Laurel Burch

Famed artist Laurel Burch passed away last Thursday, at the age of 60.....after an almost lifelong battle with osteoporosis, a disease which so crippled her, that her bones broke with almost any impact.

Laurel is best known for her vibrantly colored images of fanciful cats, horses, birds, blossoms and ocean creatures. She once said that being diagnosed with osteoporosis at the age of seven caused her to create an inner world of her own...a world where everything was "beautiful, safe, colorful and happy." There she invented the world that became her "bridges to people", where could pass on the joy..... of all that she saw inside.

She began her career at age 20, in the streets of San Francisco. She was a single mother, recently divorced and trying to support a small child. Her colorful necklaces and earrings made of beads sold well, and soon she was creating out of her own garage. Eventually her home business found a production market in China and was transformed into her now famous metal cloisanne jewelry.

Laurel later branched out into her scarves, coffee mugs, sweat shirts, posters, and as most of us know.....fabrics. Even when extremely ill, she continued to create for her company and monitor its progress from her bed.

I recently visited her website at LaurelBurch.com Home and was moved to leave a condolence message for her family on site. I couldn't help but think that this once free-spirited artist, was truly now totally and forever free. Free to truly soar...from the streets, to her garage, to her business office, to her bed...and now finally over some vibrant rainbow bridge to where all dreams spring eternal.

You don't have to be a life-long Laurel Burch fan or even to especially like her vivid art, to simply be touched by the heart and soul of this lovely woman. So, in her honor I downloaded a delightful computer screensavers available at her site...at no charge. There are three different sets...all pictured here. Each set has multiple screensavers in each volume...each following the basic theme, shown.

That site is at LaurelBurch.com Screen Savers and comes with one of the best interactive calendars that I've seen. Maybe now that I have an easy to find calendar that I can add my events to, I'll be more apt to notice that September ends today, October begin tomorrow and Laurel Burch, who would have been 61 on the last day of this year...is now ageless.

Certainly made me want to make the most of each beautiful and creatively possible new day!
Laurel Burch: Free Quilt Patterns

You All Make Me Smile!

Debi of Quilting With Debi has awarded me the coveted Make Me Smile award. Thank you, Debi...in this world, anyone that can make us smile, is someone worth knowing...and trust me, Debi, is! And check out Debi's blog for a really cute cartoon that made me laugh out loud!

This Award includes a tag alone Meme, which somewhere in blogland, morphed into a MeMe and the idea became one that it was supposed to be 'all about me'. In reality, they are Memes...Shelina was one of our early bloggers who got Meme fever raised to a high pitch, last year. I played along in my Quilting Meme: The Orphan Block post, and morphed it in the process. Shelina noticed instantly, which ended up being great...as I therefore truly worked with the meme by altering it, and in the process I made a new friend... and finally learned how to create links, such as this one Quilting Meme (Revised) back to Shelina, to give her credit....where credit was due!

According to Wikipedia, a Meme refers "to a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another." One which somehow binds us as one in its transmission and sharing. Along the way of culturally transmitting, it often changes form or format, even original intent. It's similar to playing the old game of Gossip. One person says something and you pass it on. In the transmission...the 'passing on', it changes...totally morphs into something either slightly different, or totally different...and a new 'being' is created.

This particular Meme involves using the letters of your name to share something about yourself and and then tagging 6 other blog friends to play the game... and learn more from.... next!

So, who exactly is the real Michele, I asked myself? And what words, using the letters of my name...which only has one 'l', by the way, and not two, as many people have tried to morph me...what words, best describe me?

Here I am, and pardon any ego ;)

Michele
M=mystical
I=intelligent
C=creative
H= healing
E=energetic
L=loving
E=enigmatic

My husband, provided the final 'e' and I thought it was perfect. For anyone who has ever wondered how in the world I can be a sane woman one moment and totally wonky the next....Wild and Crazy?? I am a Wonky Wonked Woman! ...that's enigmatic: mysterious, changeable and unknown ;)

Now, even deeper yet, Su B...get your shovel....who MIGHT I have been if my mother had only added that second 'l' and I had been a "Michelle' instead of a 'Michele' ? You tell me, I'd be interested to know ;)

The 6 people I am tagging.... to delve so deeply into themselves.... are all interesting and creative women.... whose blogs I never miss! Even when I return to Salem, Oregon from Douglas, Alaska and my google reader tells me I have 1,000+ posts to read and I am still trying to catch up!!!!

I tag:
Finn, Shelina, Su Bee, Mrs. Goodneedle, paula, the quilter, Tanya, atet and Lindah
I wish I could tag many, many, more! I just love you gals! Also, this Meme has already morphed ;)

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Solar Drying: Is It Legal Where You Live?

Last week, in Bend,Oregon, a woman named Susan Taylor decided that the sunny 70 degree day was the perfect opportunity to hang her laundry out to dry. The 55 year old mother and part-time nurse, strung a clothes line to a tree in her backyard, pinned up some freshly washed flannel sheets and instantly....became an outcast and a renegade.

Apparently, her exclusive neighborhood of big, modern houses surrounded by pine trees had subdivision regulations that prohibited outdoor clotheslines. Believe it or not, the development's managers have threatened legal action. Their view is that the sight of clothes drying on lines and other surfaces evokes the very idea and vision of urban blight that they sought to eradicate by building upscale homes in the Oregon mountains.

"This bombards the senses", said interior designer Joan Grundeman of her neighbor's clothesline. "It can't possibly increase property values and makes people think this is a nice neighborhood."

Susan Taylor and her supporters believe that clothesline offer a way to fight climate change, using the sun and the wind instead of electricity. "Days like this" she says, "I can do multiple loads, and within two hours, it's done."

The "Battle of Awbrey Butte" is suddenly a fight for increasing environmental consciousness. Clothes dryers use the equivalent of 30 million tons of coal a year. This works out to 78 million metric tons of CO 2 emissions per year or a full 1.3% of US annual emissions....just for drying clothes. Clothes dryers account for 6% of total electricity consumed by US household, third behind refrigerators and lighting.

Susan Taylor had always used a clothesline before moving to the subdivision in 1996. Awbrey Butte's Covenants require that "clothes drying apparatus...shall be screened from view." Not an easy task in a community where fencing is also "discouraged" in the covenants.

The clothesline ban gave Ms. Taylor pause when she moved here, she says, but she and her husband decided they could live with it. Then, in May, she heard an environmental lawyer on the radio who "talked about this narrow window of opportunity for us to respond to global warming," Ms. Taylor recalls. "I said, 'Dang it, that's it. My clothesline is going up.' "

In honor and support of Ms. Taylor, hand something out to dry today. It might be clothing, sheets, towels....or even the airing of a quilt.

shown:
One of my patriotic quilts hanging over beautiful Opal Creek on July 4, 2007. We took a break from our workday and had a picnic lunch by the creek. I spontaneously invited our non-English speaking painters to join us. With little English on their side and no Spanish on mine, I wasn't able to ask them what they thought of a quilt hanging from the trees. I think my lunch fixings that filled the river bank gave them even more to think about. I can't help but wonder, however, what kind of stories they shared with friends, later on ;)

A Quiz: How To Tell If You've Been Abducted By Aliens

It's supernaturally quiet, here in Salem, Oregon. Husband off to work, last child back to her college classes at the University of Oregon, in Eugene. One nice phone call home to let me know how her first day of classes went:

Me: So, how did your classes go, today?
DD#2: Well, my first class was "Intro to Ecology."
Me: So, how was that?
DD#2: Well, it was interesting actually. I'd forgotten how weird some people are and how they will raise their hands and say the strangest things in class.
Me: Such as?
DD#2: Well, the Ecology professor asked us "what we considered to be the greatest ecological factors that will impact our world in the years ahead."
Me: And a student said?
DD#2: Extra Terrestrial Beings
Me: What????
DD#2: Extra Terrestrial Beings, Aliens, Beings from other Planets.
Me: I see.

So, that brings me to today's post:

How can you tell if you've been abducted by aliens?

Check all that apply to you, or that you agree with:

1. You have unexpected nosebleeds.
2. You feel like you are always being watched.
3. You crave citrus fruits a lot.
4. Your mouth tastes like chemicals or metal.
5. You wake up crying in the middle of the night for no reason.
6. You are either obsessed with or scared of aliens.
7. You feel like you have psychic abilities.
8. You dream of being operated on.
9. You have unexpected marks on your body.
10. You are prone to sleepwalking.
11. Your ears ring frequently.
12. You often feel like you are going crazy.
13. You wake up sore for no reason.
14. You developed a fear of the dark all of a sudden.
15. You have memories of feeling paralyzed.
16. You are easily startled.
17. You have distant memories of being probed.
18. You have "lost time" in your life that you can't account for.
19. You believe that you have seen a UFO.
20. You have dreams of animals eating you.
21. You feel like you have a total understanding of the world and a special mission in life.
22. You have an irrational fear of the dark, open sky, or wooded areas.
23. You have had an out of body experience.
24. You see flashes of light that other people don't see.
25. You are obsessed with the end of the world and huge disasters.

An unusual preponderance of checkmarks indicates the distinct possibility that you have, indeed, been abducted by aliens. And if not officially abducted, than perhaps just had an alien encounter...in or out of a college classroom.

shown above:
The Pillars of Creation within the Eagle Nebula: a young open cluster of stars in the constellation Serpens, discovered by Jean-Philippe de Cheseaux in 1745-46. This region of active current star formation is about 7,000 light-years distant. The brightest star in the nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8.24, easily visible with good binoculars ;) This view provided by the Hubble Telescope.

The Heartbreak of Alzheimer's: For the AAQI

After my deeply meaningful, but exhausting, month in Alaska helping my 82 year old mom and 90 year old dad with household chores and my mother's increasing challenges with Alzheimer's Disease, I am back home in Salem, OR and have just finished my second 'quiltlet' or Art Fabric postcard for Ami Simm's Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts

Again, I am using the my fabric inches, showcased in How To Make An Inchie, and using two little blocks 'inchies', both showcasing hearts. I created this second little postcard sized quilt which is meant to symbolize the myriad of heart breaking emotions that families go through as they live with, help with, accept or deny the presences of, and then finally, deal with Alzheimer's disease in a loved one.

When a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, the effects on the family can be overwhelming. The reality that someone you love has such a devastating illness can trigger a range of emotions — including fear, sadness, confusion and anger. Conflicts are common as family members struggle to deal with the situation.

What I found in my time at home with my own mother, was while ideally, family should share responsibilities....it becomes obvious, almost immediately..... who the primary care givers will be. Some cannot cope with the every changing aspects of emotional connection or disconnection. Some cannot cope with the physical requirements of dressing, bathing, clean-up or giving of medications or injections. And others simply cannot cope with any of it, and' flight' becomes their instant emotion not 'fight' as behaviorists refer to our 'fight or flight' response to stress.

I have the misfortune of living 1,000 miles away. After my father, who takes full primary care for my mother, I am the logical 'next' caregiver. I am the only daughter, and even with 4 brothers and 3 sister-in-laws, I am the natural intuitive and the natural care giver and I have spent my life time helping others. However, living so far away, even with daily phone calls and bi- or even tri-annual visits, I am a far cry from being able to provide the quality or quantity of daily care that is needed, even at this early to mid-stage of Alzheimer's. That falls on my father, who at 90 years old is an amazing and loving man, but one who is already by facing so very much, as it is.

I did my best to set up their house for increased safety issues and to clean and organize it for an easier state of living for the two of them. I spend countless hours filling our home and them with my love and a positive belief in love and healing. I tried my best to motivate and integrate additional help from other family members.

But most of us work either in, or outside of our own homes, already. Few of us are able or willing to bring aging parents in to live with us. And even if a special few of us are, the reality of that gets checked almost immediately. Many of us still have children at home or in college. We have our own 'stresses', 'stressors' and 'stressees' to cope with.

With health care costs spiraling upwards of $4,500 per month per person in Alaska, nursing homes are a final option, not a beginning one. In home nursing care, goes against most of our own needs and desires for independence and privacy, and sadly enough in this modern world, problems with poor care and even theft by outside care givers.

In-home 'maintenance only care' becomes the first most reliable, more caring option and only affordable option...at least as long as families can cope with the ever increasing demands of care giving. But it is one that is sadly lacking in providing all that is truly needed in our busy lives and this even busier, world.

Working through these conflicts and the emotions they create, allows you to move on to more important things--caring for our loved one and enjoying our time together as much as possible. These emotions, aside from the disease itself, are of themselves, heart breaking. They can tear apart families, as well as primary care givers.

I am deeply grateful for the time I just had with my family in Alaska. I am grateful, now for the daily phone calls and for the moments of clarity...in both my mother, and in myself. I know then that the love is there beneath the heartbreak..... and that love can, indeed, mend the pain of those broken places..... even if it cannot always mend the break, itself.

shown above:
fabric art card or quiltlet which I have titled "The Heartbreak of Alzheimer's". It is meant to symbolize not only the love that is always there, but the heartbreak that cracks that love open. Here, it has not broken the halves apart, they stay connected, just cracked and forever changed by the devastating effects of the disease

Check out my related posts:
How To Make A Fabric Postcard
How To Make An Inchie

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

The Heartbreak of Alzheimer's

For Better, For Worse

What Dreams May Come

You Dont Bring Me Flowers

Each and Every Day is a Gift

Love Is All There Is...

Contributions: Ami Simm's "Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts"

Alaskan Anniversary Quilt

Because I had difficulty posting photos while I was in Alaska, and was only able to download most of my photos after I returned to Salem, I was not able to showcase a very special quilt that hangs in my parent's home in Douglas, Alaska.

This quilt was made by my sister-in-law....she claims with our help.... but actually she did all of the work. The appliqued blocks depict various Alaskan Eskimo scenes and each member of our family signed a block. It also features their names lovingly embroidered on the center block, which I blurred for privacy.

The quilt was a 50th Anniversary gift for my parents, 8 years ago. It may have taken her endless hours to piece together, but it took 7 years to simply get it hung on their wall....even though the hanger was part of the gift and came with everything but the screwdriver.

When my family came up for a family wedding/reunion in July of 2006, we vowed that somehow we would get it hung! My son literally stood on the upstairs stair rail edge and leaned out into the quilt to hang it up! I was grateful for his past history with rock climbing but also wished at the time he had, indeed, been wearing a climbing harness!

No mishaps later, but with various relatives standing on all kinds of ladders, stools and rails...we got it hung. It only goes to show that it can take longer to hang a quilt, than make one. Thanks to my dear sister-in-law, it's a beautiful quilt..... and I know my mom and dad admire it every single time they walk past it.....as do I!

Note:
This appliqued Alaskan quilt pattern features 'Kuspuk Kate and Parka Pete". There are twenty-four patterns in the series. Each pattern also includes an Alaskan theme piece. They were created and designed in Anchorage, Alaska by Jean Campbell and can be ordered from:
http://www.alaskastitching.com/Quilts%20Campbell.html

Kuspuk Kate and Parka Pete are the Alaskan Sunbonnet Sue and Sams. Becoming wildly popular with quilters not only in Alaska, but everywhere. To see more

A quilter offering copies of her pattern (actually going against appropriate copyright laws) shows up close views of these 'Alaskan Sunbonnet Sues' quilt blocks.

International Day of Peace

In 1981, the United Nations General Assembly established the International Day of Peace and designated September 21st as the annual date for observation of one day of worldwide focus on peace and non-violence.

An ever-expanding number of people around the globe, representing a wide variety of religious and spiritual traditions, have committed to the task of working with other like-minded individuals and groups for an International Day of Peace Vigil with the following objective:

"To encourage worldwide, 24-hour spiritual observations for peace and non-violence on the International Day of Peace, 21 September 2007 in every house of worship and place of spiritual practice, by all religious and spiritually based groups and individuals, and by all men, women and children who seek peace in the world."

This global 24-hour spiritual observation for peace is meant to demonstrate the power of prayer and other spiritual practices in promoting peace and preventing violent conflict. These worldwide spiritual observances will also help raise public awareness of the International Day of Peace and directly support the establishment of a global ceasefire. Individuals and groups are invited to support this worldwide initiative by committing to hold a 24-hour vigil on September 21, 2007.

In honor of this day, I focus on remaining as peace filled and serene as I personally, can maintain for today. I open myself up to the deepest well of spiritual energies and I hold that place in thought, word and deed...for as long as I can, for as deep as I can :)

shown:
View of Horse and Colt Islands from North Douglas Island Rd, Douglas, Alaska

Autumnal Equinox

The Autumnal Equinox is defined as the point at which the Sun appears to cross the celestial equator from north to south. The celestial equator is the circle in the celestial sphere halfway between the celestial poles. It can be thought of as the plane of Earth's equator projected out onto the sphere. Another definition of fall is nights of below-freezing temperatures combined with days of temperatures below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The word equinox means "equal night"; night and day are the same length of time.

In Europe and Britain, the conclusion of the harvest each autumn, was once marked by great festivals of fun, feasting, and thanksgiving known as "Harvest Home." It was also a time to hold elections, pay workers, and collect rents. These festivals usually took place around the time of the autumnal equinox.

Harvest Home, the Druidic Mean'n Fo'mhair, or Mabon is considered a time of the mysteries.... a time of balance,when we stop and relax and enjoy the fruits of our personal harvests, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with everyday life.The Autumnal Equinox usually falls around Sept. 21-23.

Symbolism of Harvest Home or Mabon:
Second Harvest, the Mysteries, Equality and Balance.

Symbols:
wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, grains, corn, apples, pomegranates, vines such as ivy, dried seeds, and horns of plenty.

Herbs:
Acorn, benzoin, ferns, grains, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passion flower, rose, sage, solomon's seal, tobacco, thistle, and vegetables.

Foods:
Breads, nuts, apples, pomegranates, and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions.

Incense:
Autumn Blend-benzoin, myrrh, and sage.

Colors:
Red, orange, russet, maroon, brown, and gold.

Stones:
Sapphire, lapis lazuli, and yellow agates.

Activities:
Making wine, gathering dried herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods, walking in the woods, scattering offerings in harvested fields, offering libations to trees, adorning burial sites with leaves, acorns, and pine cones to honor those who have passed over.

Blessings:
Protection, prosperity, security, self-confidence, harmony and balance.

Home, Again

I'm back home again...in Salem, Oregon. I have unpacked, put it all away, returned my lovely but defective camera to Costco, loaded what photos I was able to take onto my computer and am ready to start anew.

All three of our cats greeted me on my return home. My little black 'neck warmer' meowed non-stop for 20 minutes until I finally had to lay down on the bed so she could climb up on me and be reassured that it was really me. It surprised me. Our previous dogs have always had a 'missing' response and reaction, but I am used to cat's being more independent and less personally aware. It was cute. Two of the three lay on my bed and watched as I unpacked. They are sisters and usually fight as sisters will...but instead they were side by side in agreeable sharing.

I am taking Tanya's ( of Taniwa) advice and calling my parent's in Alaska, everyday. But it's still very hard to phone home and know that without the visual cueing of my face and voice up close, it's a lot harder for my mother to process what I am saying over the phone. She goes upstairs to nap or to rest on a heating pad and goes into a panic when she thinks my dad isn't home. He almost certainly, is...but she can't tell that.

And of course, I'm not there to run up and down the stairs checking and helping. So, that is very hard. Long distance all I can do is reassure her and hope he wonders why the phone keeps ringing and is being picked up by my mom, over and over. If I tell her, I'm going to phone right back, don't answer it so that my dad will have to...she doesn't process that and answers it, anyway.

This is the process of Alzheimer's, though it varies from person to person. With constant short term memory losses and often an inability to process consecutive thoughts or processes, every thing is cut off or cut short or even skipped.

I think of all of the times that I, myself, am so exhausted or perhaps even ill, and have had similar thought processing occur or not occur. Then multiply that and you will come close to what the tangled areas in the brain do to thought processing.

Right now, I am focusing on my own tangles. I worked so hard and so consistently when I was at my parent's home that now all of the aches and pains are coming through. When I get too far below my renewable energy sources I have to recharge my field before I can bring myself back to normal, again.

After fifteen years of working with a multiple of healing modalities based on the human energy field...I practice Reiki, Healing Touch and Therapeutic Touch, amongst others....I have learned what my limits are, but I almost always go beyond them when helping others. My belief is that when you have been blessed with special gifts. you are meant to not only use them for the good of yourself and others, but share them as much as you can for transformation, healing and spiritual growth. It is challenging and it is exhausting,but it is also a blessing to be able to help and do good. So now, I go and rest. I've done all that I can for now. Time for re-charging my own battery pack ;)

Thanks you and blessings to all of you for your sweet comments. It means so much and touches my heart. It's good to be back in Oregon...but I still miss my Alaskan roots and all that they mean to me.....

Hugs back, to all who sent them..... I felt each and every one of them :)

Leaving On a Jet Plane

Today, is my last day in my beautiful home state of Alaska. I have packed my bags, helped prepare a last big family dinner and spent endless... but never, ever enough... time with my 90 year old Father and 82 year old Mother. Now, it is time to fly south. Time to leave these dear people that I love so much and go back to Salem, Oregon where I have now lived.....for more years there.... than here.

Leaving here is quite possibly the hardest thing I have ever asked myself to do. There is no knowing of what the future holds.... or when, or if.... I will see these dear parents of mine, again. I am up in the night and I am crying. I have been here for three weeks, now and the good Lord willing, I shall be back in their lifetimes' again. It is very, very hard to say goodbye.

Today, my last day 'home'. I shall just spend it with them. I have made sure to have my belongings back in my suitcases yesterday, so that I would not have to spend all day with the packing and weighing of them, today. I got up in the night and started the last three loads of laundry, the last dishwasher full of dirty dishes, got the pots and pans to not be falling all over the place like Fibber McGee's closet...all of the things that I can only do to help before I leave. I do what I know how to do, and lots of it, the rest is up to the family that I leave behind, here in Douglas.

I am hoping my suitcases are under, and not over the regulated weight, knowing that it is my heart that is too heavy....... and no amount of re-arranging.... save love.... can remedy that. So, today, I shall just love. Love and be loved. Try as hard as I can, through aching heart and tear stained face..... to fill them.... and this house.... and myself..... with love.

Sunny Day Picnic in Juneau, Alaska

The rains have come to the Juneau-Douglas area now. I am so grateful that I took advantage of our few sunny days to have fun with my 90 year old father and 82 year old mother.

My visit has been hard and I am deeply exhausted. I only have a few more days on my beloved Douglas Island before I take an Alaska Airlines flight out on Tuesday and head back to my 'other' home in Salem, Oregon.

I have spent three challenging but worthwhile weeks here. I have celebrated my mother's birthday, visited with my four younger brothers and their wives, and all of my wonderful nieces and nephews and even helped with a sweet grandog.

I have cleaned and organized and safely re-arranged until there were no hours left in my day that went unused. I worked on two Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative quiltlets in honor of my mom and I re-read "The Thorn Birds" for the third time (one of my mother's absolute favorites, and mine, as well.)

We drove to the end of Thane Rd. on the Juneau side and to the end of the North Douglas Road (pictured above) on the Douglas side. I drove my father's car on all of these jaunts...that's a big deal, trust me ;)

On this beautiful day, pictured above, we drove to Outer Point on Douglas Island. Pictured here is a view point right before the end of the road...before Outer Point. We watched the kayaking class in progress. It was like watching Tai Chi or Chi Kung. It was a thing of beauty to the eyes and a melody to the ears as the commands chanted out for the use of the paddles. The kayaks glistened on the sunny beach all in a row.... just waiting for the instructions to merge with their use.

We opened my dad's sunroof and the sun poured in as we ate the lunch I had packed us. Tuna and egg salad sandwiches, chips,cheetos,grapes, cookies and pop. Even without a cookie, my diabetic, but very happy mama exclaimed again..."Another good day!"

And then, again..."now, what can we do to give you more good memories tomorrow?"

Ah, mom, each and every day is a good memory...sunshine, car ride, picnic or not.....

shown:

Kayaking class, Douglas Island

Mendenhall Glacier as seen from across the Gastineau Channel

the front of a house on N. Douglas Rd (made totally of old skis)

Mendenhall Glacier, Gastineau Channel

For Better, For Worse For the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

When we marry, we believe we are doing it out of love. But how very little, we truly understand or realize. When we marry, we marry out of the desire to create something new, something shared between two people that they never would have had otherwise.

When we are married...for a week, or a year, for 25 years, or even for 50, we still don't truly understand the depth of relationship. We don't understand any of it, until that love is tested.

When love is tested, when we are given the gift of seeing the other side of that golden coin, then finally we are asked to choose...to choose between the self or the other.

And as we are tested, sometimes over and over and over, again, we finally understand the truest nature of love...loving the other more than the self, or perhaps, truly loving the mirror of the self as reflected, by and in, the other.

We cannot truly love unless we are grounded in understanding, acceptance and love of the self, but we cannot truly love another without releasing self-focus and self-absorption and offering it up on the altar of giving and self-sacrifice.

It has taken me my own lifetime to understand this and to see and to understand why some can give and some cannot. Why some can sacrifice and others cannot. And most of all, we some of us reach out beyond the self to help others, while some of us can only want and need and give to the self and the self, alone. While others find it easy to want to give and to share. Those who cannot give, or still not yet grounded in self enough to offer out into the world to others from that place of love.

I am blessed to have been raised by parents who were able to give. Perhaps, it was not always that way, perhaps they, too had to learn life's lessons through trials and tribulations. But now, over these past decades, I have watched as each has sacrificed for the good of the other and others.....just as parents, each of us sacrifices for the good of our children or our loved ones.

In honor of this kind of true love, in honor of the truest meaning of marriage, with its deepest trials and tribulations...as well as, my mother's on-going challenge of Alzheimer's Disease.... I have finished my first Alzheimer's Art Quilt Project block. I am calling this block 'For Better, For Worse' to symbolize marriage vows as they are challenged...whether by Alzheimer's or by disease of any kind...physical, mental or spiritual.

shown above:
My first Alzheimer's Art Quilt Iniatiative project 'quiltlet' or fabric art postcard.

Using my previously made inchies from my tutorial on How To Make An Inchie as part of my fabric art quiltlet, and using embroidery or quilting them on, and then adding beads etc. as a decorative effect. This was a fun hand working project I was able to relax with during my non-caretaking/working hours helping my parents, here in Douglas, Alaska.

Check out my related posts:
How To Make A Fabric Postcard
How To Make An Inchie

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

The Heartbreak of Alzheimer's

For Better, For Worse

What Dreams May Come

You Dont Bring Me Flowers

Each and Every Day is a Gift

Love Is All There Is...

Contributions: Ami Simm's "Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts"

Day By Day in Douglas, Alaska

 
As I help my parents meet everyday needs in their small town of Douglas,Alaska, I help with laundry, cooking, organizing and cleaning. I help..... because I can, because I love them so dearly and because they not only need it but have asked for it and are so grateful, afterwards.

All of this is done while visiting, listening, talking and sharing. As I work, day after day, helping to lighten the load on my father's shoulders by giving him a rest and a reprieve from care taking so that he can work on some of his own projects. He is 90 years old and in the two weeks that I have been here, he has installed two windows in a little shop wall, worked in his basement and burned piles of debris outside. Today, he plans on moving his aging motor home down to our street and replacing a fender on it!

I have also witnessed the most amazing dedication shown by my 90 year old father to my 82 year old mother. . My mother and father have been married for 58 years. He drove 5,000 miles from Alaska to Louisiana during WWII just to meet, fall in love and marry her. He had to break through the language and cultural barriers of his Finnish Heritage and her Cajun French one. He unfailingly supported her and their five children through the trials of and hardships of living in Alaska with limited access to stores or other conveniences....this when Alaska was a Territory,not even a State!

Now, in their later years,he supports and encourages my mother with all of her needs. My mother has faced fragile diabetes, legal blindness, a battle with severe inflammatory breast cancer...and now the tangled web of Alzheimer's.

Each and every day, is one of sheer and absolute exhaustion. My mother will need something from upstairs and I will think...I just can't walk up those stairs again...and my father will do it, instead. It literally brings me to my knees with admiration of his endurance and strength. I look to his example for my own guidance. I take time to read, to watch a movie on TV and to work on my Alzheimer's Art Quilt project, by hand. I give myself a couple of hours to rest and to attempt to recuperate. Then, as I work once again, it gives my father a chance to do the same.

My mother does the best that she can. She attempts to swallow pills that she hates to swallow. She gives herself, her own shots of insulin...two to three times a day. And amazingly, she maintains an honest awareness of increasing memory and understanding losses. She is still able to joke about it and say..."I'm stuck. What am I supposed to do next?" She can ask "What will happen to me?" "Who will help me when I get really bad?" and even, " I'm afraid. I need your help." Those simple honest statements bring me to my knees, as well.

I look at these two dear, dear people through my own worn out eyes and all I can think is "How do they do it?" How do they keep going on day after day with multiple insulin testings, shots, pills, help with all aspects of daily life....over and over and over. Something simple for you or I, may take hours and hours for her. The day ends after it has barely begun. It is a progression of endless taking up of time to do the simplest things.

But we are a team, as my father says. The three of us are now working together, even for the three weeks that I am here. And on many days, we share such good times and wonderful experiences. It might have taken 4 hours to get ready to leave the house for a two hour activity or drive, but oh, the fun we have, together!

Yesterday, we drove out the Thane Road, which is on the Juneau side of the Gastineau Channel. We watched eagles and waterfalls and wide open beaches. We saw sailboats, and cruise ships and then, tourists filling the Juneau streets. We gawked and gaped, like tourists ourselves, at all of the new stores filling our Juneau streets...gold, diamonds, platinum, furs, art, sculpture and of course......Alaskan t-shirts!

We drove out to the end of the road, and then back again to Sheep Creek. I had packed some Diet Pepsi for my Mother, and a regular one for my Dad and we sipped them in the quiet and peaceful air, feeling the bright warming sunshine on our faces.

"This is a good day!" exclaimed my Mother. And she was right. It was.

shown above:
Douglas Island as seen from Thane Rd. in Juneau, Alaska

How To Make An Inchie

1. Layer top fabric of choice over 1) a layer of thin soft batting for a mini quilt or 2) a stiff, thick interfacing (Trimtex or Peltex) for a fabric postcard. Add a backing fabric of choice , wrong sides together to Trimtex or batting.

2. Quilt all three layers together with meander or quilting stitches of any kind. The quilting can be utilitarian or decorative and any kind or color of threads can be used.

3. Cut into 1" sized squares for 'inchies', 1 and 1/2" sized squares for 'super inchies', or 2 " squares for 'mega sized' inchies.

4. Serge or embroider around edges to finish all raw edges of this three layer 'inchie'.

5. Use 'inchies' as either artistic trading squares, as a decorative element to add to fabric postcards, or on quilts, or to create.... as I am.... fabric postcard 'quiltlets'or mini blocks for my Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative Project.

shown above:
Printed fabric that I used to quilt over thin fleece batting and a backing fabric. I then used meander stitching to quilt all three layers together. Using a rotary cutter and a mat, I then cut the quilted fabric into mega 'inches'. I used a fabric that just happened to come with a squared design on it, as an easy way to learn the process. Any kind of fabric can be used, in any print, in any style, even plain fabric can be used and decorated.

Check out my related posts:
How To Make An Inchie

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

The Heartbreak of Alzheimer's

For Better, For Worse

What Dreams May Come

You Dont Bring Me Flowers

Each and Every Day is a Gift

Love Is All There Is...

Contributions: Ami Simm's "Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts"

9/11

The days and the nights are all tangling together for me, now. I am in Douglas, Alaska, helping my 82 year old mother, and my 90 years 'young' father with household tasks and all of the daily challenges of living as someone who is aging and aged, frail or sturdy, weak or strong.

And with several posts ready to be loaded on an already overloaded, somewhat aged computer, who also is challenged and challenging, I suddenly noticed the date on the tool bar. And it hit me, hit me just like the brick that my mother says she can feel in her head. The brick that keeps you from being able to think clearly, or make choices or face the next task in a daily lineup of tasks you are too tired to even remember, much less face.

The brick or bricks that fell from the sky on that fateful day of September 11, 2001. The 'bricks' that changed not only thousands of affected families lives, but the collective life of an unconscious nation. Nineteen terrorists and 4 commandeered airplanes created loss and havoc in their lives, their families' lives and our lives, forever.

It as the wake up call heard around the world. One whose repercussions we had not yet heard or even felt. One which was misunderstood, misinterpreted and misjudged. But it doesn't matter who fires the shot, throws the brick, pilots the airplanes, or even what specific cause or religion or rationalization they used for creating death and destruction.

What matters is that suddenly this nation, through the collective suffering of thousands of families, realized just how connected we all truly are. And in that almost instantaneous understanding, we woke up....maybe not completely, maybe not permanently, but something inside of each of us woke up.... and felt a deep down universal pain.

In honor and in memory, I think of that event, of those losses of that tragic day in history. I put my other post on 'hold', as well as my own exhaustion, my own challenges, my own things I need to do, or be ,or get done, or accomplish.

Today, I think of all of them. And I am grateful to them for what they gave to all of us with their deaths. There are many who say they are all our angels now. Maybe, they truly are, and maybe the angelic order doesn't actually work that way. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that they sacrificed their earthly lives and created a universal opening in our national consciousness. And for that I am deeply grateful.

In honor, and in memory, please pause today and think of all of them, of all of their families. In honor and in memory, think of all of those who have sacrificed their lives for the good of others....the policemen, the firemen, the rescue workers, the doctors or nurses or teachers or just those who went in to help and are paying, in many different ways, for that sacrifice now and tomorrow.

Think of them today and be grateful.

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

Ever since I first heard about Ami Simms and her "Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative", I have wanted to be an active participant. I have watched as many members of my extended family and many of my closest friends' families, have been affected by this invasive and relentless disorder. And I have witnessed the tremendous strain and stress that loving someone with Alzheimer's creates, and watching them battle and suffer so many kinds of different losses, over and over themselves.

I know that if we live long enough, the majority of us will face it or similar versions of memory affecting disorders. Whether we use the overall umbrella terminology of dementia or one of its outreaching lines such as Alzheimer's...the conclusion is the same. Each of us ages, each of suffers losses both physical and mental, and each of us must decide how we deal with these losses, whether they are our own..... or another's.

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative is an opportunity for those of us who sew, quilt or do fabric postcards, to contribute our time, energy, and artistic creativity for a good cause. It allows us a creative outlet to do something positive towards raising money for research in an effort to slow the disease down, if not perhaps....someday.....totally eradicate it.

All forms of severe memory loss involves some kind of cellular level change within the brain itself. As cells break down or alter, as neuron pathways no longer line up, or tangled cellular growths are created that form jumbled up 'cloverleaf' intersections in the freeways of our communication highway, the effect is still one of not being able to make connections.

As we lose our processing skills, or skip through time and space with associations or lack of associations, there are times when each of us cannot think of a word, or remember a name or memory. And as we age, as this increases, there comes in a physical component that makes it seemingly impossible to connect with time, or space, or people or places.

All we can do is slow this process down...alternatively with a host of herbal remedies, vitamins or minerals, or a variety of energetic healing modalities such as Reiki, Healing or Therapeutic Touch, Chiropractic or Naturopathy, and medically with drugs such as Aricept and Numenda.

We can also, just as importantly, provide emotionally by providing support and social interactions or spiritually, by letting the loved know that no matter what, they are a part of us, of our hearts and our souls and we will do everything we possibly can for them, no matter how things might change or how challenging they might get.

So, today, I begin my own contribution. I am beginning a long process of not only helping my own mother battle this dreaded disease, but I will be making art 'quiltlets', fabric postcards and other creative projects to be sent to Ami Simm's project headquarters.

I will do what I can, in all the ways that I can to keep my mother, and all of your own mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles,cousins and friends from having to go through this alone.

Day by day, inch by inch...we can all make a difference. For additional information, check out Ami Simm's site: "Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts"

my other links:

AAQI: From the Heart of a Quilter

How To Make A Fabric Art or Postcard

How To Make An Inchie

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

The Heartbreak of Alzheimer's

For Better, For Worse

What Dreams May Come

You Dont Bring Me Flowers

Each and Every Day is a Gift

Love Is All There Is...

Ami Simm's "Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts"

Juneau Pioneer's Home: Friendship Quilt

I was delighted to learn today, that the Juneau Pioneer's Home houses a lovely quilt made by in honor of a previous Juneau School District nurse, named Rosemary Quast. Apparently, Rosemary moved to Oregon in 1983, but the quilt hangs in the Pioneer Home in her honor. Inspired by a chose friend,the quilt is made up of 49 blocks, all totally hand-sewn by various friends in the Juneau community.

As I look at this quilt, I can't help but feel a sense of not only beauty but the history of deep and abiding friendships that is represented by the original creation and then the hanging of this quilt in the Pioneer Home for the past 23 years.

How lucky any of us would be to have our own friends create and honor us with such a generous gift of community friendship.

Left: The 'Friendship Quilt', created under the guidance of Mary Lou King, as it hangs in a sitting room of the Juneau Pioneer's Home.

Center: 'Canadian Goose' by Pat Pressing in honor of a wild Canadian goose egg she found lying on the beach. Pat brought the egg home and allowed her own setting hen to lie on it for incubation.

Right: 'Eskimo Mother and Child' by Olga Loescher.

Safe Harbor

I have been in my hometown of Douglas, Alaska for more than a week now. During this week, I have helped my 90 years young father with household chores, cooking and cleaning and celebrated my mother's 82nd birthday.

I have visited with my four younger brothers, their wives and the children that have not yet gone off to college or new lives in other Alaskan towns. I am the only child, the oldest and only daughter, who left home to go down to the 'lower 48' as we always called 'the States' to go to college in 1968, marry and raise my own three children.

Living in Salem, Oregon has been a good life, and Oregon is an undeniably beautiful state. Unfortunately, even that beauty pales in comparison to that of my 'home land'. The mountains here in the Juneau-Douglas area are like lower lying bridges that cross from one world to another. On the Juneau side they shelter the town of Juneau in both directions.

Here, on Douglas Island, which was incorporated into the "Greater Borough of Juneau-Douglas", we have a small but increasingly growing town that has stretched along part of its 20 mile length and 5 mile width. Most of it is covered by Mt. Bradley, which all of my life I only knew as "Mt. Jumbo."

The Douglas Boat Harbor, shown here, has sheltered the boats of all of my commercial fisherman uncles through the 50's, 60's and 70's. It shelters the smaller boats of my remaining family members as recreational vehicles, now.

Behind the boats you can see 'Juneau Island', again my entire life we knew it only as "Mayflower Island'. Growing up and returning home again is my 'safe harbor'. It is also a place of constant change and transition...both for the town, my family and myself. But even through transition and turmoil, even through challenges and loss, there still exists a peacefulness, a tranquility that I feel no where else, as I can here sheltered by my own parents' love and the beauty that still lives so deeply within me.

For days now, my family has struggled with issues of family responsibilities and extended care options. We have debated the pros and cons of 'Living Wills' and 'Living Trusts' and how to combat the inevitability of impending memory loss and the wall of Alzheimer's symptoms which seem to increasingly surround my beloved mother.

I am grateful that my 90 year old father is a seemingly indefatigable 'work horse'. His energy and endurance is almost unbelievable. He cooks, cleans, does laundry and care takes with the energy and strength of a 50 year old man. But time takes its toll on all of us. And each of us seeks respite and rest. Each of us needs and yearns for that safe harbor...for security and trust, acceptance and aid. A place to seek shelter within a storm. A place to give comfort and peace and even joy, when one cannot find it alone. I feel that here in my childhood home and reach out with my open arms to offer it now to those that I love, so dearly.

Labor Day in Douglas, Alaska

Today, all over the United States, we celebrate a federal holiday, known as Labor Day. Labor Day takes place on the first Monday in September. The holiday and celebration of this tradition began in 1882, originating from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man". It is still celebrated mainly as a day of rest and marks the symbolic end of summer for many. Labor Day became a federal holiday by Act of Congress in 1894.

Original plans were that Labor Day would be celebrated, in the first proposal, as a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families.

Forms of celebration include picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays, water sports, and public art events. Families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer. Some teenagers and young adults view it as the last weekend for parties before returning to school.

At home in Salem, Oregon, we celebrate with a barbeque and time with friends or family. Here, in Douglas, Alaska, my "90 years young" father drove me down to Sandy Beach where two local unions...Construction and Electrical, held a large barbeque, complete with complimentary hotdogs, hamburgers, chips, drinks, watermelon and even free 'Labor Day 2007' t-shirts for all.

Walking around with my dad, and watching as he greeted his electrical union 'brothers' from as much as 40 years ago, was an absolute delight. But what was even more unusual...a string quartet in a log cabin picnic lodge playing Pacabel's Canon in D Minor on a beach in Douglas, Alaska.

Happy 82nd Birthday, Mom!

Today is my dear Mother's 82nd Birthday. My mother is an amazing woman. Born in St. Martinville, Louisiana to French parents who had both emigrated from France into Canada and then south to be part of the large French Speaking Acadian community that came to be known as 'Acadians' or 'Cajuns.'

As one of 9 children, and the very youngest, my mother ended up being raised by my incredibly hardworking maternal Grandmother, who took in laundry to raise her children alone, in their Bayou Teche home.

My mother learned to speak English when she began school, having only spoken French until then. In her teens, she was given a choice of a penpal and selected a young man from Alaska. His cousin, my dad, became the final choice for a penpal, and the day came when they met, fell in love, married and raised 5 children of their own.

Three of us were born in Louisiana, two of us in Alaska, but we spent our lives in Alaska as part of a well-known pioneer family. My mother worked hard to raise 5 children under harsh and primitive conditions and we did well in our Alaskan home.

My mother survived having children almost die, die and be brought to life, our house burn to the ground, one of my father's brothers dying in WWII, and another dying while moose hunting up the Taku River. Every four years, our family,with five children, would climb into our station wagon and spend three weeks driving down the AlCan Highway, through the 'lower 48" to visit her family in Louisiana.

Many mishaps would occur along the way. One trip, my dad had to fix 14 flat tires, hitchhiking with semi trucks to the nearest Canadian gas station to have a tire repaired. We did this, many, many times. It was a challenging life, but a very good one and we never lacked for anything no matter how poor we might have seemed to others, our lives were rich with love and adventures.

My mother survived the over overwhelming of our mountain life, narrow roads, steep drop offs and long travel conditions on road, ferries, a road again from our landlocked life in the Juneau area. She learned to do, redo and make do and did it over and over for all five of us, children.

When she thought her life had finally gotten easier, all of us surviving broken bones, illnesses without adequate medical care, the burning down of our house...hard times were still to come. In her seventies, a dr. in Juneau discovered she had a severe case of 3B inflammatory breast cancer. Cancer only goes as high as 4 ,which is certain death, and inflammatory is the worst kind that there is. Not knowing if there was any real hope at all, they sent her south to Seattle, where living out of a hotel was not only hard but expensive and my mother is legally blind and a severe diabetic.

So, instead, she came to live with me in Oregon for 9 months, along with my father, and survived, chemo, surgery and radiation. She was amazing through all of it, when others were convinced she would not go through with it, nor survive....she did it all. Now battling, that which we will all battle some day...increasing memory loss and the onset of Alzheimer's...she is still the best story teller any of us will ever meet in this lifetime, and a dear person with a loving and generous heart.

In honor of her birthday, her victory over breast cancer and the royalty amongst all women that she is...I offer up in her honor these gifts....a Pink Ribbon Fleece blanket to wrap up in, a royal cape and crown, and a photo birthday card to remind her that she is as beautiful today, as she ever was in her youth.

Happy Birthday, Mom...I love you, dearly.

Love, Michele