Meme is RETIRED!!!!!

As of Friday August 29, 2008 at 5:00 pm my mother is RETIRED!!!! I'm so proud of her. She has worked hard and deserves to finally have some time to herself. She worked full time and was an amazing mother to me in spite of me being plenty difficult in my teenage years. She took care of everyone she worked with, she prayed for them when things were going on in their lives that needed prayer, she called them when they were home sick to check on them, she laughed when funny things happened to them, she made sure they all got their time cards in on time so they got paid, she seldom got upset with anyone she worked with and if she did, they deserved it. She doesn't get mad and stay mad - ever... something we could all learn from right?! Anyhow, I don't remember exactly how many years she gave the University. She worked for them before I was born and then took a few years off to tend to me, then went back to work under a different department where she has faithfully served and worked hard and now she is RETIRED!!! What does that mean for us? It means I get to spend time with my mom again! I can't wait! It means when I am having an off day if she isn't off with her sister who I hear has big plans for the two of them, then she can help up out. We've already made plans for the kids to stay with her on Wednesday nights so she can take them to a class on Thursdays that I haven't been able to have them in because of my work schedule. (I'm already taking full advantage of her). I'm mostly excited for her and the freedom to do things she wants to do and the time she will have to do them. Maybe she'll start making her own clothes again, or find some new interesting hobby. Maybe she and my aunt will venture off to places unknown without their faithful chaperon, my cousins wife, Crystal. Who knows, I'm just excited that she doesn't have to go to work anymore - a day she has patiently been waiting for for a very long time!

Here are pictures from her retirement party. My Aunt Janice drove in from Carrolton with my cousin Scott and his wife Hannah, and my cousin Teresa and her husband Roger came from Blue Ridge, and my cousin Jay and his wife Crystal came from Elberton to celebrate with her and what a treat to have family here, it happens so seldom and it meant the world to my mom and it was nice to visit with them in my home town! She had tons of people come to her party because so many people know what a loss it is going to be for the many departments she served and they did appreciate her in so many ways.

My mom, so very happy of this HUGE step in her life!

Her very large cake.Some of the folks that were there and the beautiful room we were in at the Student Learning Center on campus.My mom and her former (as of Friday) boss Mike as he was telling everyone how much they were going to miss her. My mom and her first boss from that department Doug Matthews (he was always my favorite of all the directors she worked for) I'm really glad she started on such a good note and ended with such a good director. She was lucky to work for these men - they appreciated her the way a boss should.My mom very happy to see my cousin Scott and his wife Hannah sort of hidden behind my cousin Teresa. (They drove 2 1/2 hours to get here)

My mothers partner in crime her sister Janice. If you look closely you can see the resemblance of these two. They talk the same and they could pass for twins very easily except my Aunt Janice is a little older than my mom - which she never lets her forget.

Congratulations mom! I love you!

august trail keepers

We had a much smaller group this time. Thursday was Stella's birthday, so she had her very important dinner date with her dad, and Daisy stayed back with her mom to help finish up some stuff for Stella's birthday and help watch Lyle (very sweet Daisy). Hazel came along with us. The Cooks couldn't make it either. It's a long drive in from Danielsville for them, so they decided to not consume the gas to drive into town for an hour. But, as always, the path was filled with lots of interesting finds...

Here are Jason and Rachel looking at Kudzu blooms. I am from around here and I can honestly say I NEVER knew Kudzu bloomed. India gave me one of the flowers while we were walking and I was super excited about how pretty it was until we saw it growing on the kudzu and I had to leave it behind. Thankfully, we don't have any kudzu on our property and I sort of want to keep it that way. I'm a little afraid of bringing it home in any fashion since every part of the kudzu plant is reproductive in some way...

Here's a picture of the blossom. It is very pretty... Also very deceiving. It's a shame this plant isn't used more. It can be used to make paper, baskets, food for both animals and humans, and medicine (potentially to treat alcoholism). I was just reading about the many ways of dealing with it to get rid of it and I saw where some people have goats that eat it since they will eat anything green. It can be used for agriculture feed. There is so much of it and it grows so fast, we should use it more.

Here's the group walking down the path... Rachel and Joe had Georgia along. A treat for all of us and her I'm sure...

Here's Georgia helping us out.

Another cool thing to see was that the river was way up. We've had a lot of rain, so it was nice not be able to see the bottom of the river. It's encouraging after this long drought. It's not that we have gotten enough rain to solve the drought problems, but it is nice to see the water up to a somewhat more "normal" level.

And the most interesting thing we've seen so far... A decomposing Raccoon (?) paw? This is all there was to it and it was just under the bridge where the highway goes over - and no Sarah Cook, I did not bring it home because it smelled really bad. We came (I mean I came) to the conclusion that it was a raccoon for because of the opposable thumb and the way the fingers are jointed. We have a quite a few raccoons that hang around here and this hand seemed about the right size for it... I would be interested to hear of any other possibilities for what it could be. It did get us thinking about how there would only be a hand and no body, but since it was under the highway, there is really no telling.

the last of the photoshoot

I've been putting off posting the rest of the pictures, but as of yesterday all the photos are in the mail to the We'moon (http://www.wemoon.ws/) the women's calendar I was published in this year. It is a women's calendar of the rhythms of life and art and poetry and pictures and is just packed full of earth loving and affirming affirmations. It is the date book I have used exclusively since 2003 and to have my art in it in 2008 was like a dream come true. I missed the deadline last year for the 2009 calendar plus my work didn't match the theme, but I have sent them in this year, so please keep your fingers crossed that at least one makes it in! So, here are the rest of the pictures Chad took! He just did such a great job! I will forever be grateful to him for all his hard work. Hopefully, he'll never have to shoot so many at once again...

Mary, Sowing the Seeds of Love

Detail
PerfectLove (All the appliques are hand beaded on)Detail

Comepletely Open (self portrait - I also hand dyed most of the fabrics in the backgound of this one.)

This one is hand quilted

My favorite star on the quilt

Looking at the Stars

Detail

Pictures that Kalib took

Kalib's camera has editing as part of its software on the camera, so when he takes a picture he can automatically change it to look how ever he wants. Here's his dads skateboard...The whole reason we bought Kalib a camera is because he likes to take pictures of the folks he and Hubb skate with. Here's Wezel coming out of a trick. They move so fast that getting a non-blurry picture is hard, but Kalib is getting the hang of it fast!
Here's Kurt roaring while Kalib takes a picture of him with Wezel and Julian in the background. I like how Kalib made this picture more blue. It makes Kurts roar more dramatic.
Hubb with an orange tint taking his turn at the birthday party!
My favorite picture of them all so far... Alfredo looking like an alien. This one is almost creepy if I didn't know it was Alfredo!
I think it is pretty cool how Kalib already figured this stuff out with the help of India. They already know more about that camera than I do - not that I know a lot about cameras even though I like to take pictures. They figured it out with looking at the book which is even more impressive to me. I can't wait to see what they do with it as time goes on... It's another homeschooling experiment I suppose.

Kalib is 8...(long post)

On Friday, Kalib officially turned 8. I can't believe our baby is 8. I'm still in shock. It feels like we just celebrated his 5th birthday and now he is 8. So, we had dinner at the Outback (his choice). He got a steak and a free scoop of ice-cream.

After dinner we came back home for presents and cake with the whole family. India made cupcakes. Here we have India helping him read his card. What a good big sister.
For his big birthday present from us, we sent him on a scavenger hunt. Here's the video of Kalib opening the first clue...

Here are the kids getting the 2nd clue. They were so fast, I couldn't keep up to get more pictures of where they went.

The last clue led him to the present which was his very own digital camera! He loves to take pictures when he and his dad are skateboarding and now he has his own camera to do so. In the next few days, I'll post some of his pictures he has taken.
Here Kalib is pretending to blow out the candles on his cupcakes.

They couldn't wait to get into the new legos meme gave him. Indiana Jones legos, how cool is that?

On Saturday, we had Kalib's friends party. He had a skateboarding party and only wanted to invite boys. We figured we would start them all out young... Here are the kids first getting started. I thought for sure they would be a little more timid than they were since this was the first time most of Kalibs friends were on a skate board. (His dad got to have some friends over too, but I didn't manage to get too many pictures of them this time).

Here's Austin taking his first turn. He had no fear and once he got going, he didn't want to stop. He's coming back today to skate some more.

Here's India helping Aaron figure out how to stand on a board. She is always willing to lend a hand.

Here's Wesley and Julian waiting their turn.

Luke looks all sweaty, but they played some water balloon games and he's actually just wet.

And here's Ossian. Ready to rock n' roll. They are going to come back when they don't have to take so many turns and there aren't other adults waiting to get a turn.

Last, but not least, here's a pic of the heavenly cake I made for the party. It's an ice-cream sandwhich cake with caramel, fudge, pecans, cool whip, and tons of ice-cream sandwhiches. A small taste of heaven. Kalib doesn't really like cake, so when I saw this recipe a few months ago I held onto it for his birthday. We decorated it with Tech Decks (mini skateboards). Too bad there isn't any cake left!

She Who Heals

Mother, sing me a song

That will ease my pain,

Mend broken bones,

Bring wholeness again.

Catch my babies

When they are born,

Sing my death song,

Teach me how to mourn.

Show me the Medicine

Of the healing herbs,

The value of spirit,

The way I can serve.

Mother, heal my heart

So that I can see

The gifts of yours

That can live through me.

by Jamie Sams

Last night was the 2nd gathering of the 13 Clan Mothers. It was just as beautiful as the 1st. Our circle grew as the lessons we learn spread and more women wanted to come and be part of something so rich and healing. This month the chapter was she who heals and everyone in the circle is a healer in some capacity. We are all healers in some way. The story reminded me that we are being born and we are dying in every moment. Life is never one way or the other. Death can be beautiful if we chose to look at it that way, but it can be scary and it is hard to let go of our attachment to things be it a person in our life who is dying, coming to the end of a relationship, finishing a book, or even our own death. Death is part of living as is Birthing. Being born, or starting on a new journey is also scary. Whether we are giving birth to a new babe, a new life, buying a new house, our attachment to what was can make the process frightening to the point of just exhaustion. I love being reminded that this is all part of the great cycle and I have within me and you have within you the opportunity to embrace it and let it make our lives that much more whole. How we look upon it helps us stay on the red road and makes our paths a little less crooked.

I am she who heals and you are she who heals and together we make a difference.

Sarah Cook got a pig

We went to Sarah Cooks on Friday to visit and see the addition to her family. A 5 day old pig. That's right the Cooks have a pig. They originally thought it was a full size pig, but it turns out it's a pot belly (not that they are exactly small pigs). She/he is really small and hungry all the time, just like a baby and cute like a puppy. Madrona and I having been enjoying the humor of our dear friend having a pig. Only Sarah would save a pig. I guess if it was me and the circumstances were right, I would do the same. Seems like this could pave the way for Jason to get that goat he's always wanted.

Here I am feeding the pig, whose name is Houdinni, she's eating goats milk.

Here we have Kalib feeding Houdinni. I'm not kidding when I say she eats a lot and just wait until she's bigger, but talk about a learning experience for the kids. Even the little noises she makes are great (Of course, they are pig noises).

The highest reward of the day, getting to make art together. Here's Jason (who took the day off from work) making a water color.

And Sarah C working on her painting. I tried not to photo the painting because it isn't finished yet. While we were there, I finished putting binding and a sleeve on my latest piece. Hopefully, I will have pics to share of that in a few days!

I love going to Sarah's and sitting on her porch and visiting while we work on art. It's good company and relaxing and the kids have a blast running around in someone else's woods and playing with her kids.

chicken dance

A couple of weekends ago our good friend Aaron had a birthday at Chuck E Cheese. Can I just say, though I hate Chuck E Cheese this time it wasn't so bad because the kids are bigger and they checked back in with me instead of me having to keep up with them. Well, part of the birthday party is that the kids get to dance with Chuck E. Here are the kids doing the chicken dance... I can't wait until they are grown and I get to embarrass them with this! HAHAHAHAHA!!!! (This is my evil laugh!)

fall veggies

We now have a wonderful local farmers market of organic vegetables, juices, breads, crafters, and more. It is has inspired us to start a fall garden. This summer we didn't grow very much because we were building the ramp and life wasn't really lending itself to us having a big garden. We did grow some tomatoes which the caterpillars and deer enjoyed most of, a cucumber which I still have some hope for, and a few peppers. This fall though, Jason and the kids have big plans for a luscious garden full of sugar snap peas, broccoli (and Broccoli greens - my favorite), Kale, and collards. Greens, Greens, Greens, and more greens! We have been spoiled by fresh vegetables this year. On Monday morning I place an order with our locally grown farmers market where I get our milk, eggs, and a lot of the beef we eat. The milk comes from South Carolina where the cows actually roam around and are fed decent diets and there are no hormones or antibiotics, and the taste of the milk is just incredible. The meat comes from here in GA, but again, the animals actually have lives before they are slaughtered for my table. Their diet isn't corn and fat and hormones and antibiotics, these cows actually get to eat grass. (I do still buy some beef at the grocery store, but I try hard to be aware of what I'm buying). The more the meat becomes available through the locally grown, the happier we are. And lastly, the eggs, the delicious eggs. I hope I NEVER have to go back to having store bought eggs. (There's a rumor we are going to get chickens soon). The yolks of the eggs are so yellow they are almost orange and the taste... Let's just say keeping it local pays off in taste alone, but the food is better for us too. And lastly, the bread we have been buying comes from a company here is town called Luna Baking Co. They recycle the waste water and hops from Terrapin Brewing CO just down the street (literally) and use it to make bread that is out of this world! Our favorite right now is their whole wheat sour dough. YUM!!! And we know where it is all coming from which helps us know that we are taking into our bodies is good stuff rather than full of preservatives and hormones and antibiotics and other bad stuff. All right, enough preaching... I'm excited to know we will be picking veggies from our garden too this fall and here are the boys watering in the sugar snaps and the broccoli. Tomorrow we order our kale and collards. I can't wait! We have revamped the green house to start our seeds as soon as they get here - my favorite part of the planting process and talk about some serious skill learning for my babes!

I've been slack...

This is the longest I have gone in writing since I started this blog. Last week was totally uneventful. We have had such a busy summer, we decided to have a slow week. What does a slow week look like in our house? Well, it means we have nothing on the calendar except Spanish on Wednesdays. It means we don't go anywhere or do anything except explore life together. We did do quite a bit of cleaning, though the house only stays clean for a few hours since we live in it and we are always in the kitchen. I helped both kids clean their rooms and we went through closets and got rid of toys. It's more excitement than you can stand, right? I have a van full of giveaways for the GoodWill and more hand me downs for friends. The kids are growing by leaps and bounds. It won't be too much longer before India is taller than me (not exactly hard since I'm so small). On Saturday Jason helped me clean out the closet and I'm very proud of myself because I got rid of a lot of fabric that I would probably never use. I have bought fabric and bought fabric and bought more fabric, but a lot of it I bought for something other than quilting and though there may come a time in my life that I have time and energy for something other than quilting, I do not have room in my closet for it, so it had to go. We can actually walk in our closet again. That is a nice treat - especially since it is just a matter of time before I start a new project. I also got my desk cleaned off in the process and got a lot put away. I can't remember the last time my table was clean for me to use.

On Friday night, the kids went to spend the night at meme's and they met us at the Farmers Market on Saturday. It was a treat to spend all day on Saturday with them home even though I was in the closet most of the day. Yesterday was the Full House Open House at the Lyndon House. I have 2 pieces hanging in the show. I didn't make it over there because of a dance class, but Jason and the kids went. I took a dance class with the Shakti project on contact improv. It was amazing! The kids and Hubb met me at Baraka's afterwards and we rode on out to Nalu's to celebrate little Avi turning one. Yesterday more than made up for the mellow week we had.

This week, the kids start Tae Kwon Do back. That will add some rushing around to our schedule, but we are excited. India goes in as a blue belt and Kalib a purple belt.

I'll post more this week...

Down by the River

Yesterday was midsummer, so we are half way until fall, when we will all rejoice for some slightly cooler air. SO...

I went out to sweet Danielsville yesterday to celebrate midsummer with some beautiful folks. Some old friends and some new. We went to the Broad River. I'm sad to say I have only swam in those waters once before in my life. I have never fully appreciated the river as I grew up near the Oconee which is red and muddy and plenty filthy from runoff into it, so swimming in there was not something I have ever wanted to experience. We went to a place I probably couldn't find again and swam in this deep pool of water called the Rooster Tail. The water was just the right temperature and the current was just slow enough that you didn't have to fight it to swim or just float. I laid on my back and just let the water carry me a ways. It was beautiful. Just me and myself and my thoughts after all the air had pushed itself out of my ears. I looked up and watched the clouds and the breeze in the trees saying nothing, just experiencing the beauty of where I was and what I was doing. I just smiled the whole time. After bathing in the sun and the river we went back to celebrate MidSummer and gather around a fire sharing in bread and wine and giving thanks for the bounty of the harvest as that is what we now enter at midsummer. I found that I am thankful for the ability to be thankful. I'm thankful that when life throws me lemons I try my best to turn it into lemonade. There are so many people who take their woes and wallow in them and sometimes I do to, but deep in my heart, I know there will come a time where this will just be another step in the crooked path of life and I am thankful that life's path is a little crooked because I can better appreciate the life I have been given and be thankful for the wonder-filled world we all share in. We also shared in some great songs. We were singing I'll Fly Away and I remembered how when I was a little girl on Sunday mornings my dad would just sing that song to himself the whole time he was getting ready to go to church. He was always so happy when he sang that and I found myself wondering if he still does that. (I'll be asking the kids about that). Fellowship is so rich in my community and I feel eternally thankful to get to be a part of that. I'm just thankful for everything today...

May the wind take your troubles away....