Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Not stitching, grand mothering

It's queen anne lace time on Manitoulin 


I've just spent two weeks at Ned's family cottage.  I had some lovely grand mothering time there 
I also stitched when there was a moment.  I want to finish this wool blanket piece for my exhibition with Penny and Miranda coming up this fall.  
Before the children arrived, I spread my work on the lovely dining room table and worked for several hours late into the evening.
I also worked in the early mornings, before anyone else woke up.
Now I'm home on pastoral Manitoulin, and am loving the different kind of natural beauty in the fields.
Q:  How many days left do we have?  (the 4 year old)
A:  Do you mean here, at the cottage?  Eight.
Q:  No.  How many days does the world have?
A:  Oh.   Pause.  Lots and lots.
Q:  54-hundred, 11-13, 44 million trillion?
Before I came to the cottage, I added four borders to a piece that I thought was finished in 2019.  
It was not finished.
I've named the piece Medicine Earth.
Sometimes the girls had sleep overs in my sleeping cabin.  I got up early and stitched.
Here's a song that the  7 year old and I wrote before we went swimming: (tune Down by the Bay)

Aili picked up her towel
Grandmom finished her coffee
Aili put on her boat coat
Grandmom took off her housecoat
They went to the stairs
(Grandmom used her cane)
Aili got there first
Grandmom got there just the same.
(the four year old)  Grandmom?  What will you be when we are grown-ups? 
(the seven year old)  She'll be dead! 
(the 70 year old)   I'll be 92.  (and looks at the 7 year old with raised eye brows.)
(the seven year old, nodding her head)  You'll be 92....maybe 94.  (apologetically)
Now I'm home on Manitoulin, but going back to do more grandmothering next week.
By the way, now Medicine Earth is finished.
I work slowly and that slowness is very brave.
Because time is much faster.  Time whizzes.

Here's another song composed over breakfast:
  
Maia had a zig zag bed
She zigged and she zagged when she went to bed
Zigging zagging to the top
Zigging Zagging, now she stops.
Up so high nearly in the sky
Waving down from her zig zag bed. 

15 comments:

SMP said...

Lovely. Thank you. From ne grandma to another.

Liz A said...


“slowness is very brave … because time is much faster “

Amen

Judy Martin said...

❤️

Judy Martin said...

❤️

Mo Crow said...

Wow! (((Judy))) this is Art!

Anonymous said...

Can’t beat a good dose of family medicine. Thanks for reminding me. Cheers Jan x

Anonymous said...

thank you, judy, your post is most inspiring, as usual, my grandchildren are coming tommorow, what joy! thank you for sharing your poems and discussions. how do you manage to handle such a big and heavy piece?

Jackie B said...

Ahh Judy, you have my eyes leaking and heart swelling. Love
to you.

Fibreartist said...

Lovely post! Made my heart sing!

Joy said...

I love their songs and questions. The 'boat coat'... I assume that is a life jacket. Wonderful songs, special times to soak up, hold onto, if just for a snatch of time. Queen Anne's Lace... one of my favorite flowers when I was growing up. I rarely see them anymore. Wonderful quilt, well done Grandmom.

Judy Martin said...

I am so thankful to have been blessed with enough time that I can just simply be with these new little spirits. I learn so much, continually astonished and uplifted.

Lynne Gerard said...

There are layers and layers of beauty in this blog entry, Judy. Very pure - very moving! Thank you for the all of it.

Jenny M said...

well, this post certainly caught at my heartstrings - thankyou for sharing a glimpse of what good Grand Mothering looks like. All beautiful creations, both children and quilts.

Camilla G. said...

Just catching up. A lovely and precious time for sure. It’s good that you shoe-horned in some of your healing stitching. We have plans to see our own little people but will be back for your opening…

Nancy said...

Love this charming post Judy. I can imagine the zig-zag bed in cloth, in a beautifully illustrated children's book...in animation or in a family song that gets sung for a long time :)
May your days be filled with sweet song.
xo