I am sitting here in my living room, dreaming about the 150th celebration for America’s birthday, and I realize my place is pretty quiet. However, celebrating America doesn’t have to include a big picnic, a huge firework overlay, or even the traditional things we associate with the Fourth of July. I think for me this year, it’s going to include something special to watch on TV, an afghan in my hands to crochet, and burnt hotdogs. Yes, I love the burnt ones. A novice at the grill, one not used to those of us who adore burnt hotdogs, will never cook one long enough. He sees a little hint of char on a hotdog, and “my goodness, here it is…”
I became the owner of some new, very lightweight, cooktop pans for my birthday. Here you see them sitting on top of my stove, but you also will notice a little, old pan I have saved out just for the purpose of burning a couple of hotdogs.
Some families have recipes. You won’t need mine for hotdogs.
Some families have old photographs.
Some families treasure special sayings. My family has all of the three. My son and his buddies had one saying that made them laugh every time: “It cannot be unseen.” And that saying didn’t even have to apply perfectly. Something odd, something funny, something a little ridiculous would happen, and one of them would say, “Well, it cannot be unseen.” They took turns seeing who could drag out the E the longest ………..(unseeeeeeeen)
I was thinking about that because I made an afghan called Adrienne’s Philly Rose. I have a habit of naming every granny afghan, and I try to match the colors to a thought to the person. Adrienne grew up in Philadelphia with the last name of Rose, but now she lives with her son in Boca Raton. When I asked her what color afghan, she immediately chose a pink one. So I saw pinks and greens and love. She had shown me the Atlantic ocean years ago, so I made her a card with Ai, a shot of my stitchery, and an imaginary palm tree on the beach. When my creation arrived in Boca, her son looked at it and said he didn’t know his mom had wanted a watermelon afghan.
And there it was. Pink centers, the image of seeds where the spaces are, and cream and green rind. It could not be unseen.
Now I still know what I meant when I made it, and she loves it, which is what matters, but I will admit when somebody said watermelon, my eyes did start cooperating with them.
My mother used to say “pretty is as pretty does.“ I think she wanted me to remember that beauty is not just what people see first. It is what they discover after they know you a while. I made Iona's Ozark Dawn for my beautiful cousin’s special birthday. If ever there could have been an image of both "pretty and pretty does," these girls are it! My cousin placed it near a picture of our grandmother, that beautiful woman you see who is crocheting at the Lake of the Ozarks. Seeing it there felt just about right: A handmade creation under a photograph of a handcrafted life.
My Gramma Herrington always advised if we were happy…or maybe even sad, to go paint something red. Today I’m thinking about the time we went out and painted an old pump on her porch. I sure don't remember why I was angry, but I do recall how much that vivid, red country pump accented a heavy, wrought iron pot hanging from it. Gramma planted our therapy full of petunias, pink and red, with an occasional bachelor button thrown in for fun. Now.. the place my gramma lived belongs to a new couple, dear friends and neighbors. I made them a housewarming afghan called Marshall Road Morning. I wish them many happy Marshall Road mornings in their future.
This spring we welcomed a brand new, baby cousin into our family, and I created a little orange, cream, and tan afghan called Bodie's Dinosaur Dream.
A saying doesn’t have to belong to us first to become part of our story. Sometimes it just settles in. Sometimes it makes us laugh, but sometimes it brings comfort or advice. Some phrases become a little thread running through the whole blanket. And once you see that, I guess it cannot be unseen. If you have watermelon at your picnic on Saturday, think of my little pink afghan in Boca Raton. Have a Happy Fourth…. Paint something red, white, and blue!
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