With so many different faiths the world over, the concept of any one being the one and only true faith is peculiar to me. It doesn’t make any sense if you think about it. However, it does make sense that one faith is the one true faith for one particular person … at a time. Each individual person who wishes to understand the nature of God and what his or her relationship is to God needs a path to follow to get there. For George, it is religion A and that is the one true faith for George. For Natalie, it is religion C and that is the one true faith for Natalie. Michael, on the other hand, finds that religion H works for him, so that is the one true faith for Michael. George, Natalie, and Michael are all on the right path … each has found the one true path of faith that works for him or her.

They should all wave to each other and say, “Hey, way to go! Isn’t this amazing!”

Wouldn’t it make sense that if God exists and has anything to do with the affairs of mankind, that there would be some wisdom coming from that source to provide mankind with many different paths to follow in reaching the God connection.

I believe it would have to be so. We are so different, one to another. We have different cultures, different life experiences, differences in our spiritual nature, and so forth. There would have to be many different paths leading to God. The most fundamentally important thing is seeking God and gaining a closer connection to whoever or whatever God is for you, not which path you use to do so.

If God is love, it could not possibly make any sense at all that conflict, hatred, or war would lead any one of us, some of us, or all of us to a closer relationship with God. That part of the equation must come from somewhere else, and leads to erroneous illogical conclusions that don’t add up.

I’m right, you’re wrong, my God is the one true God, my faith is the one true faith. No — we are each right, our Gods are God, our faiths are faith, our love is love. We are all united in love and faith, regardless of the tradition of knowledge or ritual that gets us there.

I have a dream of a community church of all faiths where people from all over a community from any faith within that community could gather together for the purpose of sharing faith and love, learning more about what unites us in our religions, and celebrating together our gaining of a closer connection to God. You know, if we brought our faiths closer together in friendship and trust we would inevitably grow closer to God all of us together.

That makes sense to me.

One of my favorite Christmas memories is from quite a few years back in Los Angeles when my children were still fairly young. It was a particularly challenging Christmas for me as a single mother. My car was broken, I was out of work, and out of money for the most part. Determined to create Christmas magic, my children and I made Christmas gifts for family members using materials we had on hand for the most part.

I had some red velvet fabric I used to sew Santa outfits and Santa “bags” for a couple of little teddy bears. My son made two cube shaped boxes with lids out of a decorative paper and lined them with some gold-leaf we had on hand in our art supplies. The boxes looked very magical, and we put them inside the red velvet Santa bags that went with the teddy bears. We gave one of the Santa bears and bag with the magic box inside to my parents and the other to one of my older brothers and his family.

I painted watercolor portraits of several nieces and nephews for others in the family, and was up painting the last one on Christmas Eve. While I was painting I watched a televised Midnight Mass. I had never attended a Mass of any kind, and didn’t know what to expect. It was beautiful. Ministers from a wide variety of religions spoke for several minutes each. They all gave a holiday message based on their respective theologies but all had a common theme: love.

Sometimes I think the real reason behind all of the hardship I was experiencing at that time was so that I would be up late painting on Christmas Eve and therefore watching television to help myself stay awake and thereby see that particular show…it was an important part of my own spiritual path.

This holiday season I am thinking of you, whoever you may be and whatever your faith may be. I am sending to you my thoughts of love, my prayers of hope and peace. I am longing to feel a deeper connection with God by reaching out and touching your hand (in spirit) and expressing my gratitude to you for your part in the worldwide search for God along many different paths shining many, many different lights toward truth.

Love,
firefly

In response I said, “Let’s not have our communication stifled by such negative considerations. Wishing people a Merry Christmas is a kind, good-natured thing to do.”

That is how I feel about it.

I wish you a Merry Christmas, because wishing you a Merry Christmas is to wish you a season of love and kindness. That is how I mean it. I do not mean to wish Christianity on you, and in saying it I am not saying I am a Christian. The fact is, you don’t know what my faith is (unless you are my immediate family) I don’t discuss it because that is my personal business, not yours. Just as your faith is your personal business, not mine.

But whether I am Christian or not, I wish a Merry Christmas to all of the people of the world.

To attempt to stifle people from wishing one another a Merry Christmas is to stifle well wishing and thoughts of love. Why do that, when love is what the world needs.

Yes, Christmas is particular within the Christian religion is a celebration of the birth of Jesus.

But people of any faith or no faith could enjoy a sense of the celebration of brotherly love for the good of mankind and acknowledge a heightened sense of love during this season was inspired by some guy named Jesus who lived back about 2,000 years ago — regardless what the significance of that guy is. Whether he was a prophet, the son of God, God himself, or just some guy … he said some cool stuff and the coolest thing he said was, “Hey guys, you really should stop all the hating and do some loving instead.”

And there was something very convincing about the way he said it, because his words impacted the way much of mankind has lived and regarded one another positively in a huge way and that impact has lasted for more than 2,000 years.

So, I say to you, Merry Christmas. I say this because I wish you well, I wish you love and a sense of peace. I wish these things for you and those you touch and those you love. I wish these things on you and yours today, and for this season, and I hope those feelings will last for as much of the coming year as you can possibly carry it on. I don’t know you personally, perhaps … but I wish you love.

That is all it is, and even if you take a stance of being offended by my wishes of a Merry Christmas to you and yours, I love you any way and wish you love and peace any way. I respect your beliefs, whatever they may be. And, I wish you love.

So, Merry Christmas!

Love,
firefly

But, who can we turn to? Who has the power to turn things around in a little world so seemingly large?  World leaders?  Politicians?  Celebrities?  The media?  Who.

Two thousand years ago, give or take a couple hundred years, someone had the idea it was the every day people who could make the biggest difference, because that is who he brought his message to.  A message of love.  Love your neighbor.

He gave his message to you and to me, to our counterparts way back in those ancient times.

Love.

Many other religions, most I would think, have the same message at their root.  Love is the key.

And so, here we are in the season of love when we – as many of us as can muster it – generate and luxuriate in the feeling of true brotherly love or something close to it.

Why can’t we do this on a more regular basis, why don’t we bring this sense of magical love to each other on a more routine basis each and every day of the year.

It is strange really, because it feels so good to generate those feelings.  When you regard someone else with that beautiful love of the Christmas season it makes you feel so good, very deep inside.  It also does much good for the recipient of your love.

Wouldn’t it be beneficial to feel that way more often, during other less auspicious months of the year?  Wouldn’t it be great to feel that way often, no matter if it is holiday time or not.

Then, at Christmas time we might celebrate the fact of that love being present year round and who knows, Christmas might be an even more powerful magical holiday.  Who knows.

I have thought quite a bit about love over the past year because I know I have work to do in getting it right, getting it right more often and on a broader basis.

There are plenty of people that it is easy to love, you really don’t have to try at all with some people.

With others, it is something you have to consciously set out to do, but it can be done.

When I was in my early twenties, I started working at a company where my sister was also working.  There was this other girl who worked there who was very different  and kind of rubbed us and others the wrong way because her manner communicating and dealing with people seemed course and abrasive.

My sister and I spoke about it and decided something needed to be done about that girl, so we reported our grievances to personnel.  The person in charge of personnel very wisely rebuffed our.   Upon reflection at the time I realized I should experiment with consciously creating a sense of love and friendship  toward that other girl.  My “natural” reaction to her was negative and I decided to create my feelings toward her, rather than to respond to my reactions toward her.   I thought, why not try to purposely like someone who I didn’t feel as easy sense of friendship toward.

I started treating her as if I liked her, and turning my mind toward the feelings I would have about someone I liked when I regarded her.

The interesting thing was that very quickly I actually did start liking her.  As I did this, I began to feel genuine stirrings a friendship and found I could appreciate her differences rather than being put off by them.

My friendship with her became more refreshing and rewarding than the friendships I fell easily into, and it was a powerful life lesson I have carried with me and applied many times sense.  Luckily for me it was a lesson I learned fairly early in my life

There are those who it just feels right not to love because of things they have done that are so very, very wrong.  I know there are some that my heart is hardened against loving other than on a very superficial level.  It is important to me that I face that fact and be honest with myself about it.

I believe that to the degree that I feel justified in loving some and not loving others, I am contributing to the unhappiness of the world at large.  I also believe that when you have a few billion people withholding their love from others for what seem like perfectly legitimate reasons, you have then a world in trouble.

And, it is not our world leaders or politicians or monarchy or those with money and power who can do the real work involved in changing that situation.

The most powerful tool and resource, with the most abundant potential of all, is in the hands and minds of you and I – the people of the world.  We are billions, they are few.  We could love one another the way our various faiths remind us to, and we could do a better job of it than we have done so far.

Something that occurred to me about this recently is that the key and the challenge is to love others because they exist, just because they “are”.  Not to love another because he or she has done something that pleases you, but because that person is.  Only that.

I also believe one of our biggest barriers to loving each other is in judging one another.  That is what causes the world so much pain.  There is a feeling of righteousness people have when they can look at someone else and know that other person is in the wrong.  It gives a person such a feeling of righteous rightness to know that someone else is wrong.

The most righteous thing you can do, however, is to love someone else and in loving them not judge.  Who are any of us to judge one another, anyway?  I say, be your most righteous in how you love others, let that be your righteousness.  Loving someone else is the most right way to be.  Use this beautiful slang definition of righteous, “absolutely genuine or wonderful” (dictionary.com)  in the way you love your “neighbor” and you will see just how right you can feel and be.

I know it seems as if the world and the peace of the world is in the hands of the “leaders”, but if you look at the fact that world leaders have had countless opportunities, centuries, and unimaginable resources to bring healing to the world and they don’t ever get that job done.  It is a logical conclusion that  they are not going to ever be able to get that job done.

But, you and I could actually do it – and all the you and I’s of the world – if we could ever get our own act together and do what we should have been doing all along.  Loving each other, across all differences and boundaries, simply because we all exist and for no other reason.

This we have the ability to do.  It is within you and it is within me.  It cannot be taxed away from us, it cannot be wasted away by power hungry politicians, it cannot be stolen from us by thieves in the night, it cannot hoarded by the rich and wealthy.  It is ours, and we actually have it within us in a great overabundant supply that we never even begin to tap into.

You could make a big difference in the world if you just picked ten to twenty people who you would not normally love or even like.  Bend your mind toward the idea that you do love them, simply because they exist.  Do not try to do all ten to twenty at once, just do this one at a time until it feels real to you.

You might have to work at it, but it will be worthwhile, I can promise you that.

And if you do that with ten to twenty people, and if another ten to twenty people do that, and then another ten to twenty people, and so forth … we could make an impact on the world.

You could pass this suggestion along to others, and get them trying the experiment – an experiment in love.

~firefly

P.S. Featured in the photo at the top of today’s blog are the knucks I am knitting for myself, and yarns I have bought to make some coordinating items.  I promised these photos a couple of weeks back but then I lost (or misplaced) the knitting bag I use for smaller projects.  I just found it the other day, so was able to photograph the knitting progress and the yarn this morning.

The knucks are going to go up my arm several inches, for extra warmth.  I am knitting my knucks out of a very soft, alpaca fingering weight yarn from Berroco (Ultra Alpaca) in the Potting Soil color way.  There will be fingerless gloves in Lavender Mix in a worsted weight of the same yarn to use for extra warmth on the coldest of winter days.

The heavier weight yarns in a brown and purple color are for a hat and scarf that coordinate without totally matching.  I will tell you more about my color choices in a future blog.

Special Last Minute Offer on Knitter’s Eye Charts and Fine Art Photographs

Fine Art Photographs: Buy One Get one Free now through December 18th on any size Fine Art Photograph or print of a painting from my Fine Art Etsy store. However, photographs must be ordered by the 13th of December for Christmas deliverey. Mention “BOGO” in comments on order form at Etsy and tell me the print you choose for free. Offer includes prints of paintings as well, but these may be ordered through the 18th of December for Christmas delivery to lower 48 U.S. states. The BOGO offer is through the 18th of December, but photographs have to be ordered by the 13th for Christmas delivery

For Knitter’s Eye Charts: Buy One Get One Free all Knitter’s Eye Charts (includes sets of three) and other fiber related prints now through December 18th. All orders placed by midnight on the 18th of December will ship out in time for Christmas delivery to lower 48 U.S. states. Please be sure to let me know if the print is shipping directly to the gift recipient so I can package it slightly differently as a gift. Mention “BOGO” in comments section of Etsy order form and tell me which print you choose for free.

Flying Junction: My son over at Flying Junction is still taking orders for Christmas delivery as well on Subway Roll Signs and Bus Scroll Prints. He has added some new cities and prints recently (Seattle, Washington D.C., Atlantic City, and quite a few Los Angeles area signs) so if you need a beautiful quick idea for someone on your list, check out his selection too.

The photographs have been shot over the past sixty years by four members of our family: my husband’s father, my husband, me, and my son.  We have all been shooting photographs on the property and along the river where our cottage is (the cottage has been in the family since the 1930′s), and here at our farm which is situated on the same river a few miles southwest of the cottage property.

Going through a gazillion photographs to choose a dozen or so from each artist was a beautiful experience because we got to know each other as artists even more than before.  We have all been working in the same locations all these years, but each with a different artistic view, style, and appreciation for the bounty surrounding us.

A few of my pieces are available for sale in my fine art Etsy store, if you can’t make it but would like to make a purchase.

Also of interest is the varying photographic technology that has been available over the years.  My father-in-law’s pieces were all shot with 35 mm cameras from WWII Germany using Kodachrome color slide film back in the late 1940′s.  His photographs feature many people and we think people will love seeing the photographs and the details such as clothing and hairstyles of the time.  His photographs, scanned to digital by my husband and then printed on Kodak’s wondrous Endura Metallic paper, are a visual treat worth taking a little drive on a winter’s night to get a chance to see.

My husband’s pieces were shot with various 35 mm cameras and then a Nikon digital camera in later years, whereas my work, and my son’s are all Nikon digital.  So, we believe it will be very interesting for exhibiti visitors to see this One River photographed over the years, captured by the artistic vision of four different artists from four generations of the same family using a variety of photographic technologies.

Each piece in the exhibit is available for purchase and because of the holidays the gallery owner is going to let people take the pieces they purchase at the opening home with them that evening (usually the pieces remain hanging until the close of the show three weeks later).  We also have close to twenty 4×5′s mounted on black core gater board on miniature black wooden easels available for purchase — these are printed on the same gorgeous metallic paper.

The show also features poetry of my father’s — a few are printed out on large paper and framed to hang along with the photographs.  I will be doing a live poetry reading on opening night of one of my father’s poems as well.

There will be hot mulled cider, hot cocoa, plenty of coffee, homemade cookies, popcorn, carrot cake, and some other goodies and treats.  We have photographs framed, unframed, etc. priced from $10 to $100 plus books of the photography and my father’s poetry, and several framed pieces of my son’s recreations of NYC, London, and Paris subway roll signs – something for everyone, and a great evening as well.

For more information, or to schedule a visit to the gallery some other time, you may phone gallery owner and curator Kim Martillotta-Muscarella at (585) 589-6715.

I hope to see some of you there.

~firefly

Thereofre, I hope you will all bear with me that, though I would love to post an interesting blog today and show you the cool progress I have made on the first of the knucks I am designing and knitting for me (and ultimately for you all to have a shot at knitting), I just don’t have it in me to photograph the knitting or do the writing.  I will spring back quickly, and will share that with you in a couple of days.

I know you have been getting a lot of “sale” posts from me lately, but please bear with me as I do one more of those this morning.  It is a big shopping day, and it would be prudent of me to offer something to encourage a few more sales.  Be patient, please … I will be back to giving you the content you love after my neck and shoulders relax some from the past few days activity.  Promise.

Here is the “Cyber Monday” sale info for anyone interested:

1) From me:  20% everything in my Etsy store.  This is a first, and not likely to happen again, but it is the quickest thing I could think of to implement.  So, use this code: CYBERFARM in my Etsy store.  This is good through today.

2) From my son (Flying Junction):  20% off everything in his Etsy store or at his website with this code at checkout:  CYBER20 at either place.  This is very coo, because he normally doesn’t offer discounts off of his beautiful canvas prints.   This offer is good throughout today, Monday the 28th of November.

Now I will go see what I can do to get my muscles to relax.  I look forward to showing you what is happening with my knucks, because I do think this is going to be a cool project that you will enjoy.

Have a beautiful day,

~firefly

Here is something I can do while I am unable to sleep:  Announce on my blog what I am doing and what my son is doing for online shoppers today, Black Friday.

From Me:  Buy One, Get One Free on all of my Knitter’s Eye Charts and other prints.  Buy one, get one of equal or lesser value free — no limits (includes sets of three).  Buy from my Etsy shop or my website.  This also applies to any fine art photographs or prints of paintings in my fine art Etsy store.  Just type “BOGO” in the comments section of your order order and tell me which item you choose for free.  Ends today, November 25, 2011 at midnight.

From My Son:  Buy One, Get One Free on any of his 12″ x 18″ Subway Signs and Bus Scroll Paper Prints (includes collections of three).  Buy from his Etsy store or his website, and enter “BOGO” in the comments section of your order form and tell him what you want as your free item.  Free item must be of equal or lesser value of paid for item.    Ends today, November 25, 2011 at midnight.

~*~

It is “Black Friday” already, and I know the stores are not open yet but people are out there in the world standing in lines waiting to participate in various stampedes in order to bring home all sorts of things.  I went to a Black Friday event one time, back in Los Angeles.  I mostly did it because I wanted to have the experience of it.  I have never been that much into shopping, and the idea of going out into a big mob of people in the wee hours of the morning waiting to crowd into a store and try to grab some things marked way down before someone else gets a chance to … that just isn’t my cup of tea.

Not that there’s anything wrong with it.  It just isn’t for me.

But I did do it the one time, to see what it was like.  I almost didn’t go, because when my alarm went off I decided I would much rather go back to sleep than to get up and go out in the cold dark morning air.  Before I could fall back asleep, however, I remembered my sense of adventure.

I’m glad I did it the one time, because it was an adventure.

Right now, I wish I could get some sleep.

Happy shopping,

~firefly

This past week my son designed an awesome postcard and poster to promote the event.  We have the posters going up in shop windows in the villages around us, and postcards are going out in many directions.  I also wrote a press release and submitted it to plenty of media contacts in Western New York; we will be interviewed this Friday for some coverage.  If you are a blogger and would be willing to give us some coverage, it would be greatly appreciated.

I listed the poster for sale in my fine art Etsy shop (FleckensteinFineArt.Etsy.com).  Proceeds from the sale of this poster will help cover costs associated with the production of the show.  Now through Sunday, I have three special offers for my readers:

1) Buy a One River poster for $19, get any two knitting pattern downloads FREE (excludes the Three Scrumptious Christmas Stockings pattern, although you could substitute that one for any other two).  To take advantage of this offer, place your order for the poster, and then email me to tell me which two patterns you would like for free.  I will send a download link via email, or will gift it to you at Ravelry (Ravelry username required).

2) Buy any Subway Roll Sign, Bus Scroll Print, or reproduction vintage map from my son’s online store and get any three knitting pattern downloads for FREE — same details as above. (Offer also applies to any custom order placed with him.)

3) Buy any 11 x 17 inch Knitter’s Eye Chart (or Crocheter’s), and get any two knitting pattern downloads FREE — same details as above.

This is all being done to raise money to cover expenses for the photography show.  We have printed all of the photographs at a professional lab using Kodak’s Endura Metallic paper, they are all matted with black mat board and framed in simple black wooden frames.  A limited selection of some of my photographs that are featured in the show are listed in my fine art Etsy store … if you are interested.

We have titled the show, “One River”.  It is a show of six decades, five artists, four photographers, three generations, two coasts, and … One River.   The photography began in the late 1940′s when my husband’s father began shooting beautiful color slides at the family’s cottage on the river where we live — our farm is situated on that same river.  There are five artists in the show because it features photography by my now-deceased father-in-law, my husband, my son, and I plus poetry by my father.  Three generations — that should be obvious from who the photographers are.  Two coasts — my son still maintains a home and studio in the Los Angeles area, and then we have the place here in New York.   One River.  We have all been photographing this one river for the past sixty years, using the range of photographic technology available during that span of time.  I think it will be very interesting to people to get a chance to see one river–and the surrounding countryside–captured by three generations of photographers, each bringing their own take on the river into focus.

Even with all of this show related work in progress, I have managed to make a humble start to what I think is going to be a very cool (yet warm) pair of knuckle gloves for myself.  I have a hank of Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca fingering weight yarn in a gorgeous colorway called “Potting Soil” to make them with on size U.S. 1 knitting needles.  I am using a delicate little broken rib pattern for the cuffs and am enjoying the knitting very much.  The yarn is dreamy soft and easy to work with.  I’m planning on making these knuckle gloves with extra long cuffs so they go way up in my sweaters and jackets to keep my arms warm.

What will be even cooler, I think, is that I will make a pair of coordinating fingerless gloves using the same Berroco Ultra Alpaca worsted weight yarn in Lavender Mix colorway used in my Lavender Hat and Scarf pattern way back when I first started my blog in 2006.  On particularly cold days I will wear the Lavender colored fingerless gloves over the thinner, more delicate knuckle gloves for extra warmth.  They are going to look ultra cool, and now that we are pretty much finished putting the photography show together I should be able to get some serious knitting done so the gloves will be ready to wear soon.

Okay people, I am going to head off to get some more work done.  I appreciate your continued interest and support.

Warmest wishes,

~firefly

What is the weather like where you are? How has the season evolved in your corner of the world so far?

A couple of days ago my husband and I did the coolest thing: I noticed over the past few months a number of older wild grapevines around our farm about 1″ to 1 1/2″ in diameter, and those grapevines got me to thinking. I love to cut wild grape vines and make wreaths with them, so I wondered if we could cut the thick old vines and fashion them into a very large wreath to hang on our barn. We have wanted to make a large outdoor Christmas wreath to hang on our barn and it was exciting to finally have a natural ingredient we could use to make one.

As you look for unique, inspired gift ideas for people on your list this year remember to check out our Knitter’s Eye Charts (as seen in Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits this fall) and other gifts for knitters in the I Live on a Farm Etsy store.  Or, give an inspiring eBook or Kindle book to someone you love. My son carries a great variety of vintage-look Subway Roll Signs and Bus Scroll Prints representing New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, London and more — he also creates custom signs with the same vintage look. You can find my original paintings, fine art prints, photographs, and note cards in my Fine Art Etsy Store.

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There was a little window of opportunity two days ago when he got home from work, before it started raining, to get out and about and cut the vines we wanted to use. Cutting the vines off of our trees will help the trees survive longer, plus and it provided us with plenty of thick vines to coil around for a four foot diameter wreath. It is beautiful, rustic and hearty looking. We will still need to find things to add to it in order to make it more decorative and I hope to be able to light it up somehow at night so people will enjoy it as they drive by.

Our closest neighbors have a beautiful huge red barn, and they hang a large wreath on it every Christmas season. It is lit up at night with an outdoor light and is a very lovely sight to see if we happen to be out on a snowy winter night. I hope our wreath with bring the kind of joy to others that our neighbors’ wreath has brought to us.

We will hang it right over our quilt square, and it should harmonize with the square because of the double wedding ring pattern on the square. (If you are not familiar with the quilt square we have hanging on our barn, here is a link to my blog on that subject from back in 2008 when we first hung the quilt square.)

We have also been out gathering up wild things from our environment this week for use in a new generation of my Thistleonian characters. It was important for us to get out and gather the wild things I need for the little guys before the elements start making them look too weathered.

One of my favorite ingredients is not wild; I use soybeans to make their little arms. The farmers around us who are growing soy beans this year were out everywhere bringing them in a couple of weeks back, so that was our cue to get out to someone’s field and snag a few remnant bean stalks from the edge of a field. Though they are not “wild”, they are natural and perfect for Thistleonians. The soy beans inside are small and cream colored and are beautiful to use as accents as well.

I have also started drying milkweed pods– my all-time favorite of beautiful wild things to gather from the outside world. Beginning in early October I watch the pods (they grow in front of our barn, beneath our Quilt Square Block along with various wild flowers) for signs they are ready to harvest. What I am watching for is the first pods that burst open on their own to release their seeds and silky threads. When that happens, I can gather as many as I need and start getting them ready for drying.

I enjoyed spending time with my husband, driving around and raiding fallow fields and soy bean crop remnants to gather the items I need. We did this kind of “wild thing” foraging the first couple of years after I moved here but it has been a while since we did so and it was just great to get back out there and spend that kind of time together. I treasure him for many things, and this is an example of why. He not only supports me in theory on my various creative activities, he gets involved and plays the game with me on those things he can. (Thank you, dear husband.)

I am looking forward to spending some cozy time during dark and stormy autumn days (much like today) working on Thistleonians. I also have on my list of creative things to do the knitting of a new pair of knuckle gloves or fingerless gloves for myself, as the pair of Fetching fingerless gloves I made my first year in New York are frayed and will have to be replaced. I would also like to knit some socks for my mother and x-mother-in-law (what should I call her now?), lacey fingerless gloves and a scarflett for my daughter, a sweater for my grand-daughter, something I have not figured out for my son, and a new hat for myself. Oh, to be able to knit the many things I have on and in my mind to knit.

The past couple of weeks my husband, my son, and I have all been working to prepare for a group photography show in December at a nearby art gallery. The show will feature pieces by me, my husband, his deceased father, and my son along with poetry written by my father; I will do a poetry reading of some of my father’s poetry opening night of the show. This show will be at the local art gallery in one of the nearby villages and the opening will be Friday December 2nd in the evening. If you are in the Western New York area and would like an invitation to the show, contact me via email or with a comment on this blog and I will send one as soon as they are ready.

I have shot upwards of 75,000 photographs since I moved to New York — most likely many more than that. I went through about half of them in an effort to select the best ten for our show. I wanted the photographs I am showing to be of a fine art nature, to reflect my artistic ability with the camera as well as my eye for composition and color. The photographs needed to also reflect my particular artistic style and communicate something important about my vision as an artist.

After many hours reviewing photographs, I narrowed my choices down to a couple of dozen, then my husband helped me select the best fifteen of those. We tried to go with ten, but could not cut it down further than fifteen–which is still quite an accomplishment I think.

The photograph at the top of this blog is one I chose, and sprinkled in the blog you will find others. If you would like to see more, I have posted prints of some of them for sale in my fine art Etsy store as 8x10s.

We also went through my husband’s photographs as well as his father’s and chose fifteen of each of theirs as well.  My husband’s father brought cameras home with him from Europe after World War II ended, and he trained himself in the use of those cameras.  He shot some wonderful photographs at our cottage featuring family, friends, and the family dog.  You can see from the shots he captured that he had a good eye for composition as well as a understanding of the wonderful natural light in this part of the world.

My husband’s photography reflects his deep love of the landscapes from his childhood and lifetime spent on and around the Oak Orchard River.  He is also a self-taught photographer with a great passion for cameras and photographic technology.  He had devoted many years to studying cameras and photographic techniques and has gone out in the field with a variety of cameras and different types of film plus digital media to apply the knowledge he gains from his studies.

I haven’t seen my son’s choices yet for his photographs for the show, but I know they will be awesome. He has done some very interesting, and quite beautiful photography around the farm and our cottage but he also has some breathtaking portraits of The Duke (his English Bulldog), wild life photography, and street scenes in Los Angeles and New York City. I have no idea, out of his large body of work, which ten pieces he will choose to show … I am looking forward so much to getting a chance to see! The gallery owner also wants to devote a section of the gallery to display  his digital artistry, reflected in his reproduction New York Subway Signs and Vintage Maps.

Our photography show will primarily feature photographs shot over a period of sixty to seventy years in and around the same locations — but through the eyes of four different photographers, using various films and cameras and photographic technology as it has evolved. The photography will be gently tied together via the poetry of our fifth artist, my father.

Once we have everything printed, matted, and framed and hanging in the gallery I believe it will be very interesting to see our various takes on this beautiful environment we have all explored and enjoyed over the years.

Well, I have a two and a half year old crawling back and forth across my back while I try to write and my poor back just can’t take it any more this morning so I am going to end off here.

Here’s wishing you and yours a beautiful week-ending, and weekend coming up!

~firefly

A couple of weeks ago I went to the village to drop off some paperwork at the library and parked in front of a recently refurbished unoccupied building. The village has wonderfully old buildings along Main Street much like you see in movies featuring characters in small town America — fitting because this is small town America.

The building I parked in front of had very large pane glass windows facing the street, so it was easy to see inside. I noticed a sign out front stating space was available for rent or lease. Hmm. I wondered to myself what sort of business might settle in there, and whether or not it would make it.

After dropping off my paperwork, as I returned to my car the sign about the space being available caught my eye again and I looked into the building once more, trying to imagine a burgeoning business going on behind those big glass panes–thus the launch codes for my day-dreaming imagination were initiated. For some reason, the business I dreamed up in there was the bustling business of a successful periodical of some kind.

I don’t know it was a magazine or a newspaper, but it had everything going on:  writers and photographers, assignments, advertisers, headlines, etc. As my day dream evolved, a concept became clear: this was a purely digital periodical, with no printing at all. Every “printed” word was electronically printed and yet the business was hustling and bustling just as if it were a busy newspaper or magazine from back in the 40′s or 50′s–the two eras were intertwined.

I saw all of that activity, mind you, going on behind the big glass windows of the building as I walked (now slowly) back to my car. Then I saw the person running the operation: it was me. Oh, such happiness and productivity glowing out of every fiber of my being.  “Ha, interesting,” I said to myself as I got into my car and drove away.

It was a simple day-dream that breezed by in what was little more than a tiny little moment in time, but it got me to thinking. Mostly it got me to thinking about things I had already been thinking about over the past few months but with renewed clarity. Later that night I told my husband about the building, and about my day-dream.

It wasn’t (and isn’t) that I want to lease that building or play that game the way my day-dream had me playing it. The day-dream was just a flight of fancy, something I do and have done for as long as I can remember. Sometimes these day-dreams lead to something in real life, sometimes they are merely a form of momentary entertainment for my own enjoyment. Sometimes they are ideas that will become blogs or stories, paintings, knitting designs or … nothing.

This particular day-dream was productive though, because it got me thinking about what my blog is, and how I approach it, and what kind of evolution I am involved in here. It is an evolution that you, my reader, are involved in as well.

Of course, there are millions upon millions of blogs out there, and many are personal journals kept online as a means of staying in touch with family and friends, staying connected with others of similar interest, etc. Others are created and maintained with a business or professional purpose in mind.

What I realized when I was speaking with my husband about the day-dream is that my blog is essentially a periodical, an electronic periodical. I have endeavored from early on to publish it as professionally as I possibly can, given my resources and time. And, I have built up a certain number of loyal readers and that number has grown over time. I don’t have any advertisers, and I don’t have any staff other than myself but I do run this blog as if it were a periodical of some sort, although I had not looked at it that way until I sorted through my day-dream with my husband.

Of course, one of the key ingredients of a “periodical” per the definition of the word, is a publication that comes out at regularly scheduled intervals.

There is the rub.

In the early days of my blog, I posted three times a week on average. As time went on and I put more and more into my posts, I could not maintain that schedule and got down to twice a week. Then it went down to once a week, which I was not very happy about. I have constantly felt this drive inside of myself to get at least two posts written a week, but I have not been able to do that. In fact, sometimes I cannot even post once per week.

The problem with that is that readers get frustrated when they depend on a publication schedule and it is not met by the publisher.  They come back expecting something to be there and there is nothing and some get to where they hardly ever come back, or perhaps never coming back at all.

Fortunately for me, I have maintained a loyal base of readers and my list of email subscribers continues to grow. However, I do know this evolution I am going through as a publisher has frustrated some readers at times, and for that I humbly apologize. To those of you who have stuck with me through thick and through thin, I am deeply grateful.  Your comments and emails expressing gratitude and appreciation for my offerings has encouraged me right along and inspired my continuing drive to keep creating and see where this bend in the river me leads us all.

With no advertisers I therefore have no budget to pay my “staff”:  editor, copy editor, proofreader, photographers, assignments editor, style editor, art director, graphic artist, layout artist, typesetter, in-house knitting designer, food editor, in-house craft designer, receptionist, customer service rep, public relations, marketing, product development … well, you probably get the idea.  All of those hats are mine and if any one of them doesn’t show up to work, it slows down the entire process.

If you take a look at any magazine or other periodical and think up all the hats worn to pull off one of those publications, you will get a concept of what someone like me is dealing with in bringing this publication to you on any kind of regular basis. Sometimes the number of hats that need to be worn is completely overwhelming, and yet I feel driven to keep it going, keep creating this for you, and keep the number of readers growing.

Take none of this as a complaint, I just want to let you in on my day-dream and some things it helped me sort out and clarify in my own mind. I am sharing this with you because as my reader (especially if you are one of those who have stayed with me since the beginning) you are a part of the evolution of this periodical and you should be in on this part of the conversation.

Since I was a very little kid I knew I was a writer and I had a yearning to publish things. I used to dream of starting a neighborhood newspaper when I was a kid; when I was in junior high I served on the school’s newspaper as editor for two years.  I got to give out writing assignments, write headlines, oversee layout and printing, and wrote my own stories as well.

When my children were little I wrote quite a few short stories and a few children’s stories. For a while I submitted my stories to various publications and enjoyed every rejection slip I received in reply, knowing the way to become a published author (at that time) was to go through the process of being rejected repeatedly first.

I decided to self-publish one of the children’s stories with my sister as the illustrator. That was a fun although a bit disastrous. I spent $1,800 getting 600 hardback copies of our little book printed. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I had what I thought was an innovative idea about the layout of the book, an idea in the real world made it difficult to sell. I also didn’t know that in order to get a book into book stores and libraries you need to have an ISBN assigned to it.

No regrets though, because this was all a part of a many learning experiences, part of my journey in life. That journey brought me here to you, my reader and I believe this is where I was headed all along.

Writing and my urge to publish allowed me to flow along with the streams, rivers, and oceans of technical advances in our society.  Along the way, many circumstances and opportunities resulted in my learning many skills, gaining knowledge and experience in realms that have enabled me to publish this blog and wear the many hats I must wear alone in order to do so.  Even though I cannot wear each and every hat every week and so sometimes my regularly scheduled intervals become irregular and not scheduled, I nonetheless have been able to continue publishing my new-age blog-based periodical for more than five years. I have also managed to grow my readership, and thus my business.

As you know, the blog has led to my publishing many things including knitting patterns, photography prints, art prints, and now Kindle books and eBooks. Really, my husband and I are publishing these things and we, as a family, are building up a publishing business slowly but steadily.

Then there is my son and his publishing business (Flying Junction). He designs and publishes his signs, prints, and posters — that is his business venture, but we work together and share what hats we can, and I find it very interesting that he and I have this thing of creating, artistry, and publishing in common.

Side Bar: Flying Junction collaborated with Five Four Clothing, which resulted in four great new Los Angeles inspired posters, representing four iconic neighborhoods in the LA area. Five Four store has giant renditions of these posters (3 feet by 5 feet) printed on canvas hanging in their Culver City store; Flying Junction sells them online. One of the posters was also turned into a t-shirt, sold online by Five Four.

In September I published a book of inspirational poetry (“I, The Wind”) written by my father and have published it as an eBook, a Kindle book, and in hardback. Here is what two readers had to say about this book:

It was absolutely mesmerizing. The poems are so meaningful … ones you can return to read again and again and never tire of them. The photos are prize winners. It would make a very special gift; the pictures are thoughtfully chosen to go with the poems. It’s truly a treasure…” ~ L.S., Washington

“This is a great book …. and the photos are excellent … what an inspiration … I read the entire book once I downloaded it.” R.T., Kentucky

Monday of this week I published his book, “Timini’s Secret Adventure” and I would like you to give it a try. Of course, I only want you to give it a try if it sounds interesting to you, and it is only $4.99.   It is available for reading on Kindle, but I also published an eBook of it so anyone with a computer can download and read it.  More than anything, I would like you to give it a try because it is a beautiful, tender story which I believe many people are going to enjoy. I published it not only because my father, who is also my dear friend, wrote it — but also because it is a wonderful story I believe will be interesting and entertaining for people–and, I believe it will be helpful and soothing to some.

Here is the product description at Amazon:

Timini has stumbled into a fantastic world of fantasy and delight and is trying to get his wits about him when he is joined by a magical spirit with an inherently playful name. “What is this place, why is that tree speaking to me, and what in the world am I supposed to do now that I am here?” are some of the many questions Timini attempts to find answers to.

If you have ever wondered what comes next, after life, or if you have ever lost someone close to you, you will want to read this book. You might have more questions than Timini, you will most certainly find entertainment, and along the way you just might find some of the same answers Timini is looking for.

Who am I, what will become of me, what has become of those I have loved and lost? Join Timini as he embarks on an inquisitive trek through the land of NODD.

Special fun for me with this book, is the cover I got to design. You may or may not remember but a couple of years back I shot some photos of one of our mulberry trees on a winter day, and when I was reviewing the photos I noticed what looked like eyes on the tree. It was cool and a little bit haunting, because it really looked like the tree was looking back at me from the photo.

There is a magical tree in my father’s story, and when I was reviewing the manuscript I remembered my photo of the tree with eyes and realized it would be perfect for a cover. What you see here is the “before” photo — straight from the camera before I tweaked it for the cover. I did a little bring the eyes out even more, but as you can see the original untouched photo clearly shows eyes on that dear old tree.

As I mentioned recently, I am also working on a new method of showing knitting directions and am in the early stages of preparing a book I will most likely self-publish also teaching that method.

I am so personally and profoundly grateful for all of the technological developments in the world that make it possible for me and many others like me to publish our blogs, periodicals, books, eBooks, Kindle books, patterns, plans, etc. We can publish, and we can publish economically enough that someone like me can start a publishing company by the seat of my pants, hang on for dear life and let the roller coaster take off.

Most of all though, I am grateful to you. You are patient with me, you are loyal, interested, and sometimes you take the time to express yourself so that I know I am doing something worthwhile for others.

Thank you, thank you so much my friend, my reader.

~firefly