The Road Home

This is the road home from Portland where I stayed the night with my mom. But this is also a very familiar landscape of the past as well. It's been my road home since I was a kid. There is something wonderful about rain hitting the windshield, tail lights reflected in the road, and lush conifers lining the roadsides. It reminds me of listening to Simon and Garfunkel, of always heading somewhere good, especially when it's leading you back to your fireside.

My MECCA: Powell's Books. I come here to worship at the foot of knowledge. I come here to inflate my thirst for new words, new worlds, new guides, and new skills. There are several floors of all of this to explore here, though I confess that I almost always spend every minute of my time on the first floor amongst the crafts, garden, and cookbooks.

Get to know your local herbal! My mom took me to her new favorite herbal shop. She took my sister here too so now it's like our family spot. It smells so good in there. The bars of bees wax look like tiny ingots of gold. There are tins for filling, jars of everything mysterious and wonderful, and oils to scent.

23 rd Street at night. My mom's neighborhood.

I realized that I have a motto to go with this new year of ours: Every Little Bit Counts. I've been applying it to every corner of my life and mind. It's been crawling all over my posts too. I just didn't realize it until last night. It's kind of nice to have a motto.

Some of you probably already know that what I think of Royal people (of any country) is extremely uncomplimentary and generally points mean fingers at a heritage that has become so narrow that it has been known to suffer some classic inbreeding problems and generally accuses members of Royal families of being pretty useless. In general I will probably always cherish this view point. However, I think it shows some ability on my part to overcome my prejudices that I can honestly say that there is one unlikely member of the British Royal family that I have come to admire.

Prince Charles. Seriously, there could not be a weirder person for me to admire, yet I do. The man has actually made himself useful and is doing work that any person could be proud of and is (in my non-British opinion) doing a good service for his country that I could only wish the leader of my own country would do.

He is championing organic practices of gardeners and farmers and has been working to get historical kitchen gardens in Britain rebuilt and put on display. Not only that, he was instrumental in getting the sale and use of GMOs banned in his country until there is more proof that they are not harmful to people and the environment.

I realize that Prince Charles isn't spending most of his time mucking about in the dirt and I realize that he will never truly be one of us regular people, but it is known that he is passionate about gardening and I just can't help myself, I like him. I have my opinions about how he and his ex (dead) wife conducted their marriage, and it is easy to believe that all the Royals of the world are just titular heads of their respective countries at this point in history, but I think it's too facile to let that be the only thing we judge them by.

I like him. So it was extremely hard not to buy his book about organic gardening. I was terribly bummed that I didn't get to see him when he visited Pt. Reyes California to talk about organic gardening...some people are so lucky! The next best thing would be to get his book. I don't need to know how to garden organically, I've already got references for that, but I want to read all his quotes. I really want to read everything he has to say. Yes I do.

Totally bizarre.

I didn't buy it though because I already had a stack of preserving books I've been wanting for a long time. Prince Charles' book cost forty dollars, so I'll just have to wait. It will be on my wish list though.

Which just keeps cracking me up.

I wonder if I could get an autographed copy?

W.I.P.
(special project)

I made the mistake yesterday of reading part of the paper, snatched from the coffee shop. I stopped reading the papers when I was eighteen years old because I have nightmares about everything I read in them, nightmares send me into nasty cycles of insomnia. Occasionally I give in and read. I'm a curious person and if I see a headline, I have to read to the finish to know the end. Same with television news, which is largely the reason we don't have television. I want to know everything that's going on, but unfortunately it happens to be very unhealthy for me. So I usually glean what I need to know filtered through friends who read the papers and watch the news. So I get the big picture without the incessant and corrosive hyperbole.

So of course, I started getting depressed. There's the depression I have to fight that is always there because of my sorry-ass non-norepinephrine-serotonin-dopamine balanced brain, and then there's situational depression. The kind that is there because of imbalance is annoying and difficult because you can't just "shake it off" as many people stubbornly think you can. But situational depression is the kind brought on by events in your life that are sad, or difficult, or just, you know, depressing. Like war.

The great thing about situational depression is that this is the kind you can actually do something about without medication or long sessions sobbing on a therapist's couch. So I asked myself what I can DO ABOUT IT. Action is called for. Keep yourself moving. Keep replacing negative thoughts with more positive ones. Look for the good. Celebrate it when you see it. Do what you can to change the situation or how you deal with it.

I am composing a list in my head (shortly to spill here) of things I can do to help inch towards change. In the mean time, I was working on a project and thought of a little something to amuse myself and to say something where no one expects you to say anything. I'm not going to say what this project is, though I'll bet most of you can tell by looking at it. It should be done today and then I will unveil it. The composition above made me feel happy.

I have been sewing for many many years now but have only used this ric-rac treatment once or twice before, so I'm on a bit of learning curve with it. I love the effect, and always have. Learning to use ric-rac this way is a little like Green Kitchen's new mastery of zippers. It tends to open up lots of possibilities, and what do creative souls love more than that? I could now edge everything in ric-rac. I could have an entire wardrobe edged in ric-rac. I could become known as "That super-dorkRic Rac Lady" Because, lord knows I'm never going to be known for my (minuscule) boobage.

Now that Philip and I have simplified our tasks for the store, I actually have more time for things like designing more things for the store. Everyone keeps asking me to make little girls skirts. I am going to play around with a pattern, but I think all the people who have suggested it think that because I could make one with an elastic waistband that this will be a snap. Practically like walking in my sleep, which, by the way, I've never done before. The truth is that without having professional children's slopers, this is no easy task. Standard sizing is what's called for, and I'm not about to sew every size between toddler to ten year olds, so I need to come up with a standard small, medium, and large. NOT EASY.

It would be easier for all the moms who want simple cute skirts for their girls to make them themselves. However, I like to please people. I'd like to see if I made a couple of them, if they would sell. If I could get my hands on professional children's slopers for small, medium, and large, that would be great. Anyone know where to get them? I have a sneaking suspicion that this is one of those items that people think would be great, but when I slap a price tag on them that reflects the materials cost and the time to make them, they will sit around collecting dust. One mom suggested doing clothes like Boden does, really cute, but cheaper. It brings me back to the realization that most people still expect hand made to be cheaper than corporate made. If Boden charges $40.00 for a girl's skirt, how would I be making something similar for much cheaper?

Anyway. See, no politics today. Just nice craft talk (if you discount the entire first four paragraphs.) That's right, step away from the subject woman...nice and easy.

Oh but, wait... I have to report that just as I was about to close the shop yesterday, a lady came in and browsed while her kid was taking dance lessons at the ballroom across the street. So I stayed open, because it isn't as though we'd had lots of customers and I love to see people browsing. I knew I liked her when she was laughing at the "Subversive Cross stitch" cards and book that we carry. Anyway, she ended up really making our day with a few purchases. We were chit chatting and I said something (can't remember what) and she replied "Oh, I don't mind. I get in the papers all the time."

It's not every day you hear someone say that. It turns out that she's one of three of our County Commissioners (all women, by the way). Is it alright for me to be pleased by the fact that someone who administers the county government likes my store? I was way more impressed by her shopping in my store than I would have been if someone like Halle Berry were to have come in.

Obviously though, not all government people are likely to impress me. But she saw that project I was working on (pictured above) (the one I won't describe yet) and saw the peace part of it and commented that it was cool. So even if she and I turn out to have different political beliefs, at least I know that she's an open minded individual. Besides, she liked the Subversive Cross stitch. I'd find it hard not to like anyone who thinks that's funny.

And just when I thought I was done with all the activist speeches fun talk, I was attacked by the desperate need to share more...

Last thing on my mind right now is that I spent a couple of hours reading a book called "From the garden to the table" by Sarah and Monty Don who live in Ivington England. I am just reminded once again how it seems (though I'm no expert on this) that British people, the English in particular, have got a very down to earth approach to gardening and eating.

What I mean is, I am constantly impressed by how far ahead of us they are in working to revitalize their local small farms, to press for less use of pesticides, and so many people there grow what they can themselves whether they have a tiny plot or large. For as many English people there are who are growing only prize gladiolas, there are a ton of them who are passionate about growing their own produce. I'm not an anglophile, but I will admit that I would like Americans to get as excited about the quality of their food.

And, HELLO, their country has banned the use of genetically modified foods and seeds until more research has been done. (In fact, they're waiting to see if America shrivels up and starts producing an abundance of third arms.) (Our government doesn't mind using us all as guinea pigs. When all our beneficial insects are dead, and everyone is getting really weird diseases, the corporate biggies who are making a mint off of GMO's will just move to England where it's a little safer to eat food. It's my hope that England will not let them in.)*

I get all excited whenever I'm reading about other people getting passionate about the origin of their food, especially if they do so without being sanctimonious. Sarah and Monty Don don't strive for total independence, their attitude is much more relaxed than that. They still opt for convenience at times, but are living a life that is more connected to their local than most people. I like that they aren't telling people it's evil to shop in a grocery store, since most people will always have to depend on stores for food, but they echoed my own feeling that every one's lives would be improved by at least trying to grow something for their own kitchen, even if it is just a few pots of fresh herbs.

I'm going to plant my new herbs this morning. And finish pruning the main patch of roses. (I have about thirty roses, and it's my plan to get many more since we left behind all my favorites in our old garden. Most of my roses here don't have scent, and that is something that must be remedied.)

I promise that tomorrow will be a political and activist free zone. It will be nothing but fun and pretty!