{"id":3111,"date":"2020-01-05T15:24:25","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T23:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muddyvalleyfarm.com\/?p=3111"},"modified":"2020-01-05T15:24:25","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T23:24:25","slug":"priorities-obligations-and-vintage-silk-embroidery-thread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/?p=3111","title":{"rendered":"Priorities, Obligations, and Vintage Silk Embroidery Thread"},"content":{"rendered":"

I took the last couple weeks off work; a much needed break from a role that can be quite intense at times. I love my work, but some days, most days actually, it feels like I just sit down in the morning, plunge in, and when I finally come up for air another day has sped by. Gone forever.<\/span><\/p>\n

Home offices are lovely, but there are no water cooler conversations or coffee moments with co-workers to break up the day. So I am grateful for the barnyard crew who leave me no choice but to head outside around noon to hand out lunch and free \/ pen various groups. My barnyard obligations force me to break entirely, for a good ten minutes, from my screens and documents and email and meetings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ED61E153-C400-45E1-AD70-4ED30C394756\"<\/p>\n

In my late fifties now and aspiring to some form of \u201csemi-retirement\u201d, part way through 2019 I started booking Wednesdays off. So far it\u2019s been great but doesn\u2019t always work. Although my amazing team works hard to deflect, and my calendar is blocked from all-but-urgent meetings, I often end up with an hour or two\u2019s work to do anyway. Priorities. Obligations. Self-imposed, of course.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year though, I\u2019m starting things off right, with no work and all play, which for me translates to getting a bunch of personal projects done. I am my father\u2019s daughter, and have inherited his \u201cindustrious\u201d gene. Yesterday, while organizing my office closet, I rediscovered a bundle of silk embroidery thread packets that I had gotten sometime last year at the thrift store. Two bundles actually, one all creamy shades of white and the other a riot of intense jewel tones, picked up because I saw the word \u2018silk\u2019, brought home and tucked away in anticipation of magical stitchery projects to come, some day when time would permit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"6AD234A1-DE9F-4B25-917D-721F6BB3884E\"<\/p>\n

A little tattered at the ends from being stored who-knows-where for many, many years, but still hanging in there, the paper skein holders date from 1894 to 1903. And when I unfold and carefully press one open, the silk inside is pristine, shiny, vibrant.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

They \u201ccost no more than Poor Silks – so why not use them?\u201d asserts one of the ads, offers and instructions filling every corner of the considerable real estate on the forty inch long papers. Why not indeed? I bet the copywriter who penned those words had little idea that in the year 2020, a future customer would read them and reflect \u201cyes, quality and here\u2019s proof, 125 years and still going strong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Who bought them, I wonder? Based on the available information, it would have been a <\/span>contemporary of my great or even great great grandmother\u2019s. Someone who dressed in full length gowns with leg-o-mutton sleeves, at least until the turn of the century.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"9A9C245E-A746-4475-ADF5-D09E5B26FD87.jpeg\"<\/p>\n

This embroidery silk has far outlived not only its purchaser\u2019s priorities and obligations, but her as well!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a good reminder; time pauses for no one. I am back to work tomorrow, with all its myriad joys and frustrations. I shall take care to ensure I stay true to my priorities, as I carefully delegate away my obligations and thereby gain the time to embroider my retirement projects with vintage silk thread.<\/span><\/p>\n

And make up for the sobriety of my youth, with, say for example, this lovely purple<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"F9B433D0-FC24-40DC-B72D-B44FAA9644F5\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took the last couple weeks off work; a much<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-farm-life","category-feminist-farmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestablecomicstore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}