Jim Putnam - Thinking Through My Fingers

Tired

Once more, I've gone several days without writing a blog post.  The title refers to the way I feel about apologizing for the breaks.  I'm tired of it.  I've decided to write when I can, and when I feel as if there is something I can say, and not feel as if it is important to write every day.

That is a significant change for me.  Perhaps I've gotten to the point that writing is less important than other aspects of my life.  Recently, I've been concentrating on quilting and that, too, is undergoing a break, a physical one.  When I work on a quilt, my shoulders are in one position for long periods of time.  After several days, two to three hours without break, and five to six daily hours on consecutive days, my arthritis kicks in and I need to let the muscles relax for a few days.  I quilted for at most 45 minutes this morning.  I called today for another appointment with the physician to receive another cortisone shot, but that wont happen for a couple of weeks. 

There was an interesting occurrence last evening here at home.  Marrianna and I were watching a BBC Inspector Lewis television mystery.  The series takes place in Oxford, UK.  As we were watching, Anastasia and Morgan returned from having seen a movie at a local theater.  Morgan, who received his PhD at Oxford University, immediately, almost excitedly, recognized scenes at the library on the TV.  His tone seemed to me to say that his days there had been very good, and that it was nice to see the scenes of the campus.  It was, for me, an illuminating moment of the man who is the father of our about to be grandson.

They returned home to Asheville this morning, taking Copernicus with them.  Copernicus has been with us a week while they vacationed at the beach with his family.  Marrianna loves that dog, and I'm sure misses him a lot just now.

I read a very interesting interview in my latest issue of The Sun.  The first part of the interview is here, and they refer to the print version for the rest.  Usually, The Sun's interviews are less interesting to me, but this one grabbed me.  The interviewee is Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature (Harper Perennial).  There's a bit in the interview in which Ms Benyus talks about architecture learning from nature .  She says, paraphrased, that tall buildings could learn from desert cactus.  The folds of a cactus provide shade for parts of the plant, helping it to adapt to the heat of the desert.  There are many other examples of how biomimicry can assist us all, but this one returned to me this evening.  I know that I see analogies everywhere, even places where they aren't appropriate, but it seems to me that there is an analogy here for the current discussion of health care reform.  It is important that those of us who can provide shade for others.  Through that, we all better survive the stresses of living.  Think of it as taking care of ourselves, much as the cactus takes care of itself.  The interview is excellent, revealing many instances in which we should mimic nature.  It's worth buying the magazine to read, or maybe the book, since they don't have the entire interview on-line.

It seems barely possible that tomorrow is the first of September.  There doesn't seem any way that so much of the year has past.  For us, as noted in the last sentence three paragraphs above, an impending grandson, it has been a significant year, and with much more to come.  I hope to be able to write about it, and that you will continue to want to read it.

Thoughts About Ted Kennedy

Senator Ted Kennedy is an example of how time has changed me, the Senator, and the country.  Twenty-five years ago I thought Ted Kennedy was an example of the absolute worst kind of person and politician.  His reputation as a play-boy and boozer, coupled with the Chappaquiddick incident provided enough that I believed that if he had any decency whatsoever he would resign from the Senate, return to Massachusetts, play on his boat and with his money, and stay away from ever doing anything else.

Fortunately he did not, and the past quarter century has shown me that there is such thing as redemption as he wholly dedicated his career to causes beyond his own pleasures.  As a result, he grew as a Senator, learning how to work with everyone, compromising where needed to achieve the results he wanted.  As Marrianna said this evening, over time he has earned our admiration.  There is much in the social fabric of our nation today that has been changed and, I believe, improved dramatically by Senator Kennedy.  Today, I appreciate the man, with all his flaws and contradictions, because I understand how much he cared for common folk and worked to make our lives better.

No Title - Just Grousing

Once again I am becoming disgusted with US politics and politicians.  Once again, it seems likely that there will be no health care reform passed in this Congress.  And, if that is true, if it isn't passed now, we will very likely wait another 15-20 years before there is even another attempt.  If reform does slip away from the grasp of people who understand how its reform will affect every other part of governing for a very long time, President Obama, as good a President as we have had in decades in my opinion, will be a one term President, and the Republicans will be back in charge.

I read a very interesting article in the Oxford Research Group, written by Paul Rogers.  It doesn't exactly add to my comfort level that we are doing the right thing in Afghanistan.  I get the feeling that we are very likely to have the same results as the Russians did there, and will eventually slip away silently, having been whupped.  I recommend the article to everyone who wishes a realistic evaluation of the situation in Afghanistan.

I am discouraged about the state of conversation in the nation.  The level of vitriol is very concerning, with people coming to meetings where the President is scheduled to speak with loaded weapons simply because they can.  It's alright with me if they own these weapons, but common sense and good manners should dictate whether they are carried, and no weapon should be carried simply because they can.

Along those lines, I am discouraged that the case for health care reform isn't presented in simple, moral terms:  because it is the right thing to do!  If there is so much fear that there will be people receiving health care that are not paying for it, then all that is right is lost anyway.  It seems politicians, economists, insurance executives, lobbyists, and power brokers of our system cannot understand that these are PEOPLE who need assistance, and that the duty of those of us who can to assist.

I've said it before, but it certainly bears repeating.  There is nothing explicitly or exclusively Christian about caring for others.  It's a human trait.  And those Christians who deny others basic human rights for whatever reason need to read their New Testament.  They have lost touch with their concept of the teachings of their religion.  Though I am not well versed in other faith traditions, I do know a little about several, and am reasonably sure that all of them teach respect and support for the poor and for those who cannot care for themselves.  Caring must become a human right.  We are, every one of us, a part of one another.

That's enough soapbox for one evening.  I have to admit that the grousing has released the tension I felt, and I am much more relaxed now. 

Quilt Musings

This afternoon my back and shoulders began to ache from bending over a quilting hoop too long, so I decided to do some research through my quilting books about the history of quilting.

As a book nut and collector - Is that redundant? - I have about fifty books on quilting.  Most of them are recently published, with patterns for quilts or are about quilting techniques.  Two, however, are older and provide a pretty good history of quilts, focusing primarily on US quilts but also how Europe and Asia influenced the development of US quilts.  Interestingly, to me at least, neither of these books provided any references or bibliography.  They weren't intended for scholars but for quilters.  They are both also completely ignore the possibility that there were, or are, male quilters.

The older of these books is "The Standard Book of Quilt Making and Collecting", by Marguerite Ickis [1949, Dover Publications, New York].  At first it seemed strange to find the history of quilts as the very last chapter of the book, but it is actually a good place to have it.  Once you read about quilting patterns and techniques, like Chapter 1 "Planning Your Quilt", Chapter 3 "The Quilt's Design and Its parts", Chapter 5 "Borders", and Chapter 6 "Quilting", the author moves through less technical topics: Chapter 8 "Other Uses for Quilting", Chapter 9 "Unusual Quilts", and finally, Chapter 12 "The Story of Quilt Making".  The Table of Contents has a brief description of each chapter.  The one for Chapter 12 is perfect.

Personal memories of old quilts ...Where quilting began in early civilization.  How the Crusaders brought quilting art to Europe and British Isles.  ... How quilting was connected with figures of history - Marie Antoinette, Mary of Scotland, William Shakespeare, Sir Samuel Pepys. ... The quilting party and social life of settlers; old traditions linked up with new. ...

The other book is "Quilting Manual" by Dolores A. Hinson [1966, 1970 Heartside Press.  Dover edition published 1980, New York, NY].  It begins with Chapter 1: " A Short History of Quilts".  The first two paragraphs hooked me pretty well.

   The lovely designs of American quilts, the highly imaginative names used for patterns, and the documentation of the many famous, and other not so famous, quilts combine to for a little-known section of the American story.  Through Quilts, we are able to view history from a woman's perspective

   The quilting of cloth came into being when the people who invented weaving reasoned that two or even three thicknesses of cloth would be warmer than one thickness.  For centuries the Chinese used quilted cloth to make their characteristically padded winter clothing.  The Crusaders found that the quilted shirts worn by the Arabs in the Near East when worn as an undergarment beneath chain mail prevented chafing more effectively than the shirts of single layers of cloth they had always worn. [Page 13].

Ms Ickes ends her book with these final poignant paragraphs:

What's In A Quilt?

   Then with the completed quilt on the re-finished antique four-poster she can run her fingers over the glowing, smooth stitched surface and remember the past as did one great-grandmother back in Ohio.  That kindly, ancient lady reminisced as she passed her work-worn fingers over a quilt she had pieced together while her family was growing up.
   "It took me more than twenty years, nearly twenty-five, I reckon," she told me softly, "in the evenings after supper when the children were all put in bed.  My whole life is in that quilt.  It scares me sometimes when I look at it.  All my joys and all my sorrows are stitched into those little pieces.  When I was proud of the boys and when I was downright provoked and angry with them.  When the girls annoyed me or when they gave me a warm feeling around my heart.  And John too.  He was stitched into that quilt and all the thirty years we were married.  Sometimes I loved him and sometimes I sat there hating him as I pieced the pieces together.  So they are all in that quilt, my hopes and fears, my joys and sorrows, my loves and hates.  I tremble sometimes when I remember what that quilt knows about me."

And something close to that, friends, is why I quilt.

Saturday Evening Meandering

I almost made the title for this post the Saturday Evening Post, but decided that was a) entirely too pretentious, and b) probably copyrighted.  So, it's a simple Saturday Evening Meandering.

Yesterday's mail brought a magazine that I've read several times over the years, and thoroughly enjoyed, but never subscribed.  The label says, "A Gift from  Thelma G".  The magazine is "Our State: North Carolina" and this first issue is September, 2009.  I've spent hours reading it and exploring their web site.

The magazine endears itself to me for more than its quality writing and photography.  I truly like its organization.  The features are not spread across the magazine with one or more "continued on page ..." breaking up the article.  Every article is complete.  I like that; there is no flipping back and forth through the magazine, allowing the reader to start at the beginning and read straight through.  More magazines should use this format, in my opinion.

Among the features in this issue is one entitled "(Small Town) + (Small College) = Big Relationship".  The article features five small colleges in small towns across the state.  Truthfully, there is little in the article about any of the five colleges since its specific focus is on the relationships between the college and town.  It does provide a link to each college's web site, and the ones I followed did a pretty good job of presenting their college.  The relationships described in the article are very interesting, providing a warm, welcoming feeling about each college and town.

Marrianna was born and grew up in Brevard, one of the small towns and colleges of the article.  Brevard College was a two year school until relatively recently, but has extended its programs to become a four year institution.  When we began dating early in the 80's, if I'm not mistaken the school was only two years.  The campus is very nice.  Her high school class used one of its buildings for its reunion.  I don't remember which reunion, and wouldn't include it here if I did.  I may be stupid, but I'm certainly not crazy, at least not enough to give everyone a clue to how old she is.  Ladies don't like their age revealed to the world, and if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.  I like being happy.

An article about a restaurant in Hickory, NC gave me a history lesson.  In "An Appetite for History" the author tells us  "In Hickory, the Old German Schnitzel Haus's owners draw on Bavarian fare to stir interest in Catawba County's Duetsch roots."  These roots go a lot deeper than I would have ever guessed.  Many family names familiar to us today here in Chapel Hill were, according to the article, of German origin. 

German names, which have often been changed or superseded by their English equivalents over the years, are common in the present-day Catawba County and throughout the Piedmont.  Some examples are Cantzler (Cansler), Seitzs (Sides), Kneip (Canipe) ... Freytag (Friday) and Klein (Cline).

Changing names to fit into a culture are not new, at least not in the South.  I remember when I was raised in Florence, SC, there was a "five and dime" store names Kresses.  I learned years later that it was a part of the chain of Kresge, and changed its name in the south during WW II.  Of course, the entire chain is now called K-Mart.  As a friend of mine used to say, "Add that to your vast store of semi-useless information."  Semi may imply an unearned importance.

I also learned from the magazine that there is a three day celebration "The Best of Our State" to be held in Asheville in January 2010.    It's expensive, but it reads like something I would like to attend.  January would be a great time to be in Asheville anyway, with our first grandchild due in mid-December.  This kind of activity interests me, but ...

I've meandered enough. 

Overheard In A Waiting Room

Sitting in a waiting room this morning waiting for Marrianna to complete her appointment, I watched an elderly lady come in, walking with a cane and accompanied by her son.  After getting seated, they had a conversation about her knee, and then she asked, "Can you explain to me what a tweet is.  I read it in a magazine, and don't understand."

I didn't hear the son's answer because they called the lady back for her appointment just then.  I wonder how he answered, because I'm not sure how I would answer the question.

Thinking About Health Care Reform

Somewhere recently I read a one liner that said that we aren't using the correct terminology from the very beginning in talking about health care reform.  We should be talking about health care insurance reform.  I think that is absolutely correct, though not especially pertinent.

This evening, I read a blog on Time that disturbed me, though I cannot explicitly point out why it does.  I think it's because there is a slightly derisive tone to this article by Michael Scherer, Obama Looks to Heavens (For Health Reform Inspiration) from its title and throughout the entire piece.  The article is about an effort President Obama is making through several clergy organizations to gather support for his reform efforts.  He has earlier spoken with a Rabbinic organization, and today's article is about his speaking to the 40 Days For Health Reform organization, a faith based organization.  Some people seem disturbed that Obama is asking for support from religious organizations.  For me, that is ridiculous; Obama is President of us all, and should be asking for support from every group that he can reach.

This is an excerpt of one paragraph from Scherer's article.

In a conference call with faith leaders, organized through a largely progressive umbrella group, 40 Days For Health Reform , Obama spoke of the legislation that has bogged down in Congress as if it were a message from above. The president described the need to tackle health reform as a "moral conviction" that "no one in America should be denied basic health care because he or she lacks health insurance." He paraphrased Genesis, saying that reform would address "what I consider to be a core ethical and moral obligation that we look out for one another, that I am my brother's keeper and I am my sister's keeper." He said reform was about the fight to "promote justice" and called the current debate a "battle between hope and fear." For some opponents, he had a biblical condemnation, saying there were those who were "frankly bearing false witness" about the facts of health reform.

Last week, I had two separate conversations with people about the idea that including everyone in health care is a moral issue.  Each conversation essentially said the same thing that the President is saying.  Until we recognize that we are connected to every person, regardless of race, religion, heritage, or any of another of the myriad ways we currently separate humanity, until we recognize that it is a justice issue, that we are each other's keeper, there will be no progress toward justice and peace.  For me, this President is right, we are in a battle between hope and fear.  FDR told us decades ago that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, and that is as true today as when he said it.

That last sentence is overly simplistic.  There are opponents to health care reform for reasons not at all grounded in fear.  There are concerns about real issues, and I recognize that.  My primary point it that the "core ethical and moral obligation that we look out for one another" should be the driving force behind reform, and while there can be sincere differences about how to accomplish that, there should be an equally sincere effort to reach the goal of health care (insurance) for everyone.

A Quilting Experiment

Several of our quilting group had a field trip to Raleigh a couple of weeks ago to an exhibition of quilts in the Gregg Museum of Art and Design.  We were fortunate that the curators of the show gave us a tour, describing each quilt.  We were all impressed with the quality of the hand quilting.  The curator, a lady who quilts herself, said that for these quilters to achieve such small stitches they had to have used very small needles.  I disagreed, telling them that I use a larger needle, almost two inches long when I quilt, and my stitches were nearly as good.  (Actually, in many cases mine are better.)  Thankfully, one of our ladies confirmed the quality of my stitching.

The comment that they had to use small needles has stuck with me, so I decided to do a small experiment.  Over the past several days, I have used small needles when I quilted.  As expected, I was able to get my stitches neat, even, and fairly small.  Today I alternated small needles and the longer ones I used previously.  I can't see the difference in stitch size.  So, I conclude that technique is a better predictor of stitch quality than the size of the needles.

I did, however, find one important difference.  When the needle is at the end of its thread, the thread is tied off and the knot pulled beneath the top to be hidden.  It is easier to snap the knot beneath the top using small needles.  The length of the longer needles gets in the way.  It is surely possible that this difference is a personal difference, that other quilters wouldn't have the problem, but for me it makes a difference.  And it's enough of a difference to cause me to switch to smaller needles.

This leads into an anecdote of when I first began to quilt.  There's a play, named appropriately enough "Quilters," that is about quilting. We were still living in Silver Spring, MD, when it came to a local community theater.  Several women from the church went, and asked if I would like to go.  I went, and it was a delightful play.

Somewhere in the dialog is a line that goes something like this: "Mama always got 13 stitches on a needle."  When the actress said that line, I involuntarily exclaimed, "Bullsh**!", loud enough for everyone, including the actress to hear me.  It was a small community theater.  She paused a moment, and looked around and I slunk down in my seat.  The ladies of the church laughed at me later.  I continue to believe it is BS to say you can get that many stitches on a needle while quilting.  I can do it when piecing thinner material, and in applique get that many regularly, but never in quilting.  The most I've ever been able to get quilting is nine, and seven is normal for me.

Recommendation:  If you want to get a feel for the history and importance of quilting, and the play is in your area, go see it.  It's really a very good play for small community theater.  I would go see it again, and this time keep my mouth shut.

Returning

I decided to take the weekend off, and did.  About the only activity in this household since Thursday had been watching the PGA golf tournament.  I was disappointed, but not surprised.  Y.A. Yang played a good game and certainly deserved to win.  You can bet that both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will be on the putting green many hours this week.  Their putters, especially Wood's, deserted both of them this past week.

I haven't played golf since last October.  I don't remember exactly why I stopped playing.  It may have been because I was so terrible at it and didn't see any progress.  But even without progress, I did really enjoy playing, and am planning to begin playing again when the weather cools off a bit more.  Golf is an interesting sport, and even though I was, and without having played regularly, still am, terrible.  But it still has the ability to pull me out.  I still need another form of exercise than the gym, and if I walk the course pulling a bag cart, it is definitely exercise.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I've continued to try to organize the quilting series of blog posts.  It's really more difficult than I had thought because of the way Typepad keeps its files.  I haven't been able to find how I can export the various posts to a word processor so that I can work with them.  I hate to think of re-typing them all.  It's similar, I suppose, to Felix's experience, told here, with Outlook.  I have all these files, but can only print them hard copy.  If I print to file, the file is unreadable.  I'm about to explore Wordpress again.

This is going to complete this evening's post.  I hear the quilting table calling me.

The Past, and Its Effect on Today

I am not sure that's a title that expresses where I hope to go this evening, but anything else seems either overly dramatic or too vague.  Not that this title isn't vague, but ...

I had a doctor's appointment today to have some small skin glitches frozen and removed.  The last time I was there, he took a biopsy of a place on my right arm, and said that when I returned they would have the results and also remove several small spots on my arms.

They did, indeed, have the results today from the biopsy.  It's a small, approximately 3/8 inch diameter, squamous cell skin cancer.  There are probably two others, one on my right temple and another on my left arm, perhaps one on my chest.  He referred me to the Dermatology Clinic to have these three removed and to be examined for others.  Then they froze five small glitches off my arms.

In talking with them about squamous cell cancers, I learned several things.  First, and probably most reassuring, was that these cancers do not progress to melanoma.  And, most interesting, that they were the result of having been in the sun 20 or more years ago, and there was nothing I've done recently that could have affected them.

So here I am, seventy years old, and learn that having been in the sun so much when I was young probably caused these small cancers.  I asked, good naturedly, but underneath serious, whether this meant that I should wear long sleeve shirts now to play golf.  They, also good naturedly, said to go all the way, with a jacket, hat, and hood for the jacket, then said that none of that was necessary for this type of skin cancer.  I think I needed their light attitude.

Cancer, whether basel cell or squamous, is a word that just seems to raise fears for me.  They gave me plenty of information, and I am certainly more relaxed now.  It also calmed me when the appointment they made at the Dermatology Clinic is just over two weeks away.  I think, no, I know if they had told me to go directly to the Clinic I would be a lot more apprehensive.

This evening, the interesting point to me is that my life when a teen on Lake Erie, and later when in my twenties all around the world in the AF, has betrayed me.  Or at least it seems that way to me.  It was considered healthy to have a tan then, and since for much of that time I was either working as a guard on an open flight line, or at the beaches of Charleston when off duty, I got a lot of sun.  Now they are about to remove small chunks of skin because of it.

Life doesn't, or at least didn't, come with warning labels, "Beware!  Too Much Sun Will Cause Skin Cancer."  And even if there were signs, I probably would have been unwilling to shield myself from everything so as to not have these small cancers now.  Sun lotions in the late 50's didn't have UV radiation protection and, to be honest, I probably wouldn't have bought it if it had.

It seems clear that it is impossible to protect one's self from every future physical problem.  I have a T-shirt with an old man with a cane on the front and the label, "If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."  There is some truth it that shirt, but actually, not a lot.  I've lived a life that has taken me places, introduced me to people, and provided me with wonderful memories (along with some not quite wonderful), and made me this person.  It has taken me a long time, but I like this person.  And I don't think I would change very much of my past in order to have it easier now.  As I hear so much these days, "Just saying."