January Flower, Carnation

RED CARNATIONS

One time in Arcadie's fair bowers
    There met a bright immortal band,
To choose their emblems from the flowers
    That made an Eden of that land.
Sweet Constancy, with eyes of hope,
    Strayed down the garden path alone
And gathered sprays of heliotrope,
    To place in clusters at her zone.
True Friendship plucked the ivy green,
    Forever fresh, forever fair.
Inconstancy with flippant mien
    The fading primrose chose to wear.
One moment Love the rose paused by;
    But Beauty picked it for her hair.
Love paced the garden with a sigh,--
    He found no fitting emblem there.
Then suddenly he saw a flame;
    A conflagration turned to bloom.
It even put the rose to shame,
    Both in its beauty and perfume.
He watched it, and it did not fade;
    He plucked it, and it brighter grew.
In cold or heat, all undismayed,
    It kept its fragrance and its hue.
"Here deathless love and passion sleep,"
    He cried, "embodied in this flower.
This is the emblem I will keep."
    Love wore carnations from that hour.
Poems of Passion by Ella Wheeler
Chicago : Belford, Clarke & Co, 1883.

Fashion

Here's my take on fashion. I have been watching fashion for more years than I like to admit. I am a white woman, mother, grandmother (once upon a long time ago model). I don't really care if I'm wearing the latest most current fashion, but I try not to be completely out of fashion.

Black is always okay. Some version of pink is always okay (girls like pink, duh!). White is always okay in the summer. Blue is the favorite color of most men and of most women. Some version of blue will always be in fashion. And RED, winter needs a red. Red varies from year to year, but Christmas and Valentine's Day dictate that we need red. Sometimes it's a dark deep red. Sometimes it's a bright red.

Young people look good in every color. Very few grown-ups look good in yellow. 50% of the colors you like actually look good on you. However, if you don't like a color, it probably doesn't look good on you. Don't buy it, even if it is in fashion.

Not everybody wants to wear black. Dark brown and dark blues (like navy) are acceptable alternatives. Dark brown is sometimes harder to find than navy blue. If you are not a person who wears black, then buy the brown or blue that you love (in a basic piece) when you can find it.

Girls like flowers. Flowery prints are usually fine in summer when flowers bloom.

Pearls and diamonds are timeless. Bling is fun. Silver and gold will never go out of fashion.

And, look to the President's wife. If she wears it, it's in fashion. If it won't look good on her, it won't be in fashion. Trendy colors (like yellow) change every time we have a new First Lady, and they stay around (in different versions) until we have another new First Lady.

Buy Less

One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to become less of a consumer.

Less is More

One of the ways that I am going to do this is to buy less yarn. When I do buy yarn, I am going to make sure that I use it, and also use the same amount, or more, of the yarn I already have. Here is the first project I made this year from yarn that I already had. It is a 36-inch square crocheted baby afghan.

I used Free SmoothFox's Lemony Lime Citrus Square 12x12 pattern by Donna Mason-Svara.

Reduce - use what I have so that I have less

ReUse - we already do this (with water bottles and stuff)

Recycle/Upcycle - we do this a little too, but am going to make an effort to do more upcycling

The Thinker

I could always tell when my dad had had ENOUGH. He would sit down, put his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands, and run his fingers through his hair, once, from front to back. There would be a long loud exhale. And with a deep breath, he would look up and calmly give instructions. My brother and I, and the two younger kids from his second marriage; we knew to do exactly what he said, quickly, earnestly, immediately. (My dad is an amiable. It takes a lot to get him upset. We were kids. We would push him right to the edge.)

Happy New Year

Set new goals.

Made new New Year's resolutions.

Wrote a detailed plan that will enable me to succeed.

I love lists.