Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard

How Do I Love Thee?

This series is a celebration of my favorite sweets in verse form, inspired by and adapted from Elizabeth Barrett-Browning's well-known Sonnet 43. 

How do I love thee, Georgia Mud Fudge Blizzard?

Let me count the ways.

Thou beastly twenty-one ounce ice cream dessert,

evil incarnate filled with chewy brownie pieces:

I love thee to the depth of your whopping 1,450 calories

and breadth of your 83 grams of fat

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being smothered in rich cocoa fudge

and the ideal grace of pecans blended with soft-serve vanilla.

(To be continued)

DanR100

Celebrating Dr. Dionisia A. Rola's 100th Birthday

November 1, 2020 

For My Ninang Dan

Normally, I'm distracted.

I go down a rabbit hole when I’m shopping and go in for a gallon of milk and come out with Twix chocolate bars and floral dish towels. 

It’s true.

Once I was late for Vacation Bible School because I went in for cookies and ended up spending an hour checking out the new SHINEShiny lip gloss colors. Or I'd go down the basement storage to retrieve a roll of tissues and totally lose track of time browsing through dusty pages of old foto albums.

Sigh.

BUT NOT TODAY.

It was Ninang Dan's 100th birthday celebration. A surprise Zoom session with 35 or so faculty and students who had been under her wing was scheduled at 5 pm, Philippine time. For me here in Ohio, this translated into four hours past dark thirty.

Of course, I was EXCITED. I was doing cartwheels with my heart.

Like the first time I realized I could wear white pants before and after Labor Day.

And chalk came in colors.

And zucchini could be made into bread.

When I didn't blink.

When I focused.

In my mind's eye, I clearly saw snippets of those years with Ninang Dan.

She said, per a classmate, that never in the history of English 199 had she given a grade of 1. It was for my final paper on recurrent imagery in Blake's writings. Then she asked, Who is this Adoracion Torio? (FYI: the class met only a few times at the beginning; the rest of the semester was allotted for writing papers).

Thus emboldened, with Pond's cream foundation, dressed in a then-fashionable A-line dress, and my hair hiked up to the ceiling - the crowning glory to an incredible ensemble - I went to see her.

I must have made a good impression because she asked if I wanted to teach in UP after I graduated. Excitedly, I said, Yes. She said, Write me a letter of application.

Upon my completion of two years of teaching, she asked, Would you be interested in a faculty fellow local Rockefeller scholarship? Elated, I said, Yes, thank you!

Come time for me to go back teaching, she said, Why don't you go with me to UP Baguio? She had just moved up to be Dean. Again, I said, Of course.

After a year there, it was my time to ask her, Would you please be my Ninang on my wedding day? She said, Yes.

Today, I made sure that I honored all that wonderful history. In fact, I put together a schedule of my time to stay focused. Here was how it went.

Saturday

10:30 pm     Set coffee maker's brew timer to 3 am.

10:45 pm     Watched YouTube Funny Dog videos.

11 pm          Went to bed.

Sunday

2 am            Smelled coffee. Coffee maker didn't know to fall back. Darn.

3:10 am       Realized I was still asleep and not drinking coffee.

3:15 am       Got out of bed.

3:25 am       Watched YouTube Top News to see if I missed anything while I was

                    sleeping.

3:35 am        Searched for outfit that would make me look the skinniest for Zoom

                    session. Frowned at the design choice of mixing stripes with florals.

                    Pronounced it so 2015. Decided PJ bottom ok (no one noticed, 

                    hopefully).

3:50 am       Chose perfect red lipstick, making sure it wasn’t on my teeth.

3:55 am       Logged in to Zoom. 

And my favorite part of writing this post was when I was done.

When I thought I had said all that I needed to say and just when I was going to click publish...

... I had to say one more thing. A Post Script.

Just a little extra something.

P.S.

Dean Rola, Dr. Rola, Ninang Dan: Thank you for having been part of my life. I owe YOU and I love YOU.

Crafting In The Age Of Covid

Pandecrafts 

Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia. - Charles Schulz

To date, Day 223 PE (Pandemic Era) since lockdown and now-limited outings except for essential work and activity...

   I've finished Netflix's entire movie offerings, new and old. 

   I've been eating double bowls of ramen and taking three naps.

   I've been shopping HomeGoods and thrift shops via YouTube.  

Yup, that's me. It's getting to be pretty boring. But I've resolved to be productive with the shelter-in-place time on my hands.

BY.CRAFTING.TILL.I.DROP.

Herein revealed are my creations using materials I already had on hand.

Exhibit A (left): Framed Anatolyan kilim needlepoint with yarn feather tassels. It hangs in the master bath. 

Below, Exhibit B (left): Anatolyan kilim needlepoint centerpiece and Exhibit C (right): Macrame (on a formerly thrifted wrought-iron plaque) above our bed headboard.

 

Exhibit D (above): Navajo-design needlepoint coasters.

Below, Exhibit E (left): Cross stitched tribal and crocheted mudcloth-design pillow covers and Exhibit F (right): Tabletop moss garden on an RH-duped pedestal bowl.

And just in, Exhibit G (right): Fall wreath. 

These projects get the A Craft A Day Keeps The Crazy Away Award.

I just saw the sun peeking through the October sky. The day is looking brighter, inspiring me to yet create another craft. I have some discarded curtain rods - to frame a canopy for the kids' top bunk bed, perhaps? ... if I can remember where I put the rods.

The point?

Keep calm and craft on.

Sometimes we already have what we need to make a project. Given enough glue sticks, we can rule the world. We just need a little creativity and balmy fall days.

Good thing there are plenty of those on the horizon.

Dream Catcher

Weavings

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it;

if you can dream it, you can become it. - Anonymous

This set of lit-up dream catchers.

Seriously.

A bunk bed headwall has never looked more festive.

In Native American culture, a dream catcher is a handmade willow hoop on which a web is woven and adorned with beads and feathers.

Hung above the bed, it allows good dreams to pass through and float down to sleeping children. Bad dreams, however, are caught in the web and disappear.

I have enough craft supplies to make this hanging ornament for the entire population of the city, but I made only three. 

One for each of the precious littles in our life who were coming for a summer visit.

The project was really easy. If I were to rank its difficulty by Netflix movies...

You know.

     A one-Netflix movie project.

     A two-Netflix movie project.

This craft? It took about a fourth of a Netflix movie to complete.

Here was how I made it.

Wrap yarn around an embroidery hoop. From there, tie any number of thicker yarn in a desired pattern from one point of the hoop's circumference and across. Or use a small crocheted doily for its center, attaching it in star-pattern to the circular edges. 

Tie tassels with beads and feathers. Add fairy lights.

That was IT.

I was done.

This plain, white, blank wall twinkled with giggles and whispers and cushion fights and drawing and playing with LPS-es and lazy afternoons and eating unlimited snacks under the bunk on those delightful summer days.

Meanwhile, downstairs around the dining table, their Moms with Hubby and me gathered and talked. Just like so many years ago.

It was my best summer ever.

I give this project the Best of Times Award because it beckons with the promise that you can catch your dream...

Of being surrounded with loved ones - precious grandchildren and treasured daughters.

All at one time.

(To be continued)

Pom Pom Festooned Curtain

Weavings

Okay. This was the easiest how-to-make-a-Walmart-sheer-curtain-look-festive project.  

Ever. 

I simply added ribbons and pom poms.

You may have seen this craze that has hit Blogland and Pinterestville. Tassels and pom poms are on the ends of blankets, corners of throw pillows, used as earrings, accessorized on handbags, and pretty much hanging from anything and everything you can hang something from. 

For the record, I have been a supporter of this trend. (I said so in the previous blog, remember?)

It was easy.

Simply wrap enough yarn around your hand. Gently pull the yarn off of your hand, wrap another piece around its center. Tie tightly to secure, cut up both sides. 

Now comes the fun part.

Fluff and trim it until you have something that resembles a ball. Be careful not to give it too much of a haircut or your pom pom will simply be a 'pom.'

And, Voila! Done.

Now, with pops of pastel pink, yellow, blue, and green fluffy balls festooned on the window curtain, the room (the grandkids', actually) looks fresher.

Younger.

Like a party just waiting to happen.

I give this project the Super Cute Pom Pomy Award.  

(To be continued)

Moroccan Wedding Throw

Weavings

Have you ever seen something and become obsessed and think about it all the time?

I have, on all three counts.

For me, it was a Moroccan Berber wedding blanket.

The handira (for that is what it is called) is woven out of sheep's wool, cotton, and linen. It is traditionally made by the wife-to-be and her female relatives. The blanket is used throughout the wedding ceremony and ultimately as the blanket the couple sleeps under on their first night of being husband and wife. Afterwards, the wife will wear it around her like a cape while traveling to her new home.

My heart beat a little faster when I saw one in a souk market in Marrakesh. I loved the look of neutral colors interspersed with bits of sequins and sparkles.

Except.

Except that it was pricey, starting from at least 1200 dirham (about $327) for a five-by-eight-foot blanket, and go up to 3200 Dh depending on the quality and intricacy of its design.

In my vocabulary, that was a cost equivalent to an arm and a leg and maybe a few other extremities.

But could I CREATE it myself?!!

And the answer?

It’s a wonderful, incredible, resounding YES.

Yes, my friend... YES, YOU CAN!

I looked at Pinterest pictures. And planned. And plotted how to climb the craft challenge mountain. And finally figured out how to make a dupe. 

By latch hooking. 

For those who may not be familiar with this craft, it is a simple process of tying short segments of yarn to the horizontal strands of a canvas grid. Emulating a Pottery Barn pattern, I latched brown diamond shapes and hooked vertical black segments and added pom poms. (I've designated myself the president of the Original Pom Pom Club, as you will learn in the next blog.) 

It was a project I poured every little bit of my heart into for about five months or so.

And then?

Incredibly.

Awesomely.

….I emerged victorious and showed that craft who was boss.

This throw gets the 'You Got This, Girl!' Award.

(To be continued)

Tribal Throw

Weavings

It’s like October showed up and bit me with the crafting bug. 

Suffice it to say I am all about crafting right now. Needlework, latch hooking, weaving. Anything that uses yarn and floss. Capturing designs that I love. Folk, tribal, ethnic.

In this series, meet my completed projects from months past and present, each given its unique award. 

First off, this throw.

It's really old. 

This handicraft got started way back when I was channeling the fun, sweet vibe of the early 90's with a medium bob and butterfly-clipped bangs and a dress with extra big shoulder pads matched by colored tights from Marshall's.

My pursuit started out as a blank canvas. I loved the concept. A loose weave monk's fabric. Bordered within were twenty squares that could be embellished with cross-stitched or latch hooked depictions.

Painstakingly, I filled each space with an image - of an inuit fish, Aztec and Mayan ornaments and statues, a Hopi spirit being, a Navajo kachina figure, and various other designs that expressed the natural beauty of tribal cultures.

Then, life happened. My needlework endeavor got stashed. 

Recently, I reached back for it (actually, accidentally found it while looking for my ceramic pumpkin in the basement). And it showed up. With ten out of its total twenty areas completed. (Aside: Good that I had spread out the images, so the open spaces looked intentional.)

I did update it with an inscription, come and sit a spell (also the title of this year's July series, as you may remember).

To me, it looks sufficient overall. 

A reminder of the good old days of cross-stitching enthusiasm. 

I give this throw the Was-Lost-But-Now-Am-Found Award.

(To be continued)