“Chase your dream, but always know the road that will lead you home again.” The phone rang. My thoughts about the stories I heard in the Restorative Justice class that afternoon were interrupted. “Hi, Mom.” It’s always easy to tell when Rene’ masks her exhausted state with an overly peppy voice. Life as an adult […]
A poignant concert at the Rialto Theatre in Joliet, Illinois on January 24, 2012. The “good-bye tour” of country singer Glenn Campbell as he runs out of time in his battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. The show is not about perfection, because Glenn at times stumbles over the lyrics and needs help to continue. Nor is […]
When Garth Brooks belted out his signature song and the audience sang along with him during a recently televised concert, my mind pictured an 1890 pub in Five Points with the whistle of the orphan train in the background. The words of Brooks’ song, “I Have Friends in Low Places”, bring his audience back to […]
“We may think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.” Jenny Uglow The circle of the seasons is in completion. Autumn breezes blow crisp leaves across the soil now planted with dwarf peas for ground cover. Raised beds that stood tall with green stalks and flowing […]
– By Cleo Lampos Garbio. That’s the name they gave to the Dutchmen who hauledChicago’s refuse to the dumps at the beginning of the 1900’s. Over a century ago, immigrants from Holland gravitated to the lowly job of garbage collector. Through diligent work, Garbio transformed trash removal into the multimillion dollar industry that exists today. […]
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” Anatole France Quilters love animals. It can’t be denied. The proliferation of one-of-a-kind fabric tributes to creatures with fur, fins or feathers is beyond count. The subject matter draws on the heart strings and puts the thread to the bobbin. Gone Fishing […]
“Quilts are active agents in history and vivid storytellers.” (Click the text above to learn about Macia Fuller and her Underground Railroad quilts.) Women with needles. Creating maps and codes. Freeing countless precious souls from slavery. Photo courtesy of: Time http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1606271,00.html One group of stitchers was the Quakers who ran the safe houses, or stations […]
Textileevolution.com The tinkle of ice cubes in tall tea glasses blended with the chatter of women engaged in conversation. The scent of Italian dishes smothered in cheeses and oregano activated my salivary glands. It was going to be a satisfying meal with a group of readers that wanted me to talk about my books. So […]
“You have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” -President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat Fear is the mind-killer. Conquering fear is essential in survival. Eleanor realized that at an early age. She spent her life fighting her “fight or flight” responses with detached responses. By facing the experiences and trauma that represent fear, […]
My inheritance from my mother lay in a large grocery bag filled with twelve inch muslin squares cut from feed bags. A transfer depicting each one of the 48 state birds and flowers lay with every white square. With a bit of tenacity, I started embroidering those designs collected in the 1930’s Dust Bowl. After […]