“The life so short, the crafts so long to learn.”
The day is beautiful with a warm sun and an azure sky, but autumn is losing its hold. The nights are chilly, even cold. I put an afghan on my bed. It’s enough for now, but barely. Gracie cocooned herself this morning; she pushed the spread and afghan to the bottom of the bed and surrounded herself in covers. She is my harbinger of cold weather and the coming of winter.
I don’t have a single thing to do today. I think I’ll go out for a bit and meander with the dog. She likes a ride as much as I do.
When I was a little kid, we colored Easter eggs and made Christmas ornaments every year. My mother used to put newspaper on the table and we’d sit there and be creative. For Christmas, my mother used to save all sorts of scraps of cloth and ribbon and a box of assorted buttons she’d put out for us to use. Elmer’s glue was essential and messy, and our fingers used to stick in the scissors’ finger holes. Our finished ornaments were never pieces of art, but it didn’t mattered. My mother always hung them on the tree anyway. Coloring Easter eggs wasn’t all that messy. My mother would put out small bowls on the table with different colored dyes. We’d use spoons to dip and then dip the eggs again. There wasn’t much more to it than that, but those eggs looked beautiful in a basket of green grass.
Last year my friends and I started doing crafts before some of the holidays. We decorated skulls for Día de los Muertos, carved pumpkins for Halloween, made floats for Mardi Gras, folded origami for Chinese New Year, colored eggs for Easter and iced individual gingerbread houses for Christmas. It was so much fun we’re going to add holidays and different crafts this year. For Halloween we’ll be making scary clothespin figures like Frankenstein, a witch and a bat. I’m already looking forward to it. I even ordered two bottles of glue. I know how messy we get.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
October 11, 2010 at 12:07 pm
these great traditions are the threads that make life sweet! your mom sounds wonderful!
October 11, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Greg,
I remember an ornament I made which was beyond ugly (an assessment I made when I was older) which my mother so carefully placed on the tree. I laugh to think of it now.
Yes, she was wonderful.
October 11, 2010 at 1:13 pm
We never did anything like that at home when I was younger, my mot´her never has understood those things 🙂 But we did some at school and I remember how fun it used to be. I have started to feel the urge to do some kind of crafts this year, but I still haven´t decided what, but glue is essential because I want sticky fingers 🙂 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
October 11, 2010 at 7:41 pm
Christer,
We used to make stuff at school too, mostly cards for our parents for the holidays.
My friends and I are really enjoying our crafts. It’s just another fun way to enjoy the holidays.
October 11, 2010 at 4:24 pm
“I put an afghan on my bed.”
Had to use the Elmer’s Glue; he kept getting away.
Cheers
October 11, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Minicapt,
This is my favorite of all the comments you’ve posted. I laughed a long while!
October 12, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Me too 🙂 🙂 🙂
October 11, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Two bottles of scotch instead of glue if I were on your team. We are thinking of even passing on pumpkins this year since the older grandkids can’t make it over. It’s Dullsville here without the kids. The little one is now standing but not yet walking. I really think a scary pumpkin would knock him off his feet and give him a bad start to life. So I’m not sure what to do. I probably should enter that witch costume contest for Christine O’Donnell up your way. I hear if she wears the winning costume, the person who designed it gets $5000. Of course, she’s such a whacko that she probably wouldn’t see the humor in it and wouldn’t wear it at all. So we now move to Thanksgiving and hope we can keep that together this year.
October 11, 2010 at 7:20 pm
… and then the Olbermann and Maddow can show up to explain it to her, perhaps by drawing a picture.
Cheers
October 11, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Minicapt,
Will they bring their good friend?
October 11, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Z&Me,
We usually have dinner or appetizers then we sit around the table, sometimes have a drink or two and chat and laugh as we do our crafts. We hold up our masterpieces for oohing and ahing.
The evening is great fun.
October 11, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Dr Chris Pissarides of the London School Economics was announced this afternoon as one of the recipients of the Nobel prize for Economics.
During my privileged time at the LSE, he was my Tutor.
Totally cool, and if he would like to join me and my two kids at the Gorillaz show at the Fox on Wednesday I have an extra ticket 🙂
October 11, 2010 at 9:59 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I am impressed with the people you know! How could he turn down that ticket?