Gifts and stuff

  Sleepless in Miracle House. Up wandering around in the night as my sleep schedule is all wonky. The Redding Brothers thought it was great being a tad nocturnal anyway. The never idle Otis, had brought in a soft knitted happy face ball. It had been out in the porch and now he had it inside. He loves to carry things in his mouth and he spent quite a bit of time carrying it from here to there and back again. It made me think of Momma Bea as she was the one that knitted the ball and a variety of animals have played with it over the years. She used to knit smaller ones as well and even tried her hand at a few mice for cat presents at Christmas. I guess that is what “gifting” is all about. We get to keep certain mementos and think of the people they came from at different times in our lives. I am not a sewer of knitter although many years ago I did a bit of both-just not interested unit these days so no one has ever gotten a knitted anything from me. But I did during my Inukshuk phase give almost all of my friends an Inukshuk, which are just stones glued together and I included little cards that I made explaining how the Eskimos(Inuit?) used these stones to point the way to go to fresh water or some place of interest. Some were even made with a little “window” in them, I wonder if that was a way of surveying? But on second thought I doubt it because there would be no reason to survey anything and much more point in trail markers.(No trees of course so could not make a wooden sign for sure) For several years I paid my way to a Women s camp in Alberta by bringing rocks and glue to camp and becoming an “Instructor”. It saved me a lot of money and lets face it no outfall of cash-rocks are free! And really whats to instruct? But it was fun and I enjoyed it a lot. Funnily I have only one Inuckshuk myself and that is a larger one outside. But as I truck around Kaslo and have a coffee with friends I see many of them on display still and will always have an affinity for them I think. During that time in turn, I received “gifts” concerning these little structures. A book, earrings,pins, and a lovely tote bag. And it all began with a friend that came to stay here starting me off when I had never even heard of them! Thanks Barb Authenac! To this day I have bins of rocks beside my house ready for more building but just have not done any more in years and my friends and I no longer attend the camp in Alberta. But maybe one day I will get back to them, who knows??