Dear Liza,
Being stuck inside because of the heat outside, I have had more time to do my two Inside projects.
The long term one is my history story. I’ve been working on it for about two and a half years, doing historical research, walking neighborhoods, creating characters and learning how to write a novel.
It is all about Clara and her new life in Portland in 1903. Here is the first few paragraphs.
—–January 20, 1903
Somewhere between Brownsville and Portland, Clara realized she could not speak. A silence like death had lodged in her throat and would not budge.
Chapter 1
Tuesday, March 17, 1903
“Well, here it is, at last,” Clara’s Aunt Elizabeth was reading The Oregonian at the breakfast table. She took a second to calm herself before continuing, but didn’t wait for a response from her niece. “The date of President Theodore Roosevelt’s visit to Portland has been set. He will arrive on May 21st and dedicate a monument to Lewis and Clark in City Park.” Clara looked up and raised her eyebrows politely. “Is that all you have to say about it?” Aunt Elizabeth chided. Aunt Elizabeth frowned, her own eyebrows rising in disapproval.
Clara hadn’t said one word in the three months she had been in Portland, and Aunt Elizabeth found it increasingly hard to put up with. Clara felt her aunt’s irritation, but mostly noticed how the light in the breakfast room was different this morning.—–
It’s a work in progress, and is the longest I’ve ever worked on any writing project.
My other project is a pillow. I finished one last year, using fabric I had bought for a “Backpacks for Stuffties” collection that never got off the ground. I like the way it turned out, so started on the coordinating fabric and working in a variation on concentric circles.
I am just using back stitch, blanket stitch, and a nice V shape called bird stitch in some books. There is still a lot of stitching needed, but I like the direction it is headed. I’ll stop when I think it’s done, ’cause that’s how art is.
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 