Claudia — Page 1638

What’s in a Name?

January 5, 2011 at 11:33 am by Claudia

My name has never been one that is easily found emblazoned on mugs or pins or pencils or any of those sorts of things. You know, those racks where you see something with ‘Megan’ on it or ‘Sarah’ or ‘Amy’ or whatever names are popular at the moment. When I was a kid, this upset me. It seemed as if everyone else could find some souvenir with their name on it. Me? Never. Don’t get me wrong, I love my name. I’m very pleased that my Mom and Dad chose it for me. It suits me. But it wasn’t the sort of name that was on the ‘popular’ list.

Not long after I first started blogging, almost 3 years ago, a woman named Donna saw a comment I had made on another blog and asked me if she could send me something. I was shocked that anyone would want to send me anything – I hadn’t yet encountered the generosity of this blogging world. The package arrived, beautifully wrapped, with a note from Donna. This was inside the wrapping:

Donna wrote that she had held onto the hanky for a long time and was just waiting to give it to someone named Claudia. And when she saw my name in that comment, she chose me. Amazing, isn’t it? One person reaching out to another; our only connection being that we were readers of the same blog. To say I was touched is an understatement.

Recently, I couldn’t find the hanky. I looked everywhere. Over the course of several months, the thought that I might have lost it hovered in the back of my mind. I didn’t want to contemplate that possibility. It represents so much about the blogging world to me – the generosity, kindness and priceless connections made. One day, I was reorganizing our linen cupboard and there it was. Now it lives on my yellow dresser where I can see it every day.

I have one other treasure with my name on it. My dear friend Lynne, who lives in Canada, gave me this silver napkin ring:

She found it in a shop somewhere and couldn’t get it out of her mind. So she went back and bought it. I’m very grateful she did. In a home where the table setting included engraved silver napkin rings, a Claudia called this one her own. It found its way to another Claudia. That seems right.

Speaking of words, I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers are choosing a word for 2011. I’m incapable of narrowing down my choices to one word, so here are mine:

Scenes from a Monday Morning

January 3, 2011 at 12:20 pm by Claudia

A few views of my husband’s studio, which also functions as a guest bedroom:

We moved the bed and threw a quilt I made on top of the white matelasse bedspread. This quilt was used as a wall hanging in the cottage we rented when we first moved east. It’s made of batiks and I love, love the intense colors.

More quilts stacked in a wicker basket. This little armoire functions as our linen closet (sadly, older homes lack closet space.)

Guitars. There is also a mandolin – it’s just not in the photo. Also not in the photo: speakers, our green farmhouse table, the desk and computer and a chair. Maybe in another post?

Heidi’s daughters gave me these for Christmas:

Do you think they know my favorite color?

My sneaky, wonderful sister sent me this:

Our obsession scarf. She used the most beautiful shades of gray. I love it. Thank you, Meredith. Actually, Meredith Letitia. So it is sort of perfect that the scarf is being modeled on Letitia, don’t you think?

Have a great Monday!

New Year’s Eve Went to the Dogs

January 2, 2011 at 9:36 am by Claudia

New Year’s Eve? Spent cleaning up messes made by Riley. In his defense, he had been given a little tranquilizer in the morning in order to get his nails cut. (If we don’t he will try to bite the technician.) For some reason, he had an extreme reaction to the meds and he was out of it for about 2 days. He was so bad that we had to lift him and help him walk. It got a bit scary. He’s had this medicine before, but clearly he has developed a reaction to it over time. Obviously, we won’t be using it again. Yesterday found me in tears, thinking I had harmed him in some way, even though I knew his nails had to get cut because he was slipping on our wood floors and that could be dangerous for a boy with bad hips. Thankfully, by last night he was almost back to normal.

When you adopt a dog who has been neglected and abused, there are just certain things you have to accept. In Riley’s case: no pulling on his collar, or cutting his nails, no approaching from the rear and taking him by surprise, only a certain amount of brushing, nothing to do with his ears or the area around his ears. Over the years, he has come such a long way. He didn’t know how to play or ask for affection when we got him. He is such a loving boy now. I took advantage of his incapacitation to brush his heavy coat:

Yep, that’s a lot of hair. He has a heavy undercoat.

I drove the 2 hour round trip to the Apple Store yesterday to pick up my laptop. All is well. I thought as much, but wanted to be sure. No charge. Thank you, Apple. Being without my laptop for 4 days was not fun. I did accomplish a lot in its absence. Don and I completely rearranged the office/guest bedroom/studio and it looks so much better! Since Don is the one using it 99% of the time, it needed to become his space. Now it is a studio that also has a wonderful bed for house guests. Since I spent so much time creating my little studio space, I figured it was time we did something with his.

I also read and crocheted a lot. Today, we take down the decorations. I’ll leave you with this shot of Scout, who has been feeling rather ignored the last few days:

I’ll give her some extra cuddles today.

What’s in a Name?

Scenes from a Monday Morning

New Year’s Eve Went to the Dogs

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives