Play Time!

I am finally walking without crutches, though my choices of shoes are very limited.  I can walk around the house a little at a time and we go out for a few hours without my crutches. I have to come home and prop my leg up after any outing to rest my toes.  Yes, I said "my toes".  My foot and ankle are functional and I walk with only a slight limp, but my three mangled toes scream "STOP" after and hour or so of slow moving activity. An evening out for dinner requires the following day of sitting with my foot propped up on a pillow with intermittent soaking to settle the toe spasms.  There is good news here though...Each recovery seems to be better.  This morning I am up with resolve!

My urge to sew is bubbling over.  I been touching and sorting my fabrics for several weeks.  My supplies are organized and straightened.  I still have  Creative Girl's little portable table with ironing pad set beside my sewing table.  The bar in the kitchen is covered now with my vinyl cloth for sorting fabric pieces.  Today I SHALL sew!  

Next week I look forward to a sewing retreat with three, maybe four, perhaps even five of my friends who sew!  Dancin' Girl will host at her house on the lake and we will sew all day long for three days straight. Several projects are in the plans, so I will get out later today to shop for a few final items to add to my supply hoard.

Creative Girl was traveling with her husband Planter Man yesterday  and gathered a few Row by Row Patterns and kits for me.  Have I told you about that project yet?  It is such fun to visit quilt shops around the country and the Row by Row event is a summer long, nationwide, shop hop (sort of).  When eight rows or more are combined into a quilt, said quilt may be eligible for a prize when taken to a participating quilt shop...and why would you take it to any other kind?  Creative Girl, my over-achiever friend, completed her enhanced version of a ten-row quilt last week and took it in to claim a fantastic prize.  We had such fun visiting shops, even in my lame condition, earlier in the month that though her quilt is finished she is still gathering row patterns and kits for the rest off us.  Planter Man was meeting with other fruit growing enthusiasts somewhere near San Antonio this weekend. He graciously agreed to allow her stops along the way at quilt shops for gathering fabrics and row kits. I am ready now to begin making the first of my rows!

Choosing happy

I refuse to be sad! If I spend one moment dwelling on the situation in our country, I have the urge to cry.  I want to cease reading or watching any kind of news.  Optimism is hard to muster when a madman opens fire on a peaceful protest, with the escorting police officers his target. Politicians all strive to make their mark in the aftermath...and I just want to cry.  This is the reality, I must face daily and yet I hope it will get better.

My life is pretty good. We live in a safe neighborhood.  Our city is usually safe enough to move around without feeling threatened.  We live comfortably, wanting for little.  Good restaurants are available, entertainment is near and varied.  Our house is on a hill overlooking a beautiful golf course and a lake beyond. Healthcare is readily available to us and we are well insured from the financial burden of same. Membership in a large loving church congregation soothes our spirit. So why am so troubled?

I ran across an article a few days ago that seemed to give rise to my melancholy.  As a young person hearing the Russian Premier Kruchev tell our president that they would destroy us from within, I shuddered.  He seemed so certain.  As a young adult, the memory surfaced when I read Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals."  The process for creating and controlling a population to create a social state seemed so simplistic, I refused to believe Americans would ever allow it to happen..  All of the principles from Alisky's formula are in place in our country today. I see a struggle to resist, but it is pathetically weak. Our children have been subject to an education that presents a social state as a sort of "Utopia" and selectively edits history and science.  This will be their country to inherit. 

I will not dwell on this any longer.  Putting my concerns in writing gives me a bit of release, even as I hear a physician talk in a tear filled voice about the recent massacre.  I must turn inward and be thankful for my many blessings.  I have children and grandchildren that are part of our hope for the future.  It is their future and I will not wallow in guilt for leaving them with it.  I will enjoy life and love the people that make it worth living.  I will keep my friends near and remember to talk to them often.  I will do the projects and travel to the places that are my happy plans.  Our pastor shared a passage I recognize.  It gives me comfort.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Be joyful always. Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (NIV)