Check out the companion book for the Headline Calendar tapestry in the Written section.
Author Archives: Romy
No More Dogs!
I never set out to have a menagerie of animals, we had one dog growing up and it ended badly; what my parents didn’t spend on neutering him they spent on euthanizing him. My parents made a point of dissuading me any time I mentioned the idea of having a dog of my own. But here we were a house full of dogs, a cat and horses.
Desert Storm
When you are raised by parents who experienced World War II in Germany you get told a lot of stories about what went down during that period. One of those stories was how the German officials came and vetted your family to see if they had any Jewish blood in them. My Father had a close call when it was found out that his Great Grandfather’s first name was David, which being a Jewish name had raised a flag. It turns out not to be the case so his family was spared a trip to the gas chambers. Although given that my Father later develops a form of leukemia primarily found in eastern European Jews, they might have been wrong about that.
A Thousand Hours
This is how long it took me to complete the cross-stitch tablecloth of Hungarian dancers. I meticulously tracked every one of those hours, counting four by four threads to fill in the 1m x 1m cloth. Any imperfections would ripple across it and ruin the finished work. So in the energy and enthusiasm of youth I toiled through every one of those thousand hours.
Epiphany
By this point in my drafting career I was the right-hand of the project supervisor responsible for checking every single drawing that was produced by the group and making sure all of the materials to be purchased were correct. My boss had relied on me and entrusted me to the point that he called me his “Petal”.
Headline Calendar Epilogue
August 20, 2014 the final day in the year of the headline calendar project, amazing. Personally it was not a very good day for me as the day started by finding out that the herpetic lesion on my eyelid had now spread to my cornea. Then I went to pick up my new glasses happy in the idea that my existing pair had actually remained intact before the new ones arrived for the first time ever only to find out that the glasses were not going to work out, therefore giving my glasses time to break. The weather was bleak and cold, feeling more like fall than summer.
Falstaff’s Lament and Charade
Was the title of the piece being played (and written) by William Beauvais at the Summer Guitar Festival concert Zaia and I were attending that lovely August evening. This was the first time I had attended an event such as this and I only briefly read the programme, going only so far as to read the artists names. Even if I had read the title of the piece it would mean nothing to me. I was simply an enthused listener awaiting the music ahead. We were able to have front row, center seats as only the students and guests attended the concert.
Visitation Rights
It had been twelve years since I had left my parents and I found myself thinking about when if ever I would see them again. I imagined that I would be seeing a frail old man or old woman and suddenly realizing that they were my parents. This thought would lead me to call them up and ask if they were interested in talking. They thought about it and decided that they would allow this to happen.
I’m so sorry, what a shock
Was the way I found out my Mother had died. This was the Facebook message from an old childhood friend to my husband’s page, a friend who had only recently reconnected with me after an over thirty year separation.
I knew immediately it was my Mother as I had, quite by coincidence, found out that my Father was dying. So the “shock” had to be in reference to her not him. His was pending, eighty days later as it turned out.
World Cup 2010 Spain vs. Holland
The stage is set for the world cup final between Spain and Holland, our friends have arrived, the TV is on and the menu has been decided.
In honor of Holland we would start with Oliebollens, a delightful deep-fried fritter dusted with icing sugar. In honor of Spain, a Paella was ready to be prepared for dinner after the game.