Tale of Two Quilts

Maggie's quilt

Usually I want to talk about plants. Or nature. Or little and big things that catch my eye. Today I can do better than all that. I got my Christmas present from my younger daughter- a beautiful handmade quilt. I know she's been working on it for months. It's her first one. She says it calms her down and she loses her worries in her work. It is a lovely combination of colors and patterns, and it is just perfect for me and my room.

Katie's quilt

This isn't the first quilt that's been made for me. Several years ago, my older daughter made me a quilt. It was also her first, and I think her last. At least so far. It too has lovely warm colors and patterns, very much like the new one, and also perfect for my room.
So now I have two quilts, handmade as labors of love, to keep me warm. The transition has been steady, and is now mostly complete. It used to be my job to bind their threads into the fabric of a family; to wrap them with soft strong surrounds; to keep them warm and protected. And to slowly let them go.
My girls are all grown up. There's a little bit of bittersweet pleasure in that idea. They have selected schools, careers, homes, pets, friends, loves. They have stitched those choices together into very personal and unique patterns. They are beautiful, intelligent, accomplished women- different as night and day- and each the love of my life. They fit me perfectly.  I am still Mom, but will now rest wrapped in the beautifully crafted biographies of my capable girls. These quilts are already heirlooms. I will happily hold them in trust for the generations to come.

The hardest part of raising a child is teaching them to ride bicycles.  A shaky child on a bicycle for the first time needs both support and freedom.  The realization that this is what the child will always need can hit hard.
  ~Sloan Wilson

Blessings of this Season

The first day of winter. Dark early, light late, usually cold and gray. My most un-favorite time of the year. But this year, that turning point has come quickly, and easily. The weather has been gloriously mild, mostly sunny, and sprinkled with good rain.
It is also a busy time of year. I can usually get lost in the hustle and bustle of friends, family, shopping, gifts, visiting, cooking, and working. If I am honest, much of that busyness is in the service of avoiding the dark. This fall has been so much more mellow than others that I am trying to take some time to reflect a bit on the year, and to enjoy the gifts that surround me. I thought I might just share a few here.

Chimonanthus praecox

Chuck's Blue Sport

Heron Fountain, Huntsville Botanical garden

Huntsville Botanical Garden RR

Jasminum nudiflorum

Evergreen Acer

Mahonia x 'Winter Sun'

Pinus thunbergii 'Ogon' candle

Prunus mume 'Rosebud'

Pinus virginiana 'Wate's Golden'

LOOK AND SEE

This morning at waterside, a sparrow flew

to a water rock and landed, by error, on the back

of an elder duck; lightly it fluttered off, amused.

The duck, too, was not provoked, but, you might say, was

laughing.

This afternoon a gull sailing over

our house was casually scratching

its stomach of white feathers with one

pink foot as it flew.

Oh Lord, how shining and festive your gift is to us, if we

only look, and see.

Mary Oliver, from Why I Wake Early