Droughts

Sundays are a day for rejuvenation.  A time that is sacred for our family.  It's the only day all week that we have no where we HAVE to be.  It's a day for sleeping 'til 8:00 and making a real breakfast, for taking time to visit with each other and laugh, for choosing what we want to do, not what we need to do.  It's exactly what I need to conquer the oncoming week.

Dust bowl - drought

Last night we watched a documentary on PBS by Ken Burns (I love PBS and Ken Burns).  It covered the history of the dust bowl that took place during the 1930's in the corners of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas.  I have always been intrigued about what could cause such a horrible disaster and how mankind could set themselves up for such pain and suffering.  I now understand the history behind it.  It was the perfect storm - the wheat price booming at the end of the 20's and the jump in production because of this, the crash that started the Great Depression and the bottom falling out on wheat prices which increased production even more, the previous years that saw more precipitation than normal for that region and the confidence it gave new farmers, the industrialization of farming and the ability to plant and harvest many more acres than before, and all of this followed by years of unprecedented drought.  What hardship these people faced - physically and emotionally.  How the lack of rain produced a lack of money and no way to really fix the situation.  There were no answers.  There was no help.  All they could do was wait for rain and hope that they could merely survive. "If it rains..."

As I laid down to go to sleep, I got thinking about "droughts".  It seems like we all have droughts in our lives - in one way or another.  Some are self imposed.  Just like the farmers who pushed their land beyond what it could maintain and support, there are times when we push our own limits to the point of self deprivation.  Other droughts we have no solutions for and just have to hope that we will survive.  I thought back on the lovely day I had enjoyed and realized that I had spent the day ending a few droughts.

My mother always encouraged us to be creative.  Whether that was through theatrical productions, dancing on the patio, or creating some kind of art, she wanted us to learn how to creatively express ourselves.  I find my outlet in sewing.  I took many 4-H classes and have always enjoyed working with fabric.  Looking at my cupboard, one might call it an obsession.  With life being busy, as of late, I haven't taken much time to be creative - especially not with my sewing machine.  Yesterday I found time to work on some projects.  I finished up a dress that I started months ago.  I found a vintage pattern at a thrift store and fell in love.  Lucky for me, once I finished and tried it on, I fell in love again.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  Now I just need a place to wear it.

I also constructed another day to night dress.  If you are interested, you can  check it out under the re-purpose tab.

One of the droughts that is out of my control, is the scarcity of time that all of my children are under one roof.  Sunday is usually a day that we get rejuvenated because Em comes home to do laundry.  Sometimes she is in a hurry and hustles away as soon as her clothes are folded.  Yesterday, she hung around for awhile.  Since I was upstairs sewing, they all ended up playing UNO up in my bedroom.

All of them laughing and playing together is a joy to this mom.  It was definitely refreshing!

Come rain or shine, life is an ongoing experiment with adjustments needing to be made constantly - at least for me.  I guess I don't have it all figured out yet.  I am just grateful for times when it is made apparent that some tweaking needs to happen. And for those things out of my control, I will be more grateful for the times the wind shifts in my favor.