all kinds of therapy - take your pick

I am finishing up several art projects - an embroidery piece for a family member, another french knot zen piece, and two collages.  The excitement can almost be incapacitating.  I get so excited about something and it completely consumes me.  It's tough to slow down.    

I don't get down very often, but when I do it's usually because I don't have an art project I'm involved in.  If I keep one going  at all times, even a small mindless one, I can usually keep the blues away.  

But this can be exhausting too.  So I have a list of ways to relax and recharge.  When I'm tired or too excited to focus, this is my go-to list of ways to relax and recharge:

* Walking the dogs.  Over the last month or so we have been working on becoming friends with a cat that lives nearby.  A few weeks ago Robert and I saw the cat and did our usual, "hey kitty kitty" while the dogs went very still.  Well, we were quite surprised when the cat didn't run away.  This is usually what happens.  Instead, the cat came to us!  Well, not all the way of course.  So over the past couple weeks we have been walking by the cat's home and if we see him we encourage him to come say hi.  He gets a little closer each time.  On one of our recent walks he came all the way!  The dogs were very good.  They were positively vibrating with excitement but did not lurch, creep, or lick.   

* The dogs and I also enjoy sitting on the porch.  We will sit out there in any weather.  We mostly enjoy watching people come and go.  Sometimes we fall asleep! 

* I started teaching myself the ukulele when the pandemic started.  I didn't start learning because of the pandemic.  It was a total coincidence!  On the day before my library shut down, a ukulele I had checked out from the library came in the courier for me.  My library has ukuleles for checkout!  Well, after learning to play for over a year, I can officially say I know about ten or so songs for storytime (when storytimes start up again).  The ukulele has also become a huge stress reliever for me, which is crazy because the first few months of playing were so incredibly frustrating.  Now, whenever I need a little downtime and I don't have enough time for a walk, I pick up the ukulele and I almost always feel calmer after playing.

* Cleaning out my current paper tub.  Rather than immediately putting away leftover papers, I store them in my journal tub. Whatever I don't use for journaling gets sorted and put away whenever the tub gets full or I need a little color therapy.

* Going to a favorite shop.  This was my latest haul from Fabric Recycles: 

avoiding spiders

It hasn't cooled down much here, but that's ok with me.  I enjoy the variety of seasons but hot weather is my preference.  

Each year, beginning around August and lasting until the first chill, it can be a struggle to hike around here.  There are so many spiders.  You can't walk two feet without running into their webs, so Robert and I have been taking shorter hikes and longer walks around the neighborhood.  

There's no shortage of beauty. 

Favorite August Reads Part 2

Geraldine Pu and Her Lunch Box, Too! by Maggie P. Chang (Juvenile Graphic Fiction)

This is only the second Ready-to-Read graphic I've read, but it's going to be tough to beat. I love the two pages at the beginning that demonstrate how to read a graphic novel by covering a few basics - thought/word bubbles and how to read the panels. I also like how there's a list of words from Geraldine's world and how to pronounce those words. I especially like the word, biandang, which is the Mandarin Chinese word for "Taiwanese lunch box," and how her lunchbox later comes to life. Geraldine Pu's character is my favorite part of this book. She doesn't let other kids tell her the food she brings for school lunches is gross or smelly. Sure, it gets to her at first, but she's strong and she also loves her Amah's food. So when another kid starts to get picked on for his lunch, Geraldine officially has enough, goes to sit with him, and asks him if she can try his lunch. He asks to try her stinky tofu and together they show the other kids that trying new things is fun! The other kids even look a little curious by the end of the story.

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park (Juvenile Fiction)

This is a wonderful read for anyone who loves Little House on the Prairie and is looking for a read-alike that offers a completely different perspective. After losing her mother, Hannah and her father move from place to place until they find a spot in Dakota Territory where they hope they can stay. Hanna is half-Chinese and her father is white. They are unable to stay anywhere due to the hatred and racism of other settlers. At times, the hatred is overwhelming. Hanna is a tough character who doesn't give up though. They find an ally in the town's mayor and settle in despite the racism. Hanna wants to be a dressmaker more than anything else, and my favorite moments of the story happened when she was immersed in dressmaking. The details of fabrics, buttons, and building her father's clothing/dressmaking store were beautiful. I didn't particularly love her father because he was not only gruff but didn't stand up for Hanna most times. Thankfully, Hanna is such a strong character and finds allies in her teacher, Miss Walters (who needed some nudging) and Bess (who also needed a little nudging). I appreciated the historical accuracy of the tough interactions and unshakeable racism because I believe it shouldn't be sugar-coated. It also shines a light on the strength, perseverance, and kindness of Hanna's character. I also appreciate how this story brings a bit of balance to The Little House on the Prairie series (which Park discusses at the end in a fascinating Author's Note). My only gripe is that Park didn't make this a series and start earlier in Hanna's life.

Drawn to Stitch (Adult Nonfiction)

So much inspiration to find here! I love the idea of looking for patterns and colors in unexpected places and replicating those patterns through sketching, stamping, stitching and other exciting methods, sometimes using several methods for each piece. It's like pulling the world in close and shining a light on the intricacies of life. It's time I start looking a little more closely at all the macro pictures I've taken over the years! 

Favorite August Reads

The dogs and I have been soaking up the hot summer days while they last.  My favorite way to do this is sitting on the front porch with the dogs at my feet, a giant glass of iced tea, and a stack of books.  

Healing the Divide edited by James Crews (Adult Nonfiction - Poetry Anthology)

What a stellar collection of poems! There were both familiar and unfamiliar poems and poets, which is my favorite blend. 

Favorites: 

In Leo Dangel’s poem, In Memoriam, he writes about his mom carrying him to bed when he was a child and at the end of the poem he says, “she’s still moving me to a softer place.” 

In Tami Haaland’s poem about sleeping with her chihuahua, she writes, “We are bone and bone, muscle and muscle, and underneath each surface a quiet and insistent pulse.” 

Danusha Lameris’ poem, Small Kindnesses was a beautiful reminder that “Mostly we don’t want to harm each other,” which is something I try to think about when dealing with cranky folks at the library. Her lines are like smooth worry stones I’ve been touching to remind myself that the world is kind, that these small kindnesses “…are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, ‘Here, have my seat,’ ‘Go ahead—you first,’ ‘I like your hat.’”

Hardly Haunted by Jessie Sima (Picture Book)

I think this might be the first time I've felt empathy for a haunted house. Even though the house isn't certain it's haunted, it knows it's scaring families away with its creaking doors and squeaking floors. But then one night a tree starts scratching against the house and curious things happen. The house decides all that strange ruckus was a lot of fun and embraces being haunted. Eventually a family who looks strangely transparent moves in and makes the house a home. If you don't feel all warm and fuzzy after seeing the house looking all smiley and loved, maybe adorable haunted houses living happily ever after just isn't your thing. I also think this would be a great storytime book. There are so many fun sounds and an adorable cat to find on each page. And for a greater challenge, kids can talk about the house's expressions and what it might be feeling or find all the pages that have crows.

The Bird in Me Flies by Sara Lundberg (Nonfiction Picture Book)

A beautifully illustrated biography of one of Sweden's most beloved artists, Berta Hansson and her unwavering resolve to get an education and live her life as an artist. The illustrations in this biography are outstanding. There are so many powerful moments - Berta embracing a cow while her mother is passing away from tuberculosis, the clay bird and the thread of flight woven throughout the story, and the eerie encounter with the moose after her mother's death. I also enjoyed the additional notes at the end about Hansson's life and the picture of her working in her studio.

Shy Ones by Simona Ciraolo (Picture Book)

An adorable search and find book with a not-so-hidden message to seek out the shy ones and learn more about them.  It's a special search-and-find book because you're not only looking for the jellyfish, you're also looking for the narrator too.  The moment when the mom jellyfish shows up to the party with her shy jellyfish child who is wearing a grumpy-faced paper bag is one of those illustrations that will live with me forever.  Any shy child or adult will look at the jellyfish wearing their paper bag and completely relate.  And the moment the narrator is revealed is also magnificent.