National Day of …….

Stand in Respect

On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation deeming June 14 as Flag Day. President Wilson stated, “It is the anniversary of the day upon which the flag of the United States was adopted by the Congress as the emblem of the Union.” He also wrote, “On that day rededicate ourselves to the nation, ‘one and inseparable’ from which every thought that is not worthy of our fathers’ first vows in independence, liberty, and right shall be excluded and in which we shall stand with united hearts.” [courtesy-National Day of Calendar]

I was going to add, nothing more needs to be said, but then I remembered a couple of times in my life that just seeing our flag brought tears to my eyes. One occasion was when I pulled into a funeral home parking lot to pay respects to a very dear friend. The Patriot Guard was standing at attention in two lines I had to pass through to enter the building. I almost couldn’t do it. One has to have an understanding of being a veteran, have a high degree of patriotism, and respect for the men behind the grizzled faces to grasp the emotion that sight filled me with.

The other memory had to do with when I attended Rolling Thunder in Washington D.C. It is held on Memorial Day weekend. 500,000 motorcycles, lots of American Flags, more veterans and a feeling of reverence and peace. Yes, motorcycles and reverence go together in this situation. I recommend it to anyone to experience at least once.

I hope you will fly the flag of this great country today and forget it has a few problems.

06/14/2017 0

How Many Are Too Many?

It’s National Sewing Machine Day. Since there are six working sewing machines in my studio, you can guess this day is important to me. Is six too many? Not at all! My grandson asked me one day about the number of them. I explained each one does one or two things better than the other one does, so yes, I do use them all, at different times of course..

If you asked me, I thought Singer invented the sewing machine. I would have been wrong. The National Day of Calendar tells us skilled cabinet-maker and English inventor, Thomas Saint, received the first patent for a design of a sewing machine in 1790. It was intended for leather and canvas, was never advertised and no evidence of it, other than his drawings, could be found. In 1874, William Newton Wilson found Saint’s drawings in the London Patent Office, made adjustments and built a working model. The London Science Museum currently owns Wilson’s model.

Walter Hunt invented the first American lockstitch sewing machine in 1832.
John Greenough patented the first sewing machine in the United States in 1842.

Growing up, I used a Singer sewing machine that was in a cabinet which sat in front of our dining room window. We pinned patterns to fabric that was laid out on the dining room table. We cut each of the pieces with scissors and pieced our garment together, using lots of pins and maybe tracing paper to mark darts. My older sisters taught me to sew. In high school, I made my first quilt. It was just some squares sewn together.

There are many brands of sewing machines today. They all have a complete line, from rudimentary to computerized ones with many stiches and lots of extra features. Pfaff, Babylock, Elna, Janome, Viking, Husqvarna, Brother, Bernina, and Singer are the ones that come to mind. Then you get into quilting machines; Gammel, Nolting, Innova, Grace, Bernina, and the list goes on. So many to choose from. If you want to buy a machine, talk to your friends for personal recommendations and by all means, go from dealer to dealer to try them out. One fact about sewing machine bobbins. Each one is designed to only work with it’s own brand, and sometimes style,of sewing machine. They are like car parts and not interchangeable. Be sure to buy them from your dealer. Another thought. I suggest you buy your machine from a dealer, not a big box store. A dealer is a constant supply of help and usually classes. Once you walk out of a big box store, you are on your own.

Some sewing machines rarely get used and don’t have a cabinet or spot of their own. My machines each have their own table and I can easily move them around to use the one I want at the time. That’s true of all but my travel machine. That one sits by the back door waiting for the next sew day at my friends, or a new class at one of the local quilt shops. You got it, my sewing machines are more important to me than the television.

06/13/2017 0

Not So Long Ago

It’s National Loving Day. The title of this day has two meanings. It is about love, and about a couple with the last name of Loving. It is an annual celebration that commemorates the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving vs. Virginia. That decision struck down all anti-miscegenation laws, that banned inter-racial marriage, remaining in sixteen U.S. states citing “There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause.”

I had no idea that inter-racial marriage had ever been illegal. I guess I’m not as well versed as I thought. And 1967 wasn’t so long ago, actually during my life-time. I don’t know why they didn’t use a picture of the actual couple that fought the fight. I will show you who they were.

Richard and Mildred Loving

As a young Air Force wife in the early 1970’s, knowing bi-racial couples was common especially when we lived in England. We didn’t think any thing of it. Maybe it was because we were young and the decade of free-love had just happened. I’m not sure the actual reason, but I am sure we thought they were brave and maybe a little “far-out” as the term went back then.

I also remember there being more parental disapproval for dating an opposing religion. My mother taught us that people were people. You liked them because of their merits, and avoided them for the same. Color was not an issue in my house. I’m glad of that thought process, though it did leave me at a disadvantage when it came to understanding why other parents didn’t think the same way. I realize now, my Mom was “hip”.

On a recent trip to The French Quarter in New Orleans, one of the main things I noticed was people were people. There was no apparent concern what race, sexual gender or back-ground anyone was. They were just people. It was a very freeing feeling, one I wished had carried back to western New York state where I live.

As you go about your day give some thought to love; what it means, why you love the people you do, and how you demonstrate it to others. Then add in all the people of different ethnicity who you know and be thankful for Richard and Mildred Loving, that we can choose to love who we want without ever thinking about whether it is legal or not.

06/12/2017 0

You Choose Each Other

Today is National Best Friends Day. What do you consider a best friend? My definition includes things like loyal, accepting, someone I could travel with, someone to share secrets with and best of all, you choose each other because it’s fun and comfortable to spend time together. If your best friend is also a blood relative, you are even luckier.

I am very fortunate. I have best friends in different aspects of my life. I have M.B. who I went all through school with and have stayed in close contact with to this day. We know each others personal life secrets and don’t tell. I have 90-year-old V.B. and 76-year-old K.K. who are older women I can bounce life’s challenges off; they have more experience than I do and can share different view points with me. I have my sewing buddies; three ladies who had very similar childhoods to mine. We talk about current events, our families, and quilting— mostly quilting. We laugh a lot together. I also have a lady friend, J.G., who can often explain other people’s actions to me. And then I have my Blog supporters, N.G., K.P., and R.C.. I’ve never met R.C. but she has a blog and is an author and baker. I’m sure if we had a chance to share a cup of tea or coffee, we could talk for hours about our like interests and hug each other at the end of our visit. I also have three older sisters who I am close to. We can actually travel together and enjoy it. I am truly blessed to have so many close female friends. And let’s not leave out my children, who I can complain to and share the joy of the milestones we all accomplish.

The list wouldn’t be complete without including my husband. When we first met he said, “I don’t care about your past. I am interested in the person you have become because of it.” He has always stuck to that, never questioning or berating me for mistakes or decisions I made before I met him. He is my most loyal supporter and because of his acceptance I have been able to grow as a person. He deserves my trust and loyalty because he treats me the way I need to be treated, not the way he thinks I should be and he let’s me be me.

As I write, or sew, or cook, I have another best friend. My cat, Useless. He is my constant companion, will listen to anything I have to say, warms my lap while I nap or read, and doesn’t argue. He can be a pain about wanting to go out and come back in so many times in an evening, but I never come home to an empty house with him here to greet me. He has a bed in my sewing studio and shares my chair with me, or takes it over is more like it. He’s fourteen now and starting to show his age. That makes me sad.

Today would be a good day to tell your best friend(s) how much they mean to you. Life sure would be empty if we didn’t have our favorite humans to share it with.

06/08/2017 0

Always Chocolate

It’s National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. According to the National Day of Calendar, vanilla ice cream is sold more than chocolate. I’ll have to think about that. It seems when we go for ice cream, there are more chocolate cones in view than vanilla, especially when it is soft ice cream, or custard. But if you think about the fact that pie à la mode usually uses vanilla and sundaes are often made with vanilla, then I guess the calendar information must be right. Really, what difference does it make in the long run.

When I was a kid I always picked chocolate when we went for ice cream and generally still do. My tastes have matured a bit so now I get it with raspberry or marshmallow added, and maybe some nuts too and or some extra chucks of solid chocolate. It was noticed recently that I order the same thing every time we go to Bruster’s for ice cream. To satisfy my friend’s thought process, the next time we were together, I ordered something different. You guessed it. I didn’t like it and regretted my decision and said so. He left me alone after that.

We have a couple of ice cream places near us that make their own hard ice cream. My husband and I will go for a drive and pass three or four other ice cream places just to get the made locally brands. I have a favorite flavor at each place, but both are chocolate based. I purposely don’t look at the calorie boards when choosing ice cream because it is a fact I don’t want to know. Let me enjoy my ice cream in ignorance. I’m sure it wouldn’t taste as good if I knew the reality of how many calories there is in a double scoop chocolate raspberry truffle in a waffle cone. The sun is out, maybe a trip to the ice cream stand is in order today.

06/07/2017 2

Can You Yo-Yo?

Today is National Yo-Yo Day. It is believed that the yo-yo was first invented in ancient Greece because there is a Greek vase painting, from 500 BC, that shows a boy playing with one. It was made popular in America when Donald F. Duncan, Sr. manufactured the Duncan Yo-Yo in the early 1900s. It’s name was first registered as a trademark in 1932. In 1999, the Duncan Yo-Yo was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York and there is a National Yo-Yo Museum in Chico, California.

Today is the perfect day to get out your yo-yos and try your hand at The Sleeper, Walk the Dog, Shooting the Moon, Around the World or Hop the Fence. For those of you that don’t know, those are specific moves you can do with a yo-yo. I never mastered any of them. I was lucky if I could get the disc to roll back up the string at least once. Even though there was always a yo-yo in the toy cupboard, I don’t recall anyone in my family being good at making it do what they wanted.

According to the National Day of Calendar, this day was founded in 1990 in Arcade, NY by Daniel Volk, the date of Donald F. Duncan’s birth in 1892. Volk once worked for Duncan Toy Company as a talented yo-yo demonstrator from 1976-1978, touring the western part of the United States. As a result, he had the opportunity to impart some of his yo-yoing wisdom to two talented comedians, The Smothers Brothers. In conjunction with National Yo-Yo Day, the Hummingbird Toy Company produced the first of several Smothers Brothers brand yo-yos.

To enjoy some real yo-yo talent, you can go to You-Tube and search for The Smothers Brothers Yo-Yo man videos. There are a few good ones. And if you are too young to remember the Smothers Brothers, they will be a treat to watch for a few minutes. If you are trying to come up with a vacation spot to do something different, I highly recommend The Strong, a museum in my area where you can spend more than a few hours, no matter what age you are.

06/06/2017 0

Sue Spitulnik

Writing, Sewing, Travel, and Thoughts

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