A Mother’s Journal

patina  1 a fine crust or film on bronze or copper, usually green or greenish-blue, formed by natural oxidation and often valued as being ornamental    2 any thin coating or color change resulting from age, as on old wood or silver

In the garden this morning, I was struck by the beauty of patina, and patina is nothing more than age. 

I see my age.  Every day when I look in the mirror, I see the wrinkles around my eyes that have come from  much smiling.  But I would not trade my smiles.  In fact, every time I see those wrinkles I should be thankful that I’ve had things to laugh about.

The patina in the garden is beautiful to me.  If there’s anything I love about winter, and there are some things about winter that I love, it’s the fact that this patina — the age — becomes so much more prominent when the beauty of youth — the flowers — is sleeping. 

There’s a Jewish proverb.

For the ignorant, old age is as winter; for the learned, it is harvest.

That, dear friends, will be written into my  journal today. 

I do not want to dread another day because there might be another wrinkle, or because my joints say stay in bed when my mind says but I want to do things.

I want to wear bright colors and practice beautiful sayings in my mind and smile and have a beautiful spirit.

It bothers me, for myself and for my daughter, that we are surrounded by a culture that honors youth more than wisdom.  Neither of us is immune to the natural tendency of a woman to want to be pretty, but I struggle to help my daughter grasp now, in her youth, that a beautiful spirit is priceless.  It’s all the more reason for me to act my age and try to show her.

In parting, let’s smile.  It has been said that old age is when actions creak louder than words. 

Happily, we are all headed that way. 

Hasn’t it been fun?  Well, it has for me, sharing fun thrift store finds and reading all of your very kind comments!  Today will be the last day, and tomorrow a day of rest from this fashion adventure. 

Can you tell whose baby Annie really is?  I love this little puppy, in spite of her, uh, inability to understand that her bathroom is OUTSIDE.  We will get it straight one day, though.

I love the dress pictured above because of the corset-type tie in the front, and there is a repeated exact tie on the back.  Oh, I do love it. 

Dress 4.00

I am closing with just one picture showing the beautiful detail of one of my current favorites, because I think beauty is in the details.  We fall in love with people as we find out their little ways and peculiarities — their details.  Much of interior design is in the details.  There are detail shops for cars.

When I go out shopping, I shop for things that make me happy and that I can make a connection with.  I also shop for functional things, obviously, because I’m buying clothes, but if I have to choose between a drab gray overcoat and a soft pink one with a pretty charm hanging from the zipper tab, guess what? 

Thank you all so much for having fun with me this week!

Today’s a work day.  It’s snowing here today.  Again.  I told Thomas spring was right around the corner.  ”Six weeks,” I said. 

“Where’d you get that idea?” he asked.

I was picturing the little groundhog and knowing that he had seen his shadow.

Thomas interrupted my beautiful thoughts and said, “You know they’re comparing this winter to only two others like it over the last 100 years.  This winter’s gonna go slam through March.”

Was he kidding?

Oh well.

PS - Tanya, just for you…

It does have a great twirl effect!

And Ginger, the skirt yesterday is 100% polyester.  I checked this morning. 

Delight in Disorder
by Robert Herrick

A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction–
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher–
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly–
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat–
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility–
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.

I asked my husband one time if he thought I was odd and he said, “You are pleasantly eccentric.”  I had a grandmother who loved hats, scarves, and leopard prints and all sorts of unusual articles of clothing.  I remember when she would come and visit, we always waited in anticipation, wondering what she would have on.  Actually, I sort of love leopard print too, but it has to be just the right thing for me to wear it.  Fair skin and freckles somehow don’t always look great in leopard print. 

I love pairing two very lacy tops together.  Having a little bit of lace show through at a collar or neckline or waist is pretty to me, though too much is, well, too much. 

The skirt has a story.  I bought this skirt probably 10 years ago secondhand.  A few years later I was cleaning out to donate some things to a yard sale and my mother saw that skirt in the bag.  She knew I had really loved it and would probably miss it one day, so she pulled it out without telling me and put it up.  She pulled it out again about two years ago and said, “Remember this?”  It was like finding that skirt all over again.  I thanked her for saving this pretty skirt for me.  It’s got two layers to it, has a beautiful floral print and hangs oh so pretty.

Brown lace top – $3.00
Lacy under-layer shirt – $3.00
Twirly skirt – $3.00
Black tights – $1.00
Sam and Libby boots – $5.00

Apron?  The first one I ever made, about 25 years ago, out of fabric bought really cheap at a textile factory I was working at.

Have a beautiful Friday.  Here’s to a job at home, hot tea, and God’s beautiful creation just on the other side of the window pane.

Oh, the week is flying by!  Tomorrow I’ll be at my work desk, but we won’t think of that today!  No.

What we will think about is making the most of each day.  As I post this fun and sort of frivolous week of fashion, I am not unaware that there is great suffering around the world, and many would love to have any new clothes right now, let alone a large selection purchased at good prices.

So, we must do what we can to help others and we must be all we can in our places.  I fully believe also in Tasha Tudor’s saying that we must “take joy.” 

I would like to thank my photographer, Michaela, for setting the camera on burst and then getting me to twirl, which I’m not very good at, by the way.  I reminded myself of one of those little twirlers in a jewelry box when the wire has gone awry and she spins off balance. 

Black velvety dress – $4.00

Black tights – $1.00

Black Wal-Mart Mary Janes – $9.00

Finally, the apron was a splurge and was $20.00, more than the rest of the outfit combined, but there’s a story behind it.  I bought it locally, it is handmade and supports someone who crafts and makes things and sells them, and I think that is worthwhile.    So there.

Besides, everyone needs a pretty apron to wear while cooking and cleaning.

Happy Thursday!

Welcome back to the fashion show!  (That was really fun saying that.)

You get to see one of my current favorite shirts and my cluttered kitchen counter all at the same time!  What a day!

Once again I am layering shirts, which is a useful thing to be able to do since I’m so cold-natured.  The skirt for the day is really shiny and crinkly.  I should have gotten a closer picture of the skirt because the hem is trimmed in lace.  It’s really pretty with black boots.  I found it in a store called Rave, in the mall, on a clearance rack for for 5 dollars.  Most things in stores like that don’t work out for me because everything, uh, doesn’t have enough fabric in it, but this skirt and one just like it in brown came home with me.

I thought this picture was worth putting in because you get to see the bright sun.  The snow looked like it had been sprinkled with bright sparkly glitter.  It was so very pretty.  Made me appreciate Snowflake Bentley all over again!

The greenish-teal shirt underneath is the one that I’m really enjoying right now.  The brand is Stamp 10.  I love how the blue in the pin brings out the blue tone in the shirt.  The black shirt I love too, because of the lace in the V neck.  It’s Chaus Organic and looked like it had never been touched when I bought it at Goodwill.

Once again, I’m covered in shawls.  The red plaid shawl was my one new shawl purchase this year.  I’ll try really hard not to buy another one until the big after-winter sales next year.

Total cost:

twirly skirt – 5.00
black shirt – 3.00
blue-green shirt – 3.00
black tights – 1.00
red shawl – 25.00

Time for another feminine and frugal dress day.  Thank you for all of your comments yesterday!  That was fun!  I feel funny posting pictures all week of  just ME ME ME, but it is so much fun to share things like shopping, and I LOVE seeing what others do about dresses and such, so I guess it’s all okay.  Forgive me if you’ve had too much ME by the end of the week. 

No, the snow has not melted already.  These pictures were taken before the snow fell, in anticipation of posting my feminine and frugal dress week. 

I really love this new skirt.  I bought it secondhand but it still had the tags on it.

One of my favorite, favorite black wraps.  As you can see it has a pretty design woven into it in gray, but the overall color comes off as black.  I bought it new at Marshall’s about three years ago.

As usual, there’s a pin somewhere. 

I mentioned yesterday that I am not much for labels.  What I meant was that when I shop, which is often secondhand, I don’t just scour the stores looking for good labels.  I look for things that make me happy.  If it’s a big-name label, then it’s all that much better, but if it’s not, well that was not what I was looking for in the first place, though I do look for quality.

The blouse is just covered in girly-girl buttons and shiny adornments, so it’s so ME.

Total Cost:

bright pink and white rayon skirt – 3.00
soft, lacy 3/4 length sleeve shirt – 3.00
frilly blouse – 3.00
pink tights - 1.00
Wal-Mart mary janes - 9.00
pin – homemade
wrap – 20.00

Of course I had to take a couple of pretty garden pictures for you. 

Little patterns of what once was — asters make a pretty silhouette against the snow.

Garlic chives.

I hope you have a lovely Tuesday.  By the way, I hit 1001 posts this morning!  Yaaaay!

It’s time. I’ve been rattling on about sharing a week of feminine and frugal dress and today’s the day to start! This may appeal to some of you, and not at all to some or many of you. I do get e-mails from time to time, however, asking me about my choice to wear dresses. I think dresses are modest, pretty, feminine, and just plain fun!  Getting dressed in the morning should be fun!  Do pants have to always be a not-modest choice? No, I don’t think so.  I believe pants can be modest.  I have a few pairs of overalls for heavy gardening.  The bottom line is that I just feel more at peace in a dress or skirt.

The outfit above includes an oatmeal-colored corduroy skirt made by WilliSmith.  You know me, the always-sleuth.  For this post, I began to search for information about this particular label.  I honestly am not much for labels, though I do take note when I find a high-dollar item for a couple of bucks.  Anyway, in my searching I found this about Willi Smith.  Apparently he died in 1987, if that tells us how old my skirt is.  Or maybe someone continued the label with his name.   The skirt, however, remains in excellent shape and is one of my favorites.  With the cold weather we’ve been having, I paired it with a light teal blue turtleneck sweater and a 100% cotton off-white v-neck sweater.  Black tights, secondhand Sam and Libby boots, and a warm, furry cape kept me warm outside.  Of course I’d be wearing one of my pins, too!

Capes and shawls are my weakness and I rarely find what I’m looking for secondhand.  I usually buy one new one each year, after Christmas when the large department stores put them 50% or more off. 

Tights?  I also have a weakness for tights, leggings and socks, and I also shop for them during the winter’s end department store sales that go on.  I was lucky enough about four years ago to hit the Dollar Tree when they had just gotten a large shipment of very nice, black, cable-knit tights.  I think I bought about 20 pairs!  I am still using some of them!

Total cost:

turtleneck sweater 3.00
cotton sweater 3.00
skirt 3.00
tights 1.00
boots 5.00
cape 25.00 (half off)

“Why do women want to dress like men when they’re fortunate enough to be women? Why lose our femininity, which is one of our greatest charms? We get much more accomplished by being feminine than we would by flaunting around in pants and smoking. I’m very fond of men. I think they’re wonderful creatures. I love them dearly. But I don’t want to look like one.” ~ Tasha Tudor

For more feminine and frugal dress ideas, visit Hannah’s blog, Cultivating Home.  She posted about the same topic all last week!

We’ve been snowbound today, something that is not a usual circumstance for us.  It honestly has felt good today to be all at home as a family, snacking, working on projects, and just being quiet.  Whenever I pass by the window I can see the bright snow!

The white snow was especially pretty against the camellia blooms, both the bright red blooms and the older tea-stained-looking blooms.  I took a couple of walks outside to feed the bunnies and to walk Annie.  Annie is now used to the snow and totally loves it!

Tomorrow I’m planning to start my feminine and frugal dress series.  It’ll be fun!  I won’t promise that that’s all I’ll talk about, but I will try to post a “new” outfit each day.

Something we’ve snacked on these snowy days:

Easy Crockpot Peanut Clusters

two 16 oz jars of dry-roasted peanuts (I use 1-1/2 jars instead of all 2 and think they’re better this way)
one 12-oz bag of white chocolate morsels
one 12-oz bag of milk chocolate morsels
one 12-oz bag of semi-sweet morsels

Put the peanuts in the crockpot and spread over bottom.  Empty all three bags of morsels onto the top of the peanuts, trying to keep the morsels in the center and not touching the sides of the crockpot.  Some will touch — you can’t help it, but try.  Let cook on low for two hours.  Turn crockpot off, stir until well-mixed and then drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.  Let sit in a cool room until hard.  I drop mine onto wax paper on my large freezer in the very cold pantry where they harden very quickly!  If yours turn out like ours, you’ll be hooked!

Yes, my dear friends, we have snow.  And lots of it.

At least 6 inches, and it’s still falling.  Right now it’s sleet that’s falling.  You can hear its pinging on the frozen leaves and ground.  It’s very beautiful, and I trust that my little daffodils fare well under their blanket. 

I call this time of year the dance to spring.  It’s a push and pull of cold and mild, cold and mild.  I do love North Carolina, the beautiful tarheel state. 

Looks like a fancy wedding cake to me.  Perhaps a couple of brave overwintering song birds are getting married this lovely day.  The wind sings to them as the sleet beats a steady soft rhythm on the icy leaves. 

A beagle was made for running and hunting.  You can tell by the ears.  Only when flung full out in the wind can you really appreciate a beagle’s ears.

Ah, I must work today.  My office curtains are open wide and the snow casts a bright white into the otherwise gray day.  I’ll be holding my hot tea and looking outside, and listening to doctors’ voices as they admit and release patients all day.  I’m reminded note after note of how fortunate I am to be able to sit at home and type. 

Be thankful for this day.

Friday.  Work day.  That’s all I have to say about that.  Now, let’s catch up.  Yesterday was a wonderful fieldtrip day at The Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh with our co-op.   The weather was a bit windy and chilly, but not really cold, and so we went to Umstead State Park afterwards for a picnic.  There was a nice shelter that all the families could gather under.  The children explored the woods surrounding while the moms talked.  Of course. 

The museum is pretty.  It really is.  I love the combination of natural light and electrical lighting going on.  I always feel like I’m on a stage set or something.  The displays look so real, but the large, high windows remind me that I am, in fact, in downtown Raleigh.

We mostly explored without any set schedule, though we did make time to attend a live animals class where we got to see and learn about and touch different reptiles.

You might know that my favorite part was the butterfly room, with its pretty creatures.  Ohhh, it reminded me of my garden in the springtime.  I could have stayed in there the whole day getting pictures.  I’ll add that to my list of things I want to do when the children have grown and moved out.

On another front, I know at least one of you wanted to see who was holding the basket of mushrooms on Wednesday.  Well.  Here they are, all three of them, the garden and forest people I’ve been working on.  The one in the middle is surely a sweet fairy.  The outer two are from much deeper in the forest, or farther back in time, which ever you prefer to think about.

I wish I had time this morning to take them outside and get proper pictures for you, but maybe you can get an idea of what they would look like in a more organic setting.  My Joseph said they reminded him of Cinderella and her two mean step-sisters.  When I look at them as a group, I can certainly see that, but looking at each one alone, I see all sorts of stories!  That’s a basket of sweet potatoes on the left, in case you couldn’t tell. 

I must get busy this morning working.  I’ve had a fine week, so I certainly cannot complain.  Before I leave I’ll show you my buckwheat blueberry pancake with chocolate syrup.  Gluten-free never was so much fun!  My lab work showed that I’m certainly not allergic to gluten right now, but could develop an allergy, so I’m still staying away. 

As far as the Hashimoto’s disease goes, I’ve been a bit nervous the last few days, on a higher dosage (75 mcg) of brand name Synthroid Levoxyl (I truly meant Levoxyl here).  My doctor just called this morning because my TSH came back at 1.050 (down from 4.06 a few weeks ago).  I could feel this happening, so I actually cut back down to 50 mcg for the last two days.  She is going to think about it and call me back and tell me what to take.  I had talked about maybe going on something more natural, such as Armour thyroid or Nature Thyroid, but my doctor said my ability to convert T4 to T3 is “beautiful,” so Levoxyl is working well for me.  She just wants me to avoid generic because the dosage you get can be variable with each new prescription.

Okay, now that I’ve rambled on about my thyroid, I’ll say good-bye for today.

Enjoy this day.