Miscellany

Like the thoughts in my head of late, this post is just a random tangle of things.

My streak of bad luck seems to be continuing...and I'm not willing to believe it' this charming fellow's fault.

I'm still trying to get things back to working order from the lightning that struck the end of September.... The wells, pool system, backup generator, and septic pump have been repaired or replaced and I'm (slowly) adjusting to the new pc.  I'm having problems getting the lighting on garage working though. The contractor has been here three times but was successful in getting only one of the lights working.

For every issue resolved, however, it seems a new one (or two) presents itself.  The concrete sink in the master bath cracked and now leaks...and, on Thursday, the huge vanity mirror glass in my bathroom disconnected itself from the frame and started slipping down the wall.

I seriously think I'm beyond sage and Palo Santo...I need an exorcist.

I've not accomplished much in the handwork department.

I put my needle down for a bit and picked up my hook but don't have enough progress to properly share. (OK...actually, I'm too lazy to take it off the frame to photograph.)

I am trying to focus on getting some things fully finished (ha!) and did get Lucy Nowlen (a Pineberry Lane design) framed.

I initially thought I would go with a very simple, stark, frame...but changed my mind wholly and completely.

What can I say?

While I am NOT an early Christmas decorator (I still have remnants of Halloween up), I transformed some old peach crates into Santa crates and I am (for the most part) happy with them.

(I intended to do only one but the first one, below, I did upside down on the crate, so had to do another.)

I'm not certain what I will do with them but, hopefully, something will come to me.

The weather continues to be fairly mild here - although the nights are cold and days extremely windy it seems.  Tomorrow we are to have winds of 42+ mph.

I am not fond of the wind...it makes me uneasy and make me edgy (edgier??)

Some of the sunsets, though, have been spectacular. 

And since I haven't done one in a while, an episode of what I've been reading:

When you've read as much material as I have regarding the Salem Witch Trials, you can be more than a bit skeptical about yet another telling.  But this...this was a welcome surprise.

As many of you know, Rebecca was my great aunt (7x removed) and her sister, Mary Easty (also hanged as a witch), my grandmother (7x removed).

The book is based on Mr. Gagnon's primary source research (love me a book with footnotes) and while it addresses the myriads of events and circumstances leading to the perfect storm culminating in the trials that other researchers have brought to light, it is one of the few I've encountered that traces the history and biography of the Towne and Nurse families so thoroughly.

Obviously, this is not for everyone...but for anyone with an interest in this historical tragedy, or in legal history, law, and religion, this book is a definite must-read.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

That's all I've got....

Have a great new week ahead! 

{Oh...just a blogger note:  Like everyone else, every single commenter on my posts is now coming up as being from a "no-reply commenter" even though the commenter has their settings configured to allow replies. This means that I can no longer reply to comments personally/privately (when and if they miraculously find their way to my email).  I prefer individual/personal replies (rather than using the reply feature that appears on the actual comment list).  If I have your email, I have attempted replying that way but if I don't, I can't.  If you would care to receive a reply to your comments, please share with me your email and I will do my best to do so. (You can just click the "email me" link on my sidebar and I will keep a list for future reference so you do't have to repeatedly make it publicly available.)

I have received so many wonderful comments and I feel very neglectful when I cannot reply.}

Lucy Nowlen and Robin's Rules of Wonky...

 After many years of agonizingly overthinking debating linen choices, I finally started - and finished - stitching "Lucy Nowlen."  It is an antique reproduction mourning sampler by Pineberry Lane.

{This is NOT where it will hang. It will be properly pressed and framed...eventually.  I simply tacked it here in order to be able to photograph it without attempting a ladder accident shoot.}

Most traditional mourning samplers have motifs typical of the era - tombstones, angels, willows, urns, etc.  Lucy's, however, is simply verses from an old hymn which was often sung at children's funerals.  The verses - or portions of them - also appeared on tombstones during the early to mid-19th century.

The hymn is attributed to Joel A. Knight and was published in a book of hymns in 1806.

My photos are looking very washed out...In person, the colors are somewhere in between the original and the model photo.  (I did use the called-for floss.)

Nothing is actually known about Lucy.  We can presume, however, that she was a child from the fact that the hymn was a children's song, and that she died prior to 1848 when the sampler was stitched (or finished).  It is also likely that the original sampler was stitched by a family member (I'm thinking a sister?) given the initials 'M.N." on the right side of the sampler.

I stitched mine on 36 count "Wren" by Picture this Plus.  It is worked in a variety of stitches: Algerian eyelet stitches, long-arm cross stitches, and regular cross stiches over 3, over 2, and over 1...a great MANY over 1 (all of the lower case letters from the second verse on are over 1...in addition to some in the first verse as well.

There's your history lesson....Now for Robin's Rules of Wonky....

(Not to be confused with Robert's Rules of Order....

Trust me...you don't want to confuse ANYTHING with that.  As a former elected parliamentarian, I can attest to the tediousness of Robert's Rules of Order.

For those of you lucky enough to never have had to endure membership in a society or organization requiring such antiquated rules of procedure and a parliamentarian to adjudicate the orderly conduct of meetings and business, here's a definition:

parliamentarian

ˌpär-lə-ˌmen-ˈter-ē-ən

NOUN

1. an adherent of the parliament in opposition to the king during the English Civil War
2. an expert in the rules and usages of a deliberative assembly (such as a parliament)
3. a member of a parliament

 

{Hint: I was NOT involved in the English Civil War, nor am I, nor ever was I, a member of a parliament.}

And, yes, yes I do still have my worn copy of Robert's Rules of Order....someplace.)

There's your arcane trivia - and completely uncalled-for digression - for the day.

Anyhow...back to my rules of wonky.

Some of you may remember the battle between my OCD and my fondness for wonkiness while stitching my last large piece ("Grace Bridges" by Stacy Nash).  I ended up spending a great deal of time and energy correcting alphabets, adjusting spaces to suit my sense of symmetry, etc.

So...you may wonder why I would not have done the same with this piece given the numerous instances of wonkiness. The same letters are stitched differently in different words and sometimes in the same word, words in the same line of verse are stitched higher or lower than other words in the line, missed stitches in certain letters, incongruent punctuation, etc.  Most obvious of all are the errors in numbering the verses:  "2rd" (vs. "2nd") and "3th" (vs. "3rd").

And absolutely no tug of war with my OCD...because this is a reproduction of an actual antique sampler versus a sampler that was simply designed to look old.

This is the way that the stitcher - whoever she/he was - stitched it originally 176 years ago, and Wendy (a/k/a Pineberry Lane) took great pains to dissect the original and chart it exactly as it had been stitched so long ago.

I felt obliged to honor both Lucy and the stitcher of her humble sampler by following her needle paths exactly - or at least to the best of my ability.

Not that you asked...but there you have it.  My rules of wonky.