Living Creatively During a Pandemic

With cooler weather, we can no longer socialize on the porch and patio, so we have turned to creative endeavors.

As the “pandemic era” Amazon packages started to arrive, ABN could not let all that packing paper go to waste. Out came the paint and glitter, 

and Christmas wrapping paper evolved.

And there was a bit of "upcycling."

Captain has been busy in his shop.

It is almost finished!

And then there is this,

As a fixer engineer, Captain comes up with creative ways to fix problems; the problem, frozen fig tree branches. Hopefully the solution is foam pipe insulation.

Last, but not least, with the help of another local sewer, 10 purses are en route to the Sew Powerful headquarters.

These purses will be distributed to 6th grade girls in Zambia after they finish their health hygiene class. Filled with feminine hygiene supplies, the goal is to encourage the girls to attend classes during their menses. Not missing a week of classes each month will give them a better opportunity to pass the exam that allows them to attend high school. If you have a sewing machine,  ABN would love to tell you more (she kept two purses for examples)  or you can visit the Sew Powerful website.

Taking a break from creating, we made the difficult decision to visit Captain’s mom during Christmas. This may seem a bit of hypocrisy, as we have been staunch supporters of the CDC’s COVID recommendations. We had a COVID test 5 days prior (which apparently was lost, but now found during shipping and results promised by Christmas Eve,) and we have pretty much isolated for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes one has to weigh the risk with the benefits. The major risk is to Mom and she certainly thinks our visit is worth the risk. And who can say “no” to their mom. 

 Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas.  May you find peace in the chaos of 2020.

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The invasion is over............

for this year.

Last week was Quilt Week in Quilt City, USA. This is a big deal!!! 30,000 quilters from all over the world invaded our city of 25,000. Each year we turn our streets, sidewalks, hotels, shops, restaurants and homes over to women in patch work vests while we take extra precautions navigating our streets, eat at home and count the coffer.  

For the past 12 years we have hosted quilters in our home, sometimes strangers and sometimes friends. It was not different this year except the friends from Texas we were expecting had to cancel at the last minute. Coincidentally (or maybe not) ABN noticed in a newsletter from Sew Powerful, a non-profit in which she has had an interest, that they were to have a vendor booth and needed volunteers. What better way to learn about an organization than to work with them? On a chance they might need lodging we offered our vacant guest room. Long story short, they accepted our offer, we made new friends and became captivated with a purse making mission. Even Captain (he was their personal driver for the week.)

Driving Miss Daisy the Ladies

We ended the week with new friends from Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, Indiana and Washington.

This is not the entire team.

And we found a way to help make the world a little better place. Now I know you are curious; you want to know about Sew Powerful and how making purses can make a difference. In a nutshell, it is a faith based organization that works to empower women to learn skills and to improve education for girls. They got our attention with empowerment and education. The organization recruits volunteers around the world to make purses that are sent to Zambia via WorldVision. Sew Powerful employs the local women to sew reusable sanitary pads that are placed in the purse along with a bar of soap and two pairs of panties. The purses are distributed to 6^th grade girls in their health class in the Ngombe Compound in Lusaka Zambia. This project provides a means of income for the women and keeps the girls in school all month long.

Doubt that Captain will be making purses, but one never knows.

We would like to say we returned home to sunny skies and warm temperatures. We have had a few wonderfully mild days, but also a lot of days that were cloudy, cool and rainy. Not much different than the past 4 months in Texas and Arizona. Most of the geraniums survived in the greenhouse (thank you water elves, you know who you are, the roses and Irises are beginning to bloom and we have had one hummingbird scout stop by. Hopefully the Major Wheeler Honeysuckle got his attention and he will report back to his tribe flock.

The house and garden are pretty much back to normal after a winter hiatus, so now it is time to hit the road again. North Carolina, here we come!

 Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list.