.
So, in honor of this most marvelous time of year, I thought I'd just post a li'l photo tour of Things Around Here Lately:
(spending most of the days gardenside)
(bringing the outdoors in)
(going for walks)
(and to a MayDay party...fairies were there...)
(and fairy elixir...)
(and cake!)
(sunny days are made for icy vanilla caffeinated goodness...)
(river season is so close!)
(I dunno...I just liked these colors)
(bouquets on the run...)
May just rocks.
So, this week's fortune:
After reading the same sentence about twenty times last night I admitted defeat and went to put my book down (Augusten Burroughs' Dry ...I love his stuff) but I needed a bookmark, so I just grabbed out of the fortune bowl and this is what I found marking my place this morning. I figured that it counts as today's bundle of wisdom, no?
Obviously not from a Chinese restaurant, yet...good to consider now and again. Need? Clean air, water, shelter, food, love...yes, I do have those. Even the needs-once-removed are here: coffee, cats, plants, fabric, music, sunshine, wool blankets... So, really I should consider myself satisfied and get on with the everyday. Right? Why is it that we as a society are always looking for something more, when we have got all we really need? Just this morning I was fighting the urge to just press "add to cart" for the shiny new iMac we have been waiting for (and saving for) since Thanksgiving or so. I really want it, yes, but need? Not so much. (Oh but it would hold all my photos and not lag when I try to deal with them and Photoshop will run so much faster and I would be able to run several memory-intensive applications at once and...) I know I can justify the purchase till the cows come home, but in the end, I sit with the knowledge that I already have everything I need, right now.
How 'bout you?
Whoops, how easily three weeks pass when it's springtime. Turns out I am a very wishy-washy blogger. Oh well. Here's this week's little nugget of advice:
Ok, this one's a little self-help-y but I think I was trying to remind myself of the truth of this fact...that we do indeed have control over a lot of our lives and the clearer our focus, the better we can achieve those things we wish for. A good reminder for me at this time, since I've been feeling like I'm spinning my wheels most days, trying to accomplish much yet not getting very far. Probably because I really have no clear picture of exactly what it is that I want. Vague, abstract ideas, maybe...but that doesn't really do it, does it? A teacher I once had likened this phenomenon to shooting a rubber band; you've got to take clear aim to get it to go in the direction that you want it to go, otherwise it will just fall to the ground. You need to take aim before you shoot. I think I spend most of my time trying to find the damn rubber band.
So, what are your intentions, your goals? Wants, needs? Can you picture them clearly or do they need a little more fleshing out? I know it sounds corny, but I've experienced first hand (mostly by accident) the power of our thoughts to manifest themselves. (For better or worse, unfortunately...because sometimes it is so easy to focus on the unpleasant!) So what the heck, it can't hurt...imagine all that you'd like to be and see if a little piece doesn't come true. Just for the fun of it.
Oh, I am so excited! I received this fabulous box in the mail today:
From Jen at Painted Fish Studio...so awesome, and so unexpected! I signed up for the Functional Felt Swap that she is putting together along with Three Sneaky Bugs; little did I realize that there was a giveaway via random drawing, and I happened to be the lucky one! Thank you so much, Jen...it's fabulous! I know I can find the perfect contents for it...
I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to make for this swap; but I'm motivated to play with felt, so this oughta be fun. Of course, now I'll have to make a prototype or two for myself to make sure I've got it right...bummer. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to suffer.
It's been so busy around here lately I haven't had time to post anything for a bit. Rearranging the garden, preparing for an upcoming birthday, a hike to the falls, spring busy-ness in general. Taking lots of pictures.
Snap!
I've been planning on this little theme-o for a while now, but what with the alphabet getting in my way, I hadn't started it yet.
I have a thing for fortunes. From cookies, of course, but I also like to take little snippets of wisdom I run across, type them up on little strips of paper, and add them to my fortune-bowl-oracle-of-sorts to be called upon when guidance is needed. Actually, I was hoping to draw a fortune every day and reflect upon it, but as it turns out I'm not as disciplined as I had hoped.
So I thought I'd at pick one at least every week, and post them here.
Today's bit of sagacity:
I've been having fun participating in orange flower's 30-day Macro Challenge. I tend to take a lot of photos in “tulip mode” so this is a great opportunity to look for things I might not ordinarily take pictures of, and get in a little closer.
(Warning: long, rambling post ahead...)
“If you don't like the weather, wait a minute.” --Will Rogers
I've been feeling as fickle as the skies lately; one minute sunny, the next, overcast and heading for a downpour. I'm not sure what I'm doing here in the whole blogosphere, really. I mean honestly, does the world need yet another crafty-thrifty girl blog? There are so many great blogs out there, written by people with far better writing and camera skills than I. Which leads me to ponder the reason why I'm here in the first place. I ended up here in a roundabout way, when I discovered Typepad a year into attempting to develop a website for my "working" life. Seeing as I could have three blogs when I signed up, I figured, what the heck? I thought this would just be a way to post photos and keep the far-away relatives up to speed on our lives and the little ones. But it's not really that, is it?
I have been so inspired by the many blogs I've tripped across to simply document our days a little better; taking pictures of the basic, everyday things and keeping tabs on what we do and make. I can do this without a blog, so why share it with the world? "Who the hell cares?" I keep asking myself. Some days I feel so "me too" about having a blog. And yet when I visit those pages that truly inspire me, I do think, "yeah, me too!" In these spaces I've found people I can relate to, who share my interests and invigorate my mind. So naturally I want to be a part of this community, yet I can't help but feel like the new kid at school hovering on the sidelines watching everyone else have fun. I think I need to find my place.
I've always been an observer to the core, sitting at the back of class or the corner of the party, watching quietly and hoping no one notices me. Maybe that's why it feels so weird to be out there now. I only went "public" about a week ago when I finally listed my blog in my flickr profile; before that only my husband had read its pages. I figured that the internet was the perfect foil for the chronic introvert: get your stuff out there but have nobody see you. Turns out I still feel a bit exposed, which is strange and a little nervewracking.
Also I've developed a little flickr problem. I've had an account for ages, but before we got DSL I never bothered with it. Last night, however, I spent four freakin' hours there, bouncing from person to blog to person to group to person to group to person to blog to group...and I wonder why I never get anything done. Which leads me to my next conundrum...wouldn't my time be better spent actually doing those things that I'm itching to do rather than surfing the innermost recesses of other's lives? (And vice-versa...) I mean, four hours. I could have actually accomplished something...like that quilt I'm behind on, or a myriad of other projects that loom ever-so-large. Crikey.
So what's a girl to do? Babble about it to the world, I guess. Maybe I'll never post this, but as soon as I'm done with the alphabet scheme I've roped myself into (I'm going to finish something I've started, dammit) I need to figure out what I'm doing with this space and why, and then go for it. Because it's fun, but I don't want it to take over my life.
'Nuff said. Please excuse my dithering.
