Beaming A Little!

I feel like Tinkerbell! You do believe in me. At least someone out there in blog-reading land reads my blogs. I feel so vindicated, so empowered.

This reminds me of an episode in my life, just a few short minutes when I glowed.

My son was doing his senior project at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina and we trekked up from Florida, where we lived at the time, to see his play. The Artist in Residence then was a Hollywood character actor, Graham Paul, whom you may remember from the opeing shot of Pale Rider . Both our daughter and son had studied under him and I was anxious to meet him, but I didn't think it would happen quite the way it did.

We went into the theatre from the stage entrance when we got to the college, knowing that Dana would be there doing last minute things. I have trouble in low-light situations, so I was a little hesitant, just taking in the situation.

I think someone called out to Dana that "hey, your folks are here!" A man who was sitting in the audience with some students around him got to his feet and hurried toward the stage.

"Mrs. Bierce! I'm so glad to meet you," he said, extending his hand. "I'm Graham Paul. . . I've been looking forward to meeting you."

Well, that made my day -- and maybe my life.

Is Anybody Out There?

I don't write in my blog as often as I used to. I don't get many responses -- okay, honestly, I don't get any -- so I don't know if anyone knows that someone is writing, pouring out a soul. This is a soul that loves writing, and gardening, singing and listening to classical music, sewing quilts and clothing for others, appreciating the seasons as they change.

There's nothing earthshaking or exciting about my life. The books I write are about common people dealing with realistic life experiences in commonsense ways. I have no concept of other worlds. Not that I don't admire J. K. Rowling or Jeff Strand or anyone who makes up whole universes -- I have enough to deal with looking at the birds eating at the feeder in my own back yard.

Winter -- especially the cold we have had lately -- is a good time to stay inside and amuse oneself with one's toys. Aside from my computer, with which I have a love/hate relationship, I think my favorite toy is my Janome 4800 Quilter's Companion sewing machine. It does wonderful things! It has 223 fancy stitches, including script and block alphabets and pretty motifs.

There was a time when I made myself clothes for a conference I went to -- but living in the country doesn't afford one the opportunity to wear fancy clothes, even to church. So I have taken up making doll dresses. I found a basic pattern which I can fancy up to my heart's content, using scraps of fabric, lace and other trims, specialty threads and my imagination.

When I was little, I didn't have fancy dolls, and rarely had changes of clothing for the ones I had. So it's been fun to make things for 18-inch dolls with hair and stories about them. I have made a Christmas ball gown with velvet and satin, and some "daydresses" with lace and embroidery to pretty them up -- and tucks and pintucks and portrait collars. If I want to make a dress, it takes only a couple hours with my machine, and if the dress doesn't come out exactly right, the doll isn't going to complain!

I'm thinking of devising a way to make it a business, but I'm a little wary of taking that step. It might take all the fun out of what is now a way of letting my imagination soar.

Spring Is On the Way

Saturday afternoon was sunny but cold. When I looked out the window of my son's studio, I noticed that several of the buds on the clump of daffodils over by the spirea bush were more yellow than they were a few days before. I had to investigate. I brought five buds that were just about to pop into the house and put them into comfortably warm water, and they rewarded my efforts by popping open a few hours later.

Punxuatawny Phil didn't see his shadow on Groundhog Day, so everyone in that little town joyfully went on to their pancake breakfasts assured that they face only six more weeks of winter. I'd celebrate, too, knowing how hard Punxsy gets clobbered at times.

Then today, we ran out of bird seed. The jays and cardinals, redheaded woodpecker, chickadees, pigeons and a touring bluebird stood wing-tip to wing-tip to spell out "FEED US!" (Okay, so their formation was a little shaking and no one ever accused them of being great spellers.) We went to the dollar store and, lo and behold, the seeds were already up at the ends of the aisles. I grabbed four packets of flowers and when I showed husband, he told me to get some more. I brought home three packages of sunflower seeds so we won't run out of seeds next February! Then again, the birds will probably invite more relatives, knowing we're a soft touch.