Thanksgiving Thoughts

When I give thanks...

When I give thanks, I give thanks for you, my friends.

For all of the people that have shaped and molded my life

all of these years.

...that will be my foundation

for all of the years to come...

Thank you.

sparkle+shine

2009

natalie.

Sea Creature Inspiration

Does anyone know what this sea creature is?

It was found on pristine white sand, after a storm.

Where there was surf.

Inspiration.  It's all around us.

sparkle + shine

2009

natalie

Which IS real?

I saw a woman sitting in a chair.  Outside.  By her front door.
I thought, "How does this young woman have so much time during the week, in the middle of the day, to sit by her front door?"
As I got closer, the thin, tan, long haired woman, I realized, was a 94 year old wrinkled, toothless old lady.
Sitting outside of the door of her 1940's aluminum single wide trailer.
By the side of the road.
Between two lanes of blacktop and the swamp.

As I drove a few miles further, I saw another woman.
Sitting in a chair.  Outside.  By her front door.
I thought, "How is she going to sell anything at her gift boutique, all decorated for fall, by sitting at her front door?"
I wondered if the woman outside of the trailer had ever been to her shop.
It was in an old, old town.
By the side of the road.  That had been passed over by the construction of the new Interstate.

About 15 miles down the road, I reached "civilization".
The Loop shopping center - Old Navy, Michaels, BedBath & Beyond.  You know the type.  Any city, anywhere.
And maybe 20 miles away, the Outlet Mall.
Calvin Klein.
DisneyWorld Casting.  No, really.  Disney World.  Orlando.

The two lane blacktop turned in to 8 lanes.
The boutique in the old town turned into - well, I don't know what to call it.
And the two women, sitting peacefully at their front doors, were replaced by rushing, anonymity.

I wondered if word had even gotten to the lady in the trailer - did she know?
Twenty miles is a long way to walk to find out that DisneyWorld had 'changed our world'.
And even further to go for Calvin Klein on sale...

Which IS real?  Which IS placing value on what is important?

People NOT touching other people.  No one greeting anyone.  Encased in cars, traveling on impersonal roads that tell us when to come and go, not allowing us to even interact in our cars.  Pulling into fields of asphalt to store our cars while we enter a store, not being greeted, to find our own way, pay for money that is automatically deposited into an account somewhere, taken out somewhere by a plastic card swiped across a plastic box, while we throw our plastic bags into our plastic trunk and drive off to hit a plastic button to open our plastic garage door, drive in, and shut the door behind us.

...which is real - I know, both are real, but in just a few short miles, I saw they both existed in the same world.

Take a moment and choose to sit on your porch, go outside.
Go sit outside of your front door, and welcome the world.

Just for one day.  Try it.  Let both exist in the same world, before we loose one world all together...

Natalie.

Family. Two dogs, two kids, two adults - and me.

Family.

It's sweet.

It's messy.

It's all around you.  You can't get away from it once you're in the middle of it.

Dogs wake you every morning by smelling your breath, 

then licking your face.

They go room to room checking on every kid in the house.

No matter how old the kid is.

The dog remembers KID.

It's tradition.

Pizza on Fridays.

After running Monday through Thursdays.

Saturdays are hamburgers.

You can count on it.

No matter what time you come home, 

there they are waiting for you.

"should we wrap this up and put it away?"

"no, leave it.  TK will eat them when he comes home"

"I stayed tonite to be with you"

"I'll come home tomorrow to see you"

FAmILy.

cool.

If you've got one, well, it's no big deal.

But when you don't.

Well.

Two dogs, two kids, two adults, and me.

cool.

they all 

sparkle+shine

thank you, all of you, for letting me be family

if only for a little while

Loves,

Natalie.

A different perspective

WORLD QUILT 2009

There are times when you need to change your outlook.

See things in a different light.

GAIN SOME PERSPECTIVE

What does it take for you to see things in a different light?

An Ott Lamp?

A reducing lens?

Sometimes, when I'm working on a quilt, even putting it on a design board doesn't let me see the contrast, the comparison, the scale, the value, the color.

I will set it on the floor and climb up on a stool with my digital camera.

I'll take a pic.

I'll load it on to the computer.

I'll look at it - send it to friends for a critique.

Do you have friends that will give you honest input - constructive criticism?

Where do you go for a fresh perspective?

Here is beyond the reef

as you have never seen it before

A different perspective

will also give you a different perspective

on things.

Try it.

See what you see.

sparkle+shine

2009

natalie.