Before 6:00 am

My children have always been very early risers. During the work and school week, everyone is an early riser (my alarm is set for 5:40 am). Yesterday, when I stumbled into the kitchen to start the kettle and check my e-mail, I found my son already up combining pastels and watercolors.

My daughter had told him about how to combine the watercolors and pastels from her art classes at school. I love how the knowledge of the technique was passed down from a nine-year-old to a six-year-old. We had been playing with pastels and watercolors separately over the holiday break. The supplies were still out even though I had not been pleased that the art/craft table was piled up with many different supplies and projects in various stages of completion. Paper everywhere.

Sometimes, a little chaos creates surprising results. All factors in the universe intersected for this to happen, and I love that.

One more story about another intersection involving my son:


For about 24 hours, I have been following a serendipitous labyrinth of links through the internet about improvisational quilting. It is amazing how much time I have spent at the computer looking at other peoples photos on Flickr and tracking down blogs about quilting. It is like discovering an alternate universe-- like stepping through the wardrobe into the magical world of Narnia. Or, it is like spending the day in a large university library doing research--going up and down staircases, in and out of corridors, following Dewey numbers down rows of bookcases and shelves, and browsing books next to the one I thought I wanted. Yes, the librarian in me shines forth!

Well, I've had fabric strips and squares on my mind as I prepare to cross over into the world of log cabin quilting from log cabin knitting. When I put my son to bed last night, he said to me, "Don't forget to cut the square."

I did a double-take. What? Was he reading my mind? He didn't know that I had been designing wonky squares in my mind all day.

He clarified the statement when he saw the puzzled look on my face. "The Rice Krispy Treat square, Mom. Remember, you said you would cut one so that I could have it for breakfast when I get up early, and you are sleeping-in."

Before 6:00 am.