My Etsy Store — HollyBarryDesigns

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade HollyBarryDesigns.etsy.com

Speaking the Truth

Can’t wait to see the new movie, The Invention of Lying. Though this film is a comedy, meant to entertain, it hits on a theme in my life.

I tell the truth. I can’t help myself. I just can’t lie. My eyes twitch, and my throat closes up; I immediately need to confess. That sometimes gets me into trouble. We’re not accustomed to truth-tellers in our politically correct society.

I’ve been told that I speak the truth “to a fault.” I’m still not sure what that means. I sure as hell am not going to lie on a resume, even if that keeps me from getting the job I long for. That kind of lying catches up with you.

Age brings an impatience with tip-toeing around the truth. I lean in towards the television, encouraging reporters, “Just say it. Come on! Name it. Speak the truth!” Katie Courac and Oprah are two women who satisfy this longing in the popular media. Bill Moyers and even Bill Maher speak what I perceive as truth. I literally cheer them on!

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t go around voicing my every thought. Relationships can’t usually handle that kind of openness. And I’m not arrogant enough to think that my truth is the only truth. But there comes a time when honesty is called for… even screamed for. Just as there are times to keep my mouth shut. It takes courage to tell the truth, just as it may require courage to stay quiet at the appropriate time.

Others have spoken the truth with mixed results. Americans Who Tell the Truth celebrates some of these individuals, and the great impact of their truth-telling. A traveling exhibit of their portraits is currently displayed in Chicago.

These people are my heros!  Howard Zinn is one of my favorites; read The People’s History of the United States for the real truth about the building of our country. It’s not exactly the textbook version.

And what about Rachel Carson… simply profound!  If we’d only listened to her in the 1960’s!!  “The ‘control of nature’ is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and the convenience of man.”

Talk with me about speaking the truth, lying, or Ricky Gervais’ new movie. What truth do you see about our society that needs to be shared for the greater good?

A Child’s Quilt

WILL SEW FOR FOOD.

I just finished a child’s quilt. Love the bright colors and kooky dinosaurs. This is the first time I’ve machine quilted. I still like the process and the look of hand quilting, but I’m going to try selling my work and I need to turn a couple of these big projects out each week.

Update on Sushi Wallets

I finished my Sushi Knitting knit, which I blogged about in May.

My version of the wallets from the Sushi Knitting kit.

I never follow a pattern completely. Improvisation is my middle name. I used the kit to knit one wide striped wallet, and the remaining yarn to make a smaller square one. I used the zipper from the kit in the striped bag. Both are lined in bright green linen. I embroidered the “sushis” onto the bag with the blanket stitch.

I knitted them, then felted them in the washing machine. Blocking is easy with wet, felted wool. The yarn in the kit is made from wool/bamboo, so they’re surprisingly soft. I’ll keep my colored pens and some basic knitting supplies in the wide, striped wallet. The small, ribbon-tied wallet will be used for a little hand bag when I only need a credit card and some cash, and maybe some tissues.

Pick up the kit! They’re a little time intensive, but VERY easy. And fun!

Entranced by a Wood Thrush

It’s that time of year again when I’m serenaded through the open kitchen window as I prepare supper each evening. The flute-like harmonies of the wood thrush sound out from the deep woods around our house, entrancing me each evening. The sound is pure loveliness. These birds thrill me! It is the sound of summer evenings. I float away on the music. Never seen, but much adored, the wood thrush add to the peace in my soul. Their flute-y songs lure me away from the rush of the day, and pull me into their slower, wild world.

There’s a Cecropia moth hangin’ out at my house.

The moth is my last blog was identified by

merrilymarylee

Thanks! I do, indeed, think it was a Cecropia Moth, also referred to as a Wild Saturniid Silk Moth, hangin’ out on my front door last week. The thick moth body had the peculiar line of black dots within larger white dots running along each side. The antennae didn’t seem large enough for a male, and the body was quite swollen… so, I’d guess that it was a female with eggs. Have those eggs been deposited on one of our many maple leaves? My moth had the coloration of a robin, a reddish brown.

We’ve often seen Luna Moths on summer evenings. Their green is almost fluorescent. One evening a Luna Moth landed on the screen of our bedroom window, stretching it’s wings to it’s full 5-6″ width. It was ghostly and alien looking, and we were in awe. The Luna Moth is part of the same family of Saturniid Silk Moths. How amazing that we have these large, elegant beauties sharing our piece of land!

Bill Maher–the best debate I’ve heard in… I don’t know how long!

Okay, for those of you who don’t know Bill Maher, he hosts a show on HBO. For those of you do have HBO, you either hate the guy or you look forward to his show each week. I vacillate between the two… either loving or hating him. Even if you hate his politics, Maher is a comedian first and a politician second; so, you’re bound to crack up at some point and be ready to change the channel at another. (My feminist friends: he falls on the side of sexism.) It doesn’t matter. You just have to watch this week’s show (I watched it tonight, June 15, 8pm EST). However you feel, whatever side you identify with… you just have to watch this episode. The debate on communism is the best I’ve heard since college, but more sophisticated and completely relevant. I won’t tell you how I feel. Just watch it. And tell me what you think. 

It’s the best show Bill Maher has ever produced!

Can you identify this moth?

Can you help identify this moth?

Look at this incredible moth! It’s been hanging out on my front door all week. Don’t worry, I was extremely gentle with it. It’s just so beautiful!

Wild Plants of New Hampshire

If the New Hampshire woodlands were left alone, wild flowers and berries would take over in no time flat. Just in our own woodsy yard, I have to hold back flora just to plant perennial beds. Strawberries and raspberries pop up everywhere, and crawl into my gardens if not held at bay.

I have to create a border in front of my garden, constantly beating back the wild strawberries.

The wild strawberries are now in blossom. Bees love this quickly spreading ground cover.

Strawberries, raspberries, and low bush blueberries all grow wild on our land. I imagine sustaining myself and family on the fruits from our area, an idea that began during my childhood visits to Freedom Acres.

Wild blueberries are beginning to form where little white bell-shaped blossoms recently faded.

When I was young, my Connecticut family vacationed on Pleasant Lake in New London, NH. Each year we made our trek up the hill to Freedom Acres in Wilmot, NH. Two retired Army officers cleared the top of their mountain, built their own home, and used the wild-growing fruits of their land to build a business. Visitors were invited into their home, and through the professional kitchen to witness the making of these jams and jellies. We’d sample the little jars of homemade sweetness. Current and chokecherry were always my favorite.

Freedom Acres, Wilmot, NH, where a business thrived from sales of jams and jellies made from fruit growing wild on their land.

And how about the flowers that grow wild here? Bunches of wild violets pop up every where in my yard, delivering some of the first flowers of the season.

Wild clumps of violets pop-up around our yard.

We find trillium by the dozens in our woods, and on rare occasion a lady’s slipper. We have wild meadow rue, hobble bush verbena, and daisies everywhere, asters, columbine, merrybells. And dozens of other wild flowers that keep butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees common on our hill.

So, here’s to wildness and undeveloped land! We don’t have to tame and conquer every bit of land. Let it grow wild. See what pops up in your yard. These are life’s simple pleasures… right under our feet.

Have you ever tripped on your own cropped pants?

So, have you? I do… regularly. If there’s anyone who understands how this happens, I want to be your friend! For those of you who can not comprehend this, it’s easy. Here’s how it happens…

As my left foot steps up the stairs and I bring my right foot up to step up the next stair, my sandal clad right toes get caught in the hem of my cropped pants… thus, the tripping. Yeeaaaaa. I go face first into the stairway. MmmmHmmm. That’s right. Come on, has this ever happened to you??