Little House Home Arts: June 2020

Too many pictures for one blog, so I decided to do a second part to my last "Remembering Blog". I found it good to see what I had been busy doing the past several years on my blog. It started as an experiment in me sewing while I was on a medical retirement from nursing. I was in treatment for Chronic Lyme and so creating Little House served as a distraction during an experimental long term treatment program for Lyme Disease.

My treatment involved taking Benicar in large doses to eliminate Vitamin D from my body, as it was felt that perhaps my body's production of Vitamin D interfered with my ability to fight off diseases that had been retained in the body's biofilm. The thought was that Vitamin D acted similar to a steroid, and prevented the body's immune system to fight off low grade infections that tended to continue on. So low dosed antibiotics were pulsated, taken on an "on and off schedule" that along with eliminating Vitamin D would perhaps cause better "kill off " of these various "hard to kill chronic bugs in my biofilm.

Treatment was to last 3-5 years, though my regular provider was forced to abandon his patients and was routed to another clinic, so was no longer around to help me wean off this protocol in a safe fashion. The loss of my provider in the middle of this protocol, meant seeking another quickly. As we wore special dark glasses to prevent our bodies from creating our own Vitamin D when stimulated by light and wore long sleeves, people in small communities knew all in their small towns who dressed like this, and made it easier to track down those in treatment especially as I traveled around to different towns in Vermont to sell my pincushions. In this way I was able to track down patients treated by my doctor and networking with them was able to find a future doctor willing to treat me further. I continued this Marshall Protocol using a second doctor in Massachusetts. My treatment continued for eight years total, so Little House Home Arts continued on as well and my oldest daughter and husband took over doing sales and craft shows in limited numbers each year. I needed to live in low lux light or wear dark glasses and the sales became too exhausting! My sewed creations continued and was the distraction I needed during this long-lasting treatment. Here are more pictures of my continued creations, truly my occupational therapy during this time! Fortunately I was not contagious and my sewing became a real blessing for me!

Pet pincushions.

Owls, blooming cactus pincushions, owl scissor holders
that when inserted made eye glasses for their big eyes,
ice cream sundae pincushions and a plain pincushion in a cup.

From pincushions to wool pictures with
embroidery work.

More wool pictures with
embroidery as well as
quilting.

Memory of days past are speaking loudly to me these days. It is one thing to lose something or even someone, but those whose memories have been damaged lose so much more than simply the present. Their past can be tainted and potentially rob others of the good memories of the past.

I am wading through much sorrow these days on many fronts. As I grow older, my friends are incurring life-threatening illnesses and even my husband has experienced a serious crisis that stopped me in my tracks. He suddenly shared with me that he didn't want to be married to me anymore after just celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary. It was devastating, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that something was going on with him that wasn't normal. He agreed to seek counseling and so we are both in the midst of our own individual counseling. What is going on is serious and will require long term therapy, we have been told. Both my husband and I decided to not give up easily on what it has taken us years to build!

After almost five months, there has been what I consider to be a major breakthrough. My husband is appreciating that his past traumas are affecting his present life in a way he has never experienced before, creating misunderstanding in his communications. He just caught himself in the midst of misplacing his frustration and anger where is doesn't belong, corrected himself and apologized. This is a major! My hope for his recovery is positively reinforced. His therapy is working and at a miraculous pace!! I have new hopes for a future I had never doubted before.

This last Memorial Day was sad as we couldn't celebrate the weekend in our usual small town ways largely due to Covid19 and all the changes it has created in our community. Parades and other social gatherings and small town events were all cancelled, but I am not forgetting those that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country, nor am I forgetting good memories shared with my family, though our proud history needs to be un-buried and remembered. I recall memories that need to be celebrated and rekindling hope that normal life will return in the near future. It has been a double whammy to be hit with the corona-virus pandemic and its social isolation all in the midst of our own personal crisis! To be free of both someday, will be huge, as I have a new-found appreciation for all the small things in life that make life worth living!!

I have found it helpful to take time to visit the "fruits" of our marriage, being our two grown daughters and confirm that our family life was wonderful and real! They are my proof and tangible evidence! Many happy memories were shared as a family and they help to validate all we have lived through and for! These celebrations of memories and histories are so critical to the well-being of our country and the values we embrace!! What is occurring with us as a family seems similar to what is happening on a larger scale in our communities, cities and countries.

In the midst of a rather complicated, but simple transaction on line, I found myself sharing with a total stranger, my history of creating Little House Home Arts and referred her to my Etsy Shop. Sadly I am so behind in terms of keeping my present creations listed, but also realized that my wares listed no longer represent all the different mediums I have explored while doing my on-line business. I went to find photos of some of my earlier creations, and found it very validating to see how our home was transformed into a house of multiple sorts of creations and thought you, my readers, might also enjoy some of the pictures I found. I am still not finding some I remembered, but was none-the-less excited to see our former days, not all that long ago, when life was simpler and thought you might enjoy seeing them as well!! These were some very fun and colorful days!!

Life and stress has a way of wearing us all down and most of us are so blessed with memories of past days. It is important to take time to collect these memories about us during such a time as this and remember and hope that life will return to being less complicated, and with new-found appreciation for the small things that add such joy to our living! It is also good to remember values we embraced prior to days of this pandemic as well as days of relative peace, without rioting and so much civil unrest! Did you know that after the Spanish Flu, there also occurred much civil unrest? It gives me hope that our future will have normalcy in it again, as our country has been through this before and recovered!! Do keep your hopes and dreams of better times alive and well!

I hope these pictures will stimulate memories of some of your more care-free, energetic and productive days or give you ideas for future creations to try yourself!! I will split them into groups and spread out my findings in blogs ahead as well! Enjoy!