Elderspirit - Brave Old World

A few Sundays, back I attended a garden open house at Elderspirit. Arranged by members of the landscape committee, the focus was on the various gardens and offered my first invitation to visit to the Elderspirit grounds.


 


I had been only minimally aware of Elderspirit and this offered an opportunity to find out more about this intentional community that offers a unique lifestyle choice for older adults. Components include co-housing in a mixed income community, member-management, a focus on spirituality and mutual support.

To watch a video about Elderspirit go to this link

/http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/shared-meals-and-live

 Elderspirit achieves mixed income status by combining owner occupied dwellings with more economical and affordable apartments. It's guiding ethos utilizes outside the box thinking that appeals to community-minded individuals and based on the bumper stickers on cars in the parking lot leans a lot more Democratic than Republican.

 

Talking to people in the community of Abingdon, I got several different takes on Elderspirit. One person characterized the development as "a hippie commune on Geritol." And another commented that if the residents were in their 20's and 30's you could be sure that the law would be up there all the time, which is entirely amusing when you know several ex-nuns reside there.

Someone else told me that while there was general pride in Elderspirit, it was expressed with one raised eyebrow, as it brought people from outside the area into the community. Indeed several folks I spoke with had been looking for a place like this and moved here when they found it.

This place has an open feel. One resident related a story of a friend living in a condo apartment in Ohio. While she was able to garden there, plant heights were restricted to 2 feet tall, so she was training her tomatoes to grow on horizontal lead wires.

As decisions here are based on committee consensus, silly rules like that could be reworked and renegotiated.

 

After touring the various garden spaces I joined other visitors and the community for a buffet.

For additional pictures and information on Elderspirit see this link.

http://www.elderspirit.org/

Gotta love a space that combines bicycles, motorized scooters and rollators.

Carina

Calypso a.k.a. Butchie - A Tribute

April 1997 to June 2012

        

THE DOGS WHO HAVE SHARED OUR LIVES

The dogs who've shared our lives
In subtle ways they let us know
their spirit still survives.
Old habits make us think we hear a barking at the door.
Or step back when we drop
a tasty morsel on the floor.
Our feet still go around the place
the food dish used to be,
and, sometimes coming home at night,
we miss them terribly.
And although time may bring new friends
and a new food dish to fill,
That one place in our hearts
belongs to them...
and always will.

---Linda Barnes---

Voodoo Scrubs

Consider this post a follow-up.

 In my previous post, the inspiration for creating small cloth skullies and a brief description of how they were made was provided. Here my daughter models their first application in use. The skulls were appliqued to the pockets of these thrift store scrubs.




In the picture below you can see the bone skull bead that was sewn at the neckline of her scrubs.

She will be wearing these when she takes anatomy class later this summer at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. She starts classes for her graduate degree in Occupational Therapy tomorrow. As we did not have a scalpel handy she posed with an Exacto knife.

Carina

Oh-la-la Granny Panties

Sensible white cotton panties wear out. Sometimes they get tossed, sometimes they become rags and sometimes they find a whole other use. This is just such a tale.

 Scrolling through photos taken at the past, last Artfest this spring I was drawn to some of the clothing worn by the stuffed creatures made in Junker Jane's class.
 
        http://junkerjane.blogspot.com/2012/04/artfest-2012.html

When she is not creating ghoulish, monster dolls or intriguing journal bags, Jane goes by the moniker Catherine Zacchino

The clothing detail that drew my attention was these crude little skull appliques on several outfits. Outfits that the monster dolls were wearing.Gathering up supplies including the backside of worn, white, cotton panties, black lining material from inside a wool skirt and some cast padding I made a material sandwich and got the sewing machine humming. My own little skullies would be forthcoming.



After sandwiching my layers, I drew skulls by hand with a Sharpie marker. The marker lines were stitched by machine with black thread. With a small, sharp detail scissors the eye sockets were cut open to reveal the underlying black lining material. Small, black beads were sewn on by hand to represent nostrils.




The first two sullies to find use were appliqued to the pockets of a thrift store navy colored scrub top. My daughter takes human anatomy this summer at Virginia Commonwealth University and I gave her these as a gift to wear to her lab section, Voodoo scrubs.


Carina

Turtle Burgers

Yes, the idea originated on the internet, Facebook to be exact.

No, no turtles were harmed in the production of these turtle burgers.

Part of my fascination with Facebook is the pictorial images and those of turtle burgers grabbed me, intrigued me, even though I seldom eat items with protruding hot dogs.

 Recipe details were sketchy when blog sites referencing the actual preparation of turtle burgers were visited. The video linked here used ground turkey and turkey bacon.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLtfTm_ieTg

Other variables included oven vs. grill and the use of straight-up ground beef. I opted for a meatloaf-style beef mixture, as it was more likely to stay moist during oven baking. Near the mid-point if baking the appendages were covered with a little aluminum foil to prevent over cooking and becoming too dark.

Whole cloves were inserted at the end of cooking made turtle eyes.

A little over one pound of ground chuck mixed with breadcrumbs, egg, onion and grated cheddar cheese, 12 strips of bacon and 6 good quality hot dogs made for two very substantial turtle burgers.

The husband ate 1/2 a turtle at dinner and the daughter and I split the other 1/2. The remaining turtle got sliced and made into sandwiches later in the week. This is not a menu item destined to become part of our general meal options, but now I know how to make these odd burgers. They would be an interesting potluck choice for the right party.

Carina

Dignified Old Dogs

Old dogs know a thing or two about about dignity - and fake bunny ears are not part of the equation. Blame it on Facebook, all those Easter-time photos of dogs and cats sporting bunny ears. Blame it on digital cameras and the ease of photo processing.

 Yes, I gave in to peer pressure and my dogs suffered the consequences. I thought that pictures of our dogs in bunny ears would be a darling addition to the chocolates in the Easter basket, so I set about getting some. Levels of canine cooperation with this decidedly human venture varied.





Ranger, weighing in at 10 pounds and guessed to be a chihuahua and corgi mix seems genetically programmed to pose and wear adorable outfits. Just do not try to get little boots on his feet ( to prevent toe pad frostbite on frigid weather walks). He ain't having any part of that.

Greta, with a probable rottweiler and Australian herding dog heritage aims to please. While her look tells me she feels silly, if this is what her human wants, well then, she will do it.





Roxy, true to her terrier ancestry, just wanted to pull those ears off Greta's head and run around the dog yard shaking them, making sure they were dead, quite dead. Once they were on her head, it was a whole different story.





The dog aware of the dignity engendered in being the family's elder canine representative is Calypso (aka Butchie). She is your basic brown dog, with a family tree so interwoven with the various strains of dogdom that she identifies as nothing more specific than dog, a dog with dignity. At 14, she takes human foolishness with a grain of salt. While she will wear those preposterous ears, she will not look into the camera and pose.





After putting up with this whole business quite long enough..... thank-you.....she heads for home.

 



No use in calling her name, even if her deaf ears could hear me, she's done with this, done baby! No more photos and no comment!




Carina

Suffer not the flowers

Settling in on the sofa, the daughter spots the flowers on the coffee table and asks "What's with the roses?" She knows that not only does her papa not have a standing account with the florist, he probably would be hard pressed to name the nearest shop. If I purchased flowers for myself, 3 roses would be an unlikely choice.


These flowers grace our coffee table through unusual circumstances. Saturday evening, before going to bed, I took the 2 house dogs for their customary nighttime walk. About a quarter mile from home, near our left turn, the dogs took an avid and atypical interest in an something in the grass, extended sniffing by both alerted me to an object of interest. A flashlight pulled from my pocket revealed 3 tightly budded roses, leather-leaf, babies breath and at a slight distance a ribbon bow.


Walking the dogs Sunday morning I found the vase. It, being heavier, had traveled a bit farther after being thrown from the open car window and had been less evident in the dark. The exact circumstances will remain speculation. Who tossed those roses? Did the recipient think they were inadequate to make up for bad behavior? Did the giver get a cell phone call en route to delivery and have angry second thoughts?

A mystery it is likely to remain, but I am enjoying those roses.

Carina