Our House in the Middle of Our Street

Like I predicted last month, May just flew by and I had less room for reading. I did end up going through a few of my magazines waiting in the wings, which also lessens the list. I have a few magazine subscriptions I love and read cover to cover, and then pass on when I'm done, and they had been piling up. I snapped this photo of the kids early one morning when I could hear them softly speaking together and laughing, and I popped in my head to check on them and this is what I saw. They love reading (especially comics) and I got a growly face from Ani and a tongue-shot from Lu for breaking up the fun. * Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor  was the first book I finished in May. This book was a well- defined philosophical walk through the dark, and what that means throughout our life, and our culture. If that doesn't give you an adequate description, I'm not sure that I can help you. This book has memoir of childhood darkness, essays on fear, moon cycl...

Today, actress, poet, and civil-rights activist Dr. Maya Angelou has passed away at age 86. She is one of the first poets I remember reading as a young child, and who gave me that surge of knowledge that her words were different, powerful, and beautiful. Here is my poem back to her*. A Poem for the Birds A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky           Bird! Do you see it?           The sunset colored just for you            the ripples in the new moon           bring back ocean tide, and true           dip down, fly high and swoon But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are chipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. ...

As I have gone in waves of creativity, my love for sewing has only become stronger. Now that I'm a bit more confident with knits, and creating garments, I'm feeling that old need to be back in front of my machine a bit more often.  Although I don't remember where I first saw the DOLI tank pattern f rom LouBee Clothing, I do know I purchased it almost immediately. I rarely make impulse buys, but rather like to sleep on any purchases aside from bills and a babysitter once a month. I didn't even care, though. I loved this tank and saw a lot of cute tops in my daughter's future, and my two nieces futures. :)  Lucky for me, it came with a buy-one-get-one-free pattern, so I picked up the   Bimaa Sweater pattern , though I have yet to create that.  There's something so fun and rewarding about finishing a quick piece, that is also practical and wearable. I made Ani's three tops with the jersey knit fabric (stripe patterns) and knit ribbing from...