Tuesday, June 21, 2011




Here are my latest completed projects - two baby sweaters that are gifts for my Mom's ballroom dance teacher and his wife who are about to have their first baby! 

Monday, June 20, 2011

Should I or shouldn't I...

I often think that I want to get a tattoo, but then I think about all the reasons that I don't want to get a tattoo:  1) it's painful and I'm a wuss about pain; 2) it's permanent so I'd have to be really, really, really, really sure about what I want to get tattooed on me; and 3) I don't want to look trashy (yes, I know that I shouldn't be judgemental).  I've been thinking about this a little more than usual, because it's almost time for my drumming group to make our annual trip to Wiawaka Holiday House, a women's retreat center on Lake George, to teach a drumming workshop.  Last summer we met Molly, a young woman who was staying there with her Mom and her Aunt.  At lunch, the discussion at our table turned to Molly's tattoos.  She was very knowledgeable about the various artistic styles, and it was very interesting to hear her talk about famous tattoo artists, and why she had chosen the various designs she'd had tattooed.  The most interesting thing that she said was that her relationship to her body completely changed once she painted it.  That was the exact phrase she used, and it really struck me because I've never thought of tattooing as "painting" your body.  I often think of applying makeup as painting my face, and I wear makeup because I think it makes me look prettier.  I had never thought of getting a tattoo to make my body prettier, though.  I'm sorry to admit that I generally think the only way to make my body prettier is to lose the excess weight that I am carrying around.  I think that I would decide to get a tattoo to mark a significant event, not just to decorate my body, but I'm sure that I would chose a design because I thought it was beautiful.  Definitely no skulls or scary-looking things for me!  I still haven't decided whether I will ever get a tattoo, but if I do, my decision will have been informed by a casual discussion with a young woman that I will probably never see again, and who will never know the ways that conversation has made me think about tattoos, art and body image.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

What would you write in your Enchiridion?

A few years ago, while browsing in a book store, I stumbled across an enchiridion.  I had never heard of an enchiridion before, but it is a "handbook or manual of essential information."  (Turns out the Catholic Church has written a lot of enchiridions - go figure!)  I was fascinated by the concept, and so I started my own enchiridion.  When I read or hear something that strikes me as appropriately profound, I write it down in my Enchiridion.  (And no, Dear Reader, I do not have a fixed criteria for what constitutes "appropriately" profound.)

The latest entry in my Enchiridion has to do with the energy that we put into the things that we do.  I DVR'd Oprah Winfrey's final show because I was curious to see how she would end her series, and I finally watched it over this past weekend.  If you didn't see the episode, at one point Oprah was talking about energy and a show she had done with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor.  Dr. Taylor had a stroke (which she has recovered from), but during the recovery process, she was struck by the differences in the energy and caring that the various doctors, nurses and therapists brought into the process.  Oprah posted a quote from Dr. Taylor's book in her makeup room:

        Please take responsibility for the energy that you bring into this space.

I immediately started thinking about my job and the fact that there is very low morale in my department.  I try not to get completely sucked down into the morass of negativity, but it is very hard to resist.  (I'll write more about that another day, along with more thoughts about the deplorable lack of taking responsibility for one's actions that seems to be running rampant in American society.) 

Then I thought about my creative projects, and how I feel when I am making something for someone I love.


I knit this sweater for LG, who is one of my nephews-by-choice.  His Dad, PapaBadger, painted a jungle scene on the walls of his nursery.  Mama & Papa Badger decorated the bathroom with monkeys playing in the jungle.  When I found this knitting pattern, I thought it would be perfect for LG and the whole time that I was knitting it, I pictured how cute he would look in his monkey sweater!  The project was a labour of love, and therefore, no labour at all.  The challenge for me is to put that kind of energy into everything I do!