Elemental, Part 2
vulnerable but inspired as I hang out with mending
My Dear Good Reader,
It’s still January. After a few days in the 30’s (Fahrenheit), it’s back to single digits. To remain steady as we transition from one year and the next, I continue to celebrate life’s many ‘micro-dramas’1 as I practice, among other things, my ritual compost photographs.
At this point, it’s elemental for me to pay attention to and celebrate overlooked small stuff…and to see the glorious connective web that emerges from these moments…
The way, for example, a glorious rotten log in the early morning dawn
looks strangely like the mending I’d just completed. I know. This seems like an odd juxtaposition, but for me it’s clear - - the collective texture of all those small fissures of rotting wood so like the stitches in the crotch of my favorite gardening overalls.2
And then there was this pinky hue to some textured ice and snow also feeling in the same family as those messy overalls. This, my friends, is my kind of drama - - not just the noticing of any one of these scenes, but also the making of connections between seemingly random moments.
And just for kicks and giggles, what happens when I actually put these three images together?
What do you think - - Am I crazy?
It is elemental for me to see these webs of relationships, the way embroidered stitches on a sleeve tell a story about caring for something beloved in the same way that noticing the texture of a rotting log is all about paying attention to decay and the ongoing impact time has…or the shapes in snow on a golf course bringing life to a potentially desolate open expanse.
We mend and we need mending…and somethings we just need to be.
To Mend: To repair, patch, rebuild. Making whole something that has been damaged.
There is so much that needs mending right now. Where to begin?
Why not ignore the all of it, as I did for two years with this rip in an old flax jacket?
But then there is the web of connection and the strength that comes from bringing disparate pieces back together, or together for the first time.
How cool to make a jacket stronger by mending where it is weak?
And how cool to find meaning in dangerous ice and dirty tracks in the snow by hanging out with them and building community among them?
And what happens when we sit with that idea for a minute or two or three?
It’s elemental, you see, for me to hang out with mending projects this time of year. When it is cold and dark, I keep warm and sane by sewing and finding connection among images and threads…
and the glorious shapes that emerge in snow.
And of course there’s my 4 year old puppy, Lilly, who keeps me company along the way…and all of you.
As always, thank you for sharing this space and your time with me. I am grateful for your companionship. If you know others who might enjoy 13 Tons of Love, please share!
My heart is full when here, creating connections and making meaning with word and image. For me, it’s elemental. What is elemental for you right now?
With gratitude for you being you,
Lyn
Compost was really my first mending project. In fact, mending the soil inspired me to think differently about everything I touched that had once come from the earth and to honor the preciousness of those things, whether an old jacket, bathrobe, or pair of gardening overalls.
How cool is that? Talk about a web of connections! Thank you, food waste.
And what are all these holes about, anyway? There’s an entirely different kind of micro-drama going on here, that’s for sure. Any thoughts? More on elemental elements next week!
My life changed eight years ago when my brother-in-law introduced me to that term, “micro-dramas“- - Those simple yet deliciously compelling small moments in our days that are so often overlooked. There is magic in those moments. I was visiting my sister and just beginning to explore my compost ‘portfolio’ - - a term I didn’t even know at the time. The minute I realized that I was in fact enthralled by the drama of color, texture and shape before in the pile of household food waste, I understood that I was onto something. And here I am…still thinking about and celebrating the all of it!
I purchased these gardening overalls more than a decade ago from The Duluth Trading Company. The most recent mending was to fix a torn section at the edge of some previous mending from a few years ago. Love Visible Mending - - no expectation for perfection and the pure celebration of the realness of a life well lived - - for the overalls and for me.
Gorgeous swirls, and tiny stitches… slow stitching at the Atlantic beach for February. The ripples and swirls of tide pools and mudflats are like your snow and and stitchers.
Huge fan of compost. Textures and colors in your metal bucket inspire me!
My 1 yo pup was on his own for a few minutes, on a day we'd only walked a mile due to his not-yet-wintered footpads. I heard a loud ripping sound (the first was likely missed by with my attention buried in my phone). I found him gleefully shedding a comforter I've despised for 30+ years, one I've been kept from tossing by sentimentalists in my family. While I wanted to congratulate my frenzied friend and rid myself of the ugly comforter, I didn't since my pup likely didn't pick that ugly thing by reading my mind and my adult daughter loves it. Therefore (long story being made longer to get to the point), I am going to use your beautiful and rascally darning examples to make the ugly comforter more interesting... thank you for this beautiful post 🩷