What She Shovels

Today was full of running errands and doing piddly tasks that don’t feel like much but end up taking the whole day. I got to go to the DMV TWICE! Aren’t you jealous? But I finally have my new (to me) car smogged and registered. I LOVE my new car. I will likely need at least one, if not two, knee surgeries this year, and I’m making a conscious effort to prepare for that. It has been a long, hard road of pain and attempted recovery. Recently, I had begun to wonder if another surgery was “worth” it. The recovery, the pain, the headache. This morning after visiting the DMV for the first time, my knee hurt so much, I thought I was going to be sick. I’m in medical limbo for the next week waiting for yet another appointment so I can get yet another referral for yet more tests to hopefully schedule yet another surgery.

My regular daily vehicle is a stick shift, and while I love it to pieces, it’s very difficult to drive a manual transmission with a bad knee. Our other car was an automatic minivan, but I never really liked driving it. A few months ago, I got the crazy idea to find a car I actually really like! Through a number of seemingly innocuous conversations, I hatched and carried out a plan to trade the minivan in for a car that was lower and easier to get into while on crutches, newer, and WAY more fun to drive. I’m slightly sad to admit that my new love is a station wagon, but I assure you, it’s VERY cute! It’s a VW Passat wagon, silver, and I love it to bits. It’s been fully checked out by the mechanic, runs great, and has been brought up to date on its maintenance. It passed smog today with flying colors, too!

While I was waiting for the smog check (at the second shop, where I was told 20 minutes after they said they’d get right on it that the smog technician had just gone to lunch), I caught up on my blog reading. I came across this quote on Haute Apple Pie that really struck me and has stayed with me all day:

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”      ~William Morris

I have gotten rid of boxes and boxes and boxes (as Ashley can certainly attest!) of things that at some time or another seemed important enough to keep, but when it came down to it, they were neither beautiful nor useful. I still have a ways to go, but I want to be surrounded by beautiful, useful things. Like my car! Like my grandmother’s dining room table. And my monthly table runners. I can probably get rid of the gaudy orange glitter plastic trophy we won at the town’s Costume Contest in October. Second place, though! Now that I have a mantra, I will continue to make my surroundings beautiful and useful.

Secondly, the author, William Morris, strikes me as someone who has influenced my life in a number of ways. “William Morris was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with … the English Arts and Crafts Movement.” (Wikepedia) My house is of the Craftsman era, inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement, and I love the look and style of the early 20th century architecture. I have in my living room, a Morris Chair, one of my most beloved pieces of furniture. Gustav Stickley adapted the original Morris design to become the archetypical Craftsman style chair.

“The American Arts and Crafts Movement [Craftsman] … encouraged originality, simplicity of form, local natural materials, and the visibility of handicraft.” (Wikipedia) Crafting? Local natural materials? Originality? Simplicity? This is all sounding very familiar. I love to create beautiful, simple, original, useful objects. I don’t think I have ever followed a pattern exactly.

Another hallmark of Morris designs is his beautiful wallpapers and fabrics. Now, as an owner of an older home, I cannot say I have any great love for wallpaper, but I’m sure if I had wallpaper that wasn’t paisley, stripes, and checks, all in one room, I might feel a little different. His fabrics, on the other hand…

In recent years, Moda has released lines of fabrics inspired by his designs. The current line is A Morris Tapestry, pictures of which just happened to appear in my mailbox on Monday. I had seen snippets of it before, but for whatever reason, on that particular morning, I fell in love. I love the colors (they’re only ever-so-slightly Figgy Pudding-esque), the textures, the patterns and that feeling of original natural simplicity. I emailed the zaniest quilter I know, my mom, to tell her of my new obsession. I should have known, she was already hooked. She has a way of knowing trends years before they make it big. She did it with Beanie Babies, eBay, Longaberger baskets, and the fruity mangosteen. I’m sure there are others, but those are the ones my husband remembered off of the top of his head.

She immediately replied asking if I’d seen the other Morris lines (Morris Garden and Morris Workshop (I’m having a hard time finding pictures of these online)) and we’re considering patterns from William Morris in Applique for a project to work on together.

It astounded me today to have eighteen words clarify so succinctly what I am doing with my life. Subconsciously for many years, and now, consciously and purposefully. It is not just my physical house, but my entire life. Things that are known to be useful or thought to be beautiful. Why would I keep anything else around? Why would I invest time, energy, and thought into anything less? Useful and beautiful. Isn’t that what we all want?

It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. Today, instead of a picture, I share one thousand words. And yes, I counted.