While photography just can't capture the beauty of metallic thread used well, I assure you that this piece is the most gorgeous thing ever and I am 100% happy with it. I thought I'd ruined it when I'd just stitched the variegated part of the border and the green metallic, but once I started adding the blue I was in love again. The pattern is in my shop now.
The quote is from Alan Mendelsohn, Boy From Mars by Daniel Pinkwater, a brilliant YA novel. It's a book that removed my feelings of self-consciousness about my vivid imagination, which I'd picked up when friends dumped me in 7th grade over issues like "doesn't wear brand name clothing/shoes, doesn't shave legs, doesn't wear makeup," things that many equate with an exit from childhood (I found the idea of being a Woman frightening and repelling). Pinkwater's YA novels helped me remember that imagination was valuable and it was totally find to still be playing Calvinball and pretending I was Caesar leading his campaigns in Gaul.
I'm currently reading The Sibling Effect by Jeffrey Kluger. As the youngest of five children, who siblings ranged from five to fourteen years older than me, it should be an interesting read. My siblings and I are certainly opposites of the stereotypical birth order traits (I think that birth order stuff is bunk, largely, in part because there are SO MANY other factors of equal or more importance). I really really need to start some early reviewer books I received, but I've not been able to focus well enough for print reading lately.
I know I have a strange cat, because for her sitting in boxes is a sign of illness. Poor baby.
I hope both the cat and her(his) human feel better soonest.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I'm also the youngest of five--only we are exactly five years and six months (to the day) from my eldest brother's birth to mine. I honestly don't understand how, with all of us so close in age, we all made it to adulthood, and my mother didn't run screaming at any given point.
(Though I'm positive she wanted to. Often.)
Thanks! Cat-wise I'm pretty worried, but can't really do much about it right now (she's not in agony or anything).
DeleteWow to your mom! I don't understand how parents do that. My mom says if you give birth your brain just shifts a bit to make it all more bearable, but lord (I've never wanted to be a parent myself, though I like being an aunt). I think with kids closer in age makes it easier in some ways, because you've got instant playmates and a few of you are likely to be on the same level at any given time. On the other hand, it takes a lot longer before you can put the older ones in charge of the younger kids. We spent a fair number of days during the summer (or any school break) at work with my dad (he's a librarian). While there were adults around, my sister (5 years older than me) was in charge of me there from age three up. Of course I was a lot better behaved than the older kids just because parents expect more from younger kids, and we have to sit through so many events and things way above our enjoyment levels. We were had the right age gaps such that my closest siblings in age could be playmates and have fun ganging up on me!
Obviously youngest children are the greatest joy, of course. I love that my mom has just blanked my few instances of really bad behavior from her brain.
I do hope your cat feels better soon. Sending you both good thoughts.
DeleteIn my case, it was the opposite--I was the rebel (still am, almost 50 years in) and the one always blamed for whatever went wrong. I'll admit to being at fault about half the time--mostly in self defense! All the other times, I was framed by a conspiracy of witnesses, and my own rather long and varied record of misbehaviour.
Also--and I'm raising eyebrows over here--my mother, was a librarian by training. She was the first person hired to create a library for the recently formed INFONAVIT (provides loans to government employees), and worked there for some thirty five years, until her retirement.
erm... just to clarify: INFONAVIT is a Mexican thing.
DeleteFunny coincidences! Especially the number of siblings though. Almost every friend I had throughout life had only one sibling or they were an only child. Five is pretty hardcore (my oldest brother continued it by having six kids, so I get to shock people by being 30, looking younger, and having 11 nieces and nephews). There's a great sticker the comic artist Dorothy Gambrell created "if television's a babysitter, the internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up."
DeleteAh, you fit the birth order theory type of the youngest being the wild child. I was generally well behaved, but sneaky and knew exactly what I could get away with (and consistently did), plus a few outbursts of truly bad behavior (including saying I was going to skate around the block, hiding the skates in a bush, and then hiding under the dining room table while my mom got frantic, to try to avoid going somewhere).
I imagine parents' birth order also has an effect. Mine were both independent oldest siblings with absolutely no interest in what their younger siblings were doing. Neither had any idea what I was going through in terms of teasing (they were of the "don't come whining to us, that's what they want" school) or my extremely strong desire to be accepted as a peer.
Thank you for this! I love Daniel Pinkwater, but it's been so long since i read this book that I honestly didn't remember this quote. I'd buy it but since cross-stitching aggravates my torn ligament these days, I've had to quit. Your stuff is great though, and I do have "Get the hell out of my kitchen" proudly on display.
ReplyDeleteHe is one of the greats! It's not a line I'd taken much notice of until a recent re-read of this. You can get audio files of him reading a bunch of his books on the pinkwater.com website. I'm sorry you can't do cross-stitch anymore! Those shifts are so hard. I have chronic pain that doesn't particularly like embroidery but it's easier than the knitting I used to do (and for me there's not a physical damage factor, it's just mental fighting).
DeleteI'm always happy to know I'm not the only one who really needed a Get the Hell Out of the My Kitchen sign. Somehow it's just a room that some of us are particularly possessive of (probably because someone putting a utensil in the wrong place can be extremely disruptive and frustrating).
Just a note to let you know I am thinking of you; I hope things are better.
ReplyDelete