Blocks of Time

Over this past winter I have been creating these quilt block hangings from quilt blocks made by grandmother, Deedee mom, Audrey Mae Bonner. My grandmother was a quilt maker and these blocks were part of her precious belongings passed on to me by my father after she passed away September 6, 1976. She was born on July 17, 1902 in Argos, Indiana. She was 74 years old when she passed away in Santa Clara, California, where she had lived for many years. My last visit with her was in early 1973, before traveling to Anacortes, Washington, where I would live and raise my children for the next 20 plus years. Deedee mom had just returned from the hospital and I and my two young babies, ages nine months and three years, stayed with her for about a month. Now that I am fully retired and turning 76 next month, I have found creative time to honor her quilt blocks by framing them in various colors of fabrics. Her quilt blocks here are hand stitched. The white muslin fabrics are made from flour sacks she would save. As a child and young adult I learned to sew and quilt from her. These hangings have been gifted to family members.

Calling All Grandmothers

We have to live differently or we will die in the same old ways. Therefore I call on all Grand Mothers everywhere on the planet to rise and take your place in the leadership of the world. Come out of the kitchen out of the fields out of the beauty parlors out of the television. Step forward and assume the role for which you were created: To lead humanity to health, happiness and sanity. I call on all the Grand Mothers of Earth and every person who possesses the Grand Mother spirit of respect for life and protection of the young to rise and lead. The life of our species depends on it. And I call on all men of Earth to gracefully and gratefully stand aside and let them (let us) do so. —Alice Walker Resources NPR Interview with Alice Walker, 2010 A Blade of Grass

By The Scent of Water Alone

By the scent of water alone, the withered vine comes back to life, and thus ... wherever the land is dry and hard, you could be the water; or you could be the iron blade disking the earth open; or you could be the 'acequia', the mother ditch, carrying the water from the river to the fields to grow the flowers for the farmers; or you could be the honest engineer mapping the dams that must be taken down, and those dams which could remain to serve the venerable all, instead of only the very few. You could be the battered vessel for carrying the water by hand; or you could be the one who stores the water. You could be the one who protects the water, or the one who blesses it, or the one who pours it. Or you could be the tired ground that receives it; or you could be the scorched seed that drinks it; or you could be the vine, green-growing overland, in all your wild audacity ...

Untie the Strong Woman Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD

A Prayer from The Night Chant A Navajo Healing Ceremony

House made of dawn. House made of evening light. House made of the dark cloud. House made of male rain. House made of dark mist. House made of female rain. House made of pollen. House made of grasshoppers. Dark cloud is at the door. The trail out of it is dark cloud. The zigzag lightning stands high upon it. An offering I make. Restore my feet for me. Restore my legs for me. Restore my body for me. Restore my mind for me. Restore my voice for me. This very day take out your spell for me. Happily I recover. Happily my interior becomes cool. Happily I go forth. My interior feeling cool, may I walk. No longer sore, may I walk. Impervious to pain, may I walk. With lively feelings may I walk. As it used to be long ago, may I walk. Happily may I walk. Happily, with abundant dark clouds, may I walk. Happily, with abundant showers, may I walk. Happily, with abundant plants, may I walk. Happily on a trail of pollen, may I walk. Happily may I walk. Being as it used to be long ago, may I walk.

House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/n-scott-momaday Prayer from the Navajo Winter Healing Ceremony translated by Washington Matthews in late 1900’s.

The Value of Books: A Dedication to my mother, who passed away december 25, 2015. Her birthday is January 31, she would have been 93.

August 2010 Family Reunion Anacortes, Washington

One of my first early role models as a child outside of my family and my first book read as a child was a biography titled “Jane Addams Little Lame Girl”. The book was part of a series of books my mother would buy for us every week. They were offered for a time at the local grocery store. This one was written by Jean Brown Wagoner. The collection was titled Childhood of Famous Americans. 

https://www.simonandschuster.com/series/Childhood-of-Famous-Americans

In high school I did written reports about Addams lifes work from her autobiography titled, “Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House”. Published in 1910. Part of my MA thesis was related to her influence on my life, along with many others, and most importantly was Dr Maria Montessori. As I reflect now I feel gratitude to my mother for her efforts in building a little library of books for her children over the years. Reading was difficult for me. As a young child I had a speech therapist and was in special reading programs through middle school. I had many unkind and unfavorable experiences from teachers throughout my school years unfortunately. I believe these experiences and my learning disability is what led me to the alternative and transformational work of Dr. Montessori. I was always struggling to keep up and feel value in myself. I now realize those early experiences is why I persevered through my years of study at our community college and on to Pacific Oaks College, where I received my BA and MA in Human Development, with three specializations in Education and Parenting. As a young mother I struggled with my marriage and finding a place of service in the world, while raising my young daughters. I very soon began educating myself at various levels. I had many different jobs for a while including working on a farm, and being a cook in a restaurant. This was all necessary as my marriage collapsed and I became the head of the household after my husband was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1976. It was that year that I began my education as best I knew how and with a great deal of support from my family and friends. The Montessori training that I completed in 1979 was a correspondence course, with a practicum at the University of Santa Barbara. After completing my Montessori Certification, I went to work for the Sminomish Tribe in their Headstart Program. I found a place of acceptance, I was respected, and could do this work and care for my children at the same time. I needed to continue my education however, and in 1980 I began working at home developing a licensed in-home child care program, while at the same time raising my two daughters and going to community college. My relationship with the dear people of Swinomish continues. In order to conplete my goal of continuing my education I needed to support myself. I rented space and developed a creative and eclectic Montessori program, Children's House Child Development Center, through spring of 1997. I think Dr. Montessori would have loved it! While continuing my BA and MA work at Pacific Oaks College and my work with children, our little program went on a field trip in the early spring 1991 to visit the Samish Tribe Art Store in Anacortes where I lived and worked and raised my children. During our field trip and visit I was invited to talk with the Samish Nation about myself and my projects with children and families. Surprisingly, I was invited and humbly honored to help them develop their Samish Longhouse Preschool. This program would be developed through the tribe's resources and through a state ECEAP grant that would provide preschool and parent education to families. (Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program). I worked with the beloved Samish people from the fall of 1991 through 1996. The Samish Longhouse Preschool and ECEAP Program recieved a five state award recognition from Soroptimist International for its progress in the development of women's education. I continue to have wonderful life long relationships with the dear families and Samish people I worked with during those years. Then in 1997, a year and a half after the shock of my sister Diana's passing, I took a position working in the field of mental health with Skagit Mental Health Children and Family Services. It was there that I recieved my license and internship as a mental health practitioner, specializing in children's mental health. At the time I was hired to work with a state grant program to support young children and their families suffering and in need and struggling with ever so much. That work led me to an invitation to apply for a faculty position at our community college in the Early Childood Education Department, which I did and served for over 15 years at Skagit Community College. There I had the privilege of sharing my life’s work of supporting children and adults in learning to learn, to read, and to fall in love with their own individual curiosity for learning and creating for themselves. Just as my parents lovingly did for me all of my life. NOTE: It was at Skagit Mental Health Services that I was blessed to work with and meet my future husband, Chuck Britt, who was serving there as a family therapist. Life is most mysterious, wonderous and magical in so many unexpected ways. This site on the Hull House museum and the women’s history site both describe Addams work as an advocate for peace and her work with immigrants, which began in her home, and would later become “Hull House” in Chicago.

 https://www.hullhousemuseum.org/about-jane-addams

  “Jane Addams wrote articles and gave speeches worldwide promoting peace and she helped found the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in 1919, serving as its president until 1929 and honorary president until her death in 1935. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in 1931, the first American woman to receive the award.”

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/jane-addams

 

 

Spiritual Development through Education

 

I first learned about Dr. Maria Montessori in 1970 after the birth of my first daughter. I fell in love with her writing and understanding of children. I purchased all of her books. I learned about observation and the prepared environment. Montessori wrote that the things a child sees within their environment are not just remembered but actually form a part of the child's soul. My discovery of Dr. Montessori led me to complete the written and practicum course work necessary to receive my certification as a Montessori Teacher for children ages 2-6. It began with my children, both my young daughters were taught at home using the Montessori principles. Many of the materials I made as part of my course work, some I purchased. Because I struggled in school with reading support, I wanted to make sure my daughters were reading when they entered kindergarten. They did and I didn't need to worry about them. As a young child our grand daughter called the materials used in my daughter’s home schooling program "mommasorri tools". She was six when she drew this sweet baby bird being lovingly fed by it’s parents.

“An education capable of saving humanity is no small undertaking; it involves the spiritual development of man, the enhancement of his value as an individual, and the preparation of young people to understand the times in which they live.” Dr. Maria Montessori.

Those Lovely Sisters

My sister Diana on the right, her birthday was January 18th. I miss her, her humor, her laugh, her frankness in not letting me get away with anything. She passed away from a heart attack in 1995. I have wonderful memories of camping trips as a child. We would do sketches for the family and sing together around the evening campfires built by my father. Swing Low Sweet Chariot, and the funny song titled Found a Peanut. We learned them in Girl Scouts. We would sell cookies and earn money to go to Girl Scout camp together. Four hours on a greyhound bus to the mountains of the Stanislaus River, a tributary of the San Joaquin River in north-central California. We went two years in a row when we were pre teens. Diana would imitate the wonderful comedian, Red Skelton, and have us all in stitches. These sweet little dresses we are wearing were made by my father. He was a Singer sewing machine salesman for a time and made these for us. He would travel from farm to farm in Colorado, where Diana was born and my mother and grandmother as well. Dad told me he would ride on the back of the farmers tractors selling sewing machines for their wives. He also had a great since of humor. They both loved telling jokes as well as watching movies and after going to a drive-in movie, which we did often on Friday nights, would capture the movie plot in great detail describing the characters to anyone in the family that would listen the next day.

Happy Birthday dear sister. I love you.