Save the planet

Art is art! Oh my—I love Tammy's comment about the CN Tower from yesterday's blog. The person who criticized the block recognized it as the CN Tower. Mission accomplished!!! I NEVER think of the good comebacks at the time. 

Imagine if we were all quick on our feet and could put the "Karens" in their place immediately!! I have to work on those witty comebacks! 

And it was time for our UFO Club. The amount of UFOs that most of us have is obscene, but slow and steady, and we will whittle them away. That's my philosophy, and sometimes, if the UFO is huge, it's a good idea to plan it out. Maybe work on it for a month or two. If you get bored, switch it up, BUT leave yourself good notes about where you are, what you have done, and what the next steps are. 

And here's the other thing about UFOs. You do NOT need to be a hero and finish everything you started or wanted to start! If you no longer are excited about it, or every time you pick it up, it's a chore, or you are procrastinating about it - guess what? Find a new home for it. I'm not a fan of throwing stuff out, but if no one else wants it and you don't - why should you be obliged to finish it? Can you do something different with it? 

Move on to the fun stuff, because if you don't—here's a great quote by Henry David Thoreau. While the quote is about books, it applies to everything in life. 

"Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all." 

And I just spotted another quote that brings a serious situation to mind. 

"All good things are wild and free." 

This makes me think of the recent pictures of Mount Everest. May is summit season on Mount Everest, and over the years, many people have reached the summit. But if you look at this year's pictures, they are discouraging, disheartening, and disgusting! There are literally LINES of climbers inching their way along the paths. You could get through Tim's line much faster. Or how about a line at the bank on Friday afternoon? 

This is the problem with any of those "great" hikes - The Camino, Machu Picchu, etc. We now have so much more disposable income (not everyone - I get that), and they think it is their right to visit these sacred places and, in many cases, leave them in worse condition than when they arrived. The garbage situation on Everest is disgusting, and while some organizations are making inroads in cleaning it up, the people who made the mess should be the ones cleaning it up. 

And I've never understood the "importance" of people wanting to get close to places like Antarctica without ever actually setting foot there. I just think about the environmental impact of the ships in those waters - just so people can see ice floes and penguins. 

I guess I'm just a simple person. It makes me NOT want to go to places like that. Find the less popular places to go. Those are the gems now - the other stuff? Tourist trap and garbage dumps! 

And there are many other amazing quotes from Henry David Thoreau. 

How about this one: "Your life is frittered away by detail. Simplify. Simplify." 

How true!!!! 

Yesterday, during the Virtual Retreat, we got onto the topic of travel and how to protect your possessions, whether that's your checked luggage or your valuables. It's so simple—just don't take your precious stuff, and don't take lots. I will never travel with checked luggage for pleasure - NEVER! I have to check luggage when I'm traveling for work because the sample suitcases are too big and heavy to carry on. 

When I see those huge suitcases at the airport, I would love to ask someone to open them up so I can see what's inside. I'm dying to know! How many clothes, shoes, and purses does one person need? 

I'm all about simplicity, but I sure would love my life to be a lot simpler in terms of possessions, and I'm working on it, so that is good. 

Here's an example of the kind of thing that makes me sing. When I went for a walk in the morning, I spotted this on the ground. 

Moss in the forest

Do you know what it is? The picture doesn't do it justice. It's just a patch of moss. Its color was spectacular in the light drizzle. I don't need cathedrals and gold to make me feel inspired -- give me a forest any day. I've talked about forest bathing many times, and yesterday, when I started walking in the forest, it was incredible. I could feel the energy pouring into my body (OH god -- I'm starting to sound like James Redfield in The Celestine Prophecy), but seriously -- when I entered the forest, I was thinking about the day ahead. As I walked, the pieces of the day just fell into place. I felt calm, but energized and eager to get started. 

Please don't laugh until you have tried it!!!! Walking in a forest - if everyone could do it, you would see how soothing, relaxing, and energizing it can be. BUT -- you can't just walk in the forest. You have to put your cell phone away. Then you use your ears to HEAR the forest, and you use your eyes to SEE the forest. Don't just look and listen—be in the moment! It really does make a difference!

And the other thing --- don't be in a hurry! Why is everyone in such a hurry? There's no need. Just take life as it is. We are teaching our children and grandchildren to be in a hurry - start earlier, so you don't rush. How many times have I seen a parent fly down the road, often right through the stop sign, only to turn into the schoolyard to drop off her kids? 

I also spotted this snail on the way to the forest, and OK -- so doesn't it make you wonder how long it took the snail to get in the middle of the sidewalk? Where did it sleep all winter? Will it make it to the other side before someone else comes along? 

A snail - first of the season!

We must stop thinking about silly stuff and start clearing our minds! 

I didn't get as much sewing done as I would have liked, but that's OK. This morning, I was up early and crammed all that loose stuff into ONE MORE panic-packed bag for the retreat. I know -- I should not have done that, but I needed a bag to put two power bars in, and well, some stuff just got thrown on top. 

I managed to get this backing pieced for the next community project quilt. The light fabric on the right is a single piece, and the long strip on the left is as well. But the section in between is made up of nine pieces from the leftovers of another quilt backing. The cutoffs after the quilt is quilted. I wanted the strips to be vertical—it made more sense —and voilà, I got a new piece of fabric. 

The scrappy backing for the next community project quilt

You can see the backing and the piecing a bit better here. Again—why are we in such a hurry? Make everything a puzzle to make it more fun, like turning fabric scraps into fabric. I don't know about you, but I value my resources way too much to toss things out. I'm happy to sit, rip things out, and make something new. My parents, as I'm sure many of your parents, grew up in the depression and had NOTHING. The Earth was in somewhat of a good way at the time. Now, we are in a throwaway society, and if we no longer want something, it's easy to just toss it and get it out of the house. 

My pieced backing

My pioneer roots (thanks, Mom and Dad) tell me that you can have fun with creating new fabric from scraps and save the planet at the same time! 

The other thing I mostly did was tackle that stack of Half Square Triangles, and they are all done! Remember that little grouping I did the other day with blue and green? I found more of the same blue and similar greens in the tray beside the sewing machine, so I'm going to add to that pile. The ones in the stack on the right are randomly made, and I found one large one. 

Trimmed half-square triangles

And yes -- My little group of four worked out just fine, with the fourth one in the last group being the large one. 

It worked out!!!!

I'm sure after you read the above, you are wondering where the heck my brain is going. But I have always said - I am a simple person, and I have a child-like curiosity. I'm OK with stopping to stare at a snail on the sidewalk and then taking a picture. If a neighbor sees me, what the heck do I care? I really don't care what other people think of me and what I do. What is important to me is that I enjoy each and every minute of my very limited time on this planet. 

When I visit some place, I want to see the people behind the scenes. That is way more fascinating than seeing the main show. Take me to a Broadway show and put me behind the scenes, and I'd be a happy camper. Put me in a seat out front, and I'm bored. 

We are all different, and that's a good thing, but don't be afraid to explore, to get down on the floor (if you can), and to ask questions. Lots and lots of questions. You'd be amazed at what you can learn. And how people will change their reaction to you. No one wants to hear your companion conversationalists go on and on about themselves. Unless you ask, be careful, because some people don't know when to stop!!!! I could go on and on about that! 

My portable office is packed as soon as I pull the plugs on my portable hard disks. I love that everything is portable now and just plugs into whichever computer I'm using. We discussed that last night as well, and many people no longer have a computer. I still have TWO and an iPad, and I use them all. 

All that remains is to pack my food, but first I'm off to the gym for 30 minutes on the bike and a wee bit of stretching. It's actually kind of refreshing to do the spin "class" on my time instead of waiting for a 60-minute class. 

Have a super day. I'm off to a quilt retreat for a week. Don't worry—I have my portable office with me, and I'll tell you all about it!!! 

Ciao!!!!

PS -- there is good news about my knees. The slow walking, the reduced distances, plus one pill a day, have made me feel like a million bucks! Murphy is NOT happy with a bit shorter walk, and I think that is part of her problem. She feels cheated, but I feel better - I can practically fly up the stairs (OK - I'm exaggerating), but a few simple things I changed have made a difference. I'm off for an ultrasound next week.