Cause and Effect- Karma? Reaping What is Sown

Our neighbors complained for two years about a healthy elm tree in our back yard. Its branches reached over the fence between the Hatfields and McCoys (i.e., them vs. us). The biggest complaint was that this tree allowed its seeds to fall onto their lawn and created unsightly new elm growth in the middle of their manicured masterpiece of green grass. The neighbors went to the extreme of writing a nasty note about this situation, publishing it in the local newspaper, and sending us a copy to be sure we had seen it. And one day, an envelope was mailed to us with seeds from an elm tree tucked inside the package, apparently gleaned from the offensive tree in our yard.

Yes, obviously, these people had way too much time on their hands.

Long story short, the healthy, shady and lovely elm tree was removed from our yard.

Moving on to the summer of 2009, it is ironic that a dead tree (five times as large as our offending elm) just happens to create an unsightly nuisance for our neighborhood. And it is on their property. The cost to remove the tree will be around $4,000 since access to the tree is limited.

Although this is not the particular tree, here is a representative picture of the huge cottonwood now residing in their back area, creating a nuisance for them:

Which brings up this thought from What You Receive is What You Give ...

In both Hinduism and Buddhism, every action has consequences. When a pebble falls into a pool, it produces rings that spread throughout the whole pool. A butterfly fluttering its wings can produce a typhoon, under the right conditions.

In the same way, our actions cause cosmic vibrations that affect not only this life but our lives to come. What we do not learn in this life must be learned in the next. Harm we cause in this life will come back to us in the next. The universe is relentless. It will not let us get away with anything.

To read more about the poor little elm and its demise in 2007, go to my husband's posting about the elm tree ruthlessly yanked from the ground.

Moral of the story: one living tree demolished two years ago, replaced by one dead tree whose removal will require a huge financial outlay for the neighbors.

What you reap, that shall you sow gives an insightful look into this proverb.

Affirmation Journal - Keeping Centered

Over thirty years ago, my mother was making affirmation journals, although that term would never have come to her mind. In looking over one such book she had compiled, and wondering if others had made similar journals, it took me on a search to find information about an Affirmation Journal.

Keeping positive thoughts and quotations cut out from newspapers and magazines was mom's forte - remember that was in the day prior to computers when we actually held books in our hands for reading. Whenever she came across a written thought or even a paragraph that she knew she would like to re-read in the future, she would clip it from Sunday morning church bulletins, newsletters or even copy by hand her favorite scripture passages. Then she would paste these little snippets into a blank book for further pondering. She also illustrated portions of the books she put together with her own artwork. It was an activity from which she gained much benefit, as she battled depression her entire lifetime.

Looking through her journals today and seeing her signature watercolors makes me smile long after she has died. While working on a psychiatric hospital mental health team a few years ago, I used this form of "paper and reading craft" in helping severely depressed clients. Giving each patient the knowledge that positive affirmations kept in the forefront of our spirits is an aid to better mental health, and then teaching this simple act of clipping and pasting, proved to be a valuable teaching activity. Call it occupational therapy if you wish; affirmation journal making was engaging and helpful in channeling innermost thoughts toward a higher plane of purpose.

One client told me it was the most helpful thing she learned in her seeking solutions for greater well being. In gratitude, she showed me her newly begun personal clip-and-paste book that she had started while hospitalized. What a humbling satisfaction it was for me to learn this particular activity passed on by my mother was yet helping someone else a third generation later.

Above are some pictures of the pages of Ann McCarroll's journal. I hope you enjoy them, and perhaps this simple idea may set you on your own personal journey of seeking, saving and reviewing affirmations.

...one of my favorite affirmations: "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me". Philippians 4:13

Foliage Centerpiece inside Centerpiece

Back in the spring, this centerpiece was begun by purchasing a large container at a Big Box Store, and embedding a bowl inside the container. Then the inner bowl was surrounded by an inch of potting soil tamped around it, making a circular ring of soil.

After the soil was watered, transplantation of blooming grape hyacinths and ajuga ground cover completed the task. Then it was time for Mother Nature to take over, helping roots to establish and the plants to begin flourishing.

In the middle of the container, I placed this plant to take up the negative space:

Then all that was needed to finish off the project were some silk fall foliage.

Supply list: One large decorative container; one smaller container to fit inside the decorative one; potting soil, perennial plants and silk flowers to dress up the project

It is outside on the patio table, still blooming and looking "fallish". It was an easy project and fun to complete. The plastic pot inside the larger teacup container is a bit too high for this particular centerpiece, but you get the idea of how this can be finished off.

Stapleton Planned Community

The past weekend was spent in Denver with a side trip to Vail on the way over the mountain. Stapleton Community was the final destination.

Here are a few pictures of Vail and the area around Stapleton, including friend Kathy who did not want her picture taken:

The Snuggle Project for Sheltered Animals

If you have a desire to help animals that have been abandoned, you might be interested in reading about The Snuggles Project.

The Snuggles Project was founded by our president and founder, Rae French, in 1996 because of her heartfelt need to do something for the innocent victims who find themselves in animal shelters without a bit of comfort to call their own. Picturing them in their hard cold cells made her heart ache to do something to help. So she got the idea of security blankets for shelter animals. The security blankets are called "Snuggles." Each animal would get a Snuggle to cuddle up with to feel warmth and comfort. Most shelter animals are kept in areas with stainless steel braces and hard plastic flooring or even bare concrete floors. The Snuggles would allow them to have a little reprieve from the coldness of the pen they are kept in.

If you are interested in helping out in this compassionate endeavor, go here for a free blanket pattern, courtesy of The Snuggle Project.

The pattern looks like this:


This is a volunteer project, and the website lists dozens of patterns for snuggle beds to knit, crochet, or sew. Thanks to Dances With Wool for her mentioning this worthwhile project.

Knitting the Clapotis Scarf

"Clapotis" is a French term. From Wikipedia the definition is:

clapotis (from French: "lapping of water") is a non-breaking standing wave pattern, caused for example, by the reflection of a traveling surface wave train from a near vertical shoreline like a breakwater, seawall or steep cliff. The resulting clapotic wave does not travel horizontally, but has a fixed pattern of nodes and antinodes.

The pattern for knitting the clapotis scarf is a free download available from Knitty. Author of the design, Kate Gilbert, writes:

French women are known for wearing scarves. Starting in September and until summer arrives, this is a most important accessory. The scarf may be striped or patterned, colorful, wrinkled and is much bigger than the scarves you probably have. Women just wrap the scarf around their neck in a "Je suis belle et ça ne demande aucun effort*" sort of way and off they go.

Since I have lived in Paris, I have realized that these ladies are on to something. I find I am much warmer wearing a scarf, even if I’m not wearing a jacket, so here is my knit version of the French scarf. It’s knit on the bias so the variegated yarn makes diagonal stripes and stitches are carefully dropped to make a pattern in the opposite direction. This creates a scarf which tends to be a little more of a parallelogram than a rectangle, but I promise, it’s nice that way.

This description of the scarf intrigued me, and since I was looking for a new scarf project, the free download pattern found here was the unique design which would capture me into another knitting web.

Here is a picture of the Clapotis Scarf which I started last week. The fiber is 50% silk and 50% soft, buttery wool from the website of eatsleepknit in the colorway named "Tuscany." More information about the yarn can be found here at Lornas Laces Lion and Lamb. It has a cozy, delicate hand to the fiber and is a joy to hold while knitting up the intriguing stitch pattern.

Initially, it was problematic for me in deciphering the instructions, but with a little help from my friends at Ravelry, it was sorted out in short order.

And here is the website address for designer Gilbert's finished clapotis shawl being modeled at Library Picture.

Faroese Shawl

After two months of hard knitting (yes, difficult), the Faroese Shawl from "A Gathering of Lace" book by Meg Swanson is completed.

Daughter Heidy is showcasing the needlework. Its finished size is 80" x 36". Phew.

The Faroese Shawl takes its title from the Faroe Islands that are northwest of Scotland and halfway between Iceland and Norway.

Artisans from that area ... "here in quiet homes, often far from the nearest neighbor, gossimer fine wool is transformed into cobweb-like beauty..." (from Rae Compton, The Complete Book of Traditional Knitting).

This was a fairly difficult endeavor, but worth the effort for future chilly evenings.

Vegetable Love Poem by Barbara Crooker

by Barbara Crooker

Feel a tomato, heft its weight in your palm,
think of buttocks, breasts, this plump pulp.
And carrots, mud clinging to the root,
gold mined from the earth's tight purse.
And asparagus, that push their heads up,
rise to meet the returning sun,
and zucchini, green torpedoes
lurking in the Sargasso depths
of their raspy stalks and scratchy leaves.
And peppers, thick walls of cool jade, a green hush.
Secret caves. Sanctuary.
And beets, the dark blood of the earth.
And all the lettuces: bibb, flame, oak leaf, butter-
crunch, black-seeded Simpson, chicory, cos.
Elizabethan ruffs, crisp verbiage.
And spinach, the dark green
of northern forests, savoyed, ruffled,
hidden folds and clefts.
And basil, sweet basil, nuzzled
by fumbling bees drunk on the sun.

And cucumbers, crisp, cool white ice
in the heart of August, month of fire.
And peas in their delicate slippers,
little green boats, a string of beads,
repeating, repeating.
And sunflowers, nodding at night,
then rising to shout hallelujah! at noon.

All over the garden, the whisper of leaves
passing secrets and gossip, making assignations.
All of the vegetables bask in the sun,
languorous as lizards.
Quick, before the frost puts out
its green light, praise these vegetables,
earth's voluptuaries,
praise what comes from the dirt.

"Vegetable Love" by Barbara Crooker, from Radiance. © Word Press, 2005.

Classy Comic Pumps - CraftStylish

Classy Comic Pumps - CraftStylish
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Fall Colors for 2009

While perusing blogs this morning, I came across an interesting prognostication for 2009 Fall Color Preview from Pantone. This is the website's picture...


And here is their report (16 pages) if you care to download it: Pantone Previews.

Remember when that chartreuse green color was so hot for spring a couple of years ago? Maybe I'll just stick to the colors I have always liked and not go for the Wickedly Popular colors. How about you?

Another Baby Surprise Jacket

Remember the yarn talked about in a prior posting about Brenda's hand painted yarn ? No?

To recap: the yarn was hand painted by Brenda and was the foundation yarn for the sweater.

...you save your pennies and splurge on a glorious yarn, taking your time to knit an equally glorious gift from it. You try to find a yarn that, even in its natural state, whispers sweet nothings into the ears of its wearer.

It was a pleasure to work with this lovely fiber; the foundation designer yarn was combined with another mulberry colored washable wool (larger stripes) to knit up this larger version of the Baby Surprise Jacket (courtesy of Elizabeth Zimmerman's 1968 pattern):

A third pinkish-burgundy colored sock yarn was used in the edging of the jacket, finished off with an attached I cord binding and coordinating pink heart shaped buttons. Size 9 circular needles were used, and this sweater turned out to be about an 18 month size.

This is my second Ravelry sweater completed with the help of a forum on this group. Baby Ella Anne, whose mama said she likes to dress Ella in pinks and purples, should be toasty warm this winter in this little jacket made especially for her by her Auntie Nancy.