Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your Christmas was a good one. Mine was tiring but wonderful as usual. Both my sons and my sister-in-law are here. Two of them live in Florida so coming to the cold North is a challenge to stay warm. My other son lives in Boston but comes for Christmas Eve and stays a couple of days. It's a full house and I love it. I'm exhausted but I love it!

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwansa, I wish you those memorable moments of sharing love with your families.

Christmas Snow!

OK, we had a real snowfall yesterday and last night! It's still flurrying and another storm is on the way.



I finished my last weaving order for this year and spent yesterday and today baking Christmas cookies. I love to bake when the snow falls, so the timing was perfect. Of course when I heard it was going to snow on Friday, I made sure I had all my cookie baking supplies on hand and ready.

We all have our favorite Christmas confections. My family has a love of homemade Chocolate Covered Cherries which I have made almost every year since I learned to make them from my cooperating teacher, Mrs. Lyday, when I student taught. I won't tell you how long ago that was but it has been a tradition ever since. Usually I am making them on Christmas Eve Day but this year I am ahead of the game! Yea! My family from Florida arrives on Tuesday and I am aiming to have everything ready so I can enjoy them and the few days we have together.

I also want time to reflect on the season and all the people for whom Christmas brings on added stresses and burdens. Several of my friends are job hunting and having a tough time of it. Jobs are few and far between. There are so many applicants for the same jobs that it gets discouraging.

If you know of any jobs that can help my friends, please let me know and I will pass the info onto them. They live in Plymouth, MA. One is looking for full time administrative secretarial work. She has accounting and computer skills and a good sense of humor. She would love to work with non-profits but needs to be paid. She already does a lot of volunteer work now.

The other friend is looking for something in the human services area. She is struggling to make house payments and would like any hours that would give her an income. She has experience volunteering with social service agencies working as a mediator. She is a person with a lot of initiative and is very resourceful. Both of these women have helped me in my business on various occasions.


No matter what your circumstances this Holiday Season, I wish you Joy, Peace, and Love. May you see the blessings around you and may your heart be filled with graditude and Love.

Holiday Studio Open House

I'm a little behind in telling you about the Holiday Studio Open House that I had on December 5 & 6. A few people came and shopped, mainly my friends. As one of my friends was trying on scarves and tops, her daughter who is in Kuwait called her on her cell phone! She was calling from half way around the world to ask her mother for information while addressing her Christmas cards. I found this truly amazing and at the same time an oxymoron. Christmas cards representing Peace, Love, and Joy being addressed in the middle of a war. Even in the midst of war or maybe I should say, especially in the midst of war, Peace, Love, and Joy need to be heard and expressed. What a crazy "turned upside down world" we live in. We need the Joy of Christmas.

My friend, who is a wonderful pastel painter, modeled a scarf and hat for me. She looks terrific in it. We traded our work. I love my pastel, "The Little Tree".







Heidi is modeling one of my "Zip" scarves which are a tribute to Barnett Newman who was a wonderful abstract expressionist. Look him up!


















I wish Heidi, her family and especially her daughter Peace this holiday season.

Baking traditions

I'm going to deviate from talking about weaving to talk about baking traditions. I learned how to make Baklava or Paklava (Armenian) today. I had a wonderful day with a woman from my church who makes the best Paklava. When I asked her if she would be willing to pass the recipe on to me and teach me how to make it, she said yes! Today was the day. We had a wonderful time, not only making the Paklava but sharing each other's stories about our lives and the paths we have gone down. And the Baklava came out good. Not as good as she makes it but she has many years of practice on me. Someday I'll be able to pass on the recipe to someone close or dear to me and share her story that now is blended with mine.
I love family traditions. They are what brings people together with a common thread. There's that fiber reference! I knew I couldn't stay away from it.
You know weaving has those same traditions that have been passed down from the people I call our "weaving treasures". A few summers ago I met one of my "weaving treasures" It is a woman named Joyce Harter. She was at a weaving conference where I was manning my friend's gallery booth. She came in and sat down and began telling us her weaving story. It was wonderful!!! She was so willing to share and teach! I'll never forget it.

There have been others like that, my first weaving teacher, the "weaving mothers" in the Rochester Guild, the study group women in the Philadelphia Guild, and I could go on and on and on. Some are famous, others are not. It doesn't matter. What matters is that they love to share their stories. And I am richer for that.

This Holiday Season, seek out someone you consider a "treasure", spend an hour or a day with them sharing your stories. You will be glad you did.


"Dancing Ladies" by Cheryl Olney of Louise's Daughter.

First Snowfall

It snowed today! This was the first snowfall of the season. As I was driving down the road I was looking at the pure white beauty of the snow on the tree branches. What an awesome sight!

I love seeing the snow fall for the first time. It always makes it feel more like Christmas, at least when you live in the North East! I remember when we lived in Rochester, NY. We would go to church on Christmas Eve and you could almost always guarantee that by the time you came out of church it would be snowing! I miss that guarantee for even though we live in Massachusetts, when you live near the coast it does not necessarily mean it will snow. So today was special. It was a Christmas snowfall, just enough for a blanket of snow but not so much that you cannot get around. "The new fallen snow", remember that phase from The Night Before Christmas? How does one relate to that in Florida?

My son lives in Florida but he comes North for Christmas. I can't help but think he likes to get his snow fix that one time of year. Here's hoping we have a White Christmas.