Looking in All the Wrong Places

Yesterday at church, the Father’s Day sermon was about teaching your children, training them up, raising them right. The scripture was from Deuteronomy, a book that, according to my study Bible was written in 1406 B.C., 3219 years ago by my mental math. The scripture was about how the Hebrews were being told to clean up their act and get it together before they crossed into the promised land. The pastor talked about how drastically our culture has shifted recently. A young person sitting nearby expressed doubt that the change has been recent, commenting that the culture has been changing since the sixties.

The further context of this includes the reports from my husband and son about their observations of the prevailing culture in South Africa, where they recently spent two weeks. Some would say that South Africa is just “behind the times” with their emphasis on family, conservative dress and behavior, limited consumption of popular media, and methods of conducting public education for school-age kids. Even though I did not go along on the trip and see all of this first-hand, I have still required quite a lot of time to sit in my rocking chair on the front porch while I try to mentally digest all of the information they have fed me.

While there are many, many reasons I am thankful I live in this era instead of at any point in the past—modern medical and dental care are biggies, the ability of a woman to make her way alone in the world is another, and the ability to communicate instantly with friends and family around the world is a nice bonus—there are aspects of being “behind the times” a la South Africa that look pretty good to me. Above, I mentioned the age of Deuteronomy in order to bring attention to the timelessness of the behavior of humans and the enduring validity of the moral and ethical rules laid out in that book. You do not need to be a Christian or a Jew or any other religion to realize that we, humans, need standards of behavior in order to be effective in life.

On the one hand, it seems that the American culture has thrown standards right out the window. After thinking about it, though, I think the problem is that we get our standards from all the wrong places. All of the media in which we are all up to our necks (television, movies, music, videogames, and internet, for example) seems to be the source of most of our standards. Behavioral science has documented that children who are not being actively taught and guided by parents will adopt what they see in the media as reality and derive their standards from it. Do we really want our every day lives to mirror sitcoms? Or worse yet, “reality” shows? Many of us seem to get our standards from various celebrities. What percentage of celebrities are people of real character or intellect? Many of us rely on lawmakers to set standards for us. Need I say more about relying on politicians to set our standards? The latest legislation signed into law protects the rights of school employees to say “Happy Hanukah,” or “Merry Christmas” to students without fear of legal retribution. How does that grab you?

I am no different and certainly not any better human being than any of you who are reading this. I find myself constantly battling the pull of modern society to conform to whatever the standard of the day may be. The challenge for most of us is to step back mentally from the busy-ness of every day to see exactly what it is that we are doing and where we are heading. An even greater challenge is to swim against the tide by setting and adhering to a solid set of standards, based on time-proven principles. If you decide to swim upstream, know that you are not alone and know that your efforts will be appreciated. 

The Garment District & A Brush with Celebrity

To anyone who enjoys sewing, like me, New York City’s garment district is a dream come true…if you can really dream up something like that. As I was planning our visit, I told my daughter we were going to spend at least one full day in the Garment District. She was mildly interested in visiting M&J Trimming and was very interested in visiting Mood Fabrics, both of which she had heard of on “Project Runway.” She had no clue.

Forget the soup commercial, this is real num yummy. 

We rode the subway from SoHo to Times Square, walked around Times Square gawking at the giant LED billboards, took a little detour through Bryant Park and the NYC Public Library (beautiful!), then headed to the garment district. The district is organized more or less by types of products. Most of the fixtures stores are in one clump, mannequin stores, sparkly evening wear fabric stores, trim stores, etc. There are various kinds of fabric stores scattered throughout. I was determined to visit Gray Line Linen, a fabric store that sells, guess what!! Linen!!! They do have a few bolts of beautiful Thai silks, but everything else is my favorite fiber. I was in HEAVEN!!! Gray Line shipped my purchases to me and now all twenty-seven pounds of fabric are washed, dried, and ready to be made into a gloriously cool and rumpled summer wardrobe pour moi.

Next we found a shop called Daytona Trimmings. The shop was tiny but packed with every kind of ribbon, rick-rack, elastic, button, lace, cording, etc. you can imagine…and lots, lots more! (I sound like an infomercial.) I bought some beautifully ornate ribbon and took a business card to order more from them later. Next, around the corner, was M&J Trimming. M&J is a huge store by NYC standards and is filled floor-to-ceiling with buttons, crystals, ribbons, etc.  My daughter went a little crazy in there with supplies to make headbands and earrings.

On to Mood Fabrics, which has become really famous due to the television show “Project Runway.” It is a SMASHING store with three floors crammed with rolls of fabric. We were so overwhelmed that we ended up just buying a t-shirt that says “Thank You Mood,” which is what Tim Gunn of “Project Runway” says every time he leaves there with his group of contestants in tow.  We also picked up a business card, since Mood takes online orders, too. (YAY!)

Speaking of Tim Gunn, he was my daughter’s quite literal brush with celebrity. If you are not interested in fashion and have never watched “Project Runway,” you probably have no idea who Tim Gunn is, but my daughter knows and was thrilled to see him in person. This is why it was a literal brush: She was standing in line to pay admission at the Met when Tim Gunn said, in his incredibly urbane way, “Pardon me,” and brushed past her.  It made her whole trip.

There were many more wonderfully crafty places we visited, but the newspaper does limit my word count! I will post this column along with links and pictures on my blog: springcreekartsguild.blogspot.com. As always, I welcome your comments at springcreekartsguild@gmail.com.

Blog Extras!!!

Some other crafty places we visited (and shopped) and loved:

The City Quilter--They have their own lines of NYC fabrics including the spectacular new Grand Central Terminal line. 

The Loopy Mango--Our host, Albert, told us about this interesting little shop in SoHo that carries yarn among other things.

Purl SoHo--Most any younger fiber crafter knows about this place. It is a small shop, but beautiful, and has an interesting array of fabrics, yarns, patterns, gadgets, etc.

The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology--This is a small museum at the FIT campus in Chelsea. The main exhibit we saw was called RetroSpective and showed how themes and silhouettes are interpreted across different periods of time. Very interesting for anyone who enjoys fashion history (that would be me).

The Museum of Art and Design--specializes in "contemporary handmade items." Also has a GREAT gift shop. A very, very interesting little museum.

The Gift Shop at the NYC Public Library--Proclaimed by my daughter to be "the bangingest gift shop in New York." That means it's really good, I think. 

A College Education

It is that time of the year again where I get the urge to state some truths about a college education. My husband and I have college educations, as of Friday our daughter will have a college education, and I would really like for our son to have a college education some day.  My husband has always and still works in the same field as his degree: Wildlife Biology. I do not know the statistics on this, but I would bet a surprisingly small percentage of people manage to keep their college major and their subsequent careers on the same track throughout their careers. I have done work that is traditionally associated with my degrees, but I have spent more years on work that has no apparent relation to my field of study. We shall see where our daughter’s career takes her. Meanwhile, we have been advising our son to go to college, if nothing else, to develop the muscles between his ears.

There are a lot of convictions people have about a college education that are not exactly true. Like “if you can just get a college degree, you will always have a good-paying job.” I saw on the news the other day that over forty percent of people who finished college within the past two years are underemployed—meaning that they are in a job that does not require a degree.  Only fifteen percent of these graduates thought they would be making less than $25,000 per year with a degree, but thirty percent of them are making that much or less. Of the underemployed graduates, most said they wish they had majored in something different and/or they would need a graduate degree in order to be competitive in the workplace.  A certain few undergraduate degrees are highly employable and highly paid, but most of them are not…..but it still costs the same to get the degree.

The hunting dentist, Zack, along
with his wife, Amanda,
and our new graduate, Shelby

Another is “do what you love and you will always find success.” I suppose that could be true as long as you are not speaking of financial success. Often the best idea is to get your degree in an area where you can be satisfied with your professional life and make enough money to support doing what you love in your off time. We have a friend who is a dentist, but what he loves is hunting. His plan is to be able to AFFORD to hunt by working on teeth.

Another idea is that you need to have a degree from a “major” university to be employable. I put that in quotes because most people seem to think the “major” thing is related to the notoriety of the football team or the size of the student body than by any academic measures of major-ness. It is more important for each student to find a college that is a good fit for their personality and that has a good reputation in their field of study. A college can be world-class in one area of study and quite Mickey Mouse in another.  No matter how large or how high-profile your college is, if you choose the wrong major or manage to keep a steady low-C average, you are going to have a hard time with your employment search.

One more—“get an education so you won’t have to work as hard as your parents did.” This one makes me laugh out loud! I will respond to that one with a quote attributed to Thomas Edison: “Success is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration.” The cold, hard truth is success is hard work, even for college graduates. Yes, having a degree could possibly enable you to work in air conditioning, but you will still have to work hard and put in a lot of hours if you want to have success.

I believe a college education is a good thing, but it certainly is not for everyone and it certainly is not a magic bullet that ensures a life on Easy Street. If anyone knows where I can get one of those kinds of magic bullets, please let me know! 

Staying in SoHo

I am writing this week's column sitting the dining/gathering table in a loft apartment in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. My daughter and I are here for a few days as a final installment in her college education. She graduated last week, but I believe even a brief visit to New York is at least as educational as a semester of courses. After a day and a half here, I think she agrees. 

Scout, the King Charles Spaniel

We have a bedroom in the loft of a family, Albert, Michelle, and Philipine--Oh, and Scout, the King Charles spaniel.
There are other guests here, as well, from all over the world. Right now I am sitting across from a woman who grew up in Delaware, married a Dutch man, and has lived in Chile for the past twenty-two years. Albert grew up in Paris and Michelle is French Canadian. This diversity of backgrounds has led to some terrific discussions. We certainly do not agree on many topics, but that is just fine in this environment.

Michelle, playing piano beneath one of her husband's photos

Marianne, the woman who is married to the Dutch man, tells me that a lot of people do not like the Dutch because they tend to be very direct in speaking their minds. If they like you, they will say so. If they do not like you, they will say that, too. Although I am a born-and-bred Southern woman, I prefer the direct approach. I would much rather someone tell me that they do not like me than to smile and speak sweetly to me only to turn away and complain to someone else about me. I am wondering  if that is why so many people who visit New York come back to report the people are rude. I find it to be quite the opposite. 

Michelle tells me they have hosted over 5,000 guests in their home since they started thirteen years ago. Their daughter is about to turn thirteen so she has shared her home and her parents with strangers her entire life. I have tried
to envision myself doing this, opening my home to travelers from all over the world, telling them "this is your home" (which Albert and Michelle have said repeatedly). We Southerners are very friendly, are we not? But does our Southern hospitality go to the level of these New Yorkers? I can honestly say that mine does not. 

The 9/11 Memorial was a very
heart-wrenching but beautiful place to visit.

Albert is a photographer and Michelle is an art dealer. She reports that having all of the different people in her home serves to constantly enrich her knowledge and inspiration. She says sometimes she meets a new guest and thinks she is not going to like them, but after only a few minutes of conversing and learning the person's story, her mind is changed. She likened individuals to pieces of art--each is unique and inspired and each has a story. Our individual tastes, experiences, and understanding dictate whether we find a painting or a piece of pottery interesting or beautiful, just as it does with new people we meet. 

Yes, we are walking the city, riding the subways and busses, and visiting the museums, but the best lessons of this trip have been in this home, at least for me. Today we are off to visit the Garment District and to pay our respects at the 9/11 Memorial. There are so many lessons to be learned between now and Wednesday afternoon! I will be posting photos and stories on the blog when I am safely back in Spring Creek.

A rainy view of Columbus Circle

Me and that sewing guy in the Garment District

This shop in Chelsea was nothing but vintage costume
 jewelry--my daughter was in heaven!

Shelby enjoying Bryant Park

An interesting work at the Museum of Art and Design

"The Hand of God" by Rodin--beautiful!

I love rounding a corner in a museum and seeing, live
and in person, a painting that I have seen in books my entire life.
 Better than celebrity sightings to me!

The new World Trade Center looks
 almost finished from this side

A Gardening Sob Story

My Three Rivers Yard

When we lived in South Texas, I had a great garden all around my house. The front yard was filled with all sorts of herbs, flowering plants, and native plants. We had more flowering plants on the sides of our house, and in the back yard I had a big vegetable garden. The only gardening problem I had in South Texas was the fact that bugs would eat up much of my summer vegetables. That was fine. I just did most of my vegetable gardening for the other nine months of the year!

Then we moved to the ranch here in San Saba County eight years ago and I have not been able to get my gardening mojo back. The drought we have been in for the past few years has not helped a bit. I have planted lots and lots of seeds, plants, shrubs, cacti, and trees over the past eight years and only a fraction of them have survived.

On the vegetable front, I have tried raised beds in several configurations. Sometimes the plants will come on strong in the beginning, then suddenly dry up and die. Sometimes a swarm of one kind of insect or another will come along and make a meal of my plants. Sometimes cows get ahold of whatever I have planted. I have had some luck with flowering plants, but nothing lasts for long. Sometimes the summer heat and drought will burn up everything, and other times we will get a ridiculously cold winter that will kill what was supposed to have been cold-hardy.

We have done some remodeling around our house over the years and have had fill dirt brought in twice. Apparently the fill we got is mostly clay. I have discovered that clay soil and drought-tolerant plants do not mix well. The rosemary I planted in the clay is doing fine, and finally one antique rose is going to pull through—oh, and the plants labeled “Spanish Broom” are doing very, very well in my clay-filled spots.

Finally my husband grew tired of looking at one of the crusted-over clay spots and decided he would turn it into a sort of desert garden. We spent most of the weekend putting down weed blocker and spreading large river stone gravel over the area. The plan is to dig large holes in the clay until we reach the sandy soil below, then fill it with a good soil mix for our plants. So far we have put in more prostrate rosemary, some blackfoot daisies, santolina, and a four-nerve daisy. I have an assortment of agaves with pups to contribute to the project, a huge cholla we are trying to figure out how to transplant, and we are on the search for a desert willow.

A Good Year at the
Ranch (Pre-drought)

Meanwhile, closer to the house, after having no luck with trying to grow pretty flowers in the various pots (drought, heat, turkeys pulling things up by the roots, chickens eating everything) I am trying the Southern California way. As much as I did not enjoy the big picture of Los Angeles, I loved the landscaping and container gardening I saw there. I especially loved the containers planted in various shapes and colors of succulents. Recently, I found an assortment of succulents at Home Depot so I brought them home, planted them all, and stood back to see what the chickens would do. I can see that they have sampled some of them but they apparently find them to be unpalatable (YAY!).

If anyone knows of any kind of gardening demon exorcism I can do or has a suggestion on how to (safely) transplant that monster cholla, please let me know. Meanwhile, if you have beautiful roses or vegetables, you will likely see me lurking about, admiring your gardening mojo! I will put this on my blog (springcreekartsguild.blogspot.com) along with some photos of past glory and present failure for your entertainment!

Sunday Afternoon

Just below this is the newspaper column for this week's San Saba News and Star. As soon as I emailed the column off to the newspaper and posted it here, I went looking for the really-cool-because-it's-so-obviously-vintage Red Heart Yarn granny square afghan that we inherited a year and a half ago. I wanted to post a pic of it along with the column. But alas, I stood at the edge of the massive pile of…stuff…on my husband's side of the office and was too fearful to dive in. I think I'll go get a cup of coffee and muster my courage.

Meanwhile, I am determined to master free-motion quilting on my home machine. So much so that I have signed up for THREE Craftsy classes on the topic. And I took two classes on it at IQF Houston this past fall. Since I can't find the afghan, I'll post pics of my Houston class projects. One has been made into a wall-hanging and one into a cover for my Bible. Meanwhile, has anyone else taken Craftsy classes? I hope they work because my local quilt group is expecting me to teach them how to free motion quilt in two months!

From my class with Lois T. Smith

From my class with David Taylor

Those Who Show Up

Those Who Show Up

Last week I spent several hours sitting in a legislative committee room listing to public testimony regarding several proposed bills (AKA potential future laws). This may sound about as exciting as watching paint dry, but you would be surprised. I was at a meeting of the House Committee for Culture, Recreation, and Tourism who have several wildlife-related bills to consider. As sobering as my experience was on this one day with this one committee, it is downright frightening to realize this same thing is going on all around the capitol in regard to nearly every aspect of the daily lives of Texans.

You have probably heard some variation on the quote, ”the rules are made by those who show up.” Those who show up are the people who, for whatever reason, decide to prevail upon a legislator to carry a bill of proposed legislation through the channels. The reasons people have to do this may be for the greater good, or for their own personal good or gain, or simply to tweak the nose of someone else. Most of what I saw on Wednesday fell into the last two reasons. Another set of people who show up are the folks that show up to give their input during these public comment opportunities. There is no swearing-in for these testimonies so people are not legally bound to tell the truth or to refrain from speaking on an emotional versus a factual basis. Another group of people who show up are paid lobbyists who show up to give whatever information or misinformation is needed to get their client’s opinions and values applied in the legislators’ votes.

If you have been really paying attention so far, you may have noticed that the lawmaking process I observed has very little to do with what is practical, realistic, truthful, or oriented toward the majority of the people but has everything to do with what is emotional, idealistic, or oriented to individual and small-group interests.

Most of you know that I am a knitter. So what if I decided that I like only natural-fiber yarns? I like them so much that I hate synthetic yarns, like that Red Heart yarn that EVERYONE has at least one

A vintage 1970-ish Red Heart Afghan

afghan made from. So I draft a bill making the sale of synthetic-fiber yarns illegal in Texas. And then I find a legislator who is willing to present my bill to the appropriate committee. Next, I round up a bunch of my acquaintances to go testify before the legislative committees that synthetic yarns are so disturbing and dangerous to quality of life in Texas that they should be banned. And besides, banning synthetics would help support the growing alpaca-farming industry in Texas. If no one shows up to say we are a bunch of crazy people, that the choice between synthetic and natural fiber yarns should be strictly individual, that all those Red Heart Yarn afghans are keeping millions of Texans warm, and besides, it would drive over half of knitters and crocheters out of the craft to ban synthetics because only the wealthiest can afford to use all natural fibers—then guess what? The bill passes committee, gets voted into law by the legislature, and you now have to go to a neighboring state to buy Red Heart yarn! You go to Alco one day and there is no Red Heart yarn! How did this happen?

I know how—the rule was made by the people who showed up! And where were the rest of us? Likely going about our business working, going to school, taking care of our families, and trusting that our elected officials know what is important to us. The truth is, they do not know if we fail to tell them. It would be nice if we could all go participate at the capitol, but if you don’t have the time to do that, at least look over the pending legislation and give your representatives and senators a call or an email to let them know where you stand. Go to this address: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us. From there you can find all the info you need on all the current bills and how to reach your representatives. I have moved my blog to http://springcreekartsguild.blogspot.com--I will post links there to help you SHOW UP AND MAKE THE RULES!