Windows

I've always loved windows. But I don't think I've ever taken the time or the energy before to think of why I do. The windows are a frame from the inside, and a frame from the outside. When a person is outside in the night and dark and cold, they look into a house and see warm light shining on the faces of the people inside, and they want to be there too. The frame of the window makes the people inside look like people posing for a portrait with contrasts in darks and lights. A person looking outside is separated from the elements outside. They see the rain slanting down the glass, and they are happy that they are inside and warm, and not out in the cold and wet.

The windows have glass in them. The glass separates, as well as connects. It separates in that it makes so that a person inside does not feel the same elements that are outside, and vice versa. It connects, because something can go through the glass—sunshine. Sunshine is the bridge which brings the outside inside; the reaching warm arm. It only reaches in sideways as it slants around buildings and trees, finding its angular way through someone’s unveiled window. They bask in the sunshine, letting it soak into their fingers, watching it illuminate the leaves of a potted plant, smiling while it bathes in blond the hair of their children.

Sideways light comes only in the morning and the evening, coloring the sky with purples and gold, shining sideways through the leaves of the trees, illuminating their sides in winter. The air is golden and the light catches and holds a hand, a leaf, or an ear, glowing bright pink and gold. Windows are the oculus: the eyes that allow the eyes of humans to give and take, exchange with the world on the other side of the glass. 

City Lights, City Sights

I never thought I would love this city. Growing up, I was always convinced that I was a country girl, then and forever. But maybe... I'm an "everywhere" girl. Because with every day that I walk these sidewalks and look into these faces, I am more and more convinced that for now at least, this is where I belong.

What follows is a little account of one of the reasons why I love this place--the unique, sometimes comical, and (maybe for the first time in my life) real presence of the people who live here.

Carrie comes through the front door chucking. “I met that weird guy again today.” She throws her backpack on the floor, slides onto the couch, and kicks off her shoes all in one semi-fluid motion. That “weird guy” was the same one that she had met on the COTA bus three weeks before, and had gotten off a stop early because she was afraid that he would try to follow her home. He had sat next to her and drilled her with personal questions about who she was, where she was, and where she was going.

            “He seems less creepy, though,” she says. “I know now that he legit gets off at my stop, and he didn’t recognize me. Maybe he’s just super friendly?”

            One week later, I meet the “weird guy.” I sat in an inside seat near the front of the bus on the right side. A girl with a purple sweater from Old Navy sits down next to me.

            “I have that sweater,” I say.

            “That’s cool! It’s the time of year for it.” She smiles. I smile back. We both face forward. The bus lurches over the uneven pavement as car sounds, music sounds, and dim people sounds drift through the bus’ stalwart walls. But we are silent.

            A small man with grey hair comes on the bus, muttering to himself as he fumbles with his bus pass, shoving it into an old wallet covered in a random assortment of torn and dirty stickers. He looks at me. “Hello girl.”

            “Hello.”

            He nods to the girl sitting next to me. “How you doing?”

            “Fine.”

            He sits in the seats in front of us, his head angled just slightly more toward us than it should be. After 30 seconds of silence, he turns around. “How old are you?”

            “Twenty.” I say.

            “You?” he asks the other girl.

            “Twenty.”

            “I’m fifty-five. What’s your major?”

            “English.”

            “What’s yours?”

            “Italian and the Classics.”

            “Where do you live?”

            “Close.”

            “Oh my brother he treats me like shit like shit I have to live with him you know what I mean?”

            “That’s too bad.”

            “You live with people?”

            “Yes.”

            “Oh.” He turns around and sits in silence as the bus lurches into motion again.

            The girl and I look at each other with raised eyebrows and shrugs. Suddenly, we are no longer two strangers sitting together on a bus. “So,” I say, “your major’s Italian and the Classics?”

            We near North Broadway, and I pull the cord. The man in front of us stands to get off. The girl next to me looks at me in alarm. “I can get off with you, if you want.”

            “No, I think I’ll be fine. Thank you, though.” We smile and nod a goodbye.

            The man and I wait together at the crosswalk. A lady jogs past us. “Hello, lady!” He turns to me, “she’s good she’s running I like girls some guys they like guys but I like girls you know what I mean?”

            “Yes, I think so.”

            “My brother he treats me like shit some girls are mean you’re not mean?”

            “I sure hope not.” It is taking a long time for the light to change.

            “Some girls they think I’m weird but I’m just being friendly just being friendly know what I mean?”

            “Of course I do.” The light changes. We cross High Street in silence, and, without a word, he turns right at the opposite sidewalk as I turn left. 

Back Again?

It's been a long time since I wrote anything on this blog, and I'm not actually sure if I'm about to start again. If I do, I think it will be as an outlet for me to share stories--things that happen from day to day. This in turn might prompt me to write for real. So... (Allison), stay tuned: maybe some good things are about to happen here.

Christmas!

Ahh... I love it.

The lights, the smells, the fire, the feelings of excitement and anticipation... and Handel's Messiah! What could be better??

That said, something that I've been realizing lately is that things here on earth aren't perfect. Never. Yeah, I've always known that, but sometimes I catch myself unconsciously thinking that someday, if this and this and this happens, things will be awesome. The way it was meant to be. In a word; perfect.

Like if I could somehow get to go to Europe, and see Paris and Rome, Venice and Switzerland... Dude. Is that not what life always lacks?? Ahem. Yeah. Been there, done that. And don't get me wrong -- it was awesome. It's just that I was semi-consciously expecting it to be something more than awesome. And... it wasn't. Turns out that those places aren't the land at the end of the rainbow after all. In fact, they are places filled with people that are human. Just like the American variety. Moral of the story: nothing is perfect. And what's more; sometimes the things that you don't expect to be very exciting at all turn out to be more perfect than you ever would have imagined. I guess the secret is to let life be less than perfect -- cause it will anyway -- and enjoy to the fullest the goodness that we do have. Shucks, if things were perfect now, we'd have nothing to look forward to! Anyway. That would be a rabbit trail that I didn't intend to go off on.

So, I've got news, family! Yeah. I've reformed. Are you scared? Basically, I've been enjoying some country music... Scandalous, isn't it? Oh well, you'll forgive me ;). Oh, and this is devoted to my oldest little brother. You know why ;).

random craftiness... plus persimmons

you notice that when i say craftiness, i mean the type that includes glue and wire and pliers... not soon-to-be criminal behavior. maybe to clear up the confusion, i should call it something else. like... craft-creation. or craftliness (you understand, the T makes all the difference). or maybe not. but i will think of something... someday ;). 

but anyway, i have in this here post some of the things i've been working on (hence the craftiness) and some stuff that's totally random (hence the random persimmons). 

i made this candle out of cheese wax from some of the cheese we had on the train in poland... with a wick made out of vegetable hemp. and the crazy part of it all is: it burned. well. even i was surprised.

persimmons!!! i've fallen in love with these crunchy/juicy nectary things :D. methinks i'll be planting a persimmon tree when i get back home... maybe. these are growing from our landlord's tree, which i can see from just outside my window. 

and... drumroll please... more earrings. and the wire frame that i made to hang them on. and a mat that i made out of palm leaves. more to come with that. 

hehe... and RANDOM!! do you see the poodle? i was sitting in my chair one day, 'doing school', when i looked up, and in a flash of brilliancy, said, there's a poodle sitting on that roof! brilliancy, indeed ;).

have you ever noticed what happens to clemintines when you hold them up to the light?  this is stained glass window material!

and, more earrings. because i just don't get tired of them ;)

and... my next brewing project. 

fun with charcoal and mirrors.

and... that's all, folks! happy tuesday! (for 10 more minutes ;))

Thanksgiving

yeah. that's what i'm feeling right about now.

for so many things.

for my family:

my awesome brothers at the artificial lake in Central Park in New York City this summer.

and for my amazing second family:

we spent an afternoon in the park... to do school. yeah. like that happened ;).

*Disclaimer: most of these pictures are actually not my own. they are the legal property of my new sister Hannah. thanks! my little sugarplum ;).

but it was super, super fun :D.

we play hooky with style. (and no, i don't really wear those glasses. i found them in the street)

for animals:

the shepherds (is a horse herder a shepherd?) keep some of their horses in the park to graze. this particular one was actually kind of snippy ;). 

my cute little kitties... who have long since grown up and moved on. 

for the places i've been able to go and the things i've seen:

those would be some Swiss Alps. and some glaciers. and a mountain stream. and some delicate little wildflowers. yeah. perfect is what it's called. 

methinks this is pretty self explanatory. 

one of the many, many, many crazy ornate ceilings in the Vatican Museum. talk about inspiration.

me being eaten by a 3000 year old persian minotaur. 

for new friends:

the wise, inspiring Klodis... love you, darling!

for my wild and wonderful life:

do you see Mr. Invisible?

i'm what you call a wall pulverizer. really. i'm a female Chuck Norris. 

ancient castles that no one cares if you sit on... lovely.

 my life is beautiful, wonderful, blessed. thanks, God. 

hello, blog world!

And, hello. As you can see in the header, I'm planning on using this as a craft-ish type blog... We'll see how it goes.

So. I suppose I'll get started by telling a little about my life, and what's been happening to me lately. I've been living for the last 4 months in Albania with a missionary family, and in a few weeks, I get to go home for Christmas! Yay! And it's actually due to the prompting of my fake sister Hannah (who has a pretty cool blog herself. Check it.) that I decided to make a blog for myself. I have a dream that someday I'll open my own little quaint coffee shop/handmade jewelry/craft shop someday... not sure whether that's just wishful thinking or not. But I figured that if I get enough visitors to my blog who take an interest in the things I make... well... maybe it's possible. If not, I just might make an etsy for myself. I just might regardless ;).

And now, for the grand ribbon cutting for my new little blog, how's about a little whet-your-appetite look at the earrings I've been making for the Christmas Bazaar:  

I know this isn't a very good picture if you want to see an actual "these are my earrings", but, t'will come later ;)

I'm pretty proud of these. They're actually made out of ring forms, and I did what I do best -- using something for the purpose it was not intended. Oh, how I love to create :D. 

Goodbye blog world! Hopefully I won't forget about you ;).