Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Linens and Other Things



Today I washed the pile of hand-embroidered pillowcases I've amassed over the last couple of months. I hung them out early this evening and they have that wonderful fresh air and sunshine smell to them. I absolutely adore linens dried outside.

I'm just starting to hang things out again. I love the crunch of a towel that has been dried in the wind instead of the dryer. To top it off, they're more absorbent without fabric softener in them, so that's an added bonus.


Tonight was Creative Sisterhood and for the first time in ages all six of us were present. I took the opportunity to use my recently purchased dishes. It is very nice to gather with women I feel connected to.

We will soon celebrate our third year of Creative Sisterhood. It started with me wanting to get a group of women together monthly to gather and share meaningful conversation. I wanted to create a group that would bond but would be different enough to offer multiple levels of interest. I contemplated who to invite for awhile, and tried out different combinations with notes in my journals, until I thought I had the winning group.

From the first night we gathered, the group developed a real personality of its own. It was quite fascinating to watch. By the second time we gathered it would have been impossible for someone new to be added.

I tried to create another group, and pushed the limit of "different" in it and it didn't work. I figured it would be spectacular if it did work, but I didn't have a great deal of hope the bonding would happen.

I have thought a great deal about how these things work and I've drawn some conclusions.
1. Groups must have a "home" - a place where they belong. In this case we gather at my house. I think it needs to be a consistent place, too.
2. I think someone's home is more conducive to a group than a sterile gathering place. There's a different feeling in a home.
3. I think it's good for people to share food together - preferably food someone has prepared themselves, with some intention to share it with people they care about. There's a reason Aunt Betty's pie tastes better than what you get at the corner cafe.

I always bake something for us to share. Tonight it was a lemon poppy seed cake, with orange glaze. I used the rose pan Kim got me for Christmas.



I'm so thankful warm weather has arrived and brought many of my perennials with it. I have bought quite a few plants, but mostly herbs and tomatoes. I've needed very few flowers to add to the front. I need to figure out what to plant so I have plenty of things to cut and bring inside. That's really what I like - to bring them indoors.

I don't really know anything about flower arranging - I just stick things in a vase and let them be "natural." Vases are one of the usual things I'm hunting at goodwill.