Nurses' Hands

A nurse is an angel on roller skates.

Peace.

It does not mean to be in a place where there is no trouble, noise, or hard work -

It means to be in the midst of these things

and still be calm in your heart.

The work of an individual still remains

the spark that moves mankind forward.

-Igor Sikorsky

What lies behind us and what lies before us

are small matters compared to what lies within us.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

You can laugh - or cry - or both.

There is nothing so strong as gentleness

and there is nothing so gentle as strength.

-Sir Francis de Sales

The future is bought with the present.

-Samuel Johnson

Saturday night with my co-workers.

Love, Linda

Back to Earth

I know! I've been neglecting my blog while blog hopping to visit everyone else on "Where Bloggers Create III". And I'm still far from finished. So I'm going to just share a few flower photos today - before they get all straggly and burnt up. Some herbs:

Begonias, impatiens, potato vine.

Come on, let me out with you, I promise I won't bite the Fed Ex man!

We're hungry - again!

Stay cool, remember - in January - we wanted this!

Love, Linda

Where Bloggers Create III

It's all just too exciting!!


For the third year, Karen from My Desert Cottage is hosting "Where Bloggers Create 2011," the 3rd Annual Blog Party, and has invited hundreds of women - and maybe a man, I don't know - to show their creative spaces to the world! Last year I wasn't blogging, only started in February when I started my Etsy store, so I missed Blog Party II, but have been looking at all the beautiful places featured in 2010. 


So without further ado, here's my creative space . . .


. . . Well, actually, it's my dining room. But since I live with three dogs, and eat all my meals in bed, my dining room has become my "studio." 

I make baby clothes, little girl dresses, fancy aprons, and teddy bears.

Same room, other angle - NOT a photographer, but learning.

I incorporate vintage linens into most of my creations.

Close-up of the mess atop the sideboard - vintage linens.

Some of my bonnets made from vintage hankies.

I've been collecting old linen for about twenty years, um, maybe thirty.

These cabinets are in my bedroom and the doors close

 to keep everything clean.

Sorry I didn't straighten up for you guys.

Some fancy aprons,

and a wedding apron in the creation stage.

My doggies: Marley (Davidson) and Sunny Joy

Cassandra is camera shy and is hiding in her crate, but I caught 

her photo a couple of blogs ago.

Making bears:

Some of my teapots. I also have tea parties in this room.

I'll share recipes sometime.

My closet in this room is bursting with yummy fabrics.

Course everything was on sale . . .

Thanks so much for visiting, I hope I make a lot of new friends.

Now, I'm going visiting, and for my friends who want to see some beautiful, creative spaces, click on the badge on the right.

Love, Linda

Vintage Video II

Sandy at Shabby Streamside Studio is hosting the second Vintage Video, with the theme of Summer Flowers. Here are some of mine from my last house.

Happy Summer! Love, Linda

Trees . . . and a book report

Hi everyone!
When I was little I was a "bookworm." Not a very good thing to be in those days. My mother would shoo me outside to play. I would circle around to the garage (where I had previously hidden a book), then climb the apple tree in the back yard. Hidden by the leafy branches, I could read Nancy Drew for hours.

Later, in another house, I found a little space under the branches of a huge pine tree. The branches touched the ground all around, but if you crawled underneath at the right place, you were in a wonderful, secret hideaway.


Still later, I climbed a sycamore growing across the street. I climbed and climbed, and was surprised - and a little scared - to find I was looking down at the tops of the telephone poles. That time I was caught, as my mother spied my red jacket high in the branches.

I thought I was moving out of town for the peace and quiet, but now I know it was for the trees. Which leads me to share the book I'm reading. "Like a Tree," by Jean Shinola Bolen, MD.
She starts out defining a tree "person," a tree "lover," and how this turns into a tree "activist." The following excerpts in quotes are hers.


"As I went deeper and deeper into the subject of trees, I entered a complex and diverse forest of knowledge, from archeological to mystical. I learned that we wouldn't be here at all . . . if not for trees."

"Every large tree has an ecosystem of it's own, a sphere of influence in its immediate environment . . . trees are a habitat for the plants, insects, birds and animals in their vicinity, but an even closer bond is formed with the fungi and bacteria that are intimately connected with the metabolism of the tree."

Ms. Bolen goes into detail about how the forest actually makes it's own weather and cleans the air around each tree. She also discusses different types of trees and describes the oldest trees on earth, and how they come to their great age. For instance, there are twenty-four species of trees that live to be over a thousand years old.

"Without trees, Earth would not have a breathable atmosphere, soil for vegetation to grow, or water fit to drink."


"On Vancouver Island, in June, 2010, Hilary Huntley, a young Canadian artist, suddenly became a tree activist when she learned that three majestic Garry oaks were to be cut down for a sports field, and took immediate personal action. She climbed into one of them, determined to thwart the tree cutters, and became the center of a spontaneous community effort to save them."


(Sometimes, you don't know you have activist potential until it hits close to home.)

She goes on to tie her ideas into a global theme, describing the "Green Belt in Kenya," where women learn to plant and care for trees, as well as comparing the economic security of nations who have clear-cut their trees to those who husband their trees wisely.


"Research shows that powerful social and economic changes come about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society. Adolescent girls are uniquely capable of raising the standard of living in the developing world. When woman and girls earn income, they invest 90 percent of it in their families, as compared to 30 or 40 percent by a man."

"The link between gratitude and service seems to be made more often and easily by people who realize that they are survivors." 


"I hope memories and connections come to you as you read my words, and that the realization that you are a tree person will turn out to be significant. What does it mean to be a tree person at this time in history? Might it have to do with participating in the next evolutionary step for humanity?"

So, I recommend this book and hope you enjoyed

seeing some of the trees I live with. Love, Linda