i finally got off my duff and cleaned up my desk area. it's still a work in progress and seems chaotic to me, but i guess that's the nature of the beast. work spaces almost always invite some messiness, right? i always get crazy and make a mess everywhere, and then afterwards clean it up. something about a somewhat tidy space makes my head somehow feel clearer and i can be more creative, as if a blockage is being released. i now feel as if i can actually get to work and start making things.

***

these old yarn bobbins belonged to my now deceased grandmother, josephine. she died the day after christmas last year (2005), in the middle of the night. she was a knitter and a crocheter and a seamstress. a tiny, thrifty sicilian, a child of the depression and of bootleggers who brought liquor across the canadian border into new york state. she taught me to sew at age eleven, when i was in sixth grade. we made a pink linen straight skirt together, when she was staying with our family in florida for the summer.

every time i knit or crochet a stitch, or see the color purple, i think of her.

i want to turn these bobbins into some mixed media art piece, dedicated to her. the colors delight me.