I don't know what I would do without work. When I write "work," I don't necessarily mean tasks associated with a paycheck or some other kind of exchange for services rendered--though I do include that sort of work, too. My everyday work, the twenty-five years of teaching college writing and literature and the hours that I now spend tutoring students in writing at a community college, has been necessary for me, too. Teaching was frustrating in many ways: the dynamics of university politics, the demands on one's time, the apathy of many students. Yet it also had its rewards: friendships that, while many didn't stand the test of time and distance, helped me grow intellectually and emotionally and now provide me with vivid memories; encounters with people from all over the world; opportunities to travel; the respect and gratitude of many students; the fun of being creatively engaged with my work (I loved organizing my classes and coming up with new ways to communicate ideas).....
But by work, I mean also the extent of one's labor beyond the workaday world, the world of paychecks and time clocks. Gardening is work, hard work, yet it also gives me great satisfaction. I am rewarded not only with the fruit of that labor (as the picture at the top of this post illustrates) but with a consciousness of the seasons that my gardening provides. Here I am in the middle of a large metropolitan area, yet gardening helps me connect with nature, with the earth, and with all the creatures I notice when I'm outside in my little urban garden.
Other kinds of labor sustain me, too. For the past few months, I've been working on two unusual quilts that I've designed for my son and daughter--quilts that I'm making out of recycled and felted wool sweaters. I've cut the sweaters into squares and embellished half of them with needlework. This week, I will complete the squares and then crochet them together to make the quilt. Here are photos of the squares of one as-yet-unassembled quilt, laid out on my queen-sized bed.
I am enjoying the fruits of my labor. The joy is doubled when the fruit is shared!
3 comments:
What lovely tomatoes! My mouth is watering. . . And the quilt is beautiful, Anita. This one must be M-M's.
This quilt is M-M's, but B's is quite like it. I worked on both quilts at the same time and just doubled (or quadupled) each square design. I think I have maybe one more quilt square to make to complete the squares for both quilts. Now comes the more tedious work of sewing blanket stitches around each square and then crocheting the squares together.
I wanted both quilts to have a folk-art look about them. I love how the colors of those tomatoes in the picture at the top of the post are reflected in the pictures of the quilts.
Bring squares with you when you come; I'll help with the blanket stitching, if you like. It'd make me feel good!
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