Life and Times

A week or so ago I got a long email from my cousin, Mike. Mike is a couple of years younger than me and although he was "pesky" when we were both very young and those two years mattered much more than they do now, by the time we were teenagers I had developed a real fondness for him. I don't know if he felt the same way or not - I'll have to ask him sometime. But that fondness has only grown as adults.

Many years ago, Mike stopped in Hutchinson on his way to meet his future in-laws out west. He and his wife to be were both in the military and she was still abroad as I recall, so Mike was going to meet them without her.

Mike retired from the army a year or two ago and is now working with the Las Vegas Police Department. He and his wife settled there because it was the only place on which they could agree.

It was so very good to hear from Mike. He talked a bit about how life changes and how the decisions we make can have such impact on us. Of course, he traveled to many places because of his position in the Army that he might not otherwise have gone. And, naturally, he talked about family - those that are gone and those that are still with us.

I found myself doing the same when I responded to him.

Yesterday my nephew, Johnny, called and we talked for over an hour. At some point we were talking about something and I joked that he'd known me for 46 years (my age) and I'd been talking for 44 of them, so he ought to be used to it by now. He paused for a moment and said, "Sometimes I just cannot believe we are as old as we are. I think about it and I just cannot believe I'm almost 49 years old and you're 46. I just can't believe it." I could hear the wonder in his voice and I know exactly what he means. I feel it every day too.

We talked about how we became the people we are today and how that wasn't something we ever would have imagined when we were kids. I'm planning to visit Morocco within the next year, which seems odd for a girl who grew up in the Kentucky countryside, at the end of Terrell Road when it didn't even have a name. That girl who never traveled as a child grew up with a wanderlust that can only be quenched with far away lands.

Johnny travels all over the country, bidding on multi million dollar jobs that involve all sorts of experts - from carpentry to iron workers to a host of other things - none of which he is an expert in. It's hard to believe this is the same kid who was, like me, always a little uncertain.

Maybe therein lies the answer. I was always uncertain as a kid - uncertain of almost everything. Few things felt stable to me. Fortunately, some of the huge ones felt secure, but lots of things seemed to be constantly shifting. I think maybe that gives a kid a need to build security of their own when they can control it, or it gives them the ability to be comfortable with that shifting.

It seems practically everyone I know is in a reflective mood of one sort or another. I certainly am.

Adulthood gives us the benefit of dealing with each other with enough life experience to know what's important and what's not - at least to some degree. We are able to interact without the intensity of childhood difficulties being interjected into every conversation. Thank God for that.

It's amazing how adulthood seems to wash away so much from one's younger years. Is it a natural process or is it one we consciously embrace and encourage. I don't know. I just know it happens. And I'm thankful for it.

When I hear people say they'd like to a kid again I just cannot imagine such a thing. I'd much rather be an adult and have some control over my life.My childhood certainly wasn't horrible, but I have no desire to live it again - once was enough, more than enough.

I don't think any of the adults around me had any sense of how scared I was as a kid. I spent most of my days, and certainly my nights, terrified of what was going to happen next. I think part of the reason I have so much trouble sleeping as an adult (it's 1:53 a.m. as I write this) can probably be traced to all the hours I laid awake at night as a child literally shaking with fear at what the next day would bring, or what news would come in the darkness and change our lives yet again.

I can remember many nights of staring into the darkness, with my heart pounding, just waiting... waiting for whatever was next... alternately wishing it would arrive so I at least knew what I was dealing with, and other times willing it to stay in the future and not ever be part of my present. I learned early it was good to be alert in the nighttime - not to let your guard down - because the phone may ring at any moment. People die, accidents happen - the world arrives on your pillow and snuggles right up next to you making itself quite comfortable.

All these years later that terror is still there - I'm not sure we ever move past those early experiences - but I can function despite it. And it's held at bay by consciously refusing to acknowledge it, and by being grateful for all the good. But I do sometimes wonder if everyone is going through their days terrified on some level or if it's just me.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

When we went on our retreat in Ramona, Susan brought a bouquet of fresh flowers for us to all enjoy. When we left, she generously gave them to me. They're the same bouquet you see in the photo of the chair I reupholstered.

On the way home that Sunday afternoon, the sun was coming into the car and making the flowers almost translucent. I snapped this photo somewhere along the way. I love the delicate nature of it. I decided I would share it with you.

I've had one of those days when I've been just busy, busy, busy, but can't tell you exactly what it is I've done. I had my MHA meeting tonight and had to get materials ready for that. After the meeting, Julie and I went to Skaets and talked. I hadn't had a chance to visit with her for an extended period of time for awhile.

I'm fortunate to have the circle of friends I have. I had lunch with Trish yesterday, and dinner with Teresa. Today was lunch was Greg and tomorrow is lunch with Jade. It's good to have a strong social network. Actually, it's essential for good health.

Creative Sisterhood meets next week and I've been thinking a lot about it the last couple of days. We seem to have reached a crossroads a few months ago and I'm not sure where we're at. I guess we'll figure that out as a group.

I had a lovely email today from a local woman who teaches computer classes and said she always uses my blog as an example. She asked if I'd be willing to come in and speak to the class. I certainly would. I'm not sure what I could tell anyone about blogging, but I'd be happy to answer questions.

We all need to say CONGRATS to Trish, who became Mayor today. Hard to believe she has been on the council for a year already. Time flies.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Tax Day

Well, tax day is upon us. I filed electronically and mailed in my signature form for the federal tonight. I was not in any hurry to get them done because I knew I would owe money because of freelance work I did this past year. I was right - about $300 total. How convenient, huh? They might as well just keep my "stimulus" money and lets call it even.

I'm one of those people who doesn't really mind paying taxes. In fact, if I could have more services - like real health care - I wouldn't mind paying more in taxes. You know, the people in Denmark are the happiest on the planet and they pay about 50% in taxes. But, their education, health care, and a host of other things are paid for. They also don't have their fingers in lots of military pies.

When I pay taxes I like to think that ALL of my tax money goes for things I want to support. MY money is going for things like roads and libraries and schools... and none of it is going to build bombs. OTHER people's money is building bombs.

I've long had this idea that we should get to decide where some portion of our tax money goes. Just like they have all those check off boxes for the presidential campaign and such, we should have boxes for other things. You could check off if, say, 10% of your mony should go to schools or libraries or whatever. It would be some indication of what the American people wanted. Wouldn't it? Seems to me like it would tell our government something about how we want our money spent. I suppose that doesn't matter to anyone except us. There's a flaw in every plan, I guess.

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Reupholstering a Chair and Stool

This is what I've been doing, off and on, for the past few weeks. Reupholstering this chair and stool. I bought this chair for $12.50 some years ago and it's one of the most comfortable chairs I've ever sat in. It, however, was not pretty.



You'll notice the right arm is a little askew. It had some "issues" shall we say. Issues I was able to address at the real site of the problem, which was not at the arm. But this chair is so comfy it's where I always go to read. In fact, it was on the blog in July last year when I was reading Harry Potter.

The stool was in better shape, if you like that 1970s bright orange look. I paid $4 for it at the same store at a different time. Sad to say, this store is no longer in business.



For those of you concerned about its original state, I just covered over it and did not remove the orange, nor put any holes in it. So, should that come back in style, I can easily remove my flowered cover. I didn't take pix of the stool reupholstery because there wasn't much to photograph - it's pretty straight forward.

But I did take photos of the chair process.

OK, here's how you're supposed to do it. You take the chair apart and keep the pieces to use as a pattern. You cut out the pieces just like the old ones and reassemble. I didn't do that. This chair had been recovered before and it wasn't the best job as far as I could tell, although it apparently was done by a professional. Frankly, I think mine looks better, even though this is the only thing I've ever recovered, except a piano bench once, which must be the easiet thing ever to do.

This wasn't "easy," but it wasn't very difficult either. I think it probably would have gone smoother if the chair had been in perfect shape to begin with and I'd had the original pattern to use. I had to do a couple of things more than once, because I was making it up as I went, but I'm happy with the final result.

First I disassembled...



And I found what I'd read about... glue. Yes! Apparently professionals use the equivalent of hot glue to make piping and attach it. I didn't use any hot glue, but apparently it's an option.

I started here, at the side on the chair, but I have no idea if that's the right place to start. It worked for me. I'd just start wherever it looks like you can remove a piece to start.

Once I had everything off, I reused the batting they had. It was amazingly clean. I did add a layer of clean quilt batting.

When you're using stripes or plaids or anything with a design, you have to figure out how it's going to be placed on the piece. I just flopped the fabric up there and figured out how I wanted it to be before I started stapling anything down.



I decided on the red stripe down the middle. Then I just worked on one side and then the other, to keep it even as I stapled. Oh, and I did invest in a $29 electric staple gun. Frankly, if you're planning to do a lot of this, get a better one. This is worth every penny.



As I said, I didn't use the old pieces for a pattern, so I was winging it. One of the mistakes I made was not thinking through the bottom part and I cut it because that's how theirs had been done - they had an extra piece over the lower wooden part of the seat. However, had I thought it through I could have just let mine wrap around and be stapled underneath. But, I didn't think about it. So, I made a little skirt for the chair instead of making it fit the wooden piece.

Oh, and that reminds me of the arm being loose. Rarely is the root of the problem obvious. It's like a door that's not closing properly. People always look at the handle. About 95% of the time, the problem is on the hinge side. Same deal here. You could see people had messed with the arm - there was glue and a broken mending plate. The actual problem was at the bottom, where the back and seat had separated. It was easily fixed, with a mending plate and four screws.



OK... the cushion. I've always heard that the cushion is what separates the men from the boys when it comes to reupholstery. I can't say that it's any trickier than anything else. Meaning it's not really very tricky. I don't know why it has this reputation.

If you're going to do cushions, you've got to do piping. That's the rope part around the edge. You buy this cotton string in the sewing department that makes the rope part. Then you cover it with fabric folded over it and sewed closely. The trick to the whole thing is a zipper foot. You MUST get a zipper foot for your machine. It's made to allow the needle to strike on the outside of the zipper foot, meaning you can sew very closely to the rope inside.

I bought mine at the local sewing center and it was $5.99. It snaps on and fits a number of different machines.

Supposedly, all the fabric for doing piping is cut on the bias - that means diagonally. I didn't do that. I just used strips cut straight with my rotary cutter.

I found that pushing the fabric covered rope slightly while I was sewing helped keep it tight. Of course, you can just go back and sew any place where you wandered again, because it will be inside the seam when you're done.





There may be some special reason for doing the bias cut, but I don't know what it is, and because this is the first piece I've done I didn't want to use that much fabric since I need it to do multiple more pieces. And my planning was about right on this chair. I had intended for it to have the floral seat, and to have enough of the plaid to make a pillow later for another piece of furniture. I've probably got enough for one regular pillow and one small one. So, my estimates were good.





One thing about a bias cut is that it would bend, but I didn't have too much trouble with that. The cushion corners weren't bad without the bias cut.
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If you want to try it, I found this site particularly helpful. I didn't have any of the specialized tools, but I can see their benefit. I will probably try to get some of the tack strips and metal jaw things before I tackle another thing. I thought this chair would be the easiest one to do.

I did cut some cardboard and used it anywhere edges were needed to keep them straight, like on the bottom skirt. That tack strip stuff would be very helpful for this sort of thing. But then when you fold the fabric back down you have a nice straight edge.



Remember you have to get the design you want in the middle of your cushion or the footstool. I put the fabric over the footstool, with the design where I wanted it, and drew on the edge of it with chalk, using the original piping as a guide, so I marked the size of the top of it. Then that's where I sewed the piping on my new fabric.

The stool took about an hour to do. The chair I have spread out over so long a time frame that I don't know how long it took. I just had it in my downstairs sunporch and would close the door when I wasn't working on it. I'm guessing if I had just done it from start to finish it might have been 5-6 hours, and includes the time I spent redoing a couple of things. Overall, it's not nearly as difficult as people would have you believe. I bought my fabric a year or so ago when it was half off so I have well under $100 invested in both pieces.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the final product. It's not perfect, but I'm content with it.



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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Full Weekend

I've spent some time this weekend journaling about my collage. This is an important part of the process and has been very enlightening for me.

I decided not to go to the poetry event yesterday because I wanted to work on this project. I also didn't want to spend all day outside when it was in the 50s and windy. I get cold. I'm always cold compared to everyone around me - I always have been. I consider the electric blanket to be an under-appreciated marvel of engineering.

Collages have many layers of meaning once you start really looking at them and considering the juxtapositions you didn't notice when you were putting things down. It's also helpful to have other people look at them with you. That's a central part of the visioning process as described in the book. I was very fortunate to have a group to do that with during the weekend. Plus, Teresa and I have talked about them twice since then. She always spots things that might otherwise slip notice.

I do as well, when I take time to look and contemplate. Then it takes me awhile to process it all.

So, that's what I've been doing this weekend, as well as other things. Of course, a Saturday when I'm in town means Roy's generally. I also finished a project I've been working on at home. Pictures will be coming soon of my little project, but I've been working on it off and on for some weeks so I have to assemble the pix from various places on the harddrive.

Then last night I got to have dinner with Tara, who I met on the Food Coma Caravan. (Of course, that's yet another thing I never got around to blogging - seems to happen a lot - and this trip was when Flat Wayne first made an appearance.) She and her husband were in town to visit his family and while he was out with his uncle, she and I went to dinner at Dutch Kitchen. I instantly liked both of them as soon as I met them. Todd worked with Carl, and Carl invited them to join us on the FCC. I was so thrilled they did.

I've been thinking lately that I wanted to add some new friends into my life. In that wonderful way the universe provides, Jade literally walked right into my world - and I'm so thankful. And, then I get an email from Tara that they're going to be in town, which was lovely. She tells me they have a guest room in KC just waiting for me to visit. I always stay with Mark when I go to KC but it might be nice to have a weekend when Tara and I could just talk for a couple of days - and Mark might enjoy not having to play host for a change.

Anyway, when I woke up this morning at 4:08 - way too early for a person who went to bed at midnight - I was thinking how great it is to wake up on a Sunday morning and feel like you've already had a very full, fun and productive weekend - and you still have a full day ahead of you. I tried to go back to sleep for about an hour and finally just gave up and got up.

I'm still running around in a robe, hoping I feel the urge to go back to sleep. I left the aforementioned electric blanket on because one of life's great pleasures is crawling under it when your legs are a little chilly. I know. It's simple. I'm often thrilled by simple things. I think it's one of my secrets to happiness.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

MCC Sale

When did you last buy a jar of apple butter that was still warm? I'll give you a minute to think.

Exactly. Me neither.

But Friday night at the MCC sale I was able to buy a pint jar that was still warm from the kettle. It was $6, and that seems like a bargain to me.

This is Grandpa Kauffman's recipe and it has been offered at the MCC sale in Hutchinson for about 20 years. But there has been a five year gap, and this is their first year back. Supplies were limited, so I wanted to make sure I put my hands on some. They made two kettles, starting at about 5:30 Friday morning. By 11 a.m. they had finished the cooking and were ready to pack it. Two kettles made 512 pints. Although I didn't go back to the sale today, I'm sure they probably sold out.



I try to never miss the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) Sale. It raises money for hunger relief around the world. These events happen around the country and this is a large one.

It's almost like travelling into another country. It's certainly another culture. I know "Mennonite" in some places is kind of a scary thing, but that's not the case here. The Mennonite congregations are full of wonderful people as far as I can tell.

I was so glad they had good weather - as opposed to last year when there was snow.



One of the big events is the quilt auction. They have tons and tons of quilts of all sorts. They're all on display for people to look at before the auction.






They also have the "sit and sew" area where people can sit and quilt, and the rest of us who don't know how to do it can watch and learn.



These ladies were visiting while they sewed.



I, of course, had already stopped by my very favorite display, "Quilter's Corner," where they sell donated items - from vintage fabric to quilt tops to doilies. I will try to take some photos of the huge stack of goodies I bought, but you can get a sense of them by this photo of Greg and Cleta. Greg had to hold my box while I went to take photos of the quilts.



The sack on top is his stuff, but you can see my doilies peeking out of the corner of the box. I ran into Cleta and her husband, Tom, when I was headed to take pix. When I came back they were visiting with Greg.

There are also other interesting little bits at the MCC sale, and lots of food. We ate at the German buffet, of course, and then started sight seeing.

Right next to the apple butter was the pysanky egg display. I must refer you to Greg's piece from last year for more details about the process. As usual, I leave the details to him.





The young lady showed me these two eggs. The one on the right is a wooden one. Her mom, Janet Regier, copied the design onto a real egg. The darker color on the wooden one is because of how it's done. The main color is applied and then the other things are done on top of it, giving them all a muddy look. The egg done by Regier has just one color on each space on the egg, so the colors are all more distinct.






The MCC sale is one of my favorite events in Hutchinson. I am always surprised more people don't go and enjoy it, but I rarely run into anyone I know there.

Last night I did see Jay and Lois Huber and it was great to say hello to them. I worked with Jay for many years, we even shared an office for a while, and always really liked him. So, it was good to bump into them.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Meeting David Wilson

I've been watching "Meeting David Wilson," a documentary about race, which I recommend. It points out to me again what Beverly Morgan Welch said, that "Slavery is an X-rated conversation."

We are still an incredibly racist nation, and you don't see it in this documentary as much as you see it in the commercials supporting it. They are all geared toward African Americans. I think it's fabulous to have commercials featuring faces that are not lily white. Please, lets have more of them. But, what I find troubling about this is that the commercial selection is indicating that corporate America thinks no white people will be interested enough in race to watch this documentary. Sad.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Generations of Stafford Poetry

Poet William Stafford was a native of Hutchinson, Kansas, and his work is revered here, with good reason. He was the Poet Laureate of the United States in 1970, before the position had that title, and won a National Book Award. His portrait is part of our mural downtown. He's holding a page that says, "Any star is enough if you know what star it is." He wrote more than 20,000 poems through his daily practice of quiet time spent writing. For those of us who are dedicated journalers, I feel compelled to mention he also kept a daily journal for 50 years.

I appreciate the use of the language in poetry. It requires so much from the writer, and has a lyrical quality unlike any other kind of writing. Poets write and speak with a beauty unique to the form.

Tonight I went to a poetry reading by Kim Stafford, one of the four children of William, who is an exceptional writer in his own right. He read some of his work, and some of his father's. He also sang some songs he had written. It was a fabulous evening.

Of course, it's difficult to "report" on an evening of poetry, but there were some incredibly poignant moments.

One of those was when he was relating the last conversation he had with his father, when they were talking about events that had occurred in his father's youth. His father told him those stories were ones he hadn't told, that he was, "waiting for someone to ask." That struck Kim - that his father, who wrote every day for 50 years, had stories he hadn't told, for which he had been waiting to be asked.

He was also funny. He talked about being in New Orleans and going to the famous Cafe du Monde and the waitress coming over and saying, "You want anything mo' baby?" He said, "Just to hear that every day the rest of my life." Needless to say, that got a big laugh.

He said after leaving there, walking down Decatur street about 2 in the morning, they came upon upon a woman who was a sanitation worker, crying at a shrine of candles, coins and flowers. He asked her what was wrong and she told him her hairdresser, Robin, had died because he'd been generous and given his key to the wrong person. She said Robin also told her, "You're more than the sanitation." She told Kim that Robin was like that with everyone.

Kim went back to his hotel room and wrote a song about it. Unbeknownst to him, it was recorded when he played it the next day, and ended up being used at Robin's memorial service. When he later got an email from Robin's family, Kim said he realized that that was the absolute best circle of creation. First, "you hear something that must be told." Then you shape it with whatever tools you have available to you and "you give it back." The song was beautiful and included the line, "You be you, like no other, Robin said to me."

He said he was reminded of a quote about how the deepest poetry will be spoken by ordinary people in times of great trouble. That seems true in so many cases.

I cannot lay claim to any poetry. I fear I do not have the necessary command of the language to write poetry, but I do believe in times of trouble we share our souls in words - written and spoken - that are meaningful like no other. For me it has been things like Remembering Mama and writing down my core beliefs, where the language works for me seemingly effortlessly. The work shows through in the daily writing. Maybe the lesson is to spend time in deeper contemplation on an emotional level more often.



Kim gave us some "homework assignments," one of which was related to his father's poem, "Why I am happy." He suggested we all write about why we are happy. I have so much to be happy about, thankful about, that it could be a very long piece.

Another of his father's poems he mentioned was, "Vocation." The last line of it is, "Your job is to find what the world wants to be." Kim said he may use that line above the doorway when they build the William Stafford Institute for Peace.

Kim is the executor of his father's body of work, and said at one point he asked his mother if she thought he had done enough for his father's work. She responded with a question - what do you think he would say. It occurred to Kim while he was sheetrocking, that if he asked that question of his father that his father would probably answer him by writing using Kim's hand. As soon as he posed the question in his head, the answer came to him. He then asked how to know when he should focus on his own work or his father's work and the answer came, "Do what is most alive."

I love that concept. "Do what is most alive." It's how I live daily life, as much as possible, to do what is most alive (intense, different, daring, possible). I've never thought of it that way, so this gives me something to think about. It seems important to explore this further.

Kim read a couple of poems about his Aunt in Nickerson who he's staying with. The last one he read was a perfect illustration of why poetry can express something with such a beautiful turn of phrase. He planted the image of a phone there that can reach anyone they've lost because she remembers the good in them. He wrote that "she has been keeping house for everyone," a phrase I just loved. It speaks of home and all it means. Just lovely.

He also wrote a poem for the director of the art center, about his exhibit that is on display. What an honor to have a Kim Stafford poem about your work. Amazing.

A number of us went to dinner with Kim before the event, and I had the opportunity to chat with him a bit. He's a very personable gentleman. He will also be at the poetry event on Saturday that I promoted a few weeks ago. I'm guessing you might still be able to secure a spot if you're a reader who's in the area and interested in attending.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Author Max McCoy speaking in Hutchinson

See more about Max McCoy in the entry about the
Tallgrass Writing Workshop.

The Hutchinson/Reno Arts and Humanities Council in cooperation with the English Dept. at HCC and the Hutchinson Public Library will sponsor an evening with award winning Kansas author Max McCoy on Monday, April 14^th at 7: 00 pm in the Auditorium of the Hutchinson Public Library. McCoy will read from his forthcoming novel I, Quantrill, and his nonfiction work in progress, Strangely Heavy: A True Story of Passion and Rivalry in the Meteorite Fields of Kansas.

A native Kansan, McCoy was born in Baxter Springs and has lived in Kansas all his life. Kansas and Missouri tend to figure heavily in his novels.. A graduate of Pittsburg State University he earned his M. A. in English from Emporia State University and is currently a professor of English at Emporia State University.

Max McCoy is an award winning novelist, investigative reporter, screenwriter, and independent filmmaker. The topics addressed in his journalistic work are wide ranging and include serial killers, atomic bomb survivors, and white supremacists. His fiction is varied as well, embracing westerns, historical novels, and thrillers such as the Indiana Jones Series.

This program is free and open to the Public. For more information contact the Hutchinson/Reno Arts and humanities Council, 620-662-1280. hrah@cox.net.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Friends

Teresa and I had a wonderful dinner tonight. We spent it dissecting our collages and the layers of meaning in them. We love this sort of thing. And we can't understand why everyone doesn't want to do this. But, alas, we know that is not the case.

Maybe our shared affection for such things is part of the reason we have been friends for so long. I haven't done the math, but I'm sure it's more than 15 years now, maybe closer to 20. The time does fly, doesn't it?

Teresa is someone who's very spontaneous - always ready to do whatever - I love that about her. When I was planning the weekend in Ramona I just assumed Teresa would want to go. She likes the same sort of things I do, and she's always willing to try something new. She's someone I can call last minute for lunch or dinner and if she's not busy she'll generally go. I like it when people will just DO instead of contemplating it for forever.

She is a talented artist, as you can see in her collage, which has a balance of color, pattern and form.



I looked back through my photos and found this one where she was doing the first "rough draft" layout.



Teresa is someone I know I can rely on for the truth - told in a very kind, compassionate way. She is an incredibly generous friend and I'm grateful to have her in my life.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Ramona Retreat for Vision Collages

This weekend some friends and I rented this guest house in Ramona, Kansas to have a retreat. We spent our time working on the process described in "Visioning" by Lucia Capacchione.

Teresa, Peggy and I heard her speak at a "Food for Thought" event four years ago this month, and have wanted to do this since. It's hard to believe it took four years. There's a lesson in that, alone.



There were six of us. Starting in the back, that's Andrea, me, Cynthia and Susan. In front are Peggy and Teresa.

This is a multi-stage process. The heart of it is journaling and collaging.

You start with a "focus statement" that is the guiding part of your collage - what you want. Then you hunt for pictures from magazines...








We organized them and glued them...





Then we journalled about our finished projects...



Central to this process is the focus statement on which you base your collage. Each of our finished projects were distinctly different. I asked the group and everyone agreed that I could share them with you.

Susan's focus was, "Leading a life with more energy."





Cynthia's was, "Living a passionate life."





Andrea's was, "What financial security looks like?"





Patsy's focus was, "Freedom and inspiration to create and appreciate beauty."





Peggy's focus was, "Experiences I'd like to have" and morphed into "Seek knowledge"





Teresa's focus was, "Live life in movement and quiet contemplation."



It was an inspirational weekend. We brought food to share and just munched as we worked. Saturday evening some were done before the others and so they cooked our spaghetti dinner. It worked out perfectly.

This was a great spot for it. The house has five bedrooms, one with two beds in it, so we were able to spread out a bit and then come together to work on our projects. The kitchen has everything you need - from a microwave to a full sized fridge and stove.



I definitely recommend Cousin's Corner, the guest house. It's run by two sisters from California, who have roots in Ramona, and ended up coming to Kansas through a visioning process of their own.

It was a great way to spend time with friends. I can't wait to do something like this again. Not sure what we should do next, but I know there's something just waiting to be discovered.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Hail in Hutchinson

Just the other day I was thinking, "Geez, I've still got to deal with the roof." I had hail damage last year and after dealing with all the insurance stuff it was too late in the year to get it done. Then I thought, "Hmmm... I think I'll just wait until after hail season this year before I get it repaired." Tonight that seems like a good decision.

This is my front walkway, early on. I've rarely seen hail completely cover the ground, but I have tonight. My neighbor's driveway was white.



However, I don't think this probably did much damage. I didn't see anything larger than pea sized, but there was a lot of it. A Street looked like it had snow on it.

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.