Weekend

When drudgery and care impose themselves,
Each request and promise a feather turned to brick,
Even the strong and stalwart plead for
Kind relief. What wise soul first decreed an
Ending to weekly trials? …with Sunday comics,
Naps and leisurely brunch…time to arrange flowers,
Dogs curled at your feet, and a stack of good books nearby.

(-M.A. Mohenraj)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

"Weird-Bird" (-Shel Silverstein)

Birds are flyin’ south for winter

Here’s the Weird-Bird headin’ North;

Wings a-flappin’, beak a-chatterin’,

Cold head bobbin’ back n’ forth.

He says, “It’s not that I like ice,”

Or freezin’ winds and snowy ground.

It’s just sometimes it’s kind of nice

To be the only bird in town.”

(-Shel Silverstein)

Just Desserts

“Unless your name ends in Baskin or Robbins, I really can’t fit you into my schedule right now.” (-Uniek Swain)

“If ice cream is scooped, but no one is there to eat it, does it still taste good?” (A.J. Esther)

“I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert.” (-Jason Love)

“Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.” (-Ernestine Ulmer)

“Practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best.” (-Unknown)

I tend to go in and choose a single subject, and then just keep practicing it to see what effects I can come up with.

You know, try to do little studies where I'll see how the water and pigment mix, observe what seems to work and what doesn’t. This time, I limited myself to one color.

Use the white of the paper or not…suggest a form without a line here or there…change a shadow...

So,...why is it then, that…

...sometimes the first study is the best one and they get worse as I go along. What's that all about? Practice, practice, practice...

“It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it’s what you put into the practice.” (-Eric Lindros)

“It takes a long time to grow young.” (-Pablo Picasso)

August 25th was my mother’s birthday. I often think about how her life was so representative of all our lives…none of us really knows what's ahead of us, and we all have aspirations and dreams just as she did as a young woman...(my mom below)

Dreams of starting a family,...(mommy and daddy below)

and dreams of raising children…She surely never knew early in life that she would wind up having Multiple Sclerosis. (Mary Kate, Claudia and Sue with my mom below, before Eddie was born yet)

And she certainly couldn’t have known, on the day this picture was taken, at Ellis Island, that those towers behind her would one day topple, and that that wheelchair she sometimes needed here would become her constant companion late in life. (my mom and dad below)

Life handed her many surprises, as it does all of us, but she accepted them all and responded with dignity as each unfolded before her. She kept walking for as long as she could, sometimes pushing the wheelchair in front of her until she tired and could go no further. (my mom and me in Olde Towne Alexandria, VA)

At my parents’ 40^th wedding anniversary, she could still stand and walk with a cane,...(my parents below, at their 40th anniversary)

But around the time of their 50^th anniversary, she was no longer really able to walk. She had a wonderful attitude about it, though…I remember her laughing, and telling me when I took her shopping, that she had noticed, in shopping centers, little toddlers in strollers would look over at her on their level, and she said she could tell they couldn’t quite figure out why this adult was in a stroller just like them. She was quite amused by that. I watched the children in other strollers, and sure enough, they did seem somewhat fascinated by her, as if she was a kindred spirit. (our family at that time, below, celebrating my parents' anniversary at the art museum)

She was happiest when she was surrounded by her family, and since we all lived all over the place, like most families, it was hard to get us all together very often...

Mommy's gone now, but not gone from my memories…
Happy 84^th Birthday, mommy!
I love you. (my mom and dad on their 50th wedding anniversary below)

“The remembrance of a beloved mother becomes a shadow to all our actions; it precedes or follows them.” (-unknown)

“If you hear a voice within you saying ‘You are not a painter,’ then by all means, paint…and that voice will be silenced.” (-Vincent van Gogh)

I’ve been pushing myself to try to paint figures and faces lately. When that record starts playing in my head, I tell myself to just keep at it. No one learns in a day.

It’s fun to use magazines and artsy photos that have great shadows for practicing purposes. The art books I read say to lose the edges to background shapes. Easier said than done. (This image was from an ad for a handbag that I saw.)

A friend of mine asked me to paint a sketch of her husband for her a few years ago. I had fun with it, but I’m still intimidated to practice on real people. I’ll have to start on myself. Who cares how that turns out!

“The world today doesn’t make sense, so why should I make pictures that do?” (-Pablo Picasso)

Have a delightful weekend, all! I’m off to practice…

"The sea, that home of marvels" (-Rt Hon William Ewart Gladstone)

The Manatee

I'm partial to the manatee,
which emanates no vanity.
It swims amidst anemones
and hasn't any enemies. (-Jack Prelutsky)

Oysters

are creatures

without any features. (-Jack Prelutsky)

Sardines

Their daily lives are bland,
and if they land—
they're canned. (-Jack Prelutsky)

“Mystery of waters; never slumbering sea.” (-James Montgomery)

“Sewing fills my days, not to mention the living room, bedroom and closets.” (-Unknown)

I grew up in a family of seamstresses: my mother always sewed all of her own clothes as well as ours, for as long as I could remember, and my dad was manager of the Graphic Arts department at the Singer Company. For years, I never knew what size I wore other than what was represented in a Vogue or McCall’s pattern. In fact, I honestly didn’t know the first thing about buying clothes in a store until I grew up.

My mother was an expert seamstress. She taught English at a local high school, but she had no patience whatsoever for teaching us how to sew. I think in her mind, it was just something one should be able to do, innately. People would tell me I was "so lucky" I could sew, and I used to think, "luck has nothing to do with it!"

The basement in our house was Sewing Central. It was home to any number of sewing machines, so that several of us would be downstairs together, listening to NPR and chatting as we sewed away. The walls were lined with huge, industrial-strength, metal shelves that housed yards and yards of fabrics and tons of patterns. There was an ever-present ironing board set up, and the washer and dryer worked hard in another corner. It was nothing for us to come home, head downstairs and whip up a new outfit for the next day. Both of my sisters and I sewed all our clothes once we were teenagers. None of us took “Home Ec” classes; we just taught ourselves.

My mother’s philosophy was that the inside of an outfit should be as beautifully sewn as the outside, and so whenever I made an article of clothing, I knew it would immediately have to pass my mother’s strict inspection. Invariably, as I displayed my finished products to her, I would cringe, since she would immediately turn the fabric over to see the hems, and with an air of disgust, she would often roll her eyes at me, only to say something like “Tsk,…well, you did a bum job on that, young lady!” It taught me to finish seams off beautifully and to take pride in what I made.

If any of us did make something with a hand-sewn zipper, or if we did a good job of matching up patterns on a fabric, or if we used bound buttonholes or sewed French seams inside a dress, she would exclaim with delight. She instilled in us the love of good fabrics and good sewing practices.

Our favorite patterns were Vogue, and we were on a constant quest for beautiful fabrics. My older sister Mary Kate reminded me recently of the time we were at the Galeries Lafayette in Paris, and we both bought fabric there to bring home. I didn’t realize I’d have to calculate yardage with the metric system, and so I used the tried and true method of holding one end of the fabric at arms length to my chest and measured out the yardage I knew I needed to make a dress.

Now, if I sew at all, my sewing tends more towards making pillows, curtains and slipcovers and the like. I rarely sew clothes for myself any more, but whenever I do, I think nostalgically about that basement and the hours of mad creativity that bubbled up out of there.

“Asking a seamstress to mend is like asking Michelangelo to paint the garage.” (-Unknown)

"Bed in Summer" (-Robert Louis Stevenson)

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” (-John Lubbock)

“Fashion is made to become unfashionable.” (-Coco Chanel)

It’s that time of year again—August, when all the magazines put out their big style issues; those great, big, thick issues right before the school year starts up again.

My father used to love looking at the Fashions of the Times magazine that came out with the New York Times on Sundays, and he’d go through them religiously, and then state very emphatically that he couldn’t imagine anyone ever actually WEARING most of those clothes.

The hair, the makeup, the clothes, the shoes…it’s always fun to see the outrageous new trends and the old styles that sometimes come around again with a whole new twist.

When we were small, we always had what I called “fat dresses,” that required petticoats to keep them full and shaped. It was right before the simple shift styles of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, and we hated our fat dresses, so I read with amusement in today’s issues that “hips are back,” and that there would definitely be dresses highlighting them this fall. This was a dress that supposedly represented that trend:

“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” (-Mark Twain)

“I know my older sister loves me..."

...because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” (-Author unknown; attributed to a 4 year old named Lauren)

My oldest sibling, Mary Kate, is 15 months older than me. I’ve looked up to her all my life. Of all my siblings, she’s probably the calmest and most even-tempered: a classic first child.

When I was born, Mary Kate and my parents had already settled into a fairly comfortable, even tempo: let’s just say they had come to an understanding of each other’s schedules and needs. When I was born, however, being of a different temperament than Mary Kate, and needing different things, I suppose, I kind of put a wrench in all that, and I quickly became known as “the difficult child.” (Mary Kate and Sue below)

I always perceived events in Mary Kate’s life as maintaining on a very even keel. Now, I’m a firm believer that none of us comes through this life unscathed, but Mary Kate was one of those people who never appeared to have been shaken by the cruel hands of Fate the way we all inevitably are.

In school, growing up, I followed her each year, and constantly heard teachers say, with the air of Great Expectations in their voices, “Aaaaah, you’re Mary Kate’s sister!” I usually felt a knot in my stomach the minute I heard that, fearing I could never measure up to such promise! Mary Kate was very smart, and while I suppose I was smart, too, at that time, I certainly never thought I could “deliver the goods” they were anticipating from Mary Kate’s sister.(Claudia, Mary Kate and Sue below)

I did inherit all of Mary Kate’s dresses and clothes growing up. I was always eager to see what new things she’d have, knowing one day they’d probably be my new things, too, but I enjoyed that. She was my best friend, my confidante, and the symbol of stability in my life.

Mary Kate played the piano beautifully. Claudia and I took piano lessons, but Mary Kate excelled at the piano. I always thought she’d grow up to be a concert pianist, but she wound up going into the Peace Corps, living in Zaire for several years, meeting her future husband Oscar (a fellow volunteer) there, and, like most of us, juggling a demanding career and raising a family instead. Now, she has 2 fabulous grown sons who are funny and interesting and kind. I would have expected nothing less. Now, my dad is living with Mary Kate and Oscar in their home. (Sue and Mary Kate below)

“Sibling relationships—and 80 percent of Americans have at least one—outlast marriages, survive the death of parents, resurface after quarrels that would sink any friendship. They flourish in a thousand incarnations of closeness and distance, warmth, loyalty and distrust. (-Erica Goode) (Mary Kate, Eddie and Claudia, my siblings, below)

“Remember there is no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” (-Scott Adams)

Yesterday, Joe said he wanted to take me to lunch at our local art museum. His daughter had given him a gift certificate for a meal at the museum for a Christmas present, and he'd yet to use it, so...

He knew I’d been working diligently all day and all night recently. For weeks now, I’ve been planning my itinerary for months of upcoming trips, and even evenings, while I’ve been watching Michael Phelps do his Olympic thing, I’ve been simultaneously working at the computer until late every night.

So, we took a breather and put some nice clothes on, wandered around the museum for a bit, and ate a nice meal: Joe had a BLT on homemade tomato bread, and I had a wonderful salad of arugula, peach slices, spiced pecans and a smooth chevre cheese, tossed with a lovely vinaigrette. Then, we even indulged in dessert…Two desserts, to be specific.

Life is good...now it's back to work...

“Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.” (-Don Kardong)

“A child needs a grandparent, anybody’s grandparent, to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world.” (-Charles and Ann Morse)

My maternal grandparents were from Scotland. My grandmother, “Susan” McClafferty, was quite a character. She was a born teacher, and in Scotland, as a young woman in the early 1900’s, she taught small children in a Montessori-like method. She would always say to my siblings and me:

“Never forget your British heritage.”

At the time, I didn’t really know what the heck she meant, but I admit, there are few people in my life whose words had as much of an impact on me as hers did. Grandma was chock-full of all sorts of amusing aphorisms and pithy expressions. She was very proud of becoming an American citizen, but she was also very proud of her Scottish experience(Grandma and Grandpa McC, and Sue below)

My mother once told me that she had asked my grandfather what had attracted him to Susan when they were young, and he said he had liked her “because she always had something to say.” My mother always added, “and she never stopped saying it.” Grandma was a talker, and I suppose we all inherited that tendency. She was also interested in trying to instill in us a sense of elegance and gentility. I learned about tea parties and nice china and linens from Grandma, and she taught us to be creative and interested in art and poetry. (Grandma Susan and Mary Kate below)

It was Grandma who taught us, when we had our photo taken, to “remember to angle one foot forward, the way the French do; it elongates the leg.”

Who knows what she meant by some of her expressions, or where they came from, but to this day, if I’m standing and having my photo taken, I’ll smile, thinking to myself, “I should be pointing my toes, I guess.” I don’t always do it, but I always think of grandma telling me I should do it. She had a way of saying things that made you really listen and pay attention to her. (Sue, Claudia DEFINITELY NOT POINTING HER TOES, and Mary Kate below)

She had one expression that we all still laugh about and use to this day. She loved the notion of getting a good buy on something. If she succeeded in doing so, rather than saying something like “Who could pass that by?” she would always say:

“Who would go naked?”

I definitely use that one today and I think of Grandma every time I do. My whole family recognizes this one and we all still use it as well.

“Grandmothers are just antique little girls.” (-Unknown)