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Donna
I went to visit grandchildren last year, and my ten-year-old grandson immediately wanted to show me something really scary. I followed him to the upstairs bathroom. He cautiously opened the door and pointed to the far sink. He didn’t want to go any further himself. I stepped 
in, and there in the basin were rocks. I looked at the youngster and then reached out toward the rocks. He shouted, “No, don’t touch those. Something is growing on them, and they might poison you.” I quickly withdrew my hand and looked closer. He warned me again, adding, “Aliens touched them.” “Where did they come from,” I asked, “And who put them there?” He told me his older sister emptied her fish tank and put the rocks in the sink. “I haven’t seen her all day,” he added. He said he was afraid the rocks had something to do with her not being around. I assured him I didn’t think that was the case and further that the rocks had barnacle looking growths on them, akin to things that grow over time underwater. I explained to him that I had seen like growths on boats and that his sister was no doubt out having fun with friends.
Ruthann Adams is an art quilter and has been involved in this creative outlet about ten years. “I enjoy the process of creating a picture from a story,” she explained. This year, her efforts are being rewarded with the acceptance of three pieces to be shown nationally in three different nationally acclaimed exhibitions.
“My mother was a quilter, but I never felt I had her needlework skills and so I decided early on I wouldn’t try to compete with her,” Adams noted. She elaborated, “My mother’s quilts were admired by many, including me.”
The stitchery bug bit the girl, but the bite lay dormant for many years until Adams went to a demo of landscape quilts and thought, “I could do that.” She found her niche and has been forging her craft since. Her creativity takes on three-dimensional shapes and is always based on personal experiences resulting in beautiful scenes from her life’s journeys.
Sacred Threads Quilts accepted Ruthann’s rendition of “Grief.” This exhibition appeared in Herndon, Virginia just south of Washington, D.C. for two weeks in July, 2019. Each quilt related to the artist’s spiritual journey.
Time marches on I’ve heard said and it shows vividly in these two pictures taken several years apart. On the left, see the dark-headed baby in my husband’s arms. On the right, that infant is the cutie standing in front on the far left side. She is a freshman in high school as of this writing. It seems like only yesterday these little ones were clamoring all over us. Now, our oldest grandchild is married and going to college. He’s full of idealism and determined to be an orthopedic surgeon.
George Bernard Shaw said, “The most precious thing in the world is youth. Too bad it is wasted on children,” while Robert Louis Stevenson said, “If youth only knew and if old age only could.” “Age is just a number,” I hear people say. I’d prefer to have those numbers on the bottom half of the half-decade mark. I don’t want to be 21 again. Well, maybe I do, but ideally, I’d want to retain everything I’ve learned since those years and avoid the stupid mistakes I made.