Life Limps Along At Blinding Speed

I apologize to my few readers for not posting much lately. Blogging does encourage me to take time to assess what is going on in my life,but life has been moving much too fast lately to allow any kind of time like that. As much as there has been a lot going on that I'd like to reflect on, this has been a time to act rather than think. With life is moving at this pace, thinking tends to take place in the middle of the night, when I'd rather be dreaming than spinning around in my thoughts, unable to get back to sleep. I'm exhausted by 8 pm, and laying awake at 2:30 am. And that kind of thinking is rarely productive for me.

But, I'm healthy, have a wonderful husband, a warm bed at night, a positive work setting (not to mention, I have a job!), decent weather, two warm & furry cats, and lots and lots of other things to be grateful for. I'm happy to count my blessings and to have many to count. And, retirement to, hopefully, look forward to, when I'll have a much slower paced life!

Still Still Cleaning

That about says it. More cleaning out of my parents' house this weekend - maybe the last of it? Then, the reward of attending the Common Ground Fair!

Still Cleaning

Most of this past weekend was dedicated to a very joyful occasion -- my youngest brother's wedding. And, joyful it was! Everyone in the family is very happy to embrace her as a Talbot and I hear the feeling is mutual on the bride's family side. You know it is a good wedding when your face hurts from smiling at the end of the reception!

Sunday, however, was more of the same -- cleaning out my parents' house. Each time we walk in we look around and wonder how we can work so hard at this every weekend and still have so much left to do. But, after 7 1/2 hours of hard work yesterday, it really does look better. All furniture left is in three piles -- in one room is everything my other brother is taking home with him at the end of this week (after he spends several days helping my father clean out the basement), in another is furniture that is slated to be picked up by somebody or other, and the garage has still more stuff and furniture to be picked up. The cupboards and closets are empty (except one that my mother hasn't discovered yet, but which will be cleaned out by the Open House on Saturday) and we washed walls, windows, light fixtures, curtains, drawers & shelves and vacuumed everything else. Someone was coming in this morning to clean and "wax" the kitchen, bathroom, and dining room floors.

I was discouraged about our project until a neighbor stopped by and said that it is the details that count when looking at a house (they just moved into the neighborhood a few years ago so have recent relevant experience) -- "If the details are taken care of," she said, "buyers will assume the big stuff is well taken care of too." So, we pitched in with renewed commitment and I think we did make a lot of progress.

Combine all the cleaning and wedding celebrations with the beginning of the school year and I'm not home very much. So, very little knitting is going on here at the moment. With any luck, and another couple of weeks, I'll get back on track. Looking forward to it!

Cleaning Out

I spent the weekend helping to clean out my parents' house. I have to say that we had a great team to do the work and enough of us to take turns dealing with the emotions of my mother who is having a very difficult time letting go of anything. We got a lot of work done in two long days, but probably the most exhausting part is the emotions.

I did, however, realize that I'm capable of the hard physical work. Although I was sticky, stinky, and dirty, I felt physically strong. It was a good feeling. And, I'm hoping to put some of that strength and energy toward cleaning out some stuff in my own house -- there are some drawers, closets, and boxes in the basement that could use some of the same cleaning out process we've been doing for my parents. Since this is the new year holiday for our education family, I think that will be my new year's resolution.

Class of 2015 and Other New Beginnings

Everyone who works in education knows that the real "new year" celebration comes at the beginning of the academic year. Growing up in a family where education was the profession, then being a student myself, I found the two years when I wasn't in an education setting to be rather odd in September. I guess that is one reason I was drawn to working with students, just to have the rhythm of the school year as the center of my life. Working for a college and being married to a high school teacher, there's no question it is the "new year" this week.

First-year students arrive at Colby tomorrow morning, with the rest of the student body returning next Tuesday. Both of my sons are beginning their senior year in college -- one tomorrow and the other on Thursday. I'm more excited about the new year than I've been in a couple of years due to my taking the never-before-done step of setting a deadline for pre-med applicants of August 1 to complete their files. It takes the committee about 3 weeks to complete the composite letter for a candidate once their file is complete, so I'm happy to say that we finished virtually all of the nearly 50 letters this year by August 24! I'm starting the academic year able to focus entirely on the start of the academic year and it feels great. I've been heard to say frequently this month, "A deadline is a beautiful thing."

On the topic of new beginnings, my parents were safely ensconced in their new apartment the day before Irene blustered her way through Maine. We fit a lot of stuff in a tiny apartment and they are happy to be there - even my Mom! There's still a lot to do with their house before it can be sold, but progress has been made.

Irene, as I said, blustered through our part of Maine yesterday. I had decided to spend at least part of the day reading (The Help), but ended up spending the entire day reading on the porch. The power went off around 2 in the afternoon, so then I had no choice but to read until it got too dark. Then I did some knitting by candlelight (Almondine socks by Anne Hanson from the new Master Sock Knitting book by Ann Budd in a rust-colored hand-dyed sock yarn from Cherry Hill that I got on the sale shelves at Yard Goods) and we went to bed early. The power came on around 10:30, but by then I was sound asleep. Despite the weather, it was lovely, relaxing way to end the summer. And the fried Spam sandwiches we had for lunch and dinner hit the spot.

So, Happy New Year everyone!

It's All Emotion

That is a line my DH and I use when we need to remind ourselves that certain situations just can't easily be handled by logic or rational thinking. Both of us prefer logic and clear-thinking and get a bit overwhelmed when emotion runs rampant.

We just used that line to prepare ourselves for a weekend that we knew would combine some good times with some major emotion. Even with the mantra running through our heads, it was tough weekend. Not all bad, but not easy.

My parents are, later this week, signing up to move into an apartment in an elderly housing complex. They'll be moving into a one-bedroom apartment in an independent living building. It is most definitely, for any number of reasons, the right thing to do. But it is something that carries a lot of emotional baggage for everyone involved. And, even though it has been anticipated for some time, it suddenly seems to be happening very quickly (probably because it is!).

It is particularly hard for my mother, but even I have some significant up and down feelings about the whole thing and am so looking forward to getting it done so we can all move forward. One of my sisters has blogged about how strange it will be not to have any reason to go back to our home town. I, too, feel that same sadness - even though I'll be passing by it often as it is between where I live and where my parents and siblings live (one brother and one sister live in the town my parents are moving - a great relief for all of us to have them close by my parents). I never lived in the house my parents are leaving, but it is less than 50 yards from the house I did spend most of my childhood in and therefore the neighborhood I called home.

Then there are the emotions of dealing with others' emotions. My mom is not handling this very well and that is wearing on all of us, and most distinctly on my father. I feel sad for my mother, defensive of my father, mad about the negative emotional energy swirling around, and even worried for my own future (I hope I'll end up being a charming and cheerful old lady, not angry with the world and holding onto that anger for all I'm worth).

On the positive side, we had a lovely reunion gathering on Sunday with all of the Talbots and Brooks families (my father's side of the family) - including cousins I have not seen in about 4 years. Only two people were missing -- one of my sons and my cousin's son. It was really, really nice to see everyone there. We also attended an elegant and lovely wedding shower for my sister-in-law to be on Saturday with all of my mom's sisters ("the Aunts"). It was fun to meet the other side of the family my brother will be joining.

Throw in our interim priest's last service (our newly called rector joins us in three weeks) and readings chosen to highlight change issues on Sunday, and a poem read in yoga class last Thursday about change, and change clearly has been the theme of my life for the past few days. With several bubblings-up of tears, anger, concern, confusion, joy, and just about everything but the kitchen sink thrown in, you can imagine my state of mind. And, it isn't pretty.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

The Maine Quilt Show, held the last weekend of July every year in Augusta, Maine, is my personal mini-vacation. I usually sign up for at least two days of workshops (the listing comes out in January or February, so I commit way up front). I do this on my own -- sometimes a friend comes to view the show with me at some point during the weekend, but I don't do this in tandem with a friend or group of friends. However, it is very rare for me not to see someone I know in my classes. And, I always run into other people throughout the weekend. This year I spent some time catching up with another ballet Mom from way back when.

This year's classes were great. I took my third class from Leslie Volpe-Muir on miniature quilting. I've taken her intro class twice, and this time went for a Mini-Medallion class. I love doing things in miniature - remember the sweaters last year? When I was into cross-stitch, I always gravitated toward the smallest count fabric. I've always wanted a real dollhouse with miniature furniture, but that will have to wait for my next life, I guess. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Here's the outcome of the class, along with a packet of tissues to give you a sense of size:
As you can see, it is still in pieces - hard to believe that sewing all day results in a 6 1/2" square. Since the show, I've finished the other zig-zag paper-pieced border pieces and sewn them on. There's one more border after that which I've partially done and will finish soon. This piece, however, will likely not ever be backed, quilted, and bound because it will be helpful to be able to refer to the back when I try to do another one - there are some neat tricks that you can only see on the back. When I was getting my mother's quilt ready to take to the machine quilter, I actually used one of the tips I learned in a miniature quilt class to handle where the many points of a pinwheel come together. Thank you, Leslie!

The second class was with a quilting rock star, Jo Morton. Jo, while not a miniaturist, works with "small" quilts. She likes to find ways to make her quilts look old, but doesn't go in for bed-sized quilts. We worked on a wall-hanging size quilt that was also a medallion-style quilt (which means there is a center motif surrounded by layers of borders rather than a center of multiple blocks). The center was a LeMoyne Star. Essentially this is the same star that was the center of my miniature quilt the day before, but we used an entirely different technique for putting it together (and it was bigger). We mimicked, on our sewing machine, the way you would hand-piece this star and then did this nifty swirl of the points to eliminate the bulk at the center. We also did flying geese blocks in a completely new way to me (and, again, different from the ones I'd done just the day before).

Jo tends to gravitate toward traditional, reproduction colors and prints, but I tried to just use fabrics from my stash, so ended up with a red, white, & blue combo. Here's the result at the end of the class:
We spent the whole morning on the center star - I was actually the first in the class to finish it! I'm never the first - I enjoy taking my time, but this just fell together for me. The next step is a whole border of flying geese. I'd like to get it done this summer, but it will likely be floating around, unfinished, for a while, I'm afraid.

For reference, here are the two projects side by side:
And here's where they are now, pushed off to the side of my work-table while I work on Nate's quilt:
More about Nate's quilt and other projects taking my attention at the moment in the next post.