TSS: May 10, 2015

On this Mother's Day we in the Midwest are drenched!  It has been raining for days, and my lawn is sprouting mushrooms.  Oh well... this week we should begin drying out and I am anxious to see sunshine again.

Reading:

I promised myself I would read more fiction in 2015... maybe next week.

I did, however, begin Dani Shapiro's second memoir, Devotion.  I have only read the first 50 pages, but I know this will resonate with me even more than her first memoir, Slow Motion.

The other book I completed this week was Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows.  Oh... My... Word... If you have any interest in photography, this book is an absolute MUST READ.

Vivian Maier lived her entire life in obscurity.  She was a nanny by trade, but her passion was photography.  She made a living watching others' children; but her vocation was to capture everyday life on film.  The camera was her diary, and she "wrote" every day.

While this kind of daily record is the norm today - our smart phones capturing selfies throughout the day and posting to social media on a regular basis... Maier was considered eccentric.  She never left the house without her camera, and in the course of her lifetime took over 100,000 pictures (all on film!)

She never desired fame.  She never considered entering a photography contest.  She rarely shared her work with others.  Instead, she used her camera to relate to life around her, finding significance in the ordinary - recording life of the mid-twentieth century which we can now view and recall memories of our own childhood.

I enjoyed the photographs, but I adored her passion.  How I wish I could set aside what others think of me, and instead just pursue "art" for the sheer pleasure of it.

Scrapbooking:

As I mentioned last week, Scrapbooking is my focus this month.

And so far during this first week of May, I discovered something rather interesting.  As much as I adore research and analysis, I have  done very little in this arena.  When I became a Creative Memories consultant in 1998, we were basically the only game in town.  In my mind, there was no reason to look outside the company, and I fared well as an independent representative.

But fifteen years later my scrapbooking style has changed.  I now value the stories behind the photos as much as the pictures themselves, and I want the layouts to reflect this new-found focus.  Research was needed and I was happy to oblige.

After reading Cathy Zielske's books and studying her layout design, I was ready to delve in and create a few page layouts myself.  My idea is to marry one photograph with on personal essay in a pleasing layout design that includes paper and embellishments that enhance the story rather than take center stage.  I had a great time "playing" this week and after developing eight model pages, I think I am ready to work on personal albums that will include actual photographs and written words.

Other Activities:

I didn't do much writing the week.  A bit of brainstorming for a few articles, and of course some journaling, but nothing definitive.

I am still knitting in the evenings however, and continue to improve my dishcloth skills.  I have no idea what I will do with all of these (perhaps Christmas gifts...) but I am having fun and enjoy doing something with my hands while watching nightly television.

We are looking forward to getting away next weekend with some good friends.  We will head to St. Louis and visit the zoo, eat some great Italian food on the hill, and attend the Renaissance Festival.  I will of course take my camera and perhaps follow Vivian Maier's example of capturing a bit of life around me.

A Homemade Christmas

I realize that Christmas has come and gone - but I wanted to share with you the gifts that I made for each of my girls:  my two daughters and my soon-to-be daughter in law.  Our family Christmas traditions are many and run deep - filled with lots of routines and favorite recipes.  I decided that I would create a scrapbook that preserved the top ten recipes that I make each year between Thanksgiving and New Years.

Each two page spread included the title of the recipe - the actual recipe itself written on a 3x5 index card and placed in a plastic sleeve that can be removed from the book and replaced - a photograph from years past that depicted our family celebrating the holidays - and a note that briefly told the background of certain traditions.

The project was more labor intensive than I had planned - but fortunately I started early enough that it did not prove too stressful to complete in time for Christmas morning.  I hand wrote each recipe (x3), created page layouts (x3), copied pictures (x3), and added decorative elements (x3).

In the end, I think the books were well-received and I hope that they will be used in years to come.

While we will most likely always have the Italian Christmas Eve vigil at our house (traditionally the feast of seven fishes but done Totoro style includes baked salmon - boiled shrimp - and plenty of snow crab) - my eldest has already claimed that Christmas day will be spent at her house so the grandbaby can enjoy her Santa gifts.  I don't blame her for wanting to adopt a new tradition - but I am a bit melancholy that our days of early Christmas morning risings accompanied with squeals of surprised glee are officially over.  It was a wonder 25 years of fond family memories.