Life Is Like An Onion

From Seed to Shining Seed

Here in New Mexico, onions are an important crop. But lately, more than for the onion bulb itself, the seeds are being grown. So we get to see hundreds of thousands of seed heads, which I think are very pretty. "Summer snowballs" or maybe "smelly summer snowballs" would be a good description of some of the onion fields. 

"Life is like an onion," Carl Sandburg wrote. "You peel it year by year and you cry."

But no! No crying today, I hope. If there be tears, may they be happy tears, healing tears.

Those onions are tall. Waist high. It is hard to tell in the photos. 

 

Taking photos in the strong sun, I felt like an overbrowned crouton, next to a big bunch of baking onions.  The onions scented the hot air. I was awash in French Onion Air. Before I knew these were being grown for seed, I kept saying, "Why don't they harvest these? They are going to get soft and bitter!"

I didn't get very many nice photos, because even though I would try to adjust the camera in the car, once in the sun I couldn't see anything on the screen, even in the shade. Boo! Yet some bloggie frens are having freezing and near-freezing weather, and rain, rain, rain.

I met my husband at Cracker Barrel for lunch. He eats like a bird, but at Cracker Barrel, he eats better than usual. I love those purple-leaf plums they have planted all around the restaurant. You can see some plums ("no culinary use," as they say) in this photo below. I wonder, though if they do have a culinary use: perhaps to tint an apple or other light-colored jelly a beautiful color? 

I like the light through the leaves, giving them a flame-like look:

On the way home, I stopped by my community garden plot and got these: Mint, Lemongrass, and more Egyptian Walking Onions that were arching over, out of the garden into the path and getting squished.

I should have taken a picture of the lemongrass clump. It is thigh-high. Sharing the bigger clump freed it to grow!

My blog is named "The Merry Needle." Lately, it has been too much The Idle Needle, but I did get some needle-weaving done, making a little pair of what I call "Persian Lantern Earrings." I have made many of these. They are based on a rope design by Jill Wiseman. I just make a little piece and cap it top and bottom. I am grateful to have a job, but gone is my energy by the end of the day! I can barely keep up with the household chores. 

I am not in the mood for needle-weaving, though. I am in the mood for beaded cross stitch! Gah! Come on, eyes, stop drooping down and shutting! Help me stay awake and make some pretty beaded designs!

 Kind regards,

Olde Dame Holly

The Golden Age of Blogging...Arising Again?

Cloudy days are rare here, and they usually place me into an introspective mood. I was thinking about blogging, how it was in the early days, how there seems (I hope) to be a resurgence, and then more thinking about Facebook versus blogging. I'll save that last thought for another post.

One of the fun things in the early days of blogs was the giveaways. They added so much excitement to the community. During the time blogs were really hoppin', there were giveaways in abundance. Sometimes they were held to encourage commenting, and sometimes just to reward faithful readers, and sometimes just  because the blogger was so generous-natured. 

I am noticing that on Facebook, in some of the groups, there are giveaways happening. I think the "Groups" are following along a track similar to what happened in blogs, but I will boast here that I do not think Groups will ever equal the true community of blogging. 

I was happy to see a giveaway on a BLOG the other day! It made me smile, thinking of the heyday and how fun those times were, and how strongly blogging is rebounding.

I like to comment on blogs (one childhood nickname was "Loud Mouth Lime" due to my spouting off constantly) - just to add in my little bit of knowledge, chit-chat, or support. But a comment left did enter me into a giveaway, and I won, over at Acorn Hollow! What a wonderful bounty: Hooked pillow that is an absolute heirloom, hooked heart box with delicious chocolates (even shared with hubby), let me add here all wrapped so beautifully, fuzzy socks I put on immediately, and fussy-cut vintage Valentines. As someone obssesed with paper items, I can't tell you what a thrill the Valentines gave me! It is all so lovely.

Just take a look:

Lovely Valentine's red wrapping

BUNNY ALERT: An heirloom of my house now, in pride of place on the mantel

Two of the dear Valentines

Thank you, Cathy, of Acorn Hollow! Charming name for a very charming blog! If you admire hooked rugs and love sweet blogs like I do, please visit Acorn Hollow. Her work is beautiful, and just wait until you see her new workroom devoted to her rugs. 

It truly is delightful, for me, to follow the blogs I do, and read and see their posts. Some may think that their days or their gardens or their thoughts or crafts aren't "interesting" enough for a blog or worthy of a post, but I assure you, I read them with great interest and learn many things, am reminded of many things (my mind will go a mile a minute on the memories I recall), and take joy in the "small things" written about, photographed, and shared. And I am hardly alone! There is a whole army of us out there, who really enjoy the special sharing done on blogs. And once again, our ranks are growing!

Thimble, Thimble

Luckily, much of my recent needlework has been cross-stitching, created with a rounded, blunt needle. But when I pick up regular embroidery, using pointed needles, I also pick up a thimble from my collection. 

My favorite is a simple silver-plated thimble from the 1940s. It's very light. Thimbles featuring advertising were popular in times past.

I have a strange connection between my thumb and my nose, which makes me think there is something to acupuncture. If I jab my thumb with a needle, I get an unpleasant "electrical" tingling in my nose and can smell a very strange scent -- a scent I have never smelled except after a jab. So, does a nerve run from thumb to nose, or from thumb to brain and back down to the nose? 

I have enough thimbles to last the rest of my days. I have been to estate sales where the former owner has several hundred thimbles neatly on display in small cabinets. 

Until tomorrow,

    Kind regards,

    Olde Dame Holly Rose