Okay, I'm Confused

I just read an article that has me shaking my head to try to clear it - but I'm still utterly confused. It's from March 11 but being as I only just found it, it's current news to me.

Here's a link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/world/asia/chinas-tensions-with-dalai-lama-spill-into-the-afterlife.html?_r=0

Is it just me or does there seem to be something inherently mixed up about an atheist government appointing the next Dalai Lama, a religious leader?

I'm not a Buddhist and I'm not an atheist; I'm a Christian little old gramma lady who lives in the middle of nowhere smack in the middle of the North American continent, a very long way from China and Tibet. So what does it matter to me?

I'm not really sure.

Maybe it's the apparent absence of logic here.

I don't know a lot about reincarnation, and have a feeling that Dalai Lama is trying to make a point that may or may not have anything actually to do with whether or not he will reincarnate ... is it up to him? ... and/or is the whole succession thing a way to ensure a religious leader 'recognized' ahead of time by the 'out-going' one ... ? 

Lots of questions my education to date leaves me unqualified to even take a wild guess about.

But one question that's simple common sense is: Why would an atheist government think for one minute it ought to be the least bit interested in anything that has to do with religion, let alone be qualified to choose a religious leader? 

I get that there are agendas going on that I have no way of comprehending ... and I get that if a government wants to control a population it might want to install that population's nominal 'leader' - but I personally wouldn't want to be that nominal appointee ... I'd have no followers. So what's the point? All it's liable to do is tick off said population.

Oh.

And then said government has to, just has to, step in to restore order in that ticked off population. 

What the heck.

I'm not even all that smart.

I think, even with my not-smart brain, that Dalai Lama might be telling his people that any one person, no matter how prestigious, revered, or wise, is not the be all and end all - that they ought to look inside themselves as individuals for the guidance I'm pretty sure they already know is there ... they just have to use it. Themselves. They might think they need a figurehead, but do they really? And if by chance this Dalai Lama doesn't reincarnate, they're still gonna be okay. And if it really isn't up to him to choose and he does reincarnate, they have to trust their guts when it comes to recognizing the new one who shows up.

Just sayin' ... faith is a personal thing. People who don't have any ought not to try to interfere with those who do because what could they possibly know about it?

Local Couple Brings a Bit of History Home to Share

Photo by Shelly Weigelt

Frank Hockridge knows what he's talking about as he explains the photographs reproduced on this unique quilt.

The first photo is from 1902 and shows a band of Native Americans at the North Dakota State Fair, then held in Mandan, ND.

The State Fair apparently moved around a bit back in the day before settling itself in Minot in the 1960s. There are photos from both Fargo and Grand Forks, who took turns hosting it for years.

There are photos of County Fairs from the early 1900s on through more recent years.

Too many of the photos have sad endings ... 'doesn't exist any more' ... 'went bust' ... 'no longer there' ... 

The photos are enchanting, but some of the Fairs they represent will only ever live again through photos such as have been preserved in this quilt.

On the bright side, Frank and Glenda Hockridge have been collecting Fair things for quite a while. One of the photos of the Quilt they found in Iowa. Glenda laughs and says, 'You just never know what you're going to run across!'

And just exactly WHY is this local couple so fascinated by Fairs?

Oh. Well. It's what they do, you know.

Both of them were brought up in the industry, love it, and love to share with others (like us!). They had businesses facing one another at the State Fair in Kansas lo these many years ago, became good friends, and eventually married. Their kids are carrying on the family tradition, the fourth generation to do so.

Locally, the pair is well-known and well-loved.

Frank is our go-to person about anything having to do with our fair, and now we know he can also be our go-to person about much of our state's history as well! Glenda's big smile and happy laugh can often be found at our local (and internationally famous, made so by anyone who's eaten there and gone anywhere else in the world) Rosa's Pizza where she gives a hand when she has time.

Their affection for one another is palpable in the air around them. You can't see them, together or apart, and not grin. And they've brought us a most wonderful gift, besides their own selves.

The ND Fair Quilt is currently hanging at Close to Home, a shop that carries gifts of local origin. Owned and operated by Deronda O'Neill of Deronda Designs (also known all over the world for her 'OMG I can't believe you MADE those!' lampwork beads, enamel pieces, and metal-worked jewelry), Close to Home has expanded to include the work of other locals or people with local connections - all unique and individualistic pieces. So it's a great place to hang this ND Fair Quilt. 

Close to Home is located in the old Quarve Building at 97 South Main Avenue in Fessenden, ND USA - the same Fessenden of the book called 'Small Town USA' written by another local, Shiela Branson.

If you happen to be driving Highway 52 in ND, swing in and grab a coffee (or any of the creative beverages the Coffee Shop is becoming noted for). The town of Fessenden is located smack at the end of Highway 15, which begins near the MN border at a little town called Thompson near Grand Forks, ND. If you're traveling from the Forks to Bismarck, give yourself a treat and take 15 for a lovely change of scenery - and stop in Fessenden along the way for yet another treat! Shelly Weigelt carries an amazing variety of vintage and just plain interesting things; Ann West has clothing and accessories; Eldredge Publishing has an office; Carson's Computer store comes in mighty handy, and Justin's Stuffitorium has antiques and is a dangerous place to visit (very difficult to walk out of without having added something you didn't even know you HAVE to have - don't say you weren't warned); and soon a hair stylist will be joining us in that old Quarve Building. (that building will be getting a story of its own in due course, so hang onto your hats folks - we're in for a bit of a ride here I think).

If you come through before June 1, 2015 you will find the ND Fair Quilt on display at Close to Home; it will then go to other places in the state, including coming back here for our own County Fair in mid-June. It's slated to go to Bottineau, Jamestown, and up to Pembina County before it gets much of a rest. 

AND, best news of all (from my point of view) Frank and Glenda are talking about bringing more of their collection out of storage. They have enough to put together a museum of their own! Hearing about it is fascinating; seeing it all would be a wondrous thing. My personal favorite of the things they talked about (one of the photos of the Quilt has an example) are what they call the Funny ...something or others... (shhh, it's my memory slipping again) ... where different scenes are painted and there are face holes for people ... anyway, THOSE would be tremendous fun, and Frank and Glenda have a collection. For that matter, we could certainly make a few of our own, now that I think of it. Maybe not in time for this year's Fair, but almost certainly for next year! So bring your smiles and your cameras.

To close, here's a photo of the ND Fair Quilt with Glenda and Frank by it. If you zoom in you might be able to see some of the photos better. Or you could wait a few days to give us time to take close ups of them all, pair them up with Frank's explanations, and post them on line! This is one awesome couple and their inspiration has produced an awesome Keeper of Memories for our state. 

Thank you so very much, Glenda and Frank, for everything you do and for simply being the great people that you are. We love you.

Photo by Deronda O'Neill

Brisk. Brisk? BRISK!?!?!

Are you kidding me?

The air temperature is negative five degrees Fahrenheit and dropping like a stone with the wind chill factor kicking it down closer to twenty-five below, right?

And the notation on the weather site I use says it's 'Brisk' today.

Brisk.

Lord give me strength.


Partly sunny-5°                                                                                    with wind chill -24°

New Outfit In Progress

Sleeve boots and britches from an old green woolen overcoat. Red cotton wrap laces. 

Here's the sole of one of the sleeve boots. And a bunch of Duke fuzz that jumps onto every last thing in my house. The boots are as comfortable as the shoes you use to make them. My feet despise shoes at the best of times but love the thick felted boots my friend Marion makes - I cut felted insoles to fit my feet exactly and my feet can breathe plus stay warmer than they do in anything else (cooler in the summer, too) ... they're the best thing EVER. 

But people seem to think that if my footwear doesn't have exterior soles I'm just running around in the snow in thick socks. So these are an experimental compromise I guess.  

The wrap lacing isn't by any means necessary. I just put them on to accent the red cotton cape I'm wearing. It's got one of those huge medieval hoods and creates a short skirt when belted. I push the top back behind my shoulders because I have stuff to do, but if I get cold I can pull either the cape shoulders back around or the big hood (or both). I tore the wrap lacings off the bottom, so the cape is really short now - mid-thigh - the hood is twice the size of the cape! But it's fun. I'll take a picture if I ever figure out how to do that. 

Also, the boots can be worn inside or outside of the pants, or pushed down into 'scrunch' boots if you want, or tuck folded so they look cuffed. Again, I'll try to get photos of all this stuff, but being as it's two in the morning I'm not going to do it tonight. Cope as best you can.

Wire wrap bracelet and simple spiral ring - for this outfit I'll make these in copper. The bracelet snugs around my wrist closer than this photo shows; it's flexible enough to move with me, very comfortable!

Neck ring with twisted wire spiral dangle - this too I'll make in copper for this particular outfit.

Very simple twisted wire torc; actually a neck ring. This one has a 'knot' and fastens to itself at my throat. The one I'll make for this outfit will be all copper to match the rest of the accessories and may or may not have the knot that turns it from a torc to a neck ring. And no I'm not likely to wear both the torc and the pendant at the same time.

Additional accessories will be the copper shield brooch pin that my sister made for me from a copper disc, and a copper wire headband (single thick wire, twisted, or braided, depending on what I feel like when the time comes - maybe all three so I can take my pick). 

I love the headbands - they're light, flexible and you can bend the ends to fit in perfect comfort - no more painful dents behind your ears! The first one I made ... I totally forgot I had it on and didn't remember until I went to brush my hair the next day! If you're 'en character' they can also be moved down from the top of your head onto your forehead for a circlet.

From the rest of that old hunter green wool overcoat I want to try to piece together a hat or cap or some such - we'll see what happens. Maybe I'll make a Robin Hood cap and stick a pheasant feather in it! 

If I make a green belt (sash or with  a double ring 'buckle') for the tunic, which I really ought to do because you can hang a really handy bag from a belt, I want to put some little copper wire spirals on it for decoration to go with the rest of the copper. Hmmm ... I could make a bag from some of the bits of left-over coat, and put a copper spiral or two on that as well. The thing about felted bags and belts is that you can cut slits into the backs of the bags and slide them right onto your belt. They don't unravel, you know. You can do the same thing with any kind of fabric bag, but have to seal the cuts. Leather you probably wouldn't have to, depending on how durable the leather is.

I was going to use the lining for a tunic, and might still, but not for this outfit I'm pretty sure. It's synthetic but that's not the problem. In some lights it looks like a really dark green but mostly it looks black. At the moment I'm leaning toward using my amber long-sleeved tunic with the pants and boots - and probably add a hooded or 'hoodable' cloak or plaid (rectangular piece of fabric that is easily adapted to a surprising number of looks).

My favorite plaid is five and a half feet by four feet, orange and brown mohair (Hudson's Bay before the logo change, made in Scotland) and I use it for everything. That thing is a photo shoot all by itself, I tell ya, the number of ways a person can use it. At the moment it's folded in half keeping my feet and legs warm (indeed - these new-fangled soled boots aren't anywhere NEAR as warm and comfortable as the thick felted ones. It's just shoes with the 'boot' tops attached, sigh ... my feet hate shoes remember). Earlier I had this plaid belted at my waist (vertical) and pinned around my neck - warm over-skirt and shawl in one. If your legs are cold or you have to have your arms free, un-pin it for a double warm skirt until your arms get cold again. Or belt it a third of the way up, pin it at another third, and you've got a 'hood' to pull up if you need to.

While I'm on the topic of outfits ... I have up at the shop a length of cotton that I dyed with elm bark last summer. Boiled the heck out of it just to see what would happen - the white cotton turned brown - another photo I have to take I reckon. Since I had my wood stove going (to do the boiling, you know, in my big dye kettle) I folded the length of fabric in half (two yards by 45 inches) and then again, then twisted the heck out of it until it twined around on itself and put it into a roasting pan in the oven of the wood stove to dry. Drying it that way created some great color variations! 

Now it just needs a seam and a drawstring along a long side and it's one of those crinkled 'broom skirts'. If I hike it up so the drawstring is under my arms, and belt it (or not, I suppose), it's a sleeveless dress. Better be sure to tie that drawstring tight enough so it won't fall down.

If I want to use it for a chiton I can just wash it and not re-crinkle it. Never saw a crinkled chiton but might see if I like the look of it - and what if I put the crinkles in the long way instead of cross-wise, and cut a hole in the middle to make a kind of sleeveless tunic dress ... Talk about creating an interesting look. Considering the dye variations are side-ways ... 

When it comes to dyeing with elm, I've got a brooched tunic made out of a pair of cotton dishtowels quick-dipped - they're a kind of light orange. And the tunic is nothing more than the pair of them brooched at the top to leave an opening just big enough for me to get my head through - and belted at the waist. It goes down to my hips. Got a pretty periwinkle pair of dishtowels (dyed with concord grapes and vinegar to set the dye) that I can put together the same simple way for another tunic. 

If I want I can take the brooches off and use them for dishtowels. Or whatever I can think of. 

One thing - these are over-tunics which means you want to wear something under them unless you're a really free spirit and live in an enlightened community. They'd be great over swimsuits, come to think of it. Just check to make sure your dye isn't going to bleed BEFORE you use them for that.

And I just had another thought regarding swimsuit cover-ups/warm-ups. There's no reason in this world that you couldn't take a couple of towels and do the same thing. Brooch them at the top and belt them. They're simple, quick, easy on easy off, and ... airy ... with those open sides your arms and legs are bare. When you come out of the water, dry your hair with them, dry yourself off with them, and then put them on for a carefree kind of dress. Plus, if you're wearing them, you don't have to carry your towels. And ain't that a perk!

Yep.

And it's now three in the morning and this woman is heading for bed. I have some erranding to do when the sun comes up, and then some copper accessories to make. Shall I wear my new pants and boots out and about?

Maybe I will, even though my feet will get cold.

*laughing*

One of my Tweets just won a bunch of stuff in Perth, Australia.

What the heck.

Sure wish I could go down there and collect them!

Introducing the Original Mamm

It is my distinct honor to introduce to you the woman who became Mamm.

I am pleased and proud to give you:

Wauna aka Mamm

The young woman in the photo above was to become my mother. The young man, my father. 

While Bob is no Alaric, Wauna is very much Mamm. 

Not only is it her face on the young warrior whose photo is the cover of the book, it is her spirit that imbues the Character of Mamm of Dunnottar.

From the outset, Mom was Mamm. She is all of the Mamms of the Mamm Books, when it comes to that. Each and all, they are her own self.

There's not much that is biographical about the books, so if you're looking to find secrets about my mom's life in them, you're not going to.

The secrets you might find out about her are no secret to those who have known this woman.

She is feisty. 

She seeks peace, at the point of a sword if necessary (figuratively speaking).

She's not afraid of much of anything.

She's deeply spiritual.

She can and will Call on a Power greater than her own when need be.

She wins and she loses.

She laughs and she weeps.

She is attitudinal at times, strong-willed.

She loves with every breath of her life.

She sacrifices and grieves.

She gives, always and always, the best she has in her to and for those she loves.

She has within her something that can't really be defined - at least not by me - something which drives her every moment of every day.

She has fought many and many a battle, of all sorts.

She honors the past and cherishes the future.

She is everything, and so much more, that all of the Mamms represent.

Hers is the Song of Choice.

Hers is the knowledge of the ways of the Spiral of all life.

Hers is the Peace of patience.

Hers is the Faith of the ages.

Hers is the Healing of time.

Hers is the Hope for Tomorrow.

Hers is the Love that endures always.

Hers is the Unity sought by all.

In this woman, mine own Mamm, we find the Keeper of the Legacy.

She has Kept it well.

She has passed it on intact.

Faith

Family

Friends

Freedom

Future

These are the intertwined Circles of Dunnottar and they are the direct result of what this woman, Wauna, mine own Mamm, has lived her life protecting and preserving for me, for my sisters, for her grandchildren, for her great-grandchildren, and for all who are yet to come. She has given us all the gift of her own self, the strength of her, the joy of her, the pride of her, the indomitable will of her, the beauty she finds in all things, the hope she bears ... so very much ... so very much ... she is all of the Voices of the Song of the Holy Trinity ... she is in one person each of the Circles of Dunnottar.

And so ... The Mamms ... because I want all to know the remarkable woman who is my mother.

No, the events are not the same - but the Character of Mamm is the mother I know and love.

I give you the Voice of Mamm of Dunnottar as she introduces herself in They Are My Song:

Mamm Speaks

I am Mamm

I am winter born

Daughter of the Mother

To me has been given

Long life

Much wisdom

To me have come many

Choices to make

Chances to take

Tears to weep

Memories to keep

To me have been born

Daughters of the Mother

To me have been taught

Many paths

Many ways

Which have been given me

To share

With those who would learn of them

I am Mamm

I am the Song of Choice

Even with all of the words of all of the Mamm Books, none are in any way sufficient to portray accurately the woman who is Mamm, who is all of the Mamms, past, present, and future.

From Danann:

I Love What I Do

Every time I look at this photo I know anew

Exactly why it is I love what I do

These sisters aren’t only just Dunnottar’s

They are also mine very own daughters

                  Alianora             Caileen           Aine          Sass

On the left is my daughter Helen. She’s a social worker.

Alianora is the Song of Faith.

Next is Tess; she teaches our young ones.

Caileen is the Song of Hope and of Tomorrow.

Heather brings light and love to the disabled.

Aine is the Song of Love.

Sarah works in an emergency clinic, Healing.

Sass is the Song of Healing.

Helen’s husband is an architect. Drustann.

Tess’ is a corporate administrator. Talorc.

Heather’s is a Warrior on many fronts, and loves to cook. Kalann.

Sarah’s isn’t yet, but he will find his Voice. Thann.

These are the Keepers of the Legacy:

Faith

Family 

Friends

Freedom

Future

And you know what?

I’m not the only one who loves what I do.

Each and all of them love what they do, too.

'The wheel goes 'round and 'round,' says Ullin of Iona.

And so it does.

So it does.

I love this photo because it captures not only the images of my daughters but their spirits as well. It is so very much THEM, exactly the way they are. They are all grown, with lives of their own - and I miss my girls every day, yes I do.

Alianora, Sass, Caileen, and Aine ... they are fictional Characters ... yet as I spend time writing of them, the spirits of my daughters ride my heart and guide my thoughts. And so I love the Characters. As each of their books come out in turn, they are tributes to my girls. Women now, they will be always and always ...  my girls.

photo courtesy of Steve Foss, father of Tess and Heather