November 6, 2010

Anticipation

Well I can hardly believe it is November and since my last blog I was very busy with work-related stuff - overseeing production and video for the WICT New England - Evening of Excellence held in Norwood, MA.  It was like planning a wedding.  I had only the production piece to plan which would be the nuts to the soup partt.  It was a most rewarding experience, but as like a wedding - after the months of planning the day went by in a blur of a moment.  But what a night!

Momma's Diamonds, in progress
So you ask - now that the mad dash and rush of adrenalin is over with - what will I do for down time?  Well, it's back to creating jewelry and needlework. 

I am still working on the afghan for my momma but got stuck so I put that project on hold.  Valuable lesson number 1:  If you stop your knit after a row - note on your pattern sheet which row you stopped on!  I didn't and forgot which row of the pattern I was on  so there is a rip and restart in the near forecast!  Nothing wrong with that - but it's a lesson learned that I wanted to share with you.  Here's where I am at so far - isn't it beautiful?   I'm using two colors to make a variagated look.  This is my Christmas present to my momma, who thankfully, for now, hasn't read my blogs yet - she's boycotted her computer and reduced her viewing only for the occasional new exotic recipe.

My mom is great cook and she puts all her love into her cooking.  You can feel it at first bite.  I used to live across the street from her before I remarried and when I got home from a long day at work, she'd ring me up and say "I've made too much food - have you eaten yet?"  Each time she called me, the excuse for the meal surplus was she is so used to cooking for an army.  I wanted to point out that she hasn't cooked for an army in over 10 years since my sister Kelley took over the focal stopping point for Christmas dinner.

When  I wasn't too tired from a long day at work, I'd walk across for a home cooked meal and a glass of wine - or two.  She always has a bottle of wine chilling for me - even though, once I pointed out  that red wine tastes better at room temperature.  And when it wasn't chilled, she would always ask - with or without ice cubes.  I wondered how she knew I was home because each time I'd just get through the door and the phone rang across the room.  Later when I asked, she said she would watch for my lights to turn on.  Her living room, which she always refers to as "The Parlor", faces the street.    Love is rarely spoken from her lips, but, imagining my momma, even now, sitting in her chair by the window, watching for the lights to turn on.  That anticipation touches me like no spoken words can.


My momma has always been a caregiver.  If it wasn't us, it was her momma and dad, my stepdad, and her older brothers - one who she cared for lovingly while he was in his last weeks with terminal liver cancer.  The other, who lives one floor above her, and never married, while he recouped from pancreatic cancer treatment but thankfully recovered.  But yet, she still watches over him, even though she is the youngest.  And at work - the job she retired from as a nurses' aid in a convalescent facility and now, to make ends meet, at an elementary school where she is known as "The lunch lady" by the children. 

This past summer, we were on a plane to Orlando and behind her one of the children called out "Lunch Lady - it me, Paul!"  Paul's mother looked at us with bewilderment so my momma explained to her in lengthy narration as the parent nodded with a smile.  And on that same vacation at Epcot Center, she received a tap on her arm - another child who recognized the Lunch Lady within a sea of strangers - over 1200 miles from home.  I think it is my momma's nature to take care of people.  It gives her a satisfied purpose in life and validation of who she is.  I suppose she has always known who she is - not like our generation, where we are always trying to find out who we are. She says, pointedly - just look in the mirror.  That's sensible New Englander talk - why don't I have that?

I know this knitted afghan will be a great surprise for her.  She loves hand-made things, who doesn't? And the next time I  stop by, I will know where to find her.   Passing the kitchen where a dinner will be warming on the stove and walking through the dining room where a chilled glass of Merlot, ice on the side,  sitting next to the table setting, and then into the connecting parlor where my momma will be, watching for me through the window, with her afghan on her lap to warm her knees.


courtesy Tatnuck Bead Company
Well, I got a little off topic - that's what happens when memories set in.  But today, I am off to learn wire working.   I've been wanting to work with metals for long time now.  It looks so fascinating and intricate.  This is the introductory class that Tatnuck Bead Westborough offers and every time it has been scheduled, I was unable to make the trip up to Westborough.   Since I was already staying in Massachusetts for the weekend, the timing was perfect to take this class.  Next blog entry, I will talk about my experience with wire and a photo of my first creation! Tata for now!

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