Day: November 25, 2009

 
 This pin, in the pincushion was shot with a 180 mm lens, f – 3.5, ss 1/200 in early morning and cloudy light.

  Maria may need to get a new marketing director for yesnoquilts. Frieda seems a bit bored to me, posing for the newest batch of potholders ready to be shipped out. We are out of boxes and have to get more. Check out those teeth. Whew.

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  Notes: Save farmland. Check out and buy the new ASA Calender, whose proceeds go to save farmlands from development. Good cause. You can check out the 2010 calendar – which has photos by me and Corinna Aldrich, as the ASA website online. The calendar is beautiful and is a neat Christmas gift or useful thing for a desk.

   Also. Izzy, Maria and I (and Mary Kellogg) will be at Gardenworks this Saturday, Salem,N.Y. (518 854-3250) to sign and sell our books and sign and sell ASA calendars. Mary’s new book “Whistling Woman” is out. Maria is bringing potholders. I am signing books. ASA staff will be there to talk about their work. Gardenworks offers great stuff – freshly cut Xmas trees, pies, cider, gourmet cheese, crafts, classy gifts and cookies, donuts and produce.

  November 25, 2009 – Maria isn’t promising any more potholders for Christmas, but she was surprised to get more than a score of orders for 2010. She is accepting them. Each night, she brings a fresh stack into the house to ship out, and I am a potholder widow, keeping dinner warm until she staggers in, tired but happy. Soon, we are going to have to venture out and find the discarded old fabrics that make up her potholders and quilts. She isn’t into anything new, and she’s taken most of my shirts. We are planning a quiet Thanksgiving with her mother and family, and hopefully, will get to a movie Friday.
  I like to do my share of shopping, but I refuse to make holiday shopping the barometer of our national well being. The country might be better off – me too – if there were less shopping and new kinds of good jobs for people to have.

  I used to be afraid to wait on decisions – had to make them instantly, often impulsively. That’s an interesting way to live, and it can be very productive. Frightened people keep on moving, and are often terrified to stop. Outside of war, that’s probably not a good way to make decisions. In hospice work, I have learned the idea of active listening. Of receiving stories and information. That’s a good way to make decisions, I think, put ideas out there and see if they live, what comes back. Wait. The athletes call this staying within yourself, and I like the idea.
  This week, we enter the holiday season. For Americans, that mostly means monitoring sales and Christmas shopping. Notions of gratefulness and reflection are often talked about, but rarely felt or acted upon. This weekend, I hope to not shop, and also to take care to list the things I am grateful for, in no particular order of importance:

  Love.
  Health.
  Family.
  Friends.
  My farm.
  My dogs.
  Work.
  Photography.
  Living in this country.
  Change.
  Growth.
  Creativity.