Where has the day gone????

I was thinking the other day of how things have changed so much since my grandmother's day. Not just with the technology but rather how with all the "time saving conveniences" we have today and we still do not have time to relax. It is always hurry here or there as we try to be every place at one time. Before all of these remarkable things like computers, microwaves, cars and automated this and that, people actually had time to enjoy life. I know, I know..they worked hard..they had to just to survive. But they also had time to be people..something that I think has actually gone by the wayside. Think about it, even though most hand-stitched their own clothes and grew their own food (and canned enough for winter), they still had time to visit the neighbors, dine together as a family, read the Bible and create beautiful crafts. There were marvelous quilts, cross-stitched pictures, paintings, wood carvings, leather goods plus a myriad of others. All this brings me to something that I have of my grandmother's. It is not a highly valuable piece to anyone other than myself, but I cherish it. It is a simple homemade vase. It is made from a half-pint size milk bottle and pine needles. After all these years it is still in relatively good condition considering the materials. Several years ago when my children were small, we tried our hands at recreating the lovely pine needle craft. The vase we made has an olive bottle for a base so it is a bit larger than Grandmother's, but I think it turned out rather well. To give the little hands something a bit easier to do and something that would appeal a bit more to them than a vase, we also made pine needle dolls. To dress them, we used felt and string. I love these little guys and after all these years they still sit next to a cornhusk doll on the shelf in my living room! Every time I pass them, I smile and think of the fun times we had while making them.

Yes, it is sad to me that the talent of creating useful things from whatever is on hand seems to be diminishing. There are a few artists that still create wonderful items but not on the spectrum that our grandparents and great-grandparents did out of necessity on a daily basis. The workmanship from times past has somewhere been lost. Also lost is the art of being people..caring people..instead of busy, busy automotons.