The inspiration to beat stress with busy fingers, and also find joy in keeping them so, certainly comes from my mother.
For more than fifty of her 70 odd years she bore the difficulties of her life stitching away almost like Penelope. She smocked and sewed and crafted the most wonderful creations for the children of the extended family. She found pleasure in trying out a new recipe (though she lived all alone!), or in putting to practice a cooking hint that she may have found in a local magazine.There was a child-like enthusiasm in her learning and everything from a new cooking vessel to a new thread excited her.
She was a poor teacher though and never had the patience or tact to teach anything. It was merely by watching her that I learnt to cut and sew and cook and even clean. She had rules for herself for everything she did, and rarely did she break them. Most of the time she was answerable only to herself, having become a widow at 29 with only 4 small children to please. I now realize that she tackled the sad and stressful events of her life trying to enjoy what she HAD to do almost as much as what she liked to do!
Her work was largely unnoticed. Her four daughters and six granddaughters and two great-granddaughters were spoilt by her beautiful smocked clothes. Mostly they were taken for granted, and we never bothered to preserve her painstaking work. Looking back, one and a half years after her death, as I fill my days cooking and cleaning and stitching for my family, I think I have with me the greatest treasure that she could have handed down... my busy hands!!
She was a poor teacher though and never had the patience or tact to teach anything. It was merely by watching her that I learnt to cut and sew and cook and even clean. She had rules for herself for everything she did, and rarely did she break them. Most of the time she was answerable only to herself, having become a widow at 29 with only 4 small children to please. I now realize that she tackled the sad and stressful events of her life trying to enjoy what she HAD to do almost as much as what she liked to do!
Her work was largely unnoticed. Her four daughters and six granddaughters and two great-granddaughters were spoilt by her beautiful smocked clothes. Mostly they were taken for granted, and we never bothered to preserve her painstaking work. Looking back, one and a half years after her death, as I fill my days cooking and cleaning and stitching for my family, I think I have with me the greatest treasure that she could have handed down... my busy hands!!
