News from Marcela of Minerva's Circle

Look at the beautiful picture I received from Marcela Andrades Alfaro from her trip back to Chile, and her visit delivering handmade dolls and toys, made by the women of Minerva's Circle, to a children's home. 

If you want to get further details about Marcela's trip and be truly inspired to new crafting heights by an exciting site, visit Marcela's blog www.minervascircle.blogspot.com. The stuff these women are doing is so gorgeous that three of us are doing a road trip this winter and driving from St. Petersburg to Gainesville to finally meet these crafty women face to face and, hopefully, share crafting ideas (we'll come out the winners on that one, I'm afraid.) 

So many wonderful women doing so many crafty things. Let me hear from you if you have anything you want to share with us.

More Crafting with the Crones

A blogging rule of thumb appears to be that the more you have to report, the less time you have to sit down and write about it. 

Back from a summer hiatus, eight women from our craft group sat down with Carol Mitchell to learn how to crochet this past Monday evening. We have this idea that we're going to crochet blankets for charity as one of this year's projects, which may wind up being more a dream than a reality. But Carol, who very generously gave three hour's of her precious time to teach eight novices basic crocheting techniques, is encouraging us to think big. We shall see where it all goes. In the interim, the women are collecting items for Christmas gift stockings for five elderly Navajo women in Adopt-a-Native-Elder's Christmas program (www.anelder.org ). We are sending them, among other things, mittens knit by our dear friends and sisters at Kullakas (www.alpacaartisans.com) . At least the Navajo women won't have to wait three years for something warm and cozy.

On Tuesday, Carol Mitchell and Olivia Hurst came with me to teach crocheting to my senior crafting group at the assisted living home. Two of the women sat down to learn crocheting for the first time, and two others took to this neglected skill with a sense of renewed purpose and energy. One woman left our group with three skeins of yarn tucked under her arm, to head back to her room and continue making a lap blanket for someone in need. It never ceases to amaze me what generous lives most of these elderly women have led, and how much they still long to give back and be productive, even in old age battling a laundry list of infirmities.

Olivia herself is a remarkable woman. Not much older than me, she has had severe arthritis for years that has led to numerous knee and hip replacement surgeries and has left her hands bent and crippled. Olivia, however, is a demon with a crochet hook, and has produced some absolutely gorgeous crocheted items that look like they came out of a designer boutique. A lovely, gentle and grounded individual, it was touching to watch her work patiently showing our elderly women how to hold the crochet hook in their arthritic hands. I kept thinking to myself how wonderful it would be to get her working with patients in long term rehab, whose hospital stays can be one to three months and often very boring for them. We'll see where that all might go...

The Home of Our Dreams

This is the home of Evalina Peksowa, who is a well-known reverse glass painting artist living in Zakopane, Poland. (here's an example of her work to the left.)  I had the good fortune to visit Evalina last summer while I was in Zakopane teaching English to Polish teenagers at an English language summer camp. Evalina is 87 years old, so she has lived most of 

her life under economically trying and emotionally and spiritually stressful conditions; first, enduring the sufferings of the Second World War and then under the cloud of over forty years of communist occupation of her country. Poles suffered under communism: from food shortages or severe lack of variety in food items, from the inability to travel freely or choose a particular course of study, from limited economic opportunity, and from, perhaps worst of all, from a lack of freedom to express themselves politically, spiritually and through the written and spoken word, and to have a say in the destiny of their homeland.

The amazing thing is that when you travel throughout southern Poland, you see one remarkable house after another, just like Evalina's, belying any sort of oppression. (Not so in neighboring Slovakia, which looks far more run down and derelict, as if communism departed in a hurry, leaving the people at a loss as far as what to do next.) The people of the Tatra Mountain regions in southern Poland are extremely creative and capable artisans, working primarily in wood. Many of the homes you see were constructed without a single nail, which, the Poles told me, where hard to get under communism. Wood, however, was plentiful in the surrounding mountains, and much of people's creative energies went into constructing fine homes.

I often dream of a house. For now, Stephen and I live in an apartment facing a lake in Feather Sound, as he is in a training program, and we aren't certain where we'll be a year from now. Home ownership just isn't a good thing for us right now, given the uncertainty of our situation.   

More often than not, I find myself remembering Evalina Peskova's home. Every inch of her modest home--including the ceiling--was lined with and occupied by folk art. Her garden, as you can see, was absolutely stunning. Even the exterior of her house was charming, down to her lovely glass painting of the Holy Family--the iconic "happy family" of the Christian tradition--graced by a flower box. 

Like many women, I want to build that kind of a home; a beacon of beauty, hope and creativity fashioned from modest means; an inspiration to others, and a light in dark and dreary times and circumstances. Women like Evalina remind me that building a thing of beauty--creating the home of our dreams-- doesn't have to wait for a good economy, or an idealistic and perfect "some day" when everything will work out or fall into place. Building the home of our dreams happens NOW, every day, in the grittiness and reality of daily living. Then one day, perhaps when we are older, we'll look back and see the magic that was the journey, and reap the years of our labors in savoring the beauty and goodness we put into this world. I try to keep this vision before me, of a woman who didn't let war, communism and economic insecurity keep her from fashioning the home--and the life--of her dreams.

(Note: Evalina's home is at Ulica Cichej Wody 8, Zakopane, and is open to visitors by appointment.)

Palettes for Peace Project

Yvonne Lucia has a vision of staging an "art attack" on Washington, D.C. She wants our next president, whoever he is, to know that Americans want peace instead of gross military spending and long term occupation and conflict overseas. Lucia would like to send "peace palettes" to Washington, reminding our government that we can "create" other options to military spending and aggression. She is inviting all artists to create "peace palettes" which she will bring to the White House in early 2009. Check out her web site www.lobocreations.com to see how you can become involved in this project.

Sock Campaign "Kicks" Off

Some of our "Kullakas" (sisters) in the community of El Alto, Bolivia

Winter's coming--consider giving a gift that will warm both heart and feet, and a donation that will do "double dollar duty". Once again, we are collecting contributions that will benefit two worthy causes; paying the women of Kullakas a just wage to knit alpaca wool socks (www.alpacaartisans.com) , and giving wool socks to the elderly Navajo weavers cared for by Adopt-a-Native-Elder ( www.anelder.org) .

Many of the women supported by Adopt-a-Native Elder are former rug weavers--and many STILL weave rugs, even in their "retirement years". For them this is not merely an income generating scheme; it is a spiritual practice and an expression of their Native beliefs and values. It is their way of life and belonging to life. Many of the women suffer from the cold during the winter, living in homes without central heating. Many Navajos continue working out of doors in the winter caring for their wool-producing sheep, and some have even died of exposure.

Contact me if you are interested in donating a pair of 100% super warm alpaca wool socks to an elderly Native American artisan (karen_rushen@yahoo.com ). EVERY CENT of your $25 donation goes to Kullakas cooperative, and helps them live their own mission of assisting and empowering indigenous women everywhere. (Maybe $25 sounds like a lot for a pair of socks, but they are 100% super warm, long lasting, hand knit wool. Postage from Bolivia is included in the price. Think of what $25 can mean to an indigenous woman living on $2 a day!)

You are encouraged to send a note expressing your best wishes to the Navajo elder who will receive your lovely gift of socks. It will be included with YOUR pair of socks and mailed out to a deserving elder of the Navajo nation. Last year we sent over two dozen gorgeous pairs of socks in a veritable rainbow of colors, and this year I'd love to double that amount. If you'd like to indulge yourself and order your own pair of cozy, alpaca knit socks, visit Kullakas new web site at www.alpacaartisans.com .

Rose Berry Empowers Women Through Crafts

Rose Berry (in red) teaching basket making

Rose Berry of Tomah, Wisconsin always loved cooking from scratch and making crafts. She learned self-sufficiency from her mother, and developed a real "can do" attitude growing up on a dairy farm in rural Wisconsin. Rose's mother also instilled in her a sense of concern for the well-being of others that led Rose to become a nurse, serving in rural Kentucky, Nicaragua and Panama, among other places.

While taking care of her 88 year old aunt may keep Rose, for now, from working in more exotic destinations, Rose has found a way to do the things she loved AND help others right in the small, rural town of Tomah where she and her husband John are raising their two daughters.

Based in her own kitchen, Rose invites local women to come and learn crafting and cooking skills such as basketry, soap making, preparing all natural hand lotions and even how to cook bagels from scratch. The intergenerational women's gatherings promote friendship and support, as well as self-sufficiency and crafting skills that help women thrive in these financially challenging times.

"I used to think I was born in the wrong generation, " says Rose. "While other friends were going to dances, I wanted to have taffy pulls like my Grandma and Mom had. Now I think I was born in the most fortunate generation. I hope to take the best of the past and merge it with the best of the present and create an even better future.

"When women are busy with their hands, their tongues are unleashed and their hearts can come out. That's what I love, and so do many of my women. It's also a way to stimulate great conversation about things that really matter. As we weave, make soap or bake bread, we are generating money for charities that I am passionate about. For me, these charities are usually medical or agricultural, because it's my nursing, farming and mission backgrounds that have shaped me."

Rose charges $10 for each of her classes, and all the proceed go to a worthy cause. Rose believes the $10 donation provides the women with the freedom to choose which classes to attend, rather than feeling obligated to yet one more commitment in their busy lives. The crafters have supported Habitat for Humanity, a local library, a hospice and a medical mission in Haiti. If the women prefer, they can donate four hours to a charity in lieu of a cash donation for the classes. 

After the Doll Making Day...

...some of us were just a little bit tired...but ALL of us glad we came!