First Word - Repair

 Occasionally I share in my church what we call "First Word", which is 2 minutes shared by someone in the congregation. Recently I shared these thoughts on our word of the year, which is repair. The following is what I shared.

Being a visual person when I visited Lan Su Chinese Gardens last month they had an art show on Japanese “Mending”. It hit me as I viewed the show and read the description that it was a form of “Repair”.  In a way it reminded me of the hippy form of repairing jeans with patches and visible stitching. I remember doing that when my son was little and he needed holes on his overalls repaired.

 

This piece of artwork is by Limei Lai, it refers to each piece as “Mending” or repair. Isn’t it beautiful? The technique is also called Sashiko, “Sashiko is a Japanese stitching style that was originally used by working class people as a means to mend used clothing and household items. But it is so much more than that! The even, geometric patterns of sashiko create a beautiful decorative effect, so that they go beyond being purely practical.

 A friend of mine, you might know Corey on her French La Vie blog, finds beauty in broken china. Here is one piece repaired with staples and hanging on her wall. She has a whole wall in her apartment to display the beauty of broken china.

In Japan they have a technique called Kintsugi.  “Kintsugi — which means “join with gold” — it is the Japanese art of repairing broken objects, often ceramic pottery or glass. Traditionally, gold lacquer is used to piece shards together again, creating a more beautiful object through the acts of breaking and repair.”  

A messy garden can heal or repair the earth. It puts nutrients back into the ground.

The complexity of intergenerational communication brings difficulty in understanding. Conflicts cause fragmentations. In ceramic art, there is gold repair to make it functional and beautiful again. In fabric there is the mending stitch that is even and decorative. It is beautiful in its own way. What if relationships or a government could have sweet repair?

If we have the mindset of doing repair as a daily practice, then beauty and joy can be found daily.

There is beauty in embracing the beauty of human flaws, of something that needs repair. Embrace imperfection and turn weaknesses into strengths. Notice the small things, the hearts that need repair and surround them with love, for they too are beautiful.

 

Hope you enjoyed my thoughts on "repair".

We are all a work in progress and beautiful in our own way.

 Sending love,

Marilyn

Words of Kindness and Joy

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcrm3JgOgD4&ab_channel=PanMacmillan  

poem from 365 words 

I came across this reading on You Tube not to long ago and thought you would enjoy. 

This plant is in a corner of my dining room. It was a gift from a friend. I enjoy it every morning as I sip my tea nearby. Isn't it beautiful? It is called an Angel Wing's Begonia. This gift was a gift of kindness and reminds me of that kindness by a friend each day.

Please always remember kindness to others each and every day.

Sending love,

Marilyn

TeaFestPDX 2024

 TeaFestPDX - 2024

 

Last Friday was time to set up for the TeaFestPDX. The tent on the left is the British tent. It is the one I organize. I have organized it each year since 2017, except for 2 years during the pandemic. To the right is where the tea festival sells used teaware to raise money for next year. Setting up is fun -- Oh the anticipation!

My pictures actually are in reverse to what took place for me, but still happened.

Right below you will see the tea van and above are people sipping tea inside the van. They come every year and set up back against the trees. It's a very mellow vibe. I don't get to visit the vendors and tea sipping venues until late in the day, which is probably OK as it isn't as crowded.

The multi colored shirt guy to the left at this table attends all the tea festivals in the Pacific Northwest. He doesn't have a business, but still brings along his table and chairs and sits there all day sharing tea with anyone that wants to sit and drink awhile.

My last speaker of the day, Bryon Marie, spoke on the history of Suffragettes in Portland 100 years ago and was representing a local tea spot in a downtown hotel, Abigail Hall.

Kris and Erin from the Framer's Touch in Forest Grove along with myself shared about art on a teabag.

They have a tea bag art show every April in their shop. It's the show I participated in this year. Their energy and kindness to all the attendees in the tent was so special.

Jhanne and Zack from Stash Tea shared the book, All the Tea in China.

Representatives from the Daughters of the British Empire shared the history of afternoon tea and scones. They baked scones for each of the attendees in the British tent.

Stephanie was the Education Coordinator for the festival this year and did an amazing job. In 2020 I had scheduled Stephanie to talk about Suffragettes and Tea. Finally we got it done!!! I loved having her be a part of the British tent even though I know she was so busy elsewhere in the festival.

The first presentation each year is by Lisa Hand and her assistant, Lynelle. They always come in costume and have something fun to share. This year it was the Language of Flowers.

Here is the tent ready for the day. My volunteers are the best and have fun working to make it a pleasant tea sort of day for each attendee.

Used teaware for sale. I resisted, though tempted.

Before we started the day I did a quick run through part of the vendor tent.

A bowl full of ceramic tiny bunnies for the tea table by Jonathon Steele. 

I did come home with one very tiny white bunny.

Note to Madelyne: The bunny is what "tea nerds" call a tea pet for their tea trays.

The ceramic artist booth.

Floating Leaves, Hi, Shuiwin!

The Tao of Tea gave ceremony demonstrations, which I missed. They were one of the festival sponsors this year.

Minto Tea farm from Salem, Oregon taught a class and sold tea plants and tea.

It's a really big vendor tent and there were more in one building too.

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of TeaFestPDX - 2024.

 

Sending love and happy weekend!

Marilyn

Words of Kindness and Joy

 Yes, I will share a story of Kindness and Joy; but thought just for your viewing pleasure I would include pictures along the beautiful Oregon Highway my "live-in gardener" and I traveled to Southern Oregon. We had never traveled on part of this highway and decided we wanted a bit of a detour just to see the beauty. It didn't disappoint.

Crater Lake in the middle of Mt. Mazama, a volcano which erupted many years ago forming this lake. One day this picture might pop up again as I think it would be fun to do a post on The Ring of Fire. There was still a little snow on the ground.

The story I really wanted to share today was a "pay it forward" sort of story. Every once in the while on Instagram I see these stories where someone is helped when they are struggling, how it changed their life and how they turn to help another.

I was raised by a single mom, my father removed himself from the family when I was two. Life was often a struggle for my mom. When I was in high school the electric company was threatening to turn our electricity off because my mom couldn't pay the bill. I remember being upset about it when someone from our church stopped by our home and gave my mother the money to pay the bill. Later when my mother offered to pay them back they said to pay it forward to help another. That made such a huge impact on me. I had never heard of that concept before. What an amazing heart of kindness. It changed how I thought of helping another without expecting anything in return.

Again I am reminded a smile, a hug or even a kind word can change someone's heart and make their day a better day.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Southern Oregon, A few more Glimpses

 Across the street from the Orth House, where we were staying was a beautiful garden shop. I loved the look of this garden table and chairs, though it doesn't look that comfortable.

The main reason for this small adventure was to attend a garden party and concert at the Britt Festival. The Britt Festival is an open air summer concert venue. Right before Covid hit in 2019 we were thrilled to hear Diana Krall in this venue. Funny, but even in Oregon many people don't know it exists. We have been to several concerts over the years and each one is a delight. They have never had a garden party before. The garden party had finger food and live music out on a patio. Isn't their cake pops cute?

The garden party theme came from an album in 1967 by the guest performer. 

And then there was the concert. Do you recognize the musician? It was Judy Collins. At 85 years old she entertained us for an hour and a half, along with the local orchestra. I was amazed how well she did, her voice was angelic.

Walking through town is so beautiful. Here are a few sights.

Several buildings looks like this. The La Fiesta Restaurant had really delicious Mexican food.

One more sight we decided to visit was the historic cemetery. Do you like visiting cemeteries?

 

We found Mr. Orth's burial sight. We also found a James Miller, which is my "live-in gardener's" name.

He had traveled there by wagon train and purchased 35 acres at the top of the hill at the edge of town, where he set it aside for a cemetery right where we were standing.

That tree was fun to see all the mistletoe.

With a brief stop to enjoy Lithia Park in Ashland, we were on our way home.

Others were enjoying the park too.

Hope you are finding ways to stay cool on these hot summer days.

It was 101 degrees here yesterday and about 91 degrees here today.

I no longer enjoy hot weather, but putting my feet in some cool water does help.

Sending love,

Marilyn

The Orth House, Jacksonville, Oregon

Sometimes I find places to stay when taking short trips on Expedia. The Orth House was found in just that way. It said it was a historic house in downtown Jacksonville, Oregon. Now Jacksonville is a historic small town with vineyards growing all around it. Note: Jeanie, you would love it there. The Orth House had a tasting room on the main entry floor. They were mostly opened in the afternoons and early evenings. On Saturday evenings they have live music in the patio along with wine tasting. I thought it was a bed and breakfast, but it was more like an Air B&B with only two rooms upstairs that they rent out. Interestingly, we were the only ones staying there all three nights. It was a little bit spooky staying in this big old house all by ourselves. But then we could pretend for awhile that this big old historic house was ours for awhile.

The garden was quite lovely to walk through.

The front porch was perfection for an early morning tea sipping.

The hall upstairs had a beautiful tapestry.

And our room was quite nice, though we were surprised to have a bathtub right in the bedroom. Our old bodies had a hard time climbing in and out of the tub, but it was still fun.

I bet winter time would be quite cozy with a little fire in the stove.

The best part was walking. It was in the middle of town, just one block to a nice coffee shop, one block to great shops and restaurants, two blocks to the restaurant our daughter set up for our anniversary dinner, and four blocks to a concert venue.

We did do a little research and found out Mr. Orth had been the local butcher and then became a civic leader in the years when Jacksonville was being formed and wagon trains were coming west. It almost felt like we were infringing on his private home.

So once we settled in, we were off to a special dinner.

The lemon tart ended the evening on a high note.

 Now I didn't write about Kindness and Joy today, but really Mr. Orth was kind to let us stay in his home without disturbing us. Our daughter was kind in giving us a lovely dinner out.

 

Hope the beginning of your week is starting off spectacularly.

It is very hot here this week and praying it cools down a bit by the weekend.

 

Sending love,

Marilyn