Busy Tuesday, graduation, new doors for old, Textiles and Tea

Tuesday was packed, largely with men, their worlds crisscrossing.

The landscapers roared around, flinging cut off foliage everywhere. Then Gary and Contractor Michael arrived to, blessedly, take the new doors out of the living room, so Michael could fix the hinges and doorknobs and fit them outside.

Next Gary will paint them and, I guess he or Michael will rehang.

In the middle of this, Emil arrived for my last PT session, walking, learning new moves and plans to continue on my own. I graduated! So I rang the bell! My Lenox glass bell.

It's official! 

Soon after, Handsome Son came to visit, and we had an afternoon on the deck with tea and the last of the cake I'd saved for him in the freezer.

He went off to a meeting, then I caught up with Textiles and Tea, with Geri Forkner, mixed media artist, nuno felter and weaver.

She's mainly a teacher of all age groups and makes a wide variety of fiber art samples to teach from and demonstrate.

One ongoing project has been over 20 years in progress, daily tiny weavings of found objects and materials. 

She's stitched them together and exhibits them as strips, sometimes in a natural setting. 

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Her nuno, wet,  wool felting becomes clothing and objects such as the fish you see. 

She's done work on electronic fabrics using LED lights in her weaving, with foil bags, teabags, an array of unlikely and interesting objects.  Next for her? 3D chickens in nuno felt!

Always learning, here she's in Canyon Chelle, taking a class from two Navajo sisters who grew up there.

And teaching, here she's teaching nuno felting to a class of design students in Bangkok.

She's got endless curiosity and willingness to try whatever's next, great fun to spend time listening to her.

And then it was evening. Egg sandwich for supper, maybe  even do the dishes, or maybe not get carried away. Never a dull moment.

PT and thoughts arising, Textiles and Tea, Jean Pierre Larochette

Tuesday's physical therapy session, now near the end of our series, moved me far ahead. Squats, wall sitting, diagonal hip moves, trick to put on ankle weights safely. Just a long way from a few weeks ago. I'm very encouraged and feel more competent.

PT's mother is my age mate, and he wishes she would buy into getting stronger.  I think it's largely about self image. If you see yourself as a person who can, too, lift weights and keep progressing, it's easier to go ahead, no matter your age. If you see yourself as a weekly swimmer, nearing the end of your days, ticking over, different picture.

Sometimes I believe we can give great support to another person's self image without even knowing it. Two examples from the Great Me. One was long ago when I quit smoking, after being a  heavy smoker for decades. I suddenly had a compelling motive, child's health, and acted on it. Stubbed out the cigarette I'd lit, tossed the pack, never smoked again.

Weeks later, working in a office full of smokers, people smoked at their desks then, I was barely clinging on, such withdrawal. My boss, puffing away, said "You never went back to it, did you?"  I realized she now considered me a nonsmoker. So it gave me permission to do the same. That kept me going.

Another colleague commented, unknown to me, when I was under pressure to "settle to one job" instead of changing fields every few years, that "she's a person who reinvents herself". 

I heard this many years later from the mutual acqaintance she'd said it to. That was exactly what I did, and wanted, but I hadn't had any outside support for the concept, until I heard that by chance. 

So that's my thinking. I believe a brief acknowledgement can go a long way to improve someone's life. Worth considering.

Today's Textiles and Tea guest was Jean Pierre Larochette, third family generation weaver in the Aubusson tradition of tapestry. If you've seen the Unicorn tapestries in the New York Cloisters or the Cluny Museum in Paris, you've seen Aubusson style, worked from the back and  across the design. 

Today's tapestries are usually worked from the front, though the design can be worked side to side.

Along with his wife, designer Jael Lurie, and daughter Yadin Larochette, he has created amazing tapestries over 60 years, now in churches, temples, museums and libraries, and a classic book on the art of  tapestry. 

It's a collection of knowledge and tradition in the art, a kind of encyclopedic approach.

Now to admire the works, some of many. These were mostly commissioned pieces, sixty years of word of mouth -- he's never had to write a proposal!

Left, drawing of a weave structure, top right the town of Aubusson, his family roots, bottom right a weaving about a weaving pattern 

Detail of the piece seen on the wall behind him

 Comparing and contrasting the flowing, transparent styles of two Lurie designs 

This was a temple commission, about the unity of religion and observance across cultures, a menorah with natural forms and symbols.

This is Wall of Tears, about the Mexican US border, a joint work of seven world renowned weavers including Susan Maffei, long time collaborator with the late beloved Archie Brennan.

And here's the work being cut from the loom

He's already wondering about a sequel to this massive work!

Sample of many small weavings and drawings explaining tapestry weave structures, to be found in the book referenced above 

Wildly free and complex tapestry about movement

This was a wonderful afternoon with a kind and brilliant man. 

Happy day everyone, Tuesday was a banger!

PT, new dustpan, ACLU, Textiles and Tea, Kevin Aspaas

This morning you could really see how the sun is moving around with the season, the shadows  falling quite differently.

Today was a tapering-off session with Emil, nearly at the end of our six weeks, and I think he's enjoyed our work. He keeps exclaiming You listen! You do the work! Evidently not a given with PT patients.

We walked further than ever, not quite to the pond but a good twenty minutes. Great chat, too.  And more exercises, and I learned more about what's going on with the various body parts getting back in place. He's a great teacher to a receptive student. It's easy to listen when you feel well.

Then Ted and I listened to the blogistas who kindly explained there are long handled dustpans, what a concept. We found a broom handle, inserted it into the dustpan handle, et voila! Drumroll

And, in the mail today, my free handout cards in English and Spanish from ACLU 

They fold down to business card size, to fit in a wallet. I plan to share them at libraries etc.

And Textiles and Tea was a great young Navajo weaver, Kevin Aspaas. He spins, dyes and weaves the wool from his flock of traditional churro sheep. 

But he's innovative, too, working in wedge weave and combining it with twill. He also creates wool dresses for special commissions, designed to be family heirlooms.

Take a look 

This was a great episode, and now I really want to weave. And spin..

Happy day, everyone, this has been a great Tuesday around here. I'm hoping yours has been, too.

Earth Day, Textiles and Tea, and an important step

 Still Earth Day as I write, and here are some great Patrick O'Donnell Mutts takes, with Earl the dog and Mooch the cat.

That's all I need to say, said more eloquently than I could. Patrick is a NJ native, just sayin.

And Emil came this afternoon for a really strenuous time, involving testing my ability to stand up from sitting unaided, check, climb the full flight of stairs (!), check, get into my rather high bed, check with apostrophe, use the shower bench in the bathroom that's too narrow to admit the walker, check, come back downstairs, check, walk with only a cane, check, and, get this -- walk unaided at all. I managed all of it, yay. Checkity check. And the session ended with some test movements on the table, range of motion. 

So I still need caution, someone with me when I'm off Walker Twostep, but he may be retired after another week, yay.

Gary is figuring out building me a wood step to enable me to get into bed, in the next couple of days, using scrap wood 2x4 pieces. Then I'll be able to sleep on a real bed. The sofa's worked fine but I fancy being more comfortable. 

After Emil left I fell asleep quite abruptly and just missed sliding off the sofa, but all's well. This was a vintage afternoon.

Textiles and Tea featured Jennifer Williams, an inkle loom band weaver. They didn't show her loom, assuming their audience was familiar, but if you're not, look online. You warp a very long warp to create a long narrow band which can be cut and stitched into wider pieces of fabric. It's a tradition in quite a few cultures.

Happy day, everyone, I hope you have all the help you need when you need it.

I checked out Quinn's recommendation of Jam and Jerusalem, and kept thinking it was just like the Clatterford series I watched and loved and blogged about years ago. Turns out it's the same series with an American title. Joyful reunion!