Thoughts & Things, Mine..... and Others!

I LOVE Baseball. I'm no expert.....I can't quote 'stats' or tell you what year who played where, but I'm a dyed-in-the-wool fan who believes in the MLB quote "I Live For This". From April through the World Series every year, I watch, read about, and follow my favorite teams with a passion. Between the end of the World Series and the beginning of Spring Training I miss baseball so much it's like a void in my life. I often fill that void throughout the winter months with reading baseball books and re-watching some of my favorite baseball movies like "Field of Dreams" and "For Love of the Game" - both starring Kevin Costner. My son gets tickled with me because no matter what subject he's discussing with me, something he says will remind me of a favorite baseball story to tell. He can't believe how I relate 'everything' to baseball!

I have two favorite teams, The St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, and watch every one of their games I can. I lived in Missouri for 11 years, which is where I became a Cardinal fan. I prefer the National League over the American League, because I don't like the 'designated hitter' rule. I think pitchers should also bat, and many of them are really good batters ... like the Cubbies' terrific Carlos Zambrano!

I grew up in upstate New York, so the NY Yankees were a natural part of my world, as were the Brooklyn Dodgers. I seldom hold grudges, but I have to admit that to this day I refuse to be a Dodger fan because I never forgave them for leaving Brooklyn in 1957!

I've been fortunate to have been able to attend several games in person in two ballparks - Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals) and the KC Royals Kauffman Stadium, and go to one World Series Game - the opening game of the1985 I-70 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals - the thrill of a lifetime to this baseball fan! My dream would be to visit every one of the 30 baseball stadiums to watch a game, starting with Wriggley Field in Chicago!

Another delightful experience in my baseball fan life was meeting Joe Torre in 1993 when he was the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. My hubby was with a television station in Columbia, MO at the time and we attended a Cardinal Affiliates meeting in St. Louis held for media people who's radio & television stations broadcast the Cardinal games. At a breakfast for said media people, I met Joe Torre and he graciously signed a baseball for me. It's one of my prized possessions.

The 2009 MLB Baseball Season has Begun! Life is Good!

Everyone has their own "Field of Dreams", whether it's a real place, or a 'place in their mind'. If you love baseball, or are just a fan of the movie, you would find the Dyersville, Iowa Movie Site of "Field of Dreams" a fun place to visit.

Enjoy the surroundings, bat a few balls, play a little catch, run the bases or sit and dream on the bleachers. Don't forget to bring your favorite bat, ball and glove.

My family visited here the year after the movie came out in 1989. It made the movie memories so 'real' to actually walk on the field and sit in the bleachers. We even 'disappeared' into the corn field.

The 'Field of Dreams' movie site is open April through November, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
with Free Admission!

Visit the link below to learn all about the movie site, and if you find yourself in the Dyersville, Iowa area, don't miss the opportunity to 'see' it for yourself. It's a charming reminder of a 'simpler' time!

Field of Dreams Movie Site - /www.fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com/distance.html

I have been a voracious reader all my life. I read some EVERY day, and some days ALL DAY! I'm one of those readers who if I have to eat alone and there's nothing to read, I'll read the labels on condiment bottles on the table. I LOVE to read.

THE love of reading was instilled in me at an early age. I can't remember a time before books. One of my favorite early childhood memories is of living in an old country house with a coal-fired furnace, it's wintertime, and my mother is standing on the floor register where the hot air is coming up from the furnace. All 4 of us kids are gathered around the register, and mom is reading to us. We spent many happy cold winter days around our little warm spot in the living room listening fascinated while mom read to us. She loved books; she read about 3 books a week herself, and read to us children every single day. She had a special knack of making even the simplest children's story come alive, no matter how many times we heard it. Later, her grandchildren loved having her read to them the same way we did as children.

Christopher, Age 2.
Reading new Christmas book with his dad



WHEN I became a mother, it was as natural as breathing to read to my children from the time they were born. Over time we ended up with a large collection of children's books, some of which I have kept for grandchildren visits, some I gave to the grandchildren, especially if it was a favorite of their dad's, and the rest went to my artist daughter to use as reference material for her illustrations, and because she loves them all.

IT seems to me that the love of reading comes from nurturing by those who also love reading. If you read often, and read to your children, they will come by it naturally and enjoy books as much as you do. A child who is never read to seldom finds pleasure in reading and is not a reader as an adult. I remember talking to a young neighbor back in the 1970's who was a kindergarten teacher working in an inner-city school. Her students came from a very poor area where books were not a necessity in the home. The first day of school she had placed a pencil and a sheet of paper on each desk and instructed the children to 'pick up the red pencil'. Many of the children did not know what RED was, and my teacher friend said it was a direct result of never having been read to; never having been exposed to the basics of letters, numbers, colors, and shapes learned through books for children.

MY oldest son was diagnosed with Amyblyopia (the Lazy Eye) at age 6, just as he was learning to read. By the time he went through the process of 'correction' (wearing a patch on the good eye to allow the 'bad' eye to get stronger), his reading skills were behind his classmates and reading was more of a struggle and a 'have-to' for school, not something you did for fun & enjoyment. I worried about it for awhile, until I talked to a very wise grade school English teacher who told me to stop worrying and never nag him about it. She said he would begin to read for pleasure at his own pace, in his own time. Something would get him interested and there would be no turning back. She was right, although, except for car magazines and such, he didn't really begin his reading enjoyment until he met his future wife, who loved books and got him interested in reading for pleasure. Today he reads at least some every day.

MY youngest son, Greg, also loves reading and has a wide range of interests. Some books take him a long time to finish because he likes to take notes, and reread passages, and 'think' about it. Fiction books he usually reserves for reading at bedtime, simply for pleasure. One of his favorite things to do is reading a book along with someone else, because he loves having book 'discussions'.

Kimberly, Age 4. Reading under the hairdryer.

Then there is my daughter, Kimberly, who has been known to read 3-4 books simultaneously, and somehow keep track of each story. One book will be by her bed, one in the living room, one in the car in case she has to wait somewhere, and one always in her purse to read lunchtimes at work. She is one of the best readers, and the fastest, I have ever seen. She taught herself to read before she was four years old and I didn't even realize it until I tried to 'hurry' through a bedtime book one night, skipping a sentence here and there and Kim stopped me with "Mom, you missed this part"... and proceeded to read it to me! I was so amazed at her reading ability, mostly self-taught (with a lot of regular exposure to books) that at age 5, before starting school, a neighbor & former teacher informally gave Kim a reading & comprehension test she'd used in her teaching years. The results were even more amazing than the day I learned she was reading on her own. I was told that Kim could read "virtually anything", and that she comprehended through the 5th grade level at age 5. And the only reason her comprehension skills were limited at all was due to not being old enough to have heard the word or had experience yet with a described situation. At age 7, Kimberly's second grade classroom was replacing some of their books used for teaching reading and were disposing of a bunch of "Dick & Jane" books. Kim asked to have them, brought them home, and over the next few weeks used them to teach her 4-year-old brother to read. She would have made a great teacher if her natural artistic talent hadn't led her down a different path in life.


AS you can see, books are a very important part of my life and in the lives of my family. This sign displayed in Stacey's Bookstore, famous in San Francisco from 1923 to 2009, says it all --- Books are Affordable, Portable, and Memorable.

Photo courtesy of Steve Rhodes on Flickr

POSTSCRIPT:
I personally own somewhere around 500-600 books currently filling, and overflowing,
9 bookcases and 2 sets of built in book shelves. I have books in all the usual variety ...fiction, non-fiction, biographies, history, sports, cookbooks, how-to books, craft books... but far surpassing all the other categories is my collection of mystery and suspense stories. I am 'Mad About Mysteries', and that will be the subject of my next story.....

My Crafting Journey began as a youngster... learning to sew from my wonderful grandmother, who was an expert seamstress and quilter. Her quilts were beautiful and filled with pieces left over from outfits she made her grandchildren. It was like a trip down 'memory lane' to look at her quilts, so colorful on our beds.

I never acquired sewing skills even close to hers, but did manage to make quite a few simple dresses and such for myself and dozens of outfits for my children when they were very small. The summer before my daughter started kindergarten, I found a bunch of one yard/one-half yard pieces of fabric on sale (it doesn't take a lot of fabric for a tiny 5-year-old) and she was the 'best-dressed' little girl in school, with about 3 dozen outfits to choose from. Since I ended up with 2 boys and only one girl, it was great fun sewing for her.

The sewn outfit I was proudest of was the dress with pinafore decorated with a Raggedy Ann appliqué (shown in picture of 6-year-old Kim modeling the dress), which I made for her that Christmas, as well as a duplicate dress for her 6-year-old cousin. I saved that dress all these years, hoping to pass it on to a granddaughter, but I ended up with 3 grandsons instead. :-)

While expecting my second child, I took up knitting. Started with simple "beginner" slippers, then tried a baby sweater. By the time that sweater was finished, I decided knitting sweaters was not for me, as the patterns were too difficult to 'reverse' , necessary for a left-handed knitter to end up with the correct right & left sides!

Along about this time, I became quite interested in learning to Crochet. I read 'how-to' books and studied patterns, and tried & tried, but it just wouldn't make sense in my mind. I had 3 different expert crocheters try to show me, but they weren't able to 'slow down' enough for me to really SEE what they were doing. They were also all right-handed, and for me to try to 'think in reverse' became really frustrating. My neighbor and I were considering taking a crochet class when she came over one night all excited and said "I've Got It" and we plopped down in the middle of the Living room so she could 'show off' what she'd learned. Being brand new to the art of crochet, she was working 'verrry slooow' and was also sitting opposite me - which to "left-handed Me" was like looking in a mirror, so I saw what she was doing 'left-handed' - and all of a sudden it just "Clicked". Everything I'd tried to learn about crochet now just made perfect sense.... and I haven't looked back since.

Over the years I crocheted dozens of cute plush animals and toys for my children, and for gifts, and participated in a few craft fairs, selling some of my creations. That was very exciting, an affirmation that my skills had become good enough that people actually wanted to buy what I made. Then a year ago I discovered Etsy, a site for "All Things Handmade", and opened my Etsy Shop. It has been a marvelous year and a tremendous learning experience when you factor in all the 'how-to's' of listing, uploading pictures to a web site, pricing, promoting..... My very first listing in my 'new' shop was a Baby Teddy Bear crocheted in soft green yarn (shown here). Baby Bear Green has since sold and I currently have about 40 items online and have sold 25, as well as several dozen more items sold locally at craft fairs and a consignment shop. The most fascinating thing about crocheting for sale is all the 'creative ideas' that keep popping into my head. I now have to keep a notebook to list my ideas so I don't forget what I want to try next.

Newest Craft.... Needlework on Plastic Canvas
I'm enjoying my crochet more than ever and now I've discovered another 'craft' to pursue -
Needlework on plastic canvas. I've completed 3 so far for my Etsy Shop, including this coaster set for NASCAR or Race Car fans, and am working on two more. It's very satisfying to create and watch how the craft comes together.

My crafting journey has led me down many paths over the years, and I've enjoyed them all. Today I focus on crochet and needlework and love being surrounded by 'miles of yarn' while my latest project takes shape.

A future lens will show off my Etsy Shop - Mountainside Crochet - showcasing the various kinds of 'cute critters' and household items I like to create, and the stories behind the creations, as well as those of other crafters I admire in the Fiber Arts. Meanwhile, a link to Mountainside Crochet is listed below. Now this 'Happy 'Hooker' is off to 'create'.

Just in case you're looking for Mountainside Crochet's cute crocheted critters, darling dolls, adventures in amigurumi, helpful household items and clever kitchen crochet, the journey can begin here.............. www.MountainsideCrochet.etsy.com

A new friend in this, my new community, has inspired me to begin creating lenses on Squidoo. Therefore, I'd like to thank her for her help & encouragement while I struggle through my 'baby steps' in this endeavor new to me. Her name is Nancy Hellams, known best to the Squidoo community as "Ohme".

Nancy and her sister, Joan Adams, create terrific Squidoo lenses which, in my humble opinion, would inspire anyone to 'follow in their footsteps', be brave, and begin their Squidoo journey!

www.squidoo.com/lensmaster/referral/Mountainside-Crochet