Our Weekend

I drove up to my Mum and Dad's place on Thursday. Just the smalls and myself.

It's only a four and a half hour drive, but I was so tired. I drank two coffees, one cup of tea, and a medium post-mix Coke. Ordinarily I only have one caffeinated drink a day. But I was so weary.

We celebrated our beloved Grandmother's life. We cried. We laughed. We caught up with relatives that we had not seen in too long.

I hated leaving today. I would have liked to have stayed up there longer, but life continues. I always find that such a hard thing to deal with when grieving. Why is everyone oblivious to the waves of grief? You know that feeling? You just want a stand-still, out of respect.

And the drive home was long. The Doctor kept talking for most of it. Tiny screamed for part of it.

I am quietly exhausted. I think I have car-lag. Curled up on the couch thinking about my family. Glad to have had that time to remember some beautiful memories and remember and rejoice in a wonderful and inspiring life.

Mother's Day & Mars

I feel incredibly blessed to have had such a beautiful grandmother as Mars.

Generous, loving, warm, affectionate, nurturing, talented Mars. She loved being hugged, holding hands, listening, gardening, painting, crafting, cooking, loving.

Yesterday our beloved Mars went to sleep for eternity. I take comfort that she'll be with our Gramps, reunited, on a perfect blue sky Autumn day.

I think of her today, I'm grateful for all the riches she brought to our family - her generous spirit, her love, everything.

Happy Mother's day mamas. I hope everyone has someone as wonderful as Marsy in their lives. And a special happy Mother's Day to my own Mum.

The Gentle Art Of Quiet Stitching

Lately I've been enjoying stitching. I'm still stitching my sister's belated birthday present, because each time I get to feeling almost finished, I decide to embellish it further. This could continue for a while, however the more stitches the pillowcase collects, the firmer the fabric becomes and she may well feel like she's sleeping on a piece of cardboard. So I will stop soon.

But stitching provides me with such a nice rhythmic, solo pursuit.

As a mother it's rare these days that I get to do anything solo. So stitching is usually left to bed time, when I pore over my colours, selecting them with care, and then stitching. Sometimes I colour match incorrectly and spend the next evening carefully unpicking, but it's all part of it. And the truth is, sometimes those imperfections are part of the beauty of stitching.

My grandmother is an incredible stitcher. Sadly, she's almost blind, however I know each of my sisters and I cherish anything that has been hand-stitched by our Marsy. I constantly seek inspiration from her embroidery and can spend many minutes looking with amazement at her incredibly tiny stitches. I have this towel that she must have given to me at least ten years ago, which I've never used because it's too special. I know she'd want me to use it, but look at the work, no way Jose!
Who's your inspiration?