Spring’s predictable garden bounty makes my heart sing. It’s a great time to plunk some flowers in a vase and a chance to use my pink ceramic chick.
Sweet peas are slowly emerging in several shades of purple. Conversely, the freesias are winding down, but several white varieties remain in bloom. I added freesias to my vase with cuttings from our Pittosporum tree. The greens are shiny this time of year, with subtle, waxy citrus-scented flowers which generate an intoxicating scent. I hope the arrangement holds up for Easter, but if not, I’ll find more for the table’s centerpiece.
If you enjoy arranging flowers from your garden, Please consider joining us for the occasional IAVOM (In a Vase on Monday). You can reach Cathy at the link below.
Thank you to “the Cathys” for inspiring this Monday series. You can visit Cathy at Rambling in The Garden at this link to see several stunning vases worldwide. Perhaps you would like to share one of your own.
This past weekend I was invited once again to join a handful of customer models for a Liverpool Fashion show. I’m still recovering from surgery, but I would have hated to miss it. Hannah chose comfortable, sensible shoes for me to wear, with the goal of remaining stylishly upright. I’m happy to report all went well. The show raises funds for a local non-profit and unveils the current line of Liverpool clothing designed for comfortable and stylish dressing. I get to hang out with a fun group of women and play dress up.
The show is energizing but tiring, and I would have customarily headed home. However, the Hands Off protests landed on the same day. I’m seven weeks post hip replacement surgery, so Saturday’s rally was the first I could confidently attend.
I drove from Los Gatos to a shopping center in San Jose, rendezvoused with Mike, and took the light rail to the downtown San Jose event together. Over 5,000 protestors attended the San Jose rally.
“Hands Off! demonstrations were held across the country to protest the actions of President Trump and his billionaire advisor, Elon Musk.
The Hands Off! movement protested a wide range of activities from the Trump administration, from cuts and layoffs to federal departments to mass deportations.
Hands Off! demonstrations were organized for more than 1,200 locations in all 50 states by more than 150 groups, including civil rights organizations, labor unions, LBGTQ+ advocates, veterans, and elections activists, according to the Associated Press.”
As much as I enjoyed the day’s activities, I suddenly struggled to stand without pain. It was time to go home. We walked back to the light rail station, where we could sit while waiting for the train, but when it arrived, it was standing room only through the end of the route. It felt good to get home.
Early this morning, and for the second time in ten days, part of the knot of stitches at the end of my incision “spit out” through the skin’s surface. My body should absorb these stitches as I heal, but they’re moving the absorbable stitches to the skin’s surface, hence the term spit stitch. It’s unnerving.
My surgeon’s office isn’t concerned, asking me to pull the stitch taut and cut it close to the skin. There is nothing like a pair of sharp, sterilized crafting scissors and a willing spouse with a steady hand to get your day going. When an even longer stitch protruded today, first as a loop and then opening out to a 5mm straight stitch, at least we knew what to do.
My sister’s progressing MS has created a need for adaptive clothing, however, the adaptive clothing available online, while functional, lacks style. Choices are limited, and most features skew toward a caregiver dressing the individual.
Sharon visits every Sunday via Paratransit so she can spend time with her cat, Queen B. Kitty is now in our care.
My sister wants to dress herself to the best of her ability. Maintaining independence when you’ve lost so much is critical to one’s mental health. Further, her care home wants to charge an additional $500 monthly for dressing assistance. We’re both appalled.
Due to leg spasticity, muscle contractions, and impaired trunk (torso) strength, Sharon can no longer wear pants or tights. Instead, I’ve modified off-the-rack dresses and tops, making them functional and stylish.
Finding a dress with a long full skirt in a soft knit material took me a while, but I eventually found two I could alter. I found a halter-style dress on another shopping trip, so Sharon has three dresses in rotation. In the end, the halter dress was the winner in terms of ease of dress, so I’ll look for more at some point. The dresses I bought were on the clearance rack at the end of the season.
Mike took photos of me showing off the altered dresses.
I changed the neckline of the two knit dresses by adding soft elastic to the dress straps. I cut the back of the skirt from hem to waist, then overlocked the exposed opening. The new opening in the back of the skirt allows the dress to drape over the legs and hips for modesty, removing any bulk or discomfort created when sitting on a full dress.
The elastic at the neckline keeps the straps from slipping and gives her more control as she pulls the dress over her head.
The third dress had the requisite full skirt, so I cut it up the back from the hem to just below the waist. I removed the tie at the neck, created a new neckline, and added elastic.
Mike took photos of me showing off the altered dresses.
I altered five tops that Sharon bought online, cutting the center back and overlocking the edges. The button is decorative while adding some weight to the front of the garment, keeping the slippery fabric in place and creating an easy-to-use neck opening.
It would be nice to see the fashion industry put more effort into serving the millions of people living with a disability. Not all sizes are equal, and the industry eventually realized that and began offering petite clothing, plus-sized clothing, and even a few tall sizes for women like me. It’s time for industry leaders to recognize the need and to do market research geared towards people living with a disability and not just their caregivers.
An Update
Sharon works for the Veterans Administration or VA, processing a complex payroll of two hundred nurses twice a month. She’s a federal employee, a union member, and a remote worker since 2020.
The Department of Personnel Management issued directives requiring all federal employees to return to in-person work by May. One thousand four hundred employees were dismissed, with more likely to follow. All employees must send a weekly email describing five things they did that week as if they were children in grade school. Further insults to employees at large forbid displaying the Pride flag in any capacity, further clarified as no flag, flag pin, Pride flag on a poster or any other image. The fear, angst, and betrayal among federal employees throughout the country are palpable.
Six weeks post-hip surgery, I’m finally free to bend my hip joint past 90%. It still hurts, but with a series of maneuvers, I can gather garden blooms. Spring is in full swing, so I had many lovely choices. I went with a white and purple palette, with plenty of green to add structure and balance.
White Freesia with a hint of yellow center balances the purple Muscari or grape hyacinth. The Freesia returns yearly in various colors, but the white and yellow blooms dominate. The Muscari is new to my garden, and it did not disappoint. It’s also reputed to spread easily through the garden, so I see more and more of it in my future.
I clipped a few sprigs of greenery from our Pittosporum tree and plopped the flowers in a recycled glass sauce jar wrapped in colorful fabric Washi tape from 49 & Market.
Thank you to “the Cathys” for inspiring this Monday series. It encourages me to bring in some of our garden’s colorful and fragrant goodness. You can visit Cathy at Rambling in The Garden at this link to see several stunning vases worldwide.
My recovery from hip replacement surgery is going well. Without needing ice packs and elevated limbs, I could comfortably sit at my crafting desk to make a few ScrapHappy cards. Thank you, Kate, for bringing us together for these monthly challenges.
I have an inordinate amount of green paper scraps spanning many shades, solid and print. I managed to work four green scraps into three cards. I will continue to challenge myself to use more. I have an unappealing shade of leftover green paper from a paper pack that I will never use, so it went into the “scraps for testing ideas pile,” allowing me to cull the useable greens.
The first card incorporates two shades of green and a blueish background from a Halloween pack, believe it or not. As I’ve challenged myself over the years, I’m more confident about mixing the unexpected. It’s fun.
Once or twice a year, I receive a coupon mailer from a clothing company called Tommy Bahama featuring beautiful tropical art, something I can’t bear to toss. I set the envelope aside and waited for inspiration. This month, I incorporated the front and back of the envelope into two cards.
This first card uses a cutout from the front of the envelope, set behind a trellis die-cut using a green scrap. I inked a piece of white paper to get the shade of blue I wanted, then sandwiched the trellis, orchid, and blue paper, matting a sliver of purple to tie the colors together.
The final card uses the back of the tropical art, one more green scrap (yay), purple scraps from my sister, and a butterfly transfer to tie it together. I enjoy using up what I have, repurposing when I can, and, most of all, creating cards to send to friends.
These are difficult times. If you’ve been looking for a way to reduce stress, creative outlets like card-making, sewing, knitting, gardening, painting, or writing are a balm for the soul.
Here’s a list of contributing scrap-happy bloggers:
After a parched January, the skies opened up and delivered much-needed rain. I’m grateful for every drop. It’s fun to imagine droplets trickling down to the garden’s roots, perhaps encountering an earthworm as they travel. After years of gardening and drought in this semi-arid state, I take nothing for granted.
Various birds, squirrels, and perhaps this Virginia Oppossum drink from our fountain and the smaller birdbath on our deck. All thirsty guests are welcome.
We had one week in January with unseasonable temps in the seventies (F) and no rain; Mike ensured these water sources were clean and full.
Over time, I’ve replaced potted plants along the deck with succulents. Succulents store moisture in their leaves, allowing the plant to go one to three months without water. Conversely, most summer annuals need near-daily watering, so I’ve learned to (mostly) resist when I head to the garden center.
The newest addition to our deck is called an Othonna Capensis. It has thin purple stems and tiny yellow flowers. I transplanted it last summer into a waiting pot, but I wasn’t sure it would make it. The roots were loose and thin. To the contrary, it’s filled the pot nicely and its sending trailing purple offshoots down the sides. I add a few potted cyclamen for color in the fall, and when the corms go dormant, I replant them in different parts of the garden for color the following year.
Working in my garden has been physically challenging these past few years as the pain in my hips worsened. After five years of maneuvering through the US medical system, I finally had a complete hip replacement this past Wednesday. From a medical perspective, the surgery was unremarkable, and I was able to come home the same day. I need to replace the left hip in the future, but I want to fully recover before contemplating another surgery.
If you garden in the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll know February is a decent time to be off your feet. The first six weeks of recovery will carry me through the end of winter, leading to the effervescent gifts of spring.
A large swath of voters in the US elected a man-child to the highest office in the land. Some voted in denial of his words and deeds; others, as far as I can tell, didn’t care. No matter. The President-elect takes office Monday morning, coinciding with a federal holiday honoring the late, great Martin Luther King, Jr. The juxtaposition is depressing.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
As this country mourns the death of former President Jimmy Carter, the President-elect has asked that the flag be raised for his special day, an act that is self-centered, disrespectful, undignified, and crude.
The Carter Center’s mission is to Wage Peace, Fight Disease, and Build Hope.
The new guy wants to set back women’s rights by a century, as he hatefully deports hard-working immigrants while freeing the criminals who attacked the Capital on his behalf. He’s cozying up to three of the world’s wealthiest billionaires while lining his pockets and lying for sport.
When I hear that we’ve “seen worse” or “we’ll get through this,” I cringe. Some of us will be fine, others won’t, and race and gender will unjustly determine many outcomes.
I struggle as I search for ways to be. It takes energy to be scared and angry all the time. Avoiding news coverage helps tame the beast, but it’s always waiting to pounce on the other side.
“Our political culture tells us to see our opponents as uniformly awful—to reduce them to their vote—and yet ordinary human experience shows that most people are complex, decent, and just trying to get along. What should we prioritize: the stark binaries of politics or the reality of people as we know them? Hope doesn’t deny how grim things are; it doesn’t look away from the news, wish away the signs in the street, or sugarcoat the terrible plans of those coming to power. But it doesn’t deny the potential in people, either. “
In “The Spirit of Hope,” the philosopher Byung-Chul Han “distinguishes between hope and optimism. “Hopeful thinking is not optimistic thinking,” Han writes, with emphasis. Optimism “knows neither doubt nor despair. Its essence is sheer positivity.”
I hope positive thinking, acts of kindness, and truth will see me through.
Thank you, Kate, for bringing us together for these monthly scrap-happy challenges. Kate and Gun have hosted this blog hop for a decade. Impressive, eh? Forget your troubles, come on get scrappy.
My contribution this month uses scraps of velum and several pages from last year’s The Old Farmer’s Almanac calendar to create three greeting cards.
I used two pieces of heavy white card stock for the body of the card, then adhered a pretty section of the calendar to the card front. These illustrations by artist Kristen Kest are too pretty to toss.
I ran both layers through my nifty die cutter, then scored the top and glued it to the back layer.
I stamped a couple of sentiments onto scraps of velum (I love using velum) and added them to the front of the card. Making these cards was quick, easy, and fun or in Kate’s parlance, scrap-happy.
I have a few more pages of the calendar to craft with. I hope to get to that next month.
Thanks as always, Kate.
Here’s a list of contributing scrap-happy bloggers:
Assembling a jigsaw puzzle is the ultimate escape. It’s engaging but not taxing, and with one thousand pieces, it requires time and patience.
Conversely, I had neither time nor patience throughout December, yet I started assembling a puzzle anyway, and once done, I started another one.
Studies suggest that puzzles increase the production of dopamine, a chemical that regulates mood, memory, and concentration. Once I cracked open the puzzle box, the sorting began, and the list of things I needed to do fell by the wayside. A spell had been cast, one puzzle piece at a time.
Most of the time, I’m an organized and capable person, so I’m uncomfortable feeling this scattered. I planned to make Christmas cards this year and had the supplies. Making cards and corresponding with friends is a joy. I eventually sat down at my crafting table and created a dozen cards, but by day’s end, fatigue won out, and most of my cards remained unsent.
I made one card, using scraps, to join Kate’s ScrapHappy blog hop mid-December, but I lacked the time to create a post.
Earlier in the year, I set aside vintage Christmas postage to make a card from a friend’s stash. You guessed it: finished but unsent.
And Permits? How did that get into the title?
It’s a long and tedious story, so here’s my attempt at brevity. The space between the sidewalk and the street, known locally as the sidewalk strip, is the homeowner’s responsibility, but the City governs usage. When we bought our home nearly thirty years ago, we inherited a strip of lawn. We applied for a permit and planted a “street tree.” During the worst of the drought years, we removed the lawn. Mike built a planter box in its place, and I’ve happily planted seasonal flowers, tomatoes, and whatever else wanted to self-seed there for many years.
In the last decade, the tree declined. We applied for a permit to replace the tree. The City denied our request, saying the tree wasn’t sick enough. City workers came through this spring and pruned every tree on the block to prepare for road work, leaving a sickly tree in its wake. They approved our second request to remove and replace the tree.
Two weeks later, we received a Repair Notice and Permit saying we had to remove the planting box, calling it a tripping hazard. I’ll share more details in a future post, but suffice it to say I’m sad, disappointed, and, for a time, overwhelmed by the amount of work it would take to dismantle my beloved curb garden, not to mention the expense.
The City gave us thirty days to remove the tree, the planting box, and all the soil and gravel, plants, bulbs, and irrigation that went with it. When I called, they offered an extension but refused to budge on the planter.
I can always send those Christmas cards next year.
In the wee hours of the morning on November 6th, I crawled out of bed and confirmed what I already knew. Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to a vile man.
Since then, I’ve managed a near-100% media blackout, avoiding print, radio, and TV. Further, I’m on an extended break from social media. It’s tough to reconcile the fact that 50% of the votes cast in this election nominated a racist, misogynistic, lying, cheating man who is now free of any consequences for his contemptible behavior. I feel sick with grief.
While I’m not one to stick my head in the sand, this is how I’m coping with my sorrow and dread of what’s to come. It’s exhausting.
California is home to 39 million people, 27% of whom are immigrants. People are scared. My internal mantra has been “mourn, then mobilize,” but it will be a while before I get there.
I’ll end with this quote:
“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” James Baldwin
Resist: Marches, Rallies, and Vigils Click on image for details
Gardening Nirvana 