Proud to be an American

When I was 10, my bedroom was adorned with American flags. Whenever we visited monuments or historic sites, I would buy a flag souvenir. I wore a lot of red, white, and blue.

My dad used to tell me that being an American citizen was the greatest birthright anyone could give a child. Our liberties set us apart from every other country in the world. Basic American Documents is one of the reference books that sat next to his rocking chair. He pulled it down to discuss what it meant to "take the fifth" or to research the language in Roosevelt's Four Freedoms Speech. He taught me to treasure my freedom as an American. But he also insisted that with freedom comes many responsibilities.  

My dad was a member of the Marine Corps in World War II. After the war, he went to China and worked for the United Nations Relief Agency from 1946 to 1949. He saw poverty, corruption, and the devastation of civil war.

He left China to work and travel throughout southeast Asia where he saw poverty, corruption, and political intrigue.

In the early 1960's, my dad began to write letters to senators, congressmen, and other public officials, arguing against American support for the corrupt government in Vietnam.

He kept writing those letters for more than 10 years. When people called him a liberal, he would say, "Why, I am conservative!" With a twinkle in his eye, he would share a bit of Franklin Roosevelt:

 "Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change--in a perpetual, peaceful revolution--a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly adjusting itself to changing conditions."

"So you see, I am a conservative. I like to preserve the American way."

I enjoyed wearing my American flag earrings today, for Flag Day, the day in 1777 when the stars and stripes were adopted as the official American flag.

Like my dad, I am proud to be an American. And proud that Americans seek to ensure that all people have freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Flip-floppin' toward the river

Flip-flops. To my generation, they're pool shoes. When I was little, they conveyed this message: "I'd be barefoot, if I weren't protecting the soles of my feet."

In recent years, flip-flops have become standard footwear, worn to work or to church. They may cost as much as other shoes. Designers design them. People are as likely to wear Crocs, or Keens, or many other types of footwear to the pool or the beach. Flip-flops are not pool shoes any longer.

When I was a child, my mother bought me a new pair of flip-flops at the beginning of each summer. She threw them away at the end of the summer. Today, flip-flops are worn all year round. With or without toe socks.

I made this pair out of Sculpey, and wore it today to my first day of end-of-the-school year faculty meetings. I wore them because I'm ready to be sitting barefoot, with my feet dangling in the water. Soon I will. The river is calling.

The Puzzle of the Cheshire Cat

I was thinking of making some earrings out of Sculpey today, so I googled, "Sculpey earrings" for inspiration. I clicked on an Etsy site that offered a long list of Sculpey earrings. A list, with no pictures. Lousy marketing... But then a pair of jigsaw puzzle-piece earrings caught my eye. Aha!

I headed down to the basement, storage zone for games and puzzles. I eyed the puzzles, looking for stray pieces. I opened a few boxes, hoping to see pieces that inspired me. But of course I could not take pieces from a complete puzzle. It's a character trait, perhaps a flaw. I could never ruin a puzzle.

So I wandered back upstairs and found a tiny cheshire cat puzzle in a tiny box. And it was missing a piece. Perfect! I love the Cheshire Cat!

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.

"Which road do I take?" she asked.

"Where do you want to go?" was his response.

"I don't know," Alice answered.

"Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter.”

“I’ve often seen a cat without a grin, but a grin without a cat! It’s the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!”

The grin without a cat is on one earrings, and the cat without a grin is on the other. Perfect!

Bears amidst the Blueberries

I wandered out to our berry garden and discovered that blueberry season has begun! My son Will--who browses through this patch like a hungry bear when he is home--is away this summer, and the berries ripened in the last few days without anyone noticing. What a bounty!

I made this pair of earrings yesterday as I sat watching Matt Damon living out a liberal's fantasy in Iraq in The Green Zone. I wore them today because they matched my aqua shirt and teal capris. As I photographed them among the blueberries, I was sorry that I hadn't worn the pair that reminds me most of blueberries, as I'd planned to do to pick the first berries. It wasn't until I wrote the previous paragraph that I realized how appropriate these totem bear earrings are for today.

In many cultures, bears symbolize awakening from the quiet contemplation of hibernation to seek sustenance and opportunity in the warmth of spring. My son, this garden's resident bear, is not here to nibble his way from bush to bush, blue-tongued and happy. He is off experiencing new challenges. I'm glad I wore totem bears to take his place.

On Thursday, my husband John will drive down to see Willem in North Carolina. We'll have eaten this bowl of berries by then. But John already promised Will some blueberries from home. Blueberries were a staple of our family's summer diet long before antioxidant research showed how beneficial they are to our hearts and minds. For us, they are food for the soul.

Dancing, even without power

Last night as I finished my post, thunder rumbled. Soon afterwards, hail pelted our house, a river poured down our driveway, and the power went out.

As darkness fell, my husband John started the generator that we bought several years ago. Our power fails frequently, and sometimes stays off for days at a time. It's a consequence of living on our own little mountain in the woods.

After dropping my car off at the Waterloo Service Center this morning (air conditioning on the fritz, among other problems), I spent my first day of summer in our basement, making earrings and watching action movies. I made this pair, and posed them on the arm of this dancing woman. She may look like she's climbing the walls. But she's not. We were just where we needed to be today.

The power is still out. We're going to pick up my car and head for the movies to see Midnight in Paris. Ah, summer!

Popsicle Summer

The 2010-2011 school year ended for me today. I wore my popsicle earrings for our final half day, and for the class party at a roller rink. To me, popsicles say summer. 

The thermometer climbed to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, in the shade. I took my popsicle earrings out on our deck to photograph them with our thermometer. As soon as I moved if off the window and into the sun, the temperature began to rise toward 100. I was really wishing for a popsicle on this the hottest day of the year so far.

 

My daughter Phoebe bought me this pair of earrings at the Delaplane Strawberry Festival a few years ago. I've worn them on the last day of school ever since. They attract a lot of smiles. And comments about something red dripping onto my neck. But if they were to melt, I could replace them. Sculpey, a toothpick, and wire are all I'd need to make a replacement pair.

I felt a bit like this dog today, stuck in the heat with no popsicle within reach on this very hot last day. But I am blessed to work in an air-conditioned school, drive an air-conditioned car, and have an air-conditioned bedroom to come home to.

I think back to my childhood, when we had no air-conditioning at all. Maybe that's why popsicles say summer to me.

Wishing and hoping

Last summer, I wandered through the shops on the main street in Franklin, PA, a town that remained vibrant for many years, even while manufacturing jobs disappeared from this northwest corner of the state. But many storefronts now stand vacant. Those that remain are dollar stores, thrift stores, antique shops, and a few crafters coops.

I bought this pair of cranes at one of the craft markets. As I recall, they cost $7.00. Handmade cranes hovering above handmade dipyramids (aka triangular bipyramids, or hexahedrons). Whatever it was that I paid, it was not enough to pay for the materials, to pay the craftsperson a living wage, to pay the rent and utilities on the shop. I worry that this shop will be gone when I return this year, along with the jewelery and stationery and book and shoe and clothing and housewares shops I saw just a few years ago. I hope it will still be there...

I wore them today for my last full day of school, a day full of hopes for the future and a few "what might have been?" wonderings. We never got around to building models of Platonic Solids this year. (These earrings are not quite Platonic solids... but close!) Today disappeared as we watched the Fractured Fairy Tale movies made by our 2nd grade, as next year's students visited our classroom, as my class played their stringed instruments for the 2nd grade. My students packed their bags full of notebooks, time capsules, puppet show scenery, beading looms, and assorted other memories of our year together.

Maybe next year when I wear these earrings, we'll make those Platonic Solids. Next year...