"I Like" Thursday #20 Birks, Beads, and Birds

National Gallery of Art at Christmas

"I Like" Thursday Number 20!
These posts have kept me  noticing the small every day things that please me.

1. I like my neighbor Paul. He has a significant brain injury from a fall. He is always, ALWAYS, cheerful.
Nothing lifts my spirits like seeing Paul out on a walk. Over the years I have learned much of his life story... born in a country no longer there, grew up in Italy, brought to the USA because of his mother's marriage to an American,  served our country in the military, and has seen a lot of life.

Paul teaches me Italian when we meet on the sidewalks. Today I learned What's happening?
He laughs that he has to work to remember Italian when I ask. I have to work to remember Italian too.

2. I Like walking. I can't believe I haven't mentioned it by now, but I walk twice daily at least. It clears my mind, I often do walking meditations, I breathe deeply which I forget to do around the house, I see nature, I find inspiration for art. I breathe in for four steps, hold four steps, out four steps hold four steps. Over and over, because it slows down my panic, quiets my mind, gives me a focus and more oxygen is a good thing.

Does this sound stupid???  on my walk recently I saw rain filled potholes. Birds and squirrels were all using them for waterbowls, getting along together too... and I became thankful the potholes provided something for nature. We sure take enough away from critters, it's something to think an annoying pothole provides nourishment at least.

This week I had not brought my camera but saw an amazing sight. I looked up to see an airplane in the sky, and a crow flying in the same direction between the plane and me. It struck me hard that we all fly in different ways at different speeds and with different goals. But we can all fly in some way.

When I was growing up, it was a big deal to fly. We dressed up in our best clothes, and felt very special. No security gates, people met us at the gate to welcome the travelers. They fed us the cutest little meals on tiny dishes. There was room in the seats for our legs. We got to see the earth from another perspective, especially if you got the coveted  window seat.

3.  I like my new Birkenstocks. I have worn my old winter "Boston" for the last 14 years, and invested in a new pair over the holidays. They are thinner suede, and a bit smaller than all my other Birks... what's that all about?  They are expensive to me but my feet need arch support and they are the best for that.

I am one of the few who love the feel of a new pair. The insides are still soft and they are all clean.

 I do not like how thin the suede doesn't hold it's shape, so I can't slide them on like my others, I have to pull them on like other shoes.All my other birks are the same size and fit great and these are a bit smaller (yes I got out a ruler to check, with Mr. not afraid of color to check too) grrr. But I like having a new pair, and how they look, and as always the high arch support. And taking things back to the store is no fun, so I kept them.

When I think of all my youth spent teetering around on Candies mules at the disco!! It's a wonder I didn't fall. Of course I was a ballet dancer and had good balance and was comfortable up on my toes. I was a high heel gal, but now I like my birks and sneakers.

4. I like Midsomer Murders TV show on BBC. The most recent season was released to DVD and we are watching it now. From our Library system.

5. I like the library. I feel like I go shopping there... "I'll take this novel, this cd of jazz, these two craft books, and several dvds... to go please!!" All for the cost of a few tax dollars... well spent! I love tax dollars being spent on people to enrich their lives!

Cindy's project... I Likeeee

6. I like beads... still like beads. I got together with my good beading buddy Cindy and we had a morning of shiny sparkly beads. I restarted the bracelet for Nancy. We talked about sparkly things, we compared the virtues of different kinds of beads in a project. It's like quilting, same fabrics that look great in yardage next to each other, may lose impact when pieced in. I needed to change a finish from glazed to matt so that the bracelet worked.

We met at the library, thank you to them again!

7. I Like warm and natural batting for wall quilts. I used to buy it by the yard but now just get a queen sized bag on sale, and cut it up. I do rinse it first, this time twice as it smelled, and dry it on medium heat. I measured it after and it lost about two inches over the entire enormous piece. That's really nothing but it might be significant in a wall quilt.

I do not like the chemicals remaining in fabric and batting so I rinse and dry them. No surprises that way and less chemical outgassing going on in the studio. I also do not get surprise shrinking in one direction or another distorting my quilts. For bed size quilts I like 80/20 and also prewash. It's a dream to quilt with a prewashed batt.

8. I Like receiving surprise gifts... my good friend and sketching partner in VT Carol at http://quiltedfabricart.blogspot.com/ made and sent me a notebook with a quilted cover.
Bears. I love bears. Bears are my totem. Note the little bear button.

9. I Like the post office. Really.  
Maybe not the lines but this week I went in to mail three sympathy quilts to friends who lost beloved pets recently. Bacon had informed me it was compliment day, so when the worker called me over I told her about compliment day and said her eyes were beautiful. She had enormous dreadlocks and long, long nails painted kelly green, but I chose her eyes. She was awesome to me the whole visit. What a gift!

And what a system of convenience. Being able to send something to someone far away for such a relatively small fee.

10. I like doing improv whether it's comedy, singing, beading or quilt making.
So much fun to make it up as you go along.
It's like  playtime. So my friends Ann (fretnotyourself)   and Kaja at http://www.sewslowly
are giving suggestions on how to do improv quilting this year. Want to try it? check out their blogs. 


What did you find to like this week?

Visit these other fine folk who also wrote "I Like" posts
1, craftscaviescontras
2.imworkingonaproject
3..http://littlepenguinquilts.blogspot.com/
4.3poodlesandanana
5.tu-na quilts