Where were you?

On September 11, 2001 two planes hit each of the towers of the World Trade Center.  A third crashed into the Pentagon.  And a fourth was driven to the ground in a field in Pennsylvania by the brave men and women aboard, determined that their plane would not become another instrument of death.  Thousands of lives were lost.  And our would was changed forever.

Today we remember those awful moments when we first heard about what happened in New York, in Washington and in Pennsylvania.  We grieve for those who were called home far before their time.  We celebrate the heroes that emerged, the people who gave up their own lives so that another family wouldn't lose their loved one.  We thank those who answered the call of their country and went to fight for freedom of our world.  And we say to those enemies of peace "WE ARE NOT AFRAID!"

The following is an original poem, author unknown, that was posted on an online journal-keeping group I belonged to slightly less than a month after the 9/11 attacks.  To the men, women and children who lost their lives that day, and to all those who have lost their lives since fighting for peace and freedom, this is dedicated.

Two thousand one, nine eleven,
Five thousand plus arrive in heaven.
As they pas through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait.

A bearded man with stovepipie hat
Steps forward saying,
Let's sit, let's chat."

They settle down in seats of clouds.
A man named Martin shouts out proud,
"I have a dream!" and once he did.
The Newcomer says "Your dream still lives".

Groups of soldiers in blue and gray,
Others in khaki and green then say,
"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine."
The Newcomer says "You died not in vain."

From a man on sticks one could hear,
"The only thing we have to fear..."
The Newcomer says "We know the rest.
Trust us, sir, we've passed that test."

"Courage doesn't hide in caves.
You can't bury freedom in a cave."
The Newcomer had heard this voice before,
A distinct Yankees twangs from Hyannisport shores.

A silence fell within the mist.
Somehow the Newcomer knew that this
Meant time had come for her to say
What was in the hears of five thousand plus that day.

"Back on Earth we wrote reports,
Watched our children play in sport,
Worked our gardens, sang our songs,
Went to church and clipped coupons.

"We smiled, we laughed,we cried we fought.
Unlike you, great we're not."

The tall man in the stovepipe hat
Stood and said "Don't talk like that!"
"Look at your country, look and see
You died for freedome just like me."

Then before them all appeared a scene
Of rubbled streets and twisted beams.
Death, destruction, smoke and dust,
And people working just 'cause they must.

Hauling ash, lifting stones,
Knee deep in Hell but not alone.

"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman.
Side by side helping their fellow man!"
So said Martin as he watched the scene.
"Even from nightmares can be born a dream."

Down below three fireman raised
The colors high into ashen haze.
The soldiers above had seen it before
On Iwo Jima in '44.

The man on sticks studied everything closely
Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly.
"I see pain, I see tears,
I see sorrow - but I do not see fear.

You left behind husbands and wives,
Daughters and sons and so many lives
Are suffering now because of this wrong,
But look very closely - you're not really gone.

All of those people, even those who've never met you,
All of their lives, they'll never forget you.
Don't you see what has happened? Don't you see what you've done?
You've brought them together, together as one."

With that the man in the stovepipe hat said
"Take my hand," and from there he led,
five thousand plus heroes, newcomers to Heaven,
On this day two thousand one, nine eleven.

God bless America

Until next time,
J.

But Mommy, I wanted a pony!

Alright, so if Sarah could have told me what she wanted for her birthday it probably wouldn't have been a pony.  But I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have been a baby sister either! But that's what my mom got her - a six week-old Shih Tzu puppy.  Meet Molly:

Is she not the cutest thing you've ever seen? And she's not only cute, but smart and brave too! She's already figured out the pet door, and today she followed Sarah down the bank to the carport.  Sarah and Nicky aren't crazy about her at all, but I think given time they will warm up to her.

Until next time,

J.

Two More Finished Projects!!

As per a previous post, I've been working really hard on finishing some of my Un-Finished Objects before starting anything new.  Here are my two most recent creations:

This is a box I made to hold my extensive collection of bookmarks.  The pink and green yarns are a mixture of wool and bamboo fibers, and it's super soft!

I made this cross using 2 pre-cut crosses and a third cross I hand-cut from ultra-stiff canvas to make a sturdy core.  It's currently residing on my bedroom door.  The darker pink yarn is the same bamboo-mix I used on my bookmark box.  It's hard to see, but just above the left tulip is a pink ribbon hanging loop.

Until next time,

J.

Creative Play Day

I decided to today to do something totally wild and give myself permission to have some "creative play" time and not feel guilty about all the other things I should be doing instead.  And I'm so glad I did! I feel completely re-energized, and I'm actually looking forward to the coming week, something that I can't recall happening before.  Clearly this is something I need to do for myself more often (I'm thinking about making this a regular Sunday activity - can you think of a more fun way to end a weekend that by doing something fun and creative totally for your pleasure?).

I started by creating an idea file of prompts to help me when I get stuck in my journal writing (something that I've decided needs to be more of a priority in my life because of the benefits I gain from it).  I used a plastic index card case from Staples and created 5 sections: Unsent Letters, List-Mania, Personal Power (this section is to get me thinking about some of the issues I deal with in my life, and also to explore some of the facets of my personality that I don't usually look at too closely), Spiritual Growth and From Writing To Art (projects to help me take the learnings from my writing beyond my journal).  Once I had my sections made, I got out my list of prompt ideas and wrote them on 3x5 cards and filed them in the appropriate section; I'm using the coloured cards where you get 5 colours to a pack and I've assigned one colour to each section.  I already have 42 prompts in my idea file! I've been re-reading the books on journal keeping that I've had, and it's really stimulated my mind in terms of coming up with topics I want to explore further.

Then I went to http://www.franklincovey.com/ and used the Mission Statement Builder to craft my personal mission statement.  What a fun and fascinating exercise that was! It needs a bit of refining so that the language flows consistently, but in time I plan on adding this to my journal.  From that, I started to define what my core values are.  (By the way, both of these activities were inspired by prompts from one of my favourite scrappy books "The Book Of Me" by Angie Pedersen.)  Once I have my list defined, I'm planning on doing a scrapbook layout (or maybe a couple of them!) on these two activities.

Then I made a title page for my new journal.  I decided that trying a new book for my journalling my help to kick-start my mojo (which has been MIA for a while now).  After a great deal of indecision, I finally decided on my long-neglected tapestry day timer (a high school grad gift from my baby brother).  It has 3 rings, and works well with not only regular day timer refills and accessories, but also mini-binder accessories, creating lots of options for adding things to the journal.  Tomorrow I'm headed to Staples to get dividers for it, and I'm going to create a section for my regular journalling, and then sections for unsent letters, lists, personal power explorations and spiritual growth exercises...much like my idea file.  I also wrote a 4 1/2 page (we're talking regular-sized notebook pages here) journal entry which is now housed in a sheet protector in my journal.  I started it at like 1:00 this morning or some such ridiculous hour when I couldn't sleep, and as the day unfolded I just kept adding to it.  I also took a few minutes and added a few things to my gratitude journal.

So there you have it: my creative play day.  I have a feeling I'm going to pay for all that writing though - my wrist is already killing me! (Actually my whole arm is sore, all the way up to my shoulder - darn Carpal Tunnel Syndrome! Sigh.)

Until next time,
J.

For my American friends

Happy Independence Day!

Until next time,
J.



Let the creative juices flow!

I first came up with the idea of making a creative planner a few years ago when We R Memory Keeprs introduced their Memory Dock system.  It was a collection of organizers to help you document your ideas for scrapbook layouts.  I really, really liked the idea, and the planners were gorgeous (if not a little expensive).  But the sections that were included and the available refills really didn't suit my style of page planning, and I couldn't use it to record ideas for other non-scrapbooking crafts.  So I said to myself, "Self, why don't you just make a creative planner? And that way you can have everything you want in it, and nothing you don't (there were things in Memory Dock system that would have gone unused)!" And that's exactly what I did.  My creative planner's first home was a beautiful tapestry daytimer that I received as a graduation present when I graduated from high school.  It's now moved into its new permanent home: a 2" mini-binder that I covered with a hand-stitched plastic canvas cover.  The cover took me a long time to make, much longer than I had anticipated actually, but I think it turned out really well.  The final step in the process was to decide what sections I wanted to have and make dividers for it. I have sections for Scrapbooks and Journals, Book of Me Layouts, Plastic Canvas, ATC's, Sunday School crafts and general crafts.  I also have a section for lists of supplies like my punches, a section for lists of things that I need and a section with store addresses and hours, and a list of crafty websites I like along with user names and passwords.  Now I'm working on gathering up all the notes I have all over and putting them into my planner.  Call me crazy, but there's something so satisfying about flipping through my planner and seeing all these project notes all together in one place.  Here's some pictures for you to admire.

Until next time,

J.

Happy Canada Day!

Some friends of mine celebrating Canada's 144th birthday...

From left to right: Shawne Alexis, Jami Michaela, Holly Jayde and their furry friends show off their Canadaian spirit.

Holly Jayde, Bucky the Beaver, July the Bear and Pierre the Bear.

Jami Michaela and Melvin the Moose

Shawne Alexis and Van the Bear (yes, Van is short for Vancouver, home to 2010 Winter Olympics)

Shawne is all dressed up and ready to go see the fireworks in her Vancouver 2010 hoodie, Mommy's fleece hat and carrying her Canada flag.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Until next time,

J.