Mid-Spring Musings
Cathy Koos
COVID COVID COVID
By the time you read this, we will be 14 months in to the Covid-19 pandemic. Where were you when the world changed in March of 2020? I am such a Luddite that I keep an actual, paper calendar, so I looked back to see what was going on in my life.
I see that I started isolation on March 8, the day after I went to the Celtic fair in Sonora with my friend Linda. Based on crossed out appointments and social engagements, and the beginning of online grocery orders, my active life as I knew it, came to a grinding halt. For social sustenance, we all turned inward — to our homes, our phones, our books, and the internet. And our stash! We learned to Zoom. Curbside delivery became our new dinners out. We adapted.
I subscribe to The Collation, a provocative blog by Heather Wolfe of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. https://www.folger.edu/ She describes the last few photos taken on her phone before the Folger closed and sent the staff home to distance work. Nothing earth-shattering, just seemingly random, important-at-the-time snapshots. Wolfe calls them “pre-pandemic phone photo fails.”
Last year’s calendar is a strong reminder of how innocent we all were, thinking that worldwide pandemics like the Bubonic Plague and the 1918 Flu were things of the past. Interestingly, the 1918 Flu was likely caused by a mutation of the H1N1 virus; spread and made more deadly by returning World War 1 troops.
With Covid, the spread ramped up quickly because we humans love to travel. Borders closed and Canada and the EU declared the American traveler persona non gratis. To keep us engaged during the pandemic, lots of travel and cruise companies now have virtual online travel shows. In the past, my sister in Pennsylvania and I did meet-up trips, so now we “meet-up” online and travel virtually to Copenhagen, Germany, Shakespeare’s England and more.
A shallow ditch at the Peace Arch park (Blaine, Washington and Surrey, BC) is a tiny meet-up loophole in the US-Canada border closure. Families, friends, and couples suddenly separated by Covid have been meeting up at the park daily for more than a year, even pitching tents during the winter. At the end of the day, however, as long as everyone returns the way they came, park officials are looking the other way. Human need for contact always prevails, be it Zoom, Facetime, or the Peace Arch.
Wikipedia
In Memorium
Mother Lode Handweavers Guild of Columbia, California bids a fond farewell to two longtime members, Jeanne Daney of Sonora and Peggy Morris of Murphys. The guild has chosen to honor their memory by donating $100.00 to CNCH’s Fiber Arts Heritage Fund.
The Pantone Challenge
Don’t forget the Pantone 2021 Color Challenge! This year, Pantone selected two colors, Ultimate Gray and a sunny yellow called Illuminating. Your challenge is to create an item using only those colors and submit a photo of your entry to Del Oro’s Facebook page no later than June 1. Your creation can be woven, knitted, crocheted, tatted, felted, bound into a book – the sky is the limit! Lee Bergman from Del Oro Spinners and Weavers Guild will judge and donate the prize – a gift card to Eugene Textile Center. Submit your pics here: The New Del Oro Spinners & Weavers Guild:
https://www.facebook.com/DelOroSpinners/?ref=page_internal
Online Trawling
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/ While this free, online magazine has nothing to do with textiles, the stories it shares are inspiring, especially this story on embracing and saving the Irish language and words specific to coastal dwellers. Language is a rich fabric that weaves our lives together like a fine tapestry. https://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-short/to-speak-of-the-sea-in-irish/
My son, daughter-in-law and I are planning a post-Covid trip to explore our roots in Slovakia. We have been tediously building out our genealogy using an online service. When we hit a dead-end, John turned to Facebook and found relatives still living in the same tiny village. We have been creating our must-see bucket list, including the painted village of Cicmany. Dating from 1272, this colorful village was declared a monument reserve of folk architecture. Reminiscent of pysanki eggs, and inspired by ancient textile designs, lace-like images are carved into the blackened oak cottages. I love inspiration from obscure sources!
By PMATAS – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36905813