Fire

For all of us who wished-for summer, it is here with a blast of 100 degree weather and fire almost everywhere around the state of Colorado. It makes beautiful sunsets but for those of us who like to head to the mountains for a reprise from the heat it's a no go. The fire in Fort Collins area is still burning out of control. I can't tell you how many people have called and asked if we are ok. I tell them the fire would have to burn down three cities to get to us. That is an awful thought, but it is true. The first day of the fire, my husband and I were headed to Ft. Collins, and we saw the smoke, I told him then that it would take all summer to put it out. Heat, drought and wind are not the ingredients for a hastily extinguished fire. Then you add the damage in the mountains that the pine beetle has done, which has killed millions of trees, only more tender for the fire. There are probably good things that will come after the fire, but no one is thinking about that now. They are imagining having the home of your dreams burnt to the ground and not being able to do anything about it. It almost makes you want to cry for them. Hundreds of homes will be burnt this summer, and the fires will scare the landscape for many years to come. Nature will renew and return our beautiful mountains to their former grandeur. Enough of the fire. A few weeks ago I declared myself a fabric artist, not that it is the first time I have made a piece of art from fabric but I decided I like to work in the medium of fibers and fabric. I have always loved to sew, crochet and embroider. My mother started me on embroidery when I was about 8 years old, one summer when I complained about being bored. I was hooked. When I decided to go to college the placement tests said I should go into Art, I laughed, who makes a living in Art?? I guess lots of people do but I couldn't see it. Since then I have beaded, painted, refinished wood, worked with metal and many other things. I love creating things. The biggest problem is I now feel I need a studio to work in. Using half a bedroom is not working. The next place we live must have enough room for me to set up a studio, it must also have a yard for a large garden, requirments for my happiness. We had our five year old granddaughter for over night on Friday. She is such a delight. What is it about children that age? Last summer I enrolled her in swimming lessons, and she is taking them again. We went to the pool Friday night and Saturday morning. She is so not afraid of the water now. It is wonderful, we had a great time. I got my hair completely wet, unusual for me. I ususally just hover with my head above water. I am so glad my grandkids have learned to swim, it makes me happy.

Being Creative

When I was young I didn't think of myself as creative, it seemed like nothing was there. I had no desire to create. Now being creative is part of me. One thing I notice is I am a fixer. I see an old piece of furniture, and I want to fix it. If it has knobs missing or a big dent in it where someone has hit it against something, I want to take it home and fix it. I have carried many old pieces of furniture home and painted, refinished, fixed and repaired it. If it is out of my realm of ability then I hire someone to fix it. It does have to have good bones though, made well in the first place. It drives my husband crazy. Oh well a little crazy is good. Especially for him. I digress.
I also like to fix clothing. I will find a beautiful garment, or maybe a not so beautiful garment and take it home to fit it to me. Oh I have had some disasters in the past. Items that ended up in the garbage, because I didn't know what I was doing. Over the years, I have learned though. I still don't know everything, but I can take up a T-shirt, and fit a pair of pants to my odd-shaped body and make them look ok. I have plenty of books on doing this too. I just fail to read or cannot find the directions for making the crotch of my pants fit me. What is a person to do? I just keep trying, working of cheap stuff until I can work on the expensive stuff and do it right, that is the best solution for me, hold the cost to a minimum.

This creativity gets applied to other things too, the decor of the house I live in, making quilt and other items with my sewing machine.

People say to me, oh, I can never do something like that. The lesson creativity has taught me can be applied to many areas of my life. To create and be proud of it, you need to learn to accept the faults, accept the imperfections. Then you have other people who look at what you have created and only see the imperfections, stick their nose up in the air and act like you are far less than they. The lesson in that is there will always be people who think they are better than you, forgive them and don't take it personal, there are always going to be people like that regardless of how wonderful your creations are. Love what you do and who you are, and you create an impenetrable shell around you that keeps what those people think from hurting you. The most important thing about being creative is, everyone needs to create so find your creativity.