Spazlow's hierarchy of Needs

Years ago in one of Steve's classes we learned about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Essentially it explains that we must tend to the basics before we can start fussing over the more refined elements of our existence. Have you ever been so distracted by needing the bathroom that you could focus on little else? That's Maslows hierarchy of needs at work.

Maslow never met Winslow...we are into our fourth week of potty training and as recently as yesterday Winslow refused to pee though given multiple opportunities to do so. He finally let loose a torrent right by his water bowl after just having come in from another unsuccessful potty run. That was the third time in as many days...the only other common denominator in the equation is Steve. It always happens on Steve's watch...Once I could actually blame Steve for it, but the other two times were patently not his fault. So why is our little furry ball of joy putting us through such hell? We just don't know. But this morning he rose to the potty training challenge and has done a good job and I remain optimistic that its the start of a nice long accident free run... hope really does spring eternal.

Long time no see

Some of you may be wondering what ever happend to my Aloha Album quilt, its still around, simmering on a back burner. I managed to get two blocks done while in New Mexico. I wanted to finish at least one so Mom could see it with her own eyes. This is the first of the two. She was surprised by how big the blocks are. I guess I never included anything to indicate scale, so the 18 inch plus block surprised her. It is going to be finished to 18 inches, but right now its untrimmed and is probably 20 inches square give or take a half inch. I think the orchids turned out very nice. I am half tempted to ink some spots on the orchids, but hesitate because the only fix if I mess up is to pull it off and redo it with a new piece of fabric. So I think I will err on the side of caution just now. My plate is full and I do not want to create more work for myself. I have been in the habit in recent months of taking on new projects before finishing the old ones...as a result I have four unfinished quilt projects two of which have completion deadlines. So I have dropped the two that have no deadline in favor of the two that do...well sort of dropped them. One is so close to being finished that I hate to ignore it altogether, so I spend a little time on it now and then hoping to keep it moving toward the finish line. When its finally done I will take up the Aloha Album again. But as Bob as my witless I will not take on another quilt project until the ones I have started are done!

Back at my blog

Well, I am finally back at my blog. I think just about everybody who reads it knows I was in NM for a month helping get Mom moved down to Roswell after her stroke. As strokes go, it was a big one though you would never guess it by looking at Mom. She is a little unsteady on her feet, a little at a loss for words some times, and her hand will not always do as its told, but she could easily fool the casual observer. It was hard even for me sometimes to remember that she was in recovery because she seemed so much her old self at times. The move to Roswell was remarkable in that it was utterly unremarkable. Things fell into place so seamlessly that it hardly felt like the major upheaval that it was. It has been my experience that things generally go that way when God is left in charge. I can't speak for Mom or Jamie, but I know I only had a fleeting moment of sorrow saying goodbye to 921 W. Plaza. The things on the horizon were exciting enough to hold my gaze and keep me from looking back too much. Maybe my life as a military dependent; always recovering from or gearing up for a move made it a natural thing for me. Whatever the reason, it felt like as the old prayer book said "a meet and right thing to do" I hope it was that way for everybody. Saying goodbye to friends was the hardest part, but as big as NM is, its a small state when it comes to staying connected. Out there its not at all uncommon to drive 3 or 4 hours to get to some place worth going and Roswell is only 2 hours from Clovis so I know Mom will see all her friends from time to time especially after we move back home!

Nine down, Eight to go

Here is the next block for my Hawaiian Album quilt. The lauhala mat that the fruit is sitting on is really woven! Just in case you cannot tell from the picture, starting with the pineapple and going clockwise next there is breadfruit, mango, grapes, lilikoi, papaya, bananas and finally two coconuts one in the husk and one out. Looking at this block I am reminded of the bananas that grew in our front yard. While we were there a stalk of them ripened and we harvested them, cutting off the stalk and bringing the whole big thing into the house to the tune of Harry Belafonte's "Hey mister tally man tally me bananas..."It was all fun and cute till the gecko jumped out and ran through our kitchen...thats when we learned to be careful about what we dragged into the house. What we did not realize then was that geckos in the house are part of life in Hawaii. That was just one of a long string of gecko encounters. I actually grew to like them because they ate the bugs and kept to themselves, and as lizards go, are actually kind of cute. I think I may have to add a gecko to my Hawaiian album quilt, maybe sitting on the lauhala mat by the bananas...

My favorite picture ever

I have managed to check off a number of bucket list line items in the past few years what with the poison ivy identification and the climbing of a lighthouse and now this. Seeing my favorite picture of all times live and in person at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Its a self portrait of Judith Leyster. My love affair with her began way back when we lived in the Netherlands. One of our favorite castles to visit was called Muiderslot. It was on the outskirts of Amsterdam and it had all the requisite features of a castle, crenelations, towers a moat...everything. It is what I see when I think of a castle. During the 1600's salons were hosted there for the local movers and shakers, almost exclusively men, except for one daring young woman, Judith Leyster. She was ahead of her time and was successful in a mans world at a mans trade. Whats more, it was as if she was welcomed into it, and was treated as an equal. Thats when I first learned of her, and thought she must have been extraordinary. I think I saw a still life that she painted hanging in the castle. It was not till as a going away present that our Dutch friends gave us a book on the Dutch golden age of painting that I first saw Judith's self portrait. Remembering her from the Castle I was tickled to see her looking back at me and I could instantly see why she was welcomed in the Salon. She has that quality about her that makes you want to know her better.

Seeing the picture in person just made me love it all the more. It was as if I had stopped by her studio for a visit and she was talking and painting at the same time, and stopped just for a moment to turn and give full attention to me. I think one reason I love it is because I know that moment, have lived that moment dozens of times. Usually sitting around with a group of women, maybe we are quilting, or working on miniatures or decorating cakes...whatever work is at hand and the chatter is flowing, but somebody says something that warrants full attention so work halts just for a moment and then resumes again almost before it had completely stopped and the moment is so natural its hardly noticed. That is what Judith captures in her picture and I never really recognized that until I saw it on the wall in the gallery!

Rose and Maile lei

Here is the next block in my Aloha Album. I finished it 1 and a half blocks ago, that is to say I have finished another block and am more than half way through finishing a second block. Why its taken me so long to post a picture of it, I cannot say....Well thats not entirely honest. I think I can say. I have been busy, it's true. I have been out of town twice since I finished this block, in bed sick for a week and then out making " Nice Nice" for a solid uninterrupted week with Steve's work...and I could claim any or all of that for the reason its taken me so long, but it really boils down to the new computer. I am still on shaky ground with it in some respects, uploading pictures being one of them, and as is the tradition in my family passed on to me by my mother, and her mother before her, if its no fun ignore it...Its a good strategy actually except for its fatal flaw, eventually we must all face what we hide from and the longer we put it off, the worse it usually gets, so I am trying to face my computer downloading issues head on...A small matter for most, but for me and others like me, its a true profile in courage!

What had happened was....

I have done enough traveling to know that when I am on the road, I am most likely off my bathroom cycle, if you get what I mean...so in an attempt to keep things as they should, I poured a good dose of benefiber into a ziploc baggy to take on the road with me.

Fiber is not the only thing in short supply when I am traveling, coffee creamer is also hard to come by especially when I am relying the the little complimentary coffee station in my hotel room with its single 1/2 teaspoon packet of solidified powdered non dairy creamer. So I have been taking extra creamer with me too for years now.

On our first trip to Washington this April I left my little baggy of benefiber behind sitting on the counter at home and drove off without it. As you may recall from an earlier post, that is the same trip I was on when I succumbed to the flu. After the LONGGGG car ride home I crept upstairs and into bed and did not come down for two days. Steve did all the unpacking and putting things away, for which I am ever grateful. When I finally made it downstairs I remembered my baggy of benefiber and thought I should get it and pour the stuff back in the jar, but it was nowhere to be found. It slipped my mind for another few days until I finally remembered to ask Steve if he had seen it anywhere. His response to me was "you mean that was fiber?" " Yea, it was fiber....what did you do with it?" He mistook it for the coffeemate I have also been know to travel with and poured it all into the creamer dish. Well, that sure explained a lot... Now I knew why my coffee tasted so very strong; so strong that I would go back and put in another spoonful or two of "coffeemate" which would then account for my other "irregularities"

At least now I know the importance of clearly labeling things!