Sorry I Haven't Been Posting Lately...

Hi everyone, it's been hectic working so many jobs, so please forgive me my negligence. I've been playing tennis mom to my son and his tournaments, etc. and catching up with old friends. I was thinking of videotaping the process of trying to get my studio built in the basement. What do you think? I thought that maybe it would make me get to it sooner.

Have been going through my garage and basement, clearing out, and in other areas of the house as well. Reciting to myself "I release the old to make room for the new"events, and people coming into my life in the future. Some days are better than others.

So, my daughter wants to make throws or quilts out of Ken's clothing. His things collaged on one side, and a nice fabric on the other. I also just went through an old Christmas issue of Martha and saw a 2 sided scarf. I thought that they would make nice memory gifts for family members. What do you think? Any more ideas?

I recently made a few gifts for my mother-in-law. She turns 80 in the winter, but you'd never know it. She looks great, still plays tennis usually weekly, and is a gentle, kind individual who inspires others with her class. She always looks great. She is amazing. So, Ken's sisters wanted to have a birthday celebration earlier for her. It was at a beautiful country club on Long Island. It was pouring rain, yet still the view through the windows overlooking the gray skies and waves were beautiful. The food was out of this world great, and they did a mini roast on her. I know that Ken would've liked preparing a speech and presenting it.

Any way, we wanted to make some personal gifts that would have meaning to them. When I get a chance to put them on my computer , I will post the items, as long as the pictures come out alright. She was quite a looker in her youth, and still is today. We have a wealth of fabulous pictures from their teens in camp when they met, (my in-laws that is).

So I printed a picture of them both with bows and arrows, and made a pillow with pretty trim. I think that the colors look good for her place. The girls made a collage on a boxed canvas of them. She was Cleopatra and he was wooing her by her side.

And these adorable pictures of her when she was a little girl were just too cute. I mounted one and put a vintage flower in her hand under a dome on a vintage plate with more vintage flowers at the base. I think that it came out adorably. Alex made a vintage picture card, and I made a 'Ken do' planner with a collaged cover including hubby when he was a young boy. I also made a bookmark from a water colored paper by my girls with a baby picture on the front. She is probably holding an orange , but it looks like a tennis ball in her hand. Tennis is in the family.

So I have been doing artwork here and there, trying to get ready for a big show coming up. Is there ever enough time? And I am always trying to get work together to put into shops that want my things. Add all that to the 6 other jobs that I work, and life can get a little crazy at times. A cold came through the house on top of that, then there was preparation for Hurricane Irene which never really hit here. Just lost the power 2 times. Had to put things into the garage and shed. We do get high winds here in the mountains a lot.

And the husband (also our friend) of my dear friend Jenny who passed away 2 years ago September asked me to go through her things and to take what ever I wanted from her work/studio area. There was a wealth of beautiful items that I will use in my studio, and other lovely items. I can't believe how many things that came from me. We shared our goodies, and now I am getting some back, and loads of other lovelies. She worked for the Archives and did much research on historical pieces. I will have to do my homework on these items. Some things I will keep and others I will sell. And some artwork I will add on to, and they will in essence be collaborations between us. It is a lot, but it brings many happy memories which I am grateful to have had. I went through everything with her beautiful daughter, Emma. Emma will be helping me at Boonsborough Days, and I will be thankful for her help.

So, what do you think about posting the progress of the studio in videos? And what other ideas might you have for making memory pieces from Ken's clothing? Because he was a tennis professional, he had many t-shirts and sweeatshirts. We have been going through his things at a snail's pace so far. It is especially difficult for my children . They do not want me to go through things without them, which I would never do anyway. And they do not want to do it much at all yet. But, I think that it is time to start a little here and there. It will be cathartic. And especially, the act of making things with TLC to gift to family and friends.

Tolstoy

"It is within my power either to serve God or not to serve him. Serving him, I add to my own good and the good of the whole world. Not serving him, I forfeit my own good and deprive the world of that good, which was in my power to create."

Lev Tolstoy

One Year, a New Intensive Job, & Goodbye Mr." T"

So 25 May saw the one year anniversary of hubby's passing, and the 24th saw a new intensive adjunct position teaching 1 year's worth of Russian in 18 days at the university level. Not exactly the easiest thing. To complicate matters the book was not chosen by me and it is not exactly conducive to teaching the language intensively. The complementing audio program is confusing and compounds my work and the students' work.

I do enjoy teaching the class which is 10min! from my home. It is 4 days a week, 4 hours a day. The students are great, and I give them on-line youtube videos and music to watch and listen to to break up the intensity of the daily program.

I pray that the students and I do wonderful jobs, and that this leads to further work. They did not have the language and petitioned for the classes! Without my honey to cheer me on it can be a bit daunting, but if what we went through has taught me one thing, it is to plow through even a difficult situation. I hope and pray that it pays off in the end in more ways than one.

There are times that I want to cry, missing him so, and I do let the tears come. Working so many jobs is not exactly the easiest thing, but I do what I have to do. What more can anyone ask?

My very close friend's father just passed away. He was 92! We have been friends since I was 3 1/2 years old, when I moved into my new house on Long Island. I was sitting on the right side of the car when my father was about to turn right onto our new block in June, so many years ago.

There sat Jean on her big, antique, red tricycle looking at us not far from the car that was stopped at the stop sign. She said very assuredly, "I know her". Jean is 1 year older than I , and 1 year younger than my sister. If she was my best friend, we would run away from my sister, and if she was my sister's best friend, they would run away from me. Jean is very special to our family, and even my in laws loved and love her.

Her dad loved baseball and so Jean was a good little ball player, and would always be one of the team captains on our block. Growing up I practically lived at her house and so I will miss Mr. "T". I always called her Mom, Mom "T", once we were teenagers, and her dad Mr. "T". In his youth he was a striking man in a sailor suit, always kind to me, and he called me Lidja.

I hope that you are all doing well, my dear blogging friends.

Memory Eternal, my honey!

&

Memory Eternal, Mr. "T" !

xoxoxo

Winning Counties!!!!!..3-6,6-0,6-3

My son won Counties yesterday!!!! He plays #1 singles for his HS Tennis team. He has since he was a freshman. He's now a sophmore.

The boy he played took 2 matches off him.With the 2nd match they had split sets , were 4-all, (meaning they were tied -for you non-tennis bloggers), and Serge had to retire due to a horribly cramping hand, the same hand that cramped that had lost him the 1st match with this opponent.

A match or 2 before that one, he won a thrilling 3 setter w/another school, but had fallen on his arm, injuring it. That's when he then played this opponent, losing w/his cramped hand from the injury. Then the 2nd time he played him it cramped so badly that he couldn't hold his racket, and had to retire. He felt so badly.

The opponent's coach kept cheering my son's faults/errors. This is a big NO-NO in tennis etiquette. She was loud and constant. I had complained to the coaches at the 1st match. Then at the 2nd match, Serge had had enough and complained to a teammate of the opponent who was doing the same thing at that match. The coach was right there and did the same cheering along with her student! So the coach 'corrected' her student, with a faulter in her words. "Yeah, that's not really the, uh, right thing to do, uh..."

So at this final match for the counties in boys singles, the coach was not too voiced thank goodness. And guess who the boy's coach was? HIS MOTHER!!!! So unprofessional. My son grew up with tennis, and is very self contained on the tennis court, unlike other players who show a great deal of frustration, like McEnroe used to do. That's why Mac got fined all the time.

So when Serge won, it was a very sweet victory. He dedicated it to his Dad, who passed away last year. His dad, my hubby, was a tennis pro his whole adult life. He was not a bad player himself, having been ranked internationally once, and ranked nationally, #1 in his age bracket in the Mid-Atlantic in the past ,.....He's surely smiling down from heaven.

It was really great to have Ken's good friend, Jeff , there supporting Serge. Jeff is the Tennis Director at the club where hubby taught. Hubby was Director of Junior Tennis. The program run at the club is a superb one in the area.

Next week Regionals!

Greenfest in the Park

Greenfest show in the Park ,and more...





"The right side of the brain is the more creative part and therefore shows us things we may not see when we try to look at things logically."

"When we laugh through our tears , we are being given a powerful gift."

"Proverbs 17:22 tells us "A Merry heart doeth good like medicine."

"If you had chickens you wouldn't go around picking up their droppings, you would pick up the eggs -Right?"

(The Healing Power of Humor, by Allen Klein)

My wonderful friend Patty, who I've known since the mid nineties, and who I met through an article that I wrote in DOLL WORLD Magazine on the Russian-American connection with dolls, also lost her husband last year.

She just sent me 2 "book reports" totaling 18 pages of humor , positive reinforcement thoughts, and words of inspiration that she wrote from 2 books that she recently read.

I am glad that you were born, my dear friend Patricia. Her husband called her Patricia, friends call her Pat or Patti, and very good friends call her Patty with a "y". I remember the day that she wrote me and told me I could call her Patty with a "y". She makes me laugh every time I talk with her! She called me last week and left a message,"Do you know where your friend is? Call me!"

I'm from NY and she's from Staten Island. She contacted me when she read that article that I wrote. I was pregnant with my youngest who is now 15. We have been friends ever since. We had a doll club with some other women. We felted wool in my driveway with my car. We made totally different dolls, but had the same love of creating.

She now has gone back to painting watercolors, and has been getting into collage with the painting. Since I have known her, her house has always been gorgeous, with flowers asplash inside and out. She is highly focused and prolific , no matter what she does. She cannot stop creating. She joins guilds, gets her paintings into hospitals and galleries, she teaches, and she also used to teach belly dancing years ago when raising her 2 boys. She's grandmother to gorgeous and smart grandchildren, and is one of the most giving and 'generous of soul' individuals that I know. She has a love for happiness in her heart that goes beyond the average person.

The 2 things that stand out to me more than anything are her flowers and her humor. She brings flowers with her wherever she goes, whether it be in a garden bed that surrounds the entire house, her paintings,(she even painted my family in flowers when Ken died), the fresh flowers upon her dining room table, or the flowers in her heart that burst open with laughter, even in the darkest hours. And of the latter, she is no novice.

So, I celebrate my dear friend Patty with a "y", and I am ever so blessed to call her my friend. I am so thankful that she was born, as she never lets me forget that about me. Ever.

Love youPatty. xoxoxo

Lydia

PS- The pictures are random and recent: Poppy flower in our garden bed, Alex trying to take a picture with the ever elusive Serge on Easter morning, a Visual Thinking art assignment from a classmate of my daughter's at her university, made out of Saran wrap. It looks to be life size in total-this is just a portion of the piece), an Easter chick, and my nephew Jason's funny Easter poses,(he being a big prankster, another one who can't stop making people laugh).

Displaying Jewelry

Check out Alex's displays @ Piece.

Palm Sunday & Pussy Willows, Poetry, my Anniversary, & the Day I was Born

"He was my North, my South, My East, My West, My working week and my Sunday Rest"

A.H. Auden (from the book-About Grief)

"Poets touch things that are difficult to touch, things like the indignities of grief, and in so doing, reteach them their loveliness ." (from -About Grief,by Ron Marasco & Brian Shriff)

Poignant words do not always attest to the facts of truth. And search for truth we must.

The everyday, the simple, ordinary moments. The space between the lines.

The silence between the notes.

For it is in these simple, ordinary moments that we create the truth in our lives.

And this truth is based upon the sacred details, that once gone, make up a life.

What is held dear, this is what translates from one person to another.

From one generation to the next.

And then the poignant moments appear, as if in an instant to clarify our emotions and values

that we hold dear.

Some people never have these moments, and isn't that a shame?

Why cannot we learn to cherish the ordinary, to be satisfied with taking out the trash,

when we share chores with family, when we share roles in life at work or amongst friends?

For after all, life is in the living, and dieing is in the details of life remembered.

Are we not all an experiment? Life to each is an experiment.

What propels someone to cherish the ordinary if their life has been full of chaos, disarray, anger, lack of love?

Please tell me that you can help another in time, in life, or perhaps with just a smile

or a word to show that one person at that exact time that there is good in the world.

Seek and ye shall find. Ask, and you shall receive.

Search for truth, no matter what in all you do,

and even the simplest among us can change the world.

I'd rather go down trying, then living without the hope of any real truth.

The world would not make sense if there was no God.

And even the least among us can find hope, faith, God in the smallest details of the day.

Would that I could elicit a wealth of care that transcends generations and cultures.

For maybe, I have something to say that you want to hear.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

I am the student, and the teacher is life.

I am the student and the teacher is God.

3/23/ll Lydia

Happy Palm Sunday. I was born on Palm Sunday. And today is my anniversary. It would have been 28 years. And did you know that in Russia, they didn't have palms, so they received pussy willows on Palm Sunday? Today my aunt and uncle brought in fresh pussy willows from their yard for all the church. What a treat. I love pussy willows. And, did you know that there is a black pussy willow? I just found that out this year at a flower and garden show in March.

Blessings to all.