Morning Glory Studio

five on tuesday | quiet thoughts...

 

 

The day has been quiet and rainy. A soft, gentle rain - accompanied by light classical music.  Just enough rain to keep one in the house. I'd planned to take a walk and instead, worked on my 50 circles. I made 30 and have them pinned, ready to stitch tonight.

Tomorrow, I plan to begin joining the blocks! At least one  vertical row! Just the idea of sitting at the sewing machine excites me!

This morning I started a new book: writing with quiet hands by paula munier. You can visit the author's blog here. Did you know, according to some one's wisdom, that one has to write a million words in order to be considered an author? And no, I do not intend to write a book...I've always enjoyed reading books about the practice of writing. For a couple years, I'd lost interest but for some strange reason, this past fall, I started reading in the genre again.

Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Thought (from yesterday ) on Paradoxes: "Keep an empty shelf, and keep a junk drawer." I have several junk drawers...guess I must be very happy.

As I write this post, it occurs to me that I've not taken a photo all day...and that this is my 78th consecutive day of posting since 1 November 2016. And that I should take the time to write about the why  for posting daily. Correction: not should - will! 

And with that, I shall end today's post and go downstairs, pour a glass of wine and start stitchin' those 30 circles.  

Cheers~

 Oh, and btw: I decided to take a photo, after all.

not quite ten on tuesday...

 

 

1. We were treated with another great sunrise this morning...and now, it is grey and cloudy BUT warmer! Wahoo!
2. I cut the sashings for my quilt today... 31 strips... next, I need to sew  285- 1.5 inch squares together to add to the strips. Then I'll be ready to join the 24 blocks and 4 borders. When done, I will have  one 89" x 91" king-sized quilt! I can smell victory...oh wait, that's sausage. Guess Norman's eating lunch...
3. I'm liking my new "daily page" shared yesterday...already making some tweaks; I think it's going to work out A-OK...
4. ASQT (afternoon solitude and quiet time) is going to be a winner...I may even finish The Underground Railroad this week...a fiction title! My first in 2017!
5. Every year I choose a book that has a daily action, thought/s. Last year the book was Sarah Ban Breathnacht's Simple Abundance. In 2015, Patti Digh's Your Daily Rock. This year, I'm reading two, in support of my word peace (one of three words for 2017): Mark Nepo's Book of Awakening and a mindfulness journal: Do One Thing Every Day That Centers You. This is  compendium of quotes chosen to provide inspiration and courage  and a call to action. Readers are encouraged to jump around in the book and to complete the related activities, primarily journaling a brief response to the quote. Today, I chose this quote: "The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope!" ~ Barack Obama.

About an hour later, my niece sent this link to a tribute made to President Obama last night. 

 

Peace~

 

 

ten on tuesday | I heard that ...

 

         Today, Carole's prompt asks us for ideas of ten things we can do while listening to an audiobook. I am fairly new to the audiobook/podcast game and I find that the more I listen, the more I listen. Here's what came to mind for me:

1. walk... these days I am generally listening to a book or podcast on my walks...
2.  do household chores: mop/vacuum; clean refrig ... 
3. garden and water plants ...
4. knit...
5. stitch: by hand or machine...
6. wait  at the doctor's/dentist's office or in line at the grocery store...
7. cook, make a pie, cake, or some other creative project...
8. travel: by plane, train or car...
9. watch baseball or some other sport - clearly one doesn't have to listen to all the drivel, er, I mean, commentary...
10. just sit, listen and enjoy!

 My first inclination is always to read with my eyes rather than my ears but I think that's mostly several decades and then some, of habit. How about you? What would you add to the list? Do you prefer to read print or listen?

Visit Carole's blog for more fun and creative ideas. Enjoy.

Cheers~

ten on tuesday | mama cooks fish...

 

                My mother was a meat, potatoes, vegetable kind of cook...her meals were always tasty and nutritious but rather plain and simple, nothing, as they say, to get up in the middle of the night and write home about. My grandmother and her sisters were all excellent cooks; they could whip up a mouth-watering-to-die-for meal in a heartbeat...and think nothing of it. No recipes, no planning - just the ingredients, requisite utensils and a stove. 

Mama wasn't overly fond of cooking! She saw it as an utter necessity and consequently, she cooked out of duty, not love for the soon-to-be meal. She would often say it wasn't the cooking or shopping that disinterested her, it was the planning: what were we going to have for dinner this day, this week, this month? And so, when she cooked, she generally fixed enough meals  for a week: several meats-chicken, a beef or pork roast or ham, and possibly, hamburger patties or a meatloaf. Since she worked as a librarian, her schedule was two nights a week and every other Sat on ...and she would cook her mornings and Fridays  off...so we, always had nutritious,if not elaborate, meals. We certainly never starved and there was always fresh fruit... because my dad had a sweet tooth - don't most men? - cookies or cake or cupcakes and ice cream were generally to be found in the cupboard and 'frig. And on Easter and Christmas, Mama always made (my favorite) macaroni and cheese that I shared in this Ten/Tues post .

So, the story I want to share today is about Mama, fish and dogs. My father loved to fish. I remember many nights he spent on the lake in a boat, often alone but sometimes with friends, fishing. Morning would come and he generally had quite a haul of fresh lake fish. My dad didn't like to clean the fish but he had friends who would in exchange for a generous supply of the catch. The rest, Daddy brought home to our freezer. 

When I was in the 5th grade, my mom was president of the school's PTA. They were having a fish-fry fund raiser and ran out of fish. Mama, knowing we had fish in the freezer, went home (walking) to get some more. As she was crossing the school yard a dog, apparently smelling the scent of fish, attacked her and took a pretty big plug out of her left thigh. She had to go to the hospital and get all sorts of shots and stitches. I'm not too sure what happened to the fish fry...

The other incident occurred about 8 years later: it was spring and we'd had a really severe thunder storm, if not tornado warnings - we lived in Toledo, OH and tornados were not unheard of...The electricity was out for several days and consequently, all the meats and fish in our freezer ( an upright like a refrigerator) had begun to thaw...so, my mother, on her Friday off, spent all day baking meats and frying fish - from one of my father's hauls. My mom couldn't understand, tho,' why the fish pile wasn't getting taller; she kept thinking it should be but it wasn't...She happened to turn around from the stove and caught our Collie dog, Danny Boy, slinking off to under the dining room table, with several just-fried pieces in his mouth. Aha! Caught in the act!

I love the story of Mama, Danny Boy and the fish...and think of it when ever I have freshly fried fish. Hmm, that gives me a thought: fish for dinner on Mother's Day... at a restaurant!

Be sure to check out this week's Ten on Tuesday posts for more stories on other moms' best meals. 

Cheers~

 

 

ten on tuesday | daily favorites ...

 

 

It is without a doubt that my absolutest, favoritest part of a day, everyday, any day, all days is my morning solitude and quite time. I write about it frequently  because I  am filled with such peace when I  a) get up each morning and b) am in my very own zone. So, with this prelude, just what do I like so much?

1 - the quiet.  the sounds of silence in the house. we all have them: the hum of the refrigerator, the clicking on/off of the furnace or A/C. electricity in the air. an occasional bird's chirp...

2 - the early morning light as it transitions from dark to light...

3 - the new vista from the great room. I  begin MSQT here. Now that we've moved the dining room table, I see a whole lot more from my seat , primarily what the current weather is: rain; snow, both, neither...

4- the sunrise! Oh yes, it happens, even if only briefly, but now, I get to see night transition into day and watch the sky change...

5 - the solitude.  alone with my thoughts  as I review my previous day, look forward to the current day and write in my journal...

6 - the smell of frozen fresh raspberries, blueberries and blackberries thawing...

7 - the warmth of hot tea: the cup in my hand and the liquid in my mouth - most often followed by a long drink of ice-water. yes, I know…go figure...

8 - the conversations I have with the authors of whatever I am reading: a book; a blog post; a poem; an article in a magazine sharing the process for a  piece of art...

9 - the  remembering  as I review photos taken the day before to choose one for the monthly COLLECT collage...

10 - the creation of a new drawing every morning…recently, well, just this past Sunday, I decided to learn to see, to draw…so I am adding an apple a day to MSQT. Fun and relaxing…so far!

 What are your daily favorites? Thanks to Carole for hoisting and inspiring us with the weekly Ten on Tuesday prompt. You can read other bloggers'  everyday favorites there.

Cheers~

 

ten on tuesday | september 2, 2014...

  (this fabric is part of  the bébé's quilt - more to come!) 

1. Buy a new iron. The one I have frustrates me so - it just doesn't want to steam properly!

2. Spread bébé Chris' quilt on dining room table so I can make quilt sandwich. Yep! It's that far along! I completed the last bit of stitching the borders yesterday afternoon about 5:30 pm.

3. Renew  library books - online or go to library?

4. Visit Margaret; she's doing great.

5. Get gas for the car...I think I'm riding on fumes.

6. Take my #fms photo for today: theme is stripes. No zebras here but lots of fabrics with stripes around.

7. Choose July/August photos to order - Shutterfly has a special that must be ordered by Wednesday.

8. Select one of three fabrics to  use in another Flower Garden block. Then I can finish it! The block, that is.

9. Stay cool! Summer temps and humidity have returned with a vengeance...looks like the forecast for all week...yuk!

10. Set up my September planner/journal(s). I have a lot of writing/thinking/reflecting type activities going on  this month and I'm thinking about how I can seamlessly combine and manage it all with a limited number of tools: paper; pen/s;  and iPhone/iPad. I want to keep my feet firmly planted in both worlds and not ruled by any one...though I have to admit, as many tech toys, oops, tools, I meant, I have, I'm still partial to paper and pen when it comes to interior work.

 How do you describe yourself: a paper/pen? totally tech?  or both ? type of person.

Cheers~

 

 

 

ten on tuesday | june 2014...

This week's Ten onTuesday prompt: 10 performers -individual or group -  seen in live concert -  really had me searching and digging deep. Whoa! Took me back to high school and college years, many moons ago! So, here goes:

Circa

1954-55: Elvis Presley, live on Ed Sullivan! I remember writing about him in my diary, especially how "shocked" everyone was by his gyrations.

 

1958 - Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers ~ a "rock and roll " group from Harlem, NY. My favorite was Herman Santiago; be still my heart.

The Platters! I was  president (self-appointed?) of their fan club (in Toledo OH) and I remember going to the Greyhound Station to welcome them as they arrived for a concert. I think there was a crowd : 2-3 of us there.

1962 - Lou Rawls. During my sophomore year in college, I spent the Christmas holidays with my roommate (who was from Chicago )  in Chicago. During that time, coffee houses were big and my roommate's father took us to one to see Lou Rawls. Oh, did we think we were grown! And of course, Lou Rawls has always been one of my favorite swooners.

1963 - Gloria Lynn

1966 - My sister in our high school alma mater's marching band. 

Fast forward to the late '70s/early '80s:

Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston each on separate occasions in Washington DC. Cissy is Whitney Houston's mother and Dionne, her aunt. 

Over the years, I've seen an opera star or two. 

And just this past December, I saw the Rockettes in person, for the first time... and a few wanna be Broadway stars, waitin' tables and taking time out to sing a song or two, at the Stardust Lounge on Broadway, a fun NYC restaurant. And the performances were great!

 

Who's on your list? 

Thanks Carole for another fun prompt; for more trips down memory lane, go here.

 

Cheers~

 

 

 

 

 

ten on tuesday...

It has been a v-e-r-y long time since I've participated in a Ten on Tuesday meme, but I thought I'd change that. Today's prompt - 10 things I did over the holiday weekend seemed like a good way for me to re-surface, so, here goes:

1. Over the three days, I did a "brain dump" of things I need/want to do over the next 30+ days and throughout the summer. The list covers 7 areas, ranging from errands to considering a "rain garden" to weeding & organizing files to starting, continuing and/or abandoning any of my seemingly endless PiPs - projects in progress, or not...

 

2. On one list was the task to "create a blogging calendar through the month of June and to blog, five days a week, beginning Mon, May 26.

3. Yesterday, I published the first of my 36 posts...and this makes the second. So far, so good!

4. Early Saturday morning, about 8 a.m.,  Norman and I made a quick visit to the lawn-mower repair person. Friday evening, Norman had started to mow the lawn so he'd have the weekend free when a part of the handle fell off - of course it couldn't be found and without it, the mower wouldn't work...

5. On Saturday, I also spent a very relaxing time with three friends; monthly we gather for brunch and some form of stitching: knitting; needlepoint; quilting. Always a great way to while away the day, especially with good friends and good food.

6. That afternoon, I finished stitching the 14th Flower Garden quillt block! Wahoo! Only ten to go and then, I tackle the borders. Read more about this project here.

7. Sunday and Monday, my friend Pat and I played If/Only ( I had an hour...). We're each in our respective home studios and every hour we call (or FaceTime ) and share progress on a specific project we're focused on. We've been doing this for years and find it's a great way to make progress on a project. 

8. On Monday, I prepped - transferred the design - to 6 more Flower Garden blocks.

9. And since it was badly needed, I sorted and rearranged my working fabric stash  (for the Flower Garden quilt and another project I've been working on). A tidy, organized studio always makes me feel more energetic and productive.

10.Throughout the weekend, I also watched a ball game here and a movie there with Norman... and enjoyed an extended MSQT, of course...

I hope your holiday weekend was just as pleasant and productive as mine. Our next 3-day weekend is July 4. It will be fun to compare the two.

 

Cheers~

Thanks mucho Carole for doing this every week. Visit Carole's blog: Carole Knits for  other Ten on Tuesday posts.

welcome march...

Honoré here: It's been way too long since I last posted - mea culpa, what do I say? I've been toying with a new approach to blogging... hoping to establish a rhythm that results in posting with some regularity, you think?

I thought I might aim for a three-days-a-week, minimum: M-W-F one week and Tu-Th-Sa-another but hmmm, as I look at the tentative schedule, I wonder about getting all mixed up and not knowing which week is which.  

So, here it is March, the fifth to be exact and were I following the above  schedule, of sorts, I guess I'd be off by only one  post for the month....having said all that as probably a too long and totally unnecessary preface to today's post, Ten on Tuesday's topic: 10 reasons why I'm happy it's March:

1. a new month...a new start...
2. spring is just around the corner and soon, the forsythia will be in bloom ...
3.  the cherry blossoms are expected to bloom March 26 or so...warm weather in store?...
4. a trip to Lancaster PA for the AQS quilt show exhibit and vendors; it's been a few years since I've gone...
5. my niece's 28th birthday!...
6. a visit with my favorite pup: Watson on March 10!...
7. daylight savings time goes into effect this weekend and tho' it takes me at least a week to re-orient, I am looking forward to more days of sunlight...
8. "play ball!" soon, MLB season starts and Norman will be totally glued to the tv - he loves baseball and the games will be a welcome relief from all the politics...living in Washington DC makes it really hard to get away from the incessant politics...you know: it's our local news...
9. new spring books will start showing up...I've a new quilting book on order...
10. and finally, I'll be just weeks, well maybe a couple months, away from making my annual trek to Sisters OR...just thinking about it makes my heart race...

(photo from March 2012)

I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout-out to Carole who shepherds Ten on Tuesday; thanks mucho for doing this every week and moreso, for providing me with a much needed kick-start to take action on my actions - my one little word goal for March! More on that in my next post?

So, what are your 10  reasons for why you're happy it's March?

 

Cheers~

 

i am thankful for...

This week's Ten on Tuesday prompt is 10 things for which we are thankful. What follows is just a sampling of the things that are on my list of 30 for this month:

1. Norman's morning serenades; everyday I  wonder what song will capture his fancy. This morning: "San Francisco, open your golden gates..."
2. Monday morning quilt guild meetings - they are a chance to get a lot of ideas, be inspired by what others have done and learn a nifty technique. Yesterday, I learned how to crochet the chain stitch. That was a major accomplishment for me; for years I've had zero success whenever I tried to crochet. Watch out world, here I come! (HA!). And yes, we also crochet and knit at guild meetings.
3. Grocery shopping for the holiday and the next ten days or so, done! We're having a quiet day and trying one of those turkey breasts that is both white and dark meat combined, along with the usual menu items: veggies, salads, desserts.
4. Good health, despite an occasional "old" feeling, as my grandmother characterized morning  aches and creaks.
5. Order slowly but systematically coming to the upstairs. Painting is done. A new sink/vanity for the bath,  some type of shelving for the studio and deciding  about the floors: carpet, new flooring or refinishing the wooden floors ?- are all that's left to do.
6. Living in a  part of the country that enjoys the four seasons. Fall is my absolute most favorite season and this year has been quite nice - despite Sandy. We here in the Washington DC are extremely fortunate and thankful that we were not impacted by the storm. 
7. Residing in the Nation's capital. There are many wonderful museums and events that take place, many being free. So many choices for learning and expanding one's horizons, regardless of age.
8. A stack of new magazines and several books awaiting my attention. I'm looking forward to an extended MSQT Thanksgiving morning.
9. Famly and friends near and far. It is always great to connect and reconnect with those who have graced your life and this past week, has brought a cornucopia of such connections...with more scheduled for the weekend.
10. Sunsets (and sunrises, too). They never cease to wow!

                      (photo taken after a concert at University of Maryland, Sunday 18 November)

 Here's wishing you a very lovely Thanksgiving and ever many more sunsets!

Cheers~