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I'm big on handmade vases. I got my first handmade vase at my university. I was an art major, and in roaming the halls I found that the ceramics instructor had left a "free for the taking" table and I found a vase I liked on it. The ceramics instructor was also a farmer, and had recently had an art show that married his two careers in a very natural and inspired way. Of course, if you work with the earth it naturally flows into working with earth!

My next vase was a hand blown glass one I got from Historic Jamestown (I watched them blow it!).

Now that I'm putting together a cut flower garden, I'm actively looking for handmade vases to add to my small collection.

As for things that I make, I've always been a tactile and resourceful person. Some recent loves are hand stitching linen clothes, knitting with soft wool, and kneading sourdough. I love feeling the things that people have touched for millenia before me. It connects me to that heritage and makes their lives more real to me.

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Hand making items isn’t in my gifting, (I can make wreaths! That’s about it) however I have in recent years learned the beauty and value of finding hand made gifts through small businesses, thru Etsy and places like that & I’ve gotten into the habit of searching there first for many needed items. I’ve been on the search for a natural yet lower PUFA lotion for ages and finally found a perfect one from a small farm in Washington! I know it’s crafted with care & attention, it’s healthier and it’s directly supporting a family rather than supporting Amazon or Target!

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I also have a whole slew of hand crocheted blankets by my great grandma... things like knitting and crocheting take so long....admirable and made with love! The best 💞

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As a child I loved making jewelry. I made it into a legitimate business and sold my creations at the beach. It’s hard to do that now as I’m not a cute 8 year old sitting on a towel lol. It’s funny because my upcoming posts actually have a theme of art, beading specifically. I love jewelry as a handmade item because it’s a piece of art that you get to walk around with on your body. Paintings decorate space, music decorates time, jewelry decorates our bodies. Hand-made items are made with intention, and that means something.

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I am wayyyy late with this. Started it the morning of our last(?) Writer’s Hour, but got a phone call midway through the hour and found out that the fit had hit the shan with my local family.

Very good topic, but one too deep to do justice to at this juncture in my life. In brief, the natural world is my touchstone with my Higher Power. Everywhere from the macro images from the new James Webb telescope, to microscopic images of the intricacies of the micro world like the cyanobacteria that, among other things, produced our life-supporting atmosphere and, in between those parameters, the images that float across my brain every day, as I see the trees and wildlife all around me in my small city and along the riverside bike trails.

Speaking of bike trails, I just got back on my bike after health issues, but it had been sadly neglected. Luckily, I got it out of rehab on 7-30-22 and found it a joy to ride, without a clicking sound due to a barely functional derailleur. Besides being annoying, it was real drag on my still recovering physical strength.

In my 80th year on the planet, entropy is catching up with me, but the boost from the “new” bike has given me a psychological boost that makes up for some of the decline.

I’m looking forward to seeing your inspirational contributions on Thursday.

Later, Pete

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Mmm, what a lovely place to find discussion and shares of such lovely things! Thank you for creating this space! I experience lotions/oils for my skin as potions and candles as portals. These items feel so potent and vibrant in my self-care practice and essential to the practice of honoring my spiritual space, so I either make them myself or collect them when I find a loving supplier. Nothing beats smearing my body with handcrafted potions of joy or turning my home into my haven with handcrafted candles of love!

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Is it odd that I’m the only person who can make my eggs? I don’t know why but when I go out I can’t order eggs I literally have to be the one to make them or else I can’t eat them... besides making food at home there’s virtually no benefit to this, but I’m weird like that. 

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