Stacey Abrams

Greetings!

Because it’s Wednesday, it’s Work In Progress (WIP) day in the land of Intentional Creativity. Here’s a glimpse…

A couple of loads of laundry.

Olympic floor sweeping.

A quilt project. The first in almost a year. Rather an urgent gift and an awkward time for the trusty machine of old to have a computer stroke. Blessings on Amazon and a non-computerized variety, more than capable of getting me through the current task.

Done, quilted, washed, dried, and delivered by next Tuesday. (Gulp!)

It’s worth noticing that I bought the terminally ill computerized embroidery machine just after granddaughter number one was born, when I had fantasies of embroidering little duckies on gingham dresses which needed to be, you know, ironed.

So much about that didn’t work!

There’s a painting almost done and one just begun.

Dog barf washed off the floor. (Sorry, but true!)

Wrestling with budget numbers. It seems there is still more I want to learn! And the counting happens with fingers, toes, and heart.

“Bird broth” thawing in the kitchen. Various leftovers lined up to join the party.

I still don’t wear shoes when it’s cold, but soup helps a lot!

The Christmas tree is taken down and headed for the basement. (Laugh if you need to… It’s not February yet!)

Luther’s getting the hang of eye drops. I think he ran into something he couldn’t see and scratched his eye. It got pretty yucky but we’re making good progress. It only takes two of us now!!!

Celebrating some more exciting news… Stacey Abrams, who, in a fair election would be the new governor of Georgia, has been asked to deliver the Democratic response to the State of the Union address which, as Bill cleverly noted, is blessedly, not on the same night as the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. That means I get to cheer for an amazing American leader and the Newfoundland dog in the Working Group, live and in person. (Politics, February 5th. Best sporting event of the year, February 11th and 12th.)

Have picked out an inspiring place for my new drum to live when it isn’t busy. (Actual hanging perhaps WIP for next week!)

The rain boots that were too big have been returned with help from Bill. I’m fine with packaging but not so good at post office.

Best, perhaps, of all… my quilt project has reminded me of the liberated Spirit that inspires me to get enough of the rest of this stuff done to make room for art and hope.

Life, it seems, is a work in process.

May you notice whatever works for you in this way and pause a moment to celebrate!

My sister is a “social studies” teacher for middle school kids. Her favorite subject is American History. Especially things like colonial American trade and whether we might, in fact, fit in with the Daughters of the Mayflower crowd.

Her classroom is amazing. It’s like a little museum full of antiques and memorabilia. Things that many kids born in the age of Amazon and Facebook have no real frame of reference for.

We moved around a lot as kids and I vaguely remember learning the history of several mid-West states, which probably had a lot to do with taking my Gramma Elsie to see old log cabins and historic houses when she came to visit us.

Gramma was inevitably a challenge for the tour guides, wanting to know who made the quilts and what varieties of corn were growing in the garden.

(These did not seem to be things in the scripts!)

I learned a lot of history by reading.

I read everything I could get my hands on.

Lately, I’ve learned that, while I loved all those stories — especially the Broadway play, 1776 — there were other folks telling those stories in different ways.

Leon Uris’ Exodus is a good example.

One of the questions I learned to ask, rather late in my education, is “Whose voice is missing?”

It turns out that the answer to that question, historically, has often, sadly, been most of the voices.

There are lots of good people who’ve been working on that for a while.

(We’re going to zig a bit here for a moment to add in a bit of personal history and then wind up back where we are…)

I had knee surgery six times in nine years.

As a hobby, I don’t recommend it!

All things considered, I’m doing pretty well these days. I had a great surgeon, fabulous physical therapists, a Qigong master I cherish, a very helpful recliner chair and lots and lots of bone broth. Along with some new help from learning to paint, but that’s a story for another day.

One of those knees, though, still has a habit of buckling unexpectedly every now and then which causes me to fall down.

Falling down is not on the list of approved activities for people who’ve had knee replacements.

My surgeon yells when I fall down and wants me to do odd things like quit traveling.

We made a deal. I use a walking stick. One of those sporty looking ones that looks like I might spend my spare time hiking up Stone Mountain, but don’t.

The really cool thing is that it’s collapsible which is great for flying and also for granddaughters who like to make it their size and “play Grammy”.

The walking stick has led to another staple in my wardrobe.

A denim vest. (Well, it used to be a jacket but a good pair of fabric shears took care of that!)

It has lots of pockets. There’s room for everything from wallet and lip gloss and phone to tape measures and dog treats.

All of which means I don’t need a purse and, therefore, have an actual hand left over for car doors and other useful things, like shopping.

Why am I telling you all this?

Well, the denim vest also has lots of room for pins and buttons and purple ribbons and other statement sorts of jewelry.

One lapel has been empty for about a year now. It’s the one where my Bernie Sanders button lived for a long time. And, if we’re being honest, taking it off was hard. It took a while.

Last night, though, we made some new history in Georgia. Stacey Abrams won the Democratic nomination for governor with about 76% of the vote. Stacey Abrams is a black woman from rural South Georgia who worked hard for her education and experience. More importantly, she believes in things like health care access and education. She believes in the future for all of Georgia.

This morning I got online (More miracles of modern science!) and ordered a couple of Stacey Abrams buttons. It will take a few days for them to get here, but I suspect Bernie is quite comfortable with my new choice for his spot on my denim vest.

While I was at it, I ordered a couple of T-shirts, too. They’ll probably have paint spatters before too long but they could use a bit more color.

Our kids — all of them — are growing up in this world. We’ve got some more history to make!

Tag: Stacey Abrams

WIP Wednesday

History Making!