From the Vault: Sewing
Well, it's almost here: Labor Day. It is fitting that summer unofficially ends with this holiday, for summer is the season of time off or at least slowed down, and on Labor Day, workers get a deserved paid day off. Accordingly, we limp through this last week before Labor Day, soaking up rays of sun during shortening hours of them, planning our Labor Day projects and picnics. In our urban home, we use Labor Day weekend for a decorating project. This year, plans are all set to update the living room, but we'll take a break to eat some barbecue, break into the first jar of dill pickles, enjoy a batch of bar cookies.
It’s always with a twinge of sadness that we let summer go but fall is exciting. The autumn equinox seems a long way off but in truth we are already transitioning. Despite July's glare and heat, the days have been shortening since June, and in just a few weeks we will be halfway to (shiver) winter. In Astoria, the first of the fall fruit is appearing at the greengrocer's even as canning supplies are running short. Candles scented with apple and even pumpkin appeared on store shelves this weekend. Carts pushed down aisles were being filled with notebooks and pencils and kids sighted through store windows were being fitted for new shoes.
Back to school shopping always makes me think of my grandmother's sewing porch. She always made us an outfit, which I wore proudly, not comprehending until well into middle school that other kids looked down on that. For me, the sewing porch was as important a classroom as any I encountered from kindergarten straight through to grad school. It was there that I first encountered the mighty Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book, a copy of which I have and use to this day. It was there I learned the importance of concentration, of details and tasks, and that mastering these primary steps leads to the satisfying gift of vision.
As the best learning does, those hours spent on the sewing porch paid off well beyond the classroom years. During early adulthood, having the skill of sewing kept me fed. I will think of my grandmother and her sewing porch this autumn as I see kids climbing into school buses in scratchy new corduroys and those tight new shoes. And in gratitude for the abundance of this time between the first and second harvests, I will support organizations that supply needy kids with school supplies and clothes -- perhaps you will, too.
It’s always with a twinge of sadness that we let summer go but fall is exciting. The autumn equinox seems a long way off but in truth we are already transitioning. Despite July's glare and heat, the days have been shortening since June, and in just a few weeks we will be halfway to (shiver) winter. In Astoria, the first of the fall fruit is appearing at the greengrocer's even as canning supplies are running short. Candles scented with apple and even pumpkin appeared on store shelves this weekend. Carts pushed down aisles were being filled with notebooks and pencils and kids sighted through store windows were being fitted for new shoes.
Back to school shopping always makes me think of my grandmother's sewing porch. She always made us an outfit, which I wore proudly, not comprehending until well into middle school that other kids looked down on that. For me, the sewing porch was as important a classroom as any I encountered from kindergarten straight through to grad school. It was there that I first encountered the mighty Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book, a copy of which I have and use to this day. It was there I learned the importance of concentration, of details and tasks, and that mastering these primary steps leads to the satisfying gift of vision.
As the best learning does, those hours spent on the sewing porch paid off well beyond the classroom years. During early adulthood, having the skill of sewing kept me fed. I will think of my grandmother and her sewing porch this autumn as I see kids climbing into school buses in scratchy new corduroys and those tight new shoes. And in gratitude for the abundance of this time between the first and second harvests, I will support organizations that supply needy kids with school supplies and clothes -- perhaps you will, too.
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