Welcome to My Website!

Come inside and sit a spell is what my Great Aunt Ina used to say to me as a child. She loved to talk, and she’d worn everyone else out with her chatter.

Our backyards abutted each other across the alley, and she gave me permission to come and browse her garden unaccompanied. I loved watching everything grow, like the garlic and raspberries. She could see me from her kitchen window, and she’d wave me in. She’d take me down to the basement to see what she was fermenting. I have her sauerkraut crock in my kitchen. She quilted and made clothes, gardened, canned her harvest, and made pickles and jam. She was a woman with many interests, like me, and I wanted to know what she was up to. I didn’t know how to extricate myself from her nonstop talking without looking impolite, which was my worry as a child, but I was always welcome to come back, no matter how I escaped.

You, too, are always welcome here in my digital gathering place. During COVID, when Zoom became a gathering place, I decided that since all trips were canceled, the only journey I could go on was an inner one. I took classes, wrote and reflected on my life, and walked my way through the pandemic. It sounds idyllic, but it has been a time of loss and transition, too. My Dad died in 2019 after almost five years of caregiving and supporting him, and I found myself in liminal space. What was next for me?

I’ve slowly found activities that nurtured my ailing spirit. I took a life-changing class called "Healthy Boundaries for Kind People" with the inimitable Randi Buckley to learn how to better care for myself after the caregiving experiences and just life. I took a wonderful class last year with two marvelous facilitators/coaches, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and Kathryn Lorenzen, called Your Right Livelihood, which helped me identify what I might like to do in the last third of my life (if I live to 90). I am moving forward with some of the things I’m passionate about, following the thread of my life with writing, journaling, collaging, dyeing, facilitating, and this website.

I recently read on Patti Digh’s website about strong offers and wondered what could be my strong offer.

“A strong offer is an offer of yourself (your passion, your talent, your art, your love) without comparing yourself to others, without attachment to how that offer will be received, without a story attached to the offer, and with detachment from the outcome. Our job in life is to make strong offers and create environments in which others can also make strong offers.” – Patti Digh

Here are my strong offers and why I wanted to create this website. I fell in love with indigo dyeing and shibori. I received a beautiful Christmas gift of shibori-dyed dishtowels from my friend Michelle. I asked her how she made them, and she showed me, the best present ever! I love to dye fabric using indigo and shibori methods. My dishtowels and scarves are available in my shop, Laundry Line Design.

Two of my word collages

When caring for my dad, I had a very short attention span. My mind was filled with everything I needed to do to mitigate his suffering while trying to take care of myself. I couldn’t read anything but murder mysteries. I called this caregiver's brain. I needed a creative outlet, so I made word collages on canvases with beautiful paper and found objects. I love paper! I make collages out of images and words, which I will offer through this site, soon.

I’m reading Sharon Blackie’s book, Hagitude: Reimaging the Second Half of Life, about the journey into hagdom, or elderhood. When I turned 60 in 2021, a friend said, “Welcome to Cronehood!” I was elated. Yes! I am a Hag/Crone. My Apple dictionary says a Crone is an “old woman who is skinny and ugly.” WTF! I am neither skinny nor ugly. I’m envisioning some new courses; Journaling for Seekers and Becoming Crone. Look for those sometime next year. I’m pro-aging and believe that writing a new Crone story is wildly exciting.

Writing has sustained me since I could hold a jumbo pencil in my hand. Writing supports my seeking as I metabolize and integrate what I’m curious about and learning. I write to sort out my life and my thoughts. I journal, and I’m working on a memoir. I’m still providing caregiving to aging parents. This time it’s from a distance with our siblings in charge. I’m passionate about caregiving and caregivers. Expect to read about this topic, and I hope it will help caregivers feel less alone.

I hope you’ll join me on this journey of creating community and finding our way together through grief, joy, beauty, and humor.

What have you been up to these days?