Jude's tag

I read the blogs of quilt artist Jude Hill, Spirit Cloth and What if, and I really love her work. I feel that she has an aesthetic sense that springs from a clear inner voice.
Today she posted a meme and invited her readers to tag themselves, and I wanted to, so:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
I must have been preparing for my exam at Roskilde University in Denmark. I was writing a project about stereotypes between Danes to the Faroese, after having spent a few months living in Torshavn with a friend and schoolmate. We were really nervous about our project and the exam, and we got an "8", which is like a "C" I guess, but we were so releaved. Our teacher said "This is not the highest grade I've given, but these are the biggest smiles I've gotten today."

2. Five things on my to do list today?
Clean floors, do laundry, hang laundry out, take laundry in (everthing deserves it's own point, doesn't it?), spend some time focusing on playing with my Moosh and not doing or thinking about anything else (a project I'm working on).

3. Snacks I enjoy.
My big thing right now is raisins drenched in tahini. I eat it as dessert, usually twice a day. It's also watermelon season. Cashews.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Have a garden (and a gardener to help me), have a 100% industrial chemical free home and diet (i.e. organic cotton futons on a bamboo floor mat, untreated wooden toys and furniture for my Moosh colored with natural pigments...you get the idea), find a Montessori-trained wonderful grandmotherly type to play with my Moosh three times a week while I work on my thesis, visit family more often, or maybe preferably bring them here to us, hire a organizing coach to help me declutter, and then somebody to help me clean(at a respectable rate, of course), get a massage every week, do lots more crafts (while the grandmotherly type was playing with Lillian and the cleaner was cleaning).
Well, these are things I'd do for myself. There are lots of things I could do for other people and to support good causes. I'd like to make sure our families are taken care of, support Baha'i-inspired and other small local development initiatives. Just help people out when a little cash flow could release some good energy.
This is the kind of question that you can think about for a long time, because it forces you to think beyond what you normally feel are the limitations on your life. And you might be mistaken. A friend of mine also suggested making a list of things you'd do if you knew you would not fail.

5. Places I've lived
Gambia, Liberia, California, Missouri, Denmark, Israel. There are places I've stayed for several months, but I guess I was really a visitor.

And because it's been a while here is a photo.



And a story. As we left the hospital, a couple and their toddler were being admitted and moving into our room. The little girl was fussing in her stroller, and the couple seemed tense. As we walked away, Moosh said "baby sad" and "baba sad". I agreed and asked if we should say a prayer, and she chose a healing prayer that we often say with her. So I recited it as we walked out, and then she asked me to say it again. Then later, when we were talking about the day she brought it up again. And I made a mistake telling her that we'd said the prayer for Baby Celia, another child we met there, and she corrected me. I was surprised that she knew which prayer we should say and how well she seemed to understand the significance of saying a prayer for someone. But I do believe little ones have more unclouded spiritual susceptibilities, so I really shouldn't be surprised.