THE ART OF FIELDING

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach - There is nothing like having great books to read during vacation times. The Art of Fielding is about baseball, but even more about college, and even more about relationships, and even more about stages in our life that are crossroads. The thing about these crossroads, especially as one grows older, is that you don't necessarily know that you are at a crossroads in the moment. It's only later that you realize the reason for your tough times. Chad Harbach worked on his novel for nine years, and he got it right. I won't be forgetting Henry Scrimshander and Mike Schwartz for a long time. And I won't forget this baseball story for a long time. Baseball stories are a genre onto themselves, and if you've ever indulged in the stories of Ring Lardner, or read the early biographies of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb and the like, then this modern day story will satisfy you with its timeless feel.

As I was Googling for Ring Lardner's name, I learned that there is a generation of baseball books out there that are now considered the "classics". I remember reading
Ball Four, but nothing about it, because it wasn't in the same league, and I read some of Peter's baseball mystery biographies when he was younger, but they weren't the same, either. There is something about the early part of the 20th century that was magical and strong and the writers and movies romanticized it. In the future, gritty reality took precedence over romanticizing, and things have never been the same since. Until you read a modern novel like The Art of Fielding. It's got just the right mix of fictional reality and romance.

So, what else have I accomplished in these post Christmas days? Well......I organized my wrapping paper container which was a mess, and I started bringing some stuff downstairs to the living room where all garage sale items will be staged for the next few months. I am so determined to get rid of the stuff we don't use. With the internet, it can almost always be found again, because someone else saved it. But I will have been there and done that, or in the case of everyone else's stuff that I keep getting, they will have been there and done that, and it's not MY memory, so out it will go.
The important things are the pictures and certain ephemera. The other stuff and paper is preventing me from moving forward in a myriad of ways and I'm sick of it. I guess I've learned that hanging on to the past doesn't keep me young. Time marches on, so it's either hang back or move forward. I'm choosing move forward.
I think.

Why the uncertainty? Because here, for example is the pile of Christmas linens stuff. The "here" in question being on top of my printer. There is a set of green and gold, edged in gold doilies from my mother's cousin Toula, in Greece. Toula made those for us years ago, and whenever I pull them out, I think of Toula, and how much I love her, and how wonderful she has been to me all the times I've traveled to the village and seen her and stayed with her. Now, when Toula came here, it was just before September 11, 2001, and she was out east for some reason, and when the planes hit, she freaked and cut her trip short and went back to Greece as soon as she could. And never even called me. So now I have mixed feelings and emotions about the doilies, because it would have been so nice and fun to have Toula come and stay with us. But she didn't even call. I never liked them (the doilies) until some years ago when I realized that they were great to pull out at Christmas. This year I didn't though. I wonder if I could let the largest of the three doilies go, and keep the two smaller. There is also a really pretty quilted christmas fabric pillow cover I made with three grosgrain ribbon ties. And some extra fabric yardage of Christmas fabric that I'm always going to make into something. Christmas aprons, Christmas bread cloths, Christmas pillow cases. So then I try to back into it: What is the most important thing in this pile? It's the wide felt banner that Peter made in Sunday School when he was little, and that I didn't hang this year. The Christmas fingertip towels are important two. I love putting those out. Actually I love the whole thing. And I do have space designated for this stuff at the top of the closet in the sunroom. Help! Will I get rid of the extraneous or keep it? Will it make me happy or frustrated when I pull it down from the upper reaches next year? Will it make me happy or frustrated if I ever have a granddaughter to sew with, and it's right here for us, ready to sew? Just so you know, the pile is already 1/3 down, because I haven't detailed the things that I did cull and that are in the sale pile already.
I can say that I don't really NEED this stuff. I'm so glad my camera broke, or you'd be looking at a picture of the pile. And there's something else: If I sell the doilies from Toula, will I miss them? I'm pretty determined to go all silver and white for Christmas from now on, not gold. And I always prefer red to green. OK, I just let 4 homemade fabric tapestry coasters go. So that's good. And I'm also letting go a fairly large piece of freecycle-obtained red fabric that I edge-serged in white and used for something at some point. It's nice under a creche or other display, but out it goes! And the piece of red watered-silk cotton, although it would make a great apron or pillow cover....out! Let some other sewer make the apron. The quilted pillowcase cover. This is tough. I can't do it. It always made me feel cozy. I can just see me in my old age, living in Florida, leaning back on the pillow I covered for Christmas and remembering it. I don't think I'll be able to get rid of Toula's doilies unless I can put a picture of them here. There is one large oval one, which I don't even see in the pile, and two small placemat sized ovals. She cut the ovals out of ecru tiny tiny needlepoint cloth, then needle pointed all the green areas. the areas that were left plain are edged in bright gold metallic thread. Then she folded under the edges and hemmed them by hand, then she stitched on the lacy gold trim. What to do. What to do. I think I'll table this for now and take Peter to the mall to exchange the Nike Frees I got him for Christmas that were too small. Maybe then I'll come home and figure the picture thing out. I can always take the picture with my iPad, although I risk losing all the info on it when I hook it up to the computer. Then I have to re-sync.