Upcycled

Worn out and patched jeans

At the end

I try to purchase most of my clothing at thrift stores and spend way too much time looking for just the right piece. Function and appeal are top decision makers, but there are a few brands that I love. My Carhartt jeans are one of my favorites. I wore and patched my first pair until they were so thin that I would need to line them with patches to continue wearing them. The next step was to take them to my friend Jerry who makes custom rag rugs. He had questions for me…should the jeans be matched with cool or warm colors? what size of rug would I like? I’ve seen enough of Jerry’s rugs to know that he would come up with something wonderful. He did!

Jerry holding rug he made from jeans

Jerry and the jeans rug

The jeans were woven with an old gray work shirt and striped green sheet. Jerry even un-patched the jeans and used the belt loops to make the rug, which is way beyond the  work I expected him to do! Jerry asked me where I planned to use my rug. I don’t know…I just loved my jeans so much that I didn’t want to get rid of them!

It's all in the detail

A few other things that deserve mention:

Robbie, Charlie, and I went to our first donkey basketball game featuring students, teachers, and firefighters. Charlie couldn’t miss the opportunity for a silly smile.

Close-up photo of Charlie with a silly expression

Charlie smiles

How to spell that word that describes something that is marked with or having stripes? Is it striped or stripped? I use the Google “define” tool often when writing. To use it, go to a Google search box and type define: word followed by the enter key. You will get a definition followed by links to associated websites.

Yoga class is held on Wednesdays and I almost always look forward to it. During the cool months class is held in a building that once was an Odd Fellows hall. Steep and narrow stairs lead from Main Street onto the second floor of the building. The room has wood floors, a high ceiling covered with stamped steel sheets, and marquee lights around the edge of the ceiling. It was hard for me to photograph. It is a wonderful space, despite the peeling paint, dead light bulbs, and after-market wiring.

Lights on ceiling in yoga room

Ambiance

Book hangover material: Marcelo in the Real World. The New York Times review of it in LibraryThing is a good one. If you read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and enjoyed it, you will probably like Marcelo. Both books are coming of age stories narrated by a character with high functioning autism.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, my cousin Jessie was a good sport and let me decorate her pregnant belly with henna. She’s a great sport because I’m slow and not-so-artful. We talked about a professional henna stylist who decorated my arms in India and how fast she was. Here’s a video clip of it that I uploaded to YouTube.