today

I’m thinking of everyone affected by the southern CA fires, right now. It’s a lot of people that I know.

I used to live in that area, as did a lot of my ancestors. A family farm (started a few generations back) in that area burned down completely a few years ago, as did the house of my great aunt/uncle that I grew up visiting. Last year, another family member lost a building on their property.

Praying for safety for all involved, especially the fire fighters.

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I remember having to evacuate during the fires a decade or so ago. The ocean was metallic, like molten metal, with the soot.

I remember finding a super-dry leaf of a tree on the road as we walked out of the dorms of my college, shaped like a heart, that had been hardened by the heat and the air. I kept it in a box for a long time. I still have it somewhere. At the time, I remember thinking of it as a symbol of God.

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I’ve been wanting to share my progress with friendship bracelet making but honestly it’s hard to find moments that don’t have one tragedy or another, but this is how we survive, or at least, it’s how I survive, just finding little things, like obsessing over which image to put on my blog (I do do that), while also definitely not wanting to appear to do that, or setting the table. Last night I did it super “officially,” with a table cloth, napkins in my little napkin holder, silverware and the matching glasses I’ve tried to have be our water glasses for like a year. Worked on teaching the kids how to cut with their forks and knives. They were very cute and happy about it.

Little moments of control, to help balance out the… *ahem*.. can I say clusterfuck here? It is my blog. The clusterfuck of the rest of my life.

I made this!!! Didn’t it turn out pretty? It makes me so happy.

These are natural colors. It’s kind of hard to see but it’s like, maroon and beige and cream, with light blue. I really wanted to try out this pattern because it’s sort of like a braid.

Here’s are some of the websites I’ve been learning from. It’s been so long since I’ve made friendship bracelets.

• The Neon Tea Party
• Becky Stern

♥️