Tag: Noon and Wilder

  • Mail Bag Monday – Postcrossing Update!

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    Happy 2025, Dear Reader!

    I wanted to share a little about what I\’ve been doing penpal-wise. It\’s a hobby that brings me great joy and I am excited to get back to it, and be a part of bringing good into the world.

    I was thinking about it the other day, and wanted to share what I wrote on my Postcrossing bio with you here. I think there\’s cause for hope, even in dark times, and I hope my words bring  you some small measure of it:

    As 2025 begins, I am filled with hope and concern. Hope, because many people with whom I talk see the same challenges I do and are committed to making the world a better place. Concern because World War III is still going in Ukraine and the risk of it spreading terrifies me. My heart breaks for the people affected. My own country is engaged in a battle for the hearts and minds of our people against the forces of fascism, a fight both of my grandfathers fought in World War II more than eight-five years ago. I am glad they aren’t alive to see what we have done to ourselves and yet, I wish they were here to guide me and to tell me it will be okay. Each generation has to fight for democracy, and this is our fight. I pray that we are up to the challenge.
     

    This I know: community is what will get us through this, as will mindfulness and creativity. Community is what reminds us we have more in common than not, and that we can come together in common respect and admiration when we remember the person on the “other side” is a person just like us, with a family and community for whom they care deeply. We have more collective power than we think we do. May we remember our power and exercise it for the good of all, and remind the greedy and the power-hungry that the world is not theirs for the taking. Slava Ukraini.
     

    My husband and I live on a small homestead outside the town of Duvall, WA, in the Pacific Northwest. We are a couple hours south of the Canadian border. My day job is in the insurance industry and by night, I write novels. I joined Postcrossing because it’s important to me to put good out into the world. In a time of great uncertainty and global unrest, not to mention environmental cataclysm, putting good into the world, however small, means something.
     

    I am an avid textile artist and love to weave, knit, and make things. Our puppy Freya is now four and her brother Loki is three. Two of our cats, Boria and Nadya, died within a couple weeks of each other at the end of 2023, just as I got a total left knee replacement and my job blew up. 2024 presented many opportunities for growth. I have a new job now, thank the powers, and two kittens joined us in January of 2024: Yulia and Yelena. Our oldest cat, Kolya, is going strong.
     

    In May, our first granddaughter Julia was born. We don’t see her as often as we’d like, they live in Florida, 5,000 kilometres (about 3,000 miles) from us. She’s teething now and keeps my son on his toes. She is, of course, the most beautiful baby anywhere in the world. (Don’t all grandparents say that?)
     

    If you’re not sure what to write, try:

    • What is a typical day like in your life?
    • What is your favorite thing to do?
    • If I were a tourist in your town, what would you recommend I see first?
    • What do you want to be when you grow up?
    • What do you do to relax and unwind?
    • What does “nesting” mean to you, in terms of one’s home?
    • What’s the worst advice you were ever given?

    Are you part of Postcrossing? If not, check them out. It\’s a lot of fun to connect with people from all over the world, and to know that there are real people out there with lives and mailboxes.

    • I joined in June of 2020, right at the height of the pandemic, because I was really struggling with depression and isolation. 19 postcards sent, 12 received.
    • 2021: 64 sent, 70 received.
    • 2022: 22 sent, 23 received.
    • 2023: 67 sent, 60 received.
    • 2024: 28 sent, 35 received.
    • 2025: 6 sent, 5 received; however, I have 13 out \”traveling\” as we speak so this will change as the year goes on.

    Write on!

  • Makers Monday – Progress Report on the Chakra Wall

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    The Chakra Wall is coming into focus. I\’ve been hanging the ojos (which means \”eye\” in Spanish) from a specific central spot and coming out of it to the right as though expanding from that origin point.

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    This is the wall I\’m using. It\’s late in the year here, when I took this shot; November is mostly rain and getting cold. It seemed like a good day to start the project so I came out and swept down the spiderwebs.

    Seattle actually has something called, \”Spider Season.\” I\’m not sure if this is a scientific thing or just something the locals say, but man. Those little girls like to weave themselves some web.

    My husband, who is not an arachnophobe like me, Dear Reader, told me that most spiders we see are female. The males are smaller and don\’t live nearly as long. I like referring to them as \”she,\” because it makes them less terrifying.

    The reason that\’s relevant is down on the bottom right of the image are some cardboard boxes used for landscaping (you put them down as weed barrier and put dirt on top of them); we have a truly epic-sized black spider living there. So brushing down the spiders with a broom is a life skill here – particularly if you want to create an art project outside in their demesnes.

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    I set the ojos down so I could see the ones I had completed so far. The ones on the bottom with the reds are for the Root Chakra. I have one orange one for Sacral, one with yellows (more goldenrod, really) for Solar Plexus, and a green one for Heart.

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    I originally wanted them to go up, but realized that physics is a thing. The porch only goes to the right just past the glass doors, and I\’m not great with heights. So for now, I\’m going out as far as I can reach from the ground, and later as I finish more ojos I\’ll involve the husband to help me with the ladder and a hammer.

    Next up are the next three chakras: Throat (light blue); Third Eye (indigos), and Crown (violets, white, and silver).

    Keep Making, my friends!

  • Makers Monday – Ojos de Dios and the Chakras – What Is a Chakra?

    Makers Monday – Ojos de Dios and the Chakras – What Is a Chakra?

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    I thought I\’d take a moment and discuss Chakras, so this project makes a little more sense.

    Chakras are an ancient concept from India that were developed 1500 to 500 BCE (Before Current Era). They are conceived as wheels, and are seen to be located in the human body. In general, there are seven chakras in the body:

    • The Root Chakra  – grounding, connection to the earth
    • The Sacral Chakra – primal relationships, sexuality, creativity
    • The Solar Plexus Chakra – will, intent, personal power
    • The Heart Chakra – relationships, love, friendship
    • The Throat Chakra – speaking our truth
    • The Third Eye Chakra – clear sight, vision, intuition
    • The Crown Chakra – connection to the divine, collective consciousness

    The seven chakras have all sorts of things that are representative – sounds, colors, concepts, etc. For our purposes, the colors are the most relevant:

    • The Root Chakra – reds
    • The Sacral Chakra – oranges
    • The Solar Plexus Chakra – yellows
    • The Heart Chakra – greens
    • The Throat Chakra – light blues
    • The Third Eye Chakra – indigos
    • The Crown Chakra – violets, whites, silvers

    I\’ll show you next week how some of these are coming together in practice, and how they look on the wall with each other.

  • Friday Fun Stuff – Chicken Math!

    Friday Fun Stuff – Chicken Math!

    I have had several discussions lately about \”chicken math,\” and folx haven\’t known what I mean. Here, then, is Chicken Math, Explained.

     

  • Makers Monday – Ojos de Dios and the Chakras

    Makers Monday – Ojos de Dios and the Chakras

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    I\’ve talked about ojos de Dios, or eyes of G*d, before. I enjoy making them, because they\’re relatively simple to weave and they adapt to many different uses. They can be made for prayers and spells, protection, to commemorate new projects or milestones, and for art.

    I had a dream recently, where I saw a series of ojos on the side of the house. When I woke up, it was as though I could still see it. It felt so vivid and real, I walked outside to look.

    I had to laugh. The place where I\’d seen them has two big windows right in the middle of it.

    Hmm.

    But there\’s a large wall on the back of my house that would totally work…

    And thus, a project was born.

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    I thought I\’d share some progress pictures. It feels so good to start making things again. I look back and my pictures and it\’s not that I haven\’t made things; but I\’ve definitely felt stuck for a long while. It\’s been so fun working on a larger project that will take some time to complete.

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    This one is for the Throat Chakra, also called the Fifth Chakra. It\’s about using our voice and finding our power.

    I picked a luminous black filament with blues and pinks for the center. It\’s not coming through very well on the camera, but it\’s eye-catching.

    I also varied the weave; that part toward the edges by wrapping around the arm of the ojo without weaving across. This presented more of a gap in the weaving.

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    I forgot to weave the hangar like I normally do, since I didn\’t want to use the center black yarn. It\’s too springy and also a very thin filament, not robust for hanging in weather.

    I tied the last two yarns to make the hangar, which is something I don\’t usually do but I like how it came out. I used an overhand knot at the end to make it hangable.

    Next Monday, come back and I\’ll share the wall and the beginning of the Chakra wall.

    Cheers!

    ~Noony

  • The Flora and Fauna Report – Progress This Week

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    The idea of the Flora and Fauna Report came from Julia Cameron\’s book, The Artist\’s Way. She describes getting letters from a relative that she described as a \’flora and fauna report,\’ because they were about all the goings on in and out of her life. I loved the idea, because all it asks of us is to show up as we are. Kind of like meditation. 🙂

    Today is a very cold and clear, sunny day in the Pacific Northwest. I am working on a chakra ojos de dios project, which I\’ll be sharing more about in subsequent posts; but today, I wanted to share a little of our goings on.

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    The cell booster is up! Man, that was an ordeal. We needed this part, and that part, and the other part; we thought we had everything and needed… two bolts.

    That\’s it. Two little bolts. No big deal, unless you don\’t have it, and then it\’s a big deal.

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    I added two more ojos to the project (the ones on the right); the lower one is for Voice and the upper right is for Third Eye.

    I\’ll have more in a series on this project, so stay tuned!

  • Gone Visiting – at Delilah Devlin\’s Place!

    Gone Visiting – at Delilah Devlin\’s Place!

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    I\’m visiting Delilah Devlin\’s blog today! Click on the image above to check it out and tell me, do you have a mindfulness practice?

  • Saturday Craft Circle

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    I got some new yarn from KnitPIcks called \”Oceana\” in the \”Spirulina\” colorway. It\’s worsted weight, 54% superfine alpaca and a new fiber, 46% SEAQUAL (R) YARN, which is reclaimed plastic from the ocean. It\’s got a nice loft and halo. I tried several needle sizes (4 was way too small and 9 was way too big); size 7 seems to do the trick.

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    Here\’s the detail of the \”Vertical Lace Trellis\” stitch from Barbara Walker\’s stitch guide, volume 1 (the one with the blue cover). I really like how it is coming out. It\’s got a great drape, and the halo makes it soften.

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    Here\’s the completed swatch. I\’m thinking of making a top-down cape or poncho, haven\’t decided yet. We shall see.

  • J Is For… Just Write It! (aka Following One\’s Own Advice)

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    So. It\’s the 12th. Of April.

    Yeah, I noticed that too. It was the 6th of April like five minutes ago. Oof.

    Here\’s what I tell others when they say to me during a challenge, \”But I\’m so beehiiinnnd!!!\” I say, \”So start with where you are!\”

    What does that mean for me today?

    Well, for a start, it means posting on the blog. I checked my Postcrossing stats, just to see where I was on sending out cards – my goal is to have all cards out at all times, and last time I checked I still had four out – and it turns out I\’m behind there, too:

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    This is what it looks like once you sign up for an account on Postcrossing. (If you\’re interested, you can click the image and I have it set up to take you straight there). When you start out, you only get a few cards to send, but as you send more and others note they\’ve received them, then your send count goes up.

    I\’ll grab my postcard stash and request an address, and then work through the list one at a time. I once selected six at the same time and then got busy, and couldn\’t write them in a timely fashion; I don\’t do that now. I pull the address when I am sitting in front of my postcards so I can send them right away.

    How many of you are already in Postcrossing?

    If you\’re not into it yet, would you like to know more about it?

    Let me know in the comments!

    Write on!

  • B Is For… Blogging!

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    If you\’re visiting from the A to Z Challenge, then chances are you know a lot about blogging. Today, I wanted to talk about one blog in particular: the Postcrossing blog. You can visit it, here. Their tagline is, \”Stories about the Postcrossing community and the postal world.\”

    Postcrossing is an international community of penpal afficionados. It\’s an interesting concept: members send postcards to members around the world. The blog discusses news from within the community, and also postal mail in general. One recent article highlighted the Malta Postal Museum.

    The thing I love about Postcrossing is that it\’s not a big investment. Writing a postcard is a tiny bit of text, and a small amount of postage. You can decide whether to mail members just in your country, or whether you\’re willing to write to folx in other countries.

    Each month, they send you a list of your \”stats\” – to which countries you sent cards; from which countries you received cards; etc. I use it as a way to keep the pump primed, as Julia Cameron would say.  In the process, I\’ve even made some friends along the way. Not every person in Postcrossing is interested in a more extended correspondence, but I\’ve met a few. It\’s the best of both worlds: a quick note to someone new, and a few longer, more crunchy letters.

    What about you, Dear Reader? Have you tried Postcrossing?

  • Gone Visiting – Join Me!

    I\’ve been visiting around the web again, which feels terrific. On my mind right now is the upcoming Lettermo, or Month of Letters, and that\’s what I\’ve been talking about.

    First, I visited bestselling author Delilah Devlin\’s blog to talk about Lettermo and why it helps to slow down time. Check it out, won\’t you? And drop a comment to let Delilah know you visited.

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    Next, I\’m over at the Lettermo main site today, talking about \”Why Write Letters?\” If it\’s not obvious to you, I hope the post will answer your questions and maybe even tempt you into joining me for the month of February – after all, February IS the Month of Letters!

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    That\’s all for now, Dear Reader. Remember: life is short; write more letters!

    Write on!

  • Lettermo Is Almost Here!

    \"\"I love writing and receiving snail mail, I always have. When I was little, I would send all sorts of things through the mail – doilies from under coffee cups that I colored, travel brochures, beer coasters… Anything that was flat and would fit in an envelope. The habit stayed with me to adulthood and now I send thank you letters to colleagues and business partners (never underestimate the power of a heart-felt thank you note or even just a \”wow, I\’m sorry I didn\’t do that as well as I could have, and I promise to learn better next time\”); greeting cards to friends (Valentine\’s Day is coming up on Feb 14th, remember!); birthday and anniversary cards; and even just a certificate you can create congratulating a friend on a personal milestone.

    What is Lettermo?

    It turns out, there\’s a vibrant online community for correspondents! Who knew? The internet can support our offline lives in creative ways. One of these communities is called \”Month of Letters,\” or \”Lettermo\” for short. Every year in February, participants challenge themselves to mail something to someone every day during the month – it could be to another participant, to a friend, to a public figure, heck – even Santa Claus! We also agree to write back to everyone who writes to us.

    How Do You Join Lettermo?

    Technically, you don\’t have to do anything to \”join\” Lettermo; you can just participate in your own way and in your own time. BUT, if you\’d like to meet other letter writers, you can join the site – it\’s free, and share your address. This way, your information isn\’t just out on a public website (though it\’s prudent to shield yourself by using a post office box rather than your home address). The site allows you to write up a profile of yourself that can include what you like to do, hobbies, and what kinds of things you\’d like to write in your letters.

    If this sounds fun to you, point your mouse over to lettermo.com and get started. Your mailbox will thank you!