TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

When you're growing up, and life is so vivid yet blurry, you have no idea how special things are when they are happening to you. Or at least that's how it is with me, who lives a great part of her life in the past. (in my mind). The one good thing about growing old will be that "they say" that you remember earlier memories. I can't wait to remember the earlier memories more vividly since I don't have the pictures that I'd take today if I knew now what I didn't know then. Wait, what's this post about? Oh yeah. Peter is going to start reading one of my favorite books. Only it's for school, and for assignments, rather than for pleasure. Unfortunately, I believe that reading books for the purpose of discussion and work takes away the pleasure. Except he never would have read it otherwise. This morning we watched the movie
To Kill A Mockingbird starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. I first saw this as a little girl while spending the night at my grandmother's house. My grandmother and I sat together on her sofa and she cracked roasted and salted pumpkin seeds for me while we watched. It was probably a Saturday Night at the Movies movie. If for some reason you've never seen this movie or don't know the story, I'm not going to say another word about it. In the next few years, I discovered the book on our bookshelf at home (now on my bookshelf here in Wilmette, complete with my dad's name stamped on the inside), and read it. The movie was so true to the story that seeing the movie first in this case is OK, because the actors were the characters, and you've got a vision in your mind about the town, the people and all that happened there.

LOSING

What a loaded word. "Losing". It could mean so much. Today it means that I feel like a loser, because I am one, because I lost one of my special possessions last night, right here in the house, by accident and by not being careful. For my 8th birthday, my godmother took me out for a special day. We went shopping downtown at Hudson's, and bought something special in a number of departments. We bought a dress in the clothing department, at least one other thing in another department, then we went to the toy counter, and she bought me the one Mattel doll I didn't yet have, Allen, who was Barbie's friend Midge's boyfriend. I chose an Allen with red hair, because I always chose red haired Barbies. I already had Barbie with a red pony tail, red haired Midge, red haired Skipper, and red haired Scooter. My brother Bill had Ken (can't remember whether Ken had red hair-he's currently downstairs, so I'll check) and my brother Steve had red haired Ricky, friend to Skipper and Skooter. We chose a tuxedo for Allen, too, and might have bought an outfit for Barbie that day. Then we went to lunch, I just can't remember where, then we went to my Nono's office in the David Stott Building.
He had a special present for me, in his signature black jewelry box trimmed in gold. Inside the box is a little black satin ring box, and there sat the most beautiful simple pearl ring set in gold. It was a little too big for my finger, so we'd wrap tape around the bottom of it so that I could wear it on Sundays to church. Then when I got older, I grew into it, and it still fits me to this very day. Or at least until last night when I LOST IT. These past 20 years, I'd been wearing it with two other small gold rings, one from each of my grandmothers. Last night, before going out to dinner, I decided to wear the three gold rings rather than the copper ring I'd made in jewelry class last summer. When I got home, I came in here to check email, etc, and loosened the rings on my fingers. As I walked out the door of my office, two of the rings slipped off my finger. It was dark in the hallway, but I heard one hit the floor to my left, and the other ring pinged on the floor to my right. This was at the top of the open staircase which looks down into our foyer. I quickly checked to see three of five rings were still on my finger. I picked up the little ring that had fallen to my left, but the other one, which I now knew was my beloved pearl ring, wasn't there. I did a search up and down the stairs, ran my hands over every inch of carpet, looked in every corner and under every bit of wood trim (which is detached from the floors in most of the house. Took my contacts out and went through the search again, more thoroughly. Steve, who is great at finding small lost stuff, came and helped too. I searched again this morning by the light of day. Nothing. The memory of a really special day in my life will always be here, but for now the physical evidence is gone.
In the meantime, the reverse scroll operation on my wireless mouse is operable again. I have no idea why this function sometimes stops, but it's really annoying. I just want to put it out there that I'd rather have my ring than reverse scroll.
My search continues. It has to be here somewhere.

IF WOMEN RAN THE WORLD SH*T WOULD GET DONE

If Women Ran the World Sh*t Would Get Done by Shelly Rachanow - My wonderful friend Linda gave one of these books to each of us in the Posse (group of moms who used to wait outside the elementary school doors for our children, and a dad named us the Posse) at Christmas time, and I just read it in the last couple of days. It's a celebration of women and "all the wonderful, amazing, stupendous, inspiring, butt-kicking things women do". There are examples of asib-k women throughout, and journal pages for you to write about what you'd do if you were in charge. The author loves loves the phrase "butt-kicking" and uses it on every page. It's not one of my favorite phrases, but she's written such a happy, energetic, inspirational book here, that I'm smiling as I'm writing this. I book marked page 145 which has a particularly positive Just Do It Now message. Ok, ok, I type fast, here it is:

"The Butt-Kicking Things I Plan to Do for Myself

What are the things that you most love to do?
What dreams do you want to come true?
What would you include on your light-bulb-dawning, doves-flying-overhead, cue-the-singing angels, I-want-this-more-than-anything list?
If you ran the world, wouldn't every single item you can think of be a regular part of your life right now?
Why not run your world so these items are a part of your life today?
Stop listening to anyone (including yourself) who says you are too young, old, smart, stupid, pretty, ugly, or in some way not right or not enough. You know how good you are at getting sh*t done for other people.
Isn't it time you directed your butt-kicking energy toward your happily ever after dreams come true? Isn't it time you said yes! to all the things you have ever planned to do for yourself?"

See what I mean? This is an entire book of that. Time to get moving.....You Go Girl!

PROGRESSING * ORGANIZING AGAIN!

I'm ready to finish my office-sewing room today. I've got paper on my desk, things to sell on Craigslist (I did sell the Keith Haring pictures yesterday, yea!), messy sewing surfaces, 3 pairs of jeans to alter, and a pile of pillows and the fabric with which to cover them. It sounds like a lot, but it's pretty doable if I keep moving. Just like the other day, I'll post my progress. If it looks really great at the end of the day, I'll even post a picture of the happy finished results. I CAN DO THIS! Then at the end of the day, I'm inspired to make a certain crystal necklace, and get started on the Mykonos pearl necklace, or at least started on pearl knotting a bracelet, so that when I pearl knot on Mykonos, it will turn out perfectly. And while I do all this, I'll listen carefully to that Nick Hornby CD to see if the music speaks to me the way it speaks to him. At the very end of the day, maybe I'll continue to work on my website at herheartonhersleeve.com. I've owned the domain name for a few years now, and every once in awhile I'd make a webpage. So far, not good. I saw a website that I loved over the weekend, and decided to use that as inspiration for my own site. The inspiration is clean and modern. Last night I created a homepage using a Mac how to book and iWeb. Now all I have to do is get the iWeb page over to the domain. It can't be that difficult, but I haven't figured it out yet. Plus, I'd like to have a few pages for the site before an official launch.
But first things first.
Checking In: This is not working! I'm going backwards today. I took apart half of a pair of jeans, deciding that today was the day to experiment with a particularly fine restyling job. Except these were already sewn up like I've never seen. And at the same time I listened to a few of the Hornby songs, and like half of those. I started in on iWeb again, and made another page, which will be a photo page into my jewelry collections.
On top of everything else, I didn't put the space heater on in the room with me, so my hands are now like blocks of ice, gfn, (good for nothing) and I'm freezing! It's time for a Do Over...
Final Check In: I cleaned out some old files and recycled paper in a very impressive way. I ironed on the 2009 patch to Peter's last year cross country sweatshirt. I moved those Craigslist items to the back bedroom under the dresser (I might have to refer back to this note to remember where those items were relocated!) Experimented with the new steamer iron and love it. Desk is much more organized. Vacuumed in here too. Decided which Hornby songs to keep, and imported them to iTunes. And finally I'm working on a picture page for my website. I think I've got the organization set up the way I want it, and I'm figuring out this iWeb. It's time for a popcorn and tv break! Yea!

NICK HORNBY SONGBOOK

Nick Hornby Songbook - by Nick Hornby - This is a small compilation of comments and reviews and discussion about new and old songs, and includes a compilation CD. It's a bit wordy for me, but here and there a sentence or thought rings so true, that it was worth the read. I have this plan where I'll look up each song (they aren't all on the CD) and listen to it on You Tube. And maybe I will. I've listened to the CD three times this afternoon while sorting through last year's paperwork and files, but didn't really hear a thing. They were all ballads, and I have a feeling that the lyrics are going to be most important when I relisten. Which I'll have to do, because I agree with him on just enough music to make it worth my while. Then we'll see if any of these tunes ends up on a Dianne playlist. After all that, all I'll have to do is figure out who gets the book next.
Any takers?

AYISHA

Ayisha by Helen Noga - This was my second reading and visit to a book I'd read years ago, and had decided was one of my very favorite books of all time. I'd been in a frenzied state of reading everything about the Smyrna Catastrophe of 1922 and the Armenian Genocide of 1915. I read the newspaper from cover to cover every day, and one day in 2002, came across the obituary of a woman from San Francisco who had owned jazz clubs with her husband, and had also written a novel called Ayisha, about a woman who survived the Armenian Genocide. With that little reference, I tracked down the book which was sent from a library outside of our area. It was not available anywhere else at the time. Now, thanks to Amazon, and with very little investment, I own an autographed hardcover first edition of Ayisha! I just finished it this morning, and it is still a beautiful and unusual love story. It's a story by an open minded author, who went into difficult territory to dash prejudices and stereotypes.

ORGANIZING.......AGAIN!

I know, I know....We've been here before. I walked into my office/sewing room this morning, and realized that for the past few weeks, I've felt like walking right out of it every time I've come in here. And it's my favorite room in our house, so that's not good. Today is the day. The bead group members are scattered and not going to meet, so I'll take this bonus day to get my room back in shape. There are things on all the surfaces, on the floor, and on the backs of chairs. If I realize that I'm not getting the job done, I'll post some pictures in an hour or so. I'd rather just post the "after" shots later this afternoon, though. I've got the iTunes fired up to that great little sound track from Happy People, so here goes......
And I promise not to read the Chicago Tribune until this job is done. (But I might go outside and bring it in.) Help!
Progress: * I've posted 7 items on Craigslist * I've just put away the last of the Christmas tablecloths and towels that were on the back of my desk chair-Yea! * Just sewed the top part on these industrial socks that Steve has had for maybe 20 years. When I realized that these things were members of the family, I also darned the tiny hole I spotted. When's the last time YOU darned a sock? With your wooden sock darner. This 2 minute project might be at the bottom of the whole sewing room slide this time. I don't know. I don't really want to go there either. * Just finished ironing, and put all the clothes away, too * Answered the phone to a number I didn't recognize, and it was for a Market Study, and I qualified. * Serged the edges of the homemade box spring cover that I'd washed and put it back on the bed * Cleared the papers and label packages off the printer and put them all away
So I went downstairs to get a bite to eat and welcome Peter home from school. He wasn't feeling well, so I made him a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies, and read the paper while they were baking. Did some downstairs deskwork, and now it's dark out and I don't feel like doing anything else in my little office without the natural light, so although there is an improvement, I haven't finished my tasks. Maybe this weekend.....

I AM NUJOOD, AGE 10 and DIVORCED

I An Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced - by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui - This true story happened in the country of Yemen in the last few years, and highlights the childrens' and womens' and human rights abuse issue of arranged child "marriages" that happen daily in countries around the world. Nujood is a brave girl, and her story is compelling. She has become a symbol of strength for girls whose male relatives give them to older men to be their "wives". These are people who are uneducated, unworldy, cruel, small minded, and consumed with ancient codes of "honor". The title sounds so simple, but behind that title is much suffering, and a compelling story.

CHESS BRACELET

When Peter and I stayed in Santorini a few years ago on our vacation of the four generations (Aunt Lu, myself, her 18 year old grandson, and my son who was 8 at the time), Peter and I had a room in the main building, and Aunt Lu and Michael had a "cave room" built into the side of the mountain with a view of the Caldera. To get from one room to the other, we'd go across a patio at the hotel that had a chessboard painted on the patio, and chess pieces that were the size of Peter. He loved pushing those pieces around the board. This clasp reminds me of that happy time, living on top of an island, seemingly on top of the world. The Chess Bracelet is composed of three strands, and will fit almost any size wrist, because it can be worn with the strands straight across, or with the strands twisted around each other any number of times, which will allow it to fit a smaller wrist. Light gray freshwater pearls play the board in a pattern with hematite squares and round black seed beads. The clasp is a vintage button set in, and embellished with sterling silver. Round clasp with square design, round seed beads with squares of hematite, and the salty freshwater pearls. The contrast of pure geometry with naturally formed shapes is always a favorite.

THE MOUNTAIN OF SILENCE

The Mountain of Silence - A Search for Orthodox Spirituality by Kyriacos D. Markides - My mom suggested I read this book since she didn't have time to do so. The Mountain of Silence is actually a metaphor for Mt. Athos in Greece. Mt. Athos is a peninsula in northwest Greece that has been home to monks living in ancient monasteries for many centuries. This book is about the monastic side of Orthodox Religion, about Saints and elders, about Grace, about the island of Cyprus, about vigils, about ceaseless prayer, and about the importance of humility. The events and conversations in this non-fiction book take place as interviews with monks and spiritual advisor Father Maximos, mostly on Cyprus. However, there is much that relates back to Mt. Athos and its mysteries. Mt. Athos has functioned in the same way for many many centuries, and life there is known to be untouched by the modern world. Females are not allowed on the peninsula which is about 10 miles wide by 30 miles long. Pilgrims (visitors to the mountain) mostly walk from one to the other of the 20 monasteries. This is a book of mysticism, belief and monasticism, and offers explanations and descriptions for living life apart from modern day societies. It is not for the faint of heart, but it is very readable especially if you are inclined to study the idea of ceaseless prayer. Mt. Athos: