The Tatooist of Auschwitz

 

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

     Even when we think we’ve heard enough we will never be free of the stories of the Holocaust and we shouldn’t be.  As long as there is ink and paper the stories need to be told because there is always one we haven’t heard. 

     The Tattooist of Auschwitz was one of those for me.  This is a true story of Lale and Gita Sokolov.  Lale was lucky enough, as if there is anything else but luck that keeps a person alive in Auschwitz, to be singled out to ink a new identity onto the arms of the Jews chosen to live.  This job gave him certain freedoms that surprised me. 

     One of the people standing before Lale was Gita, a trembling young woman who Lale was immediately smitten with.  In his role with his freedoms Lale is determined to keep Gita alive by bartering for food and medicines with  money and jewels taken from Jews who didn’t survive, who were immediately executed and incinerated.  It’s a dangerous role and he is all too aware he might be executed on the spot when found out.  

     Somehow both Lale and Gita survive –  this isn’t a spoiler,  this is a true story and so we know at the outset they survive but it’s in the how that keeps us riveted and shaking our heads in amazement at the courage, the determination to survive and the love these two have for each other.    I can only imagine a person could only survive if there was cunning and courage and caring involved. 

     Eventually, Lale and Gita emigrate to Australia where they raise and son and like many survivors, remain silent about what they endured and conquered.  But once Gita dies in old age, Lale feels their story should be told because we need to listen.

Baby, it's Cold Outside

Everyone's been hearing about the cold weather we've been having. I've gotten lots of emails about the cold and snow and how we're handling it. It depends on where you live, how far away from Lake Michigan you are that dictates how much snow we've had. 

  But it IS cold. Cold enough to walk on water.

Yesterday I stopped to take some pictures of the ice fishermen on a lake nearby. The ice is about 8 inches thick so it's safe to walk on without falling through.

The guys use an auger to drill a hole in the ice. Big enough to drop in their line and big enough to bring a fish through if they're lucky.

 Some use wind break tents  to keep warm - or at least keep the wind chill down.  They're dressed very warmly.

 And some just go it alone out there in the elements.  There wasn't much wind yesterday so this was a nice way to enjoy the sunshine and blue sky and solitude.

They all carry their supplies on little sleds.  At the end of the day some are lucky and go home to a fish dinner.

Gramma Got a Glue Gun

I was told a week or so ago that I needed one because Elizabeth is never happier than when you give her a box. Buy her what you want, but after the UPS truck leaves a package from Amazon, Elizabeth wants the box. Her eyes light up, the wheels in her head start turning and soon she's concocted something. Give Elizabeth a box and, she told me, get a glue gun.

 So when they came this week I had boxes, shells and a glue gun, told them to keep the hot gun on the tin sheet and left them to it. 

 Elizabeth made a squirrel out of clay and a home for it.

 Adelaide used drift wood to make a boat and a family.  They knew about glue guns from school so I didn't really supervise.  They do better without supervision when they're creating.

 I suggested hot chocolate.  Of course, I made it all wrong.  I used milk instead of water, didn't have marshmallows, only whipped cream in a can.  First time in my life I bought whipped cream in a can.  I told Elizabeth to open her mouth and like a trusting soul, she did.  I squirted some into her mouth and chaos happened.  Apparently they've never seen this or had it done to them.  After cleaning up myself, the floor and their faces, we decided it was fun but not something mom would appreciate.

After I gave Adelaide her typewriter last year for Christmas she wondered how to get more than one copy of what she wrote.  This year someone generously gave me a pack of carbon paper.  Remember carbon paper?  Today I showed her how to use it and took the cover off the antique I have here.

 No, that's not a glass of bourbon next to her.  She drinks tea.

 She is very in to Harry Potter so was writing an article about something she read in the book.

 I lost count of Elizabeth and went looking for her.  She was reading.  Under the bed.

 It's cold but the woods were too much of a temptation.

By now the cupcakes are ready to frost but there was a lot of frosting left and while I just couldn't see giving them a spoon and letting them eat gobs and gobs (something they said mom lets them do but I just couldn't see it)  I brought out the next best thing!

 Chocolate wafer cookies and marshmallow cream, add that to a spread of frosting, sprinkle on a few sprinkles and

 basically, fill them full of sugar and send them home! 

Good Intentions

     This isn't the first new year I've said I don't make resolutions. I'm weak, I fall toward the temptation, not away from it. Some people rename resolutions to say "goals" or "intentions." Well, that doesn't always work for me (us) either.  We, PH and I, can plan, put something on the calendar and be walking out the door or sometimes even in the car on the way to doing something when the phone will ring with a different option or request or even, as we've done many times, be on our way to one place and decided something else sounds better and off we go.  We're lucky, we're free to do that. It's all good, keeps us on our toes and flexible, but oh, please don't make that mean we have to be accountable for every detoured plan.  So, a goal or intention or resolution has very little staying power in this household. 

     Recently I was reading some posts on the Facebook site called Celebrate Hand Quilting, about a woman wringing her hands over all the unfinished projects she has stashed away.  Her  very elderly mother suggested that for every new project she starts, she finish one of the ones stashed away.  I thought that was a very good idea and for you machine  people, this could be a very productive thing to do.  For us hand quilters it means putting a new project on a back burner possibly for a long time.  But oh, the joy of putting in that last stitch on the binding!  Chookyblue has made a good start on some of her unfinished projects, she is truly on a roll!

    This morning I decided to pull out some of my UFOs and assess. How many are there and is it possible to finish some this year?

     I've showed some of these before but this is a different post, a different year and different subject. Bear with me.    

This was on the top of the pile.  Sally did the piecing of these littles though I took some of her littles and made them biggers for the checks.  One day I just sat down at the machine (horrors!) and put it together.  It's going to be finished.  Soon.  While I don't officially name my quilts (nor sign them) I do refer to them and I call this one "Sally" because she did all the hard stuff.

 I want to at least get this one layered and pinned and have it as an option for taking to a retreat. If I get it layered and pinned it stands a chance.  I bought this at a garage sale and do love it. Will it be finished this year?  Maybe.

    This is what I thought I was going to do today. But again, something different came up.  SIL forgot to cook the crab legs last night (NYEve) so we are going back there today to have them for lunch while PH watches football there.  I won't be finishing this one while watching season 8 of Doc Martin. See what I mean? We planned and now it's different.  But a good different.
      I'm within one row, the right row, of finishing this.  It's a new baby gift for a new momma and daddy who tried very, very hard to have their little Sammy and we've known momma since she was 3 years old. It was one of those fabric books that I like to cut to piece for a quilt. 

 This is the back.  There's a reason Sammy is getting The Poky Little Puppy.  We have stories about his momma.

Now, in my basket, the one that is packed and ready to walk out the door at all times are a couple of projects.

 This was going to be a whole quilt but will now be a four panel wall hanging because I'm tired of looking at it, even though I LOVE it.   I take this with me when I go to my twice a month quilty group and sometimes actually work on it while I'm there.  Last time I had a bit of a panic attack because while I have three of these done, I needed to cut the pieces for the fourth square and realized I used some of the fabric that's in the vases in the dresden plate quilt I did.  Oh, man, do I have any left???  I could NOT get home fast enough to check.  And really, the sigh of relief when I found enough for the last vase was loud.

 I'm using mainly my Provence fabrics for this and I do love it and can't wait to hang it when it's finished and I have just the place ready for it.

 It's from this book.  And I know I will never, in my lifetime, finish the whole quilt. But will at least the panels be finished this year.  Good chances. Finish the quilting on this?  Hmmm....wishful.

 These are also in the basket, which explains why I sometimes work on the Provence squares.  This one I know I've showed before so just scroll down.

 These images are pages from Lois Ehlert's books.  I love, love, love her books for little ones and if you have younger grands then you can't go wrong putting one of her graphically strong books in their hands. 

 The pieces for Leaf Man are cut and ready. 

 Cat is almost finished, just need to stitch his legs down. Oh, and his teeth.

 Currently working on the squirrel in her book Nuts to You!   The squares are all true to size from the page of the book so they are all different sizes.  I'll deal with that later with sashing. The fabrics are from my stash but as close to the original image as possible.  You can see that in the Boo to You black cat and Snowballs.  Will it be finished this year?  Probably not.  I do need to do more stitching than talking with this group but there are also a lot of pics from Lois Ehlert's books I want to get to. 

And, of course, the crows.  Layered, pinned and destined for the March retreat weekend. Finished this year?  Tall order but if I stick to it, very possible.  I do hope so.

So, that's what's not finished and you might think it's a lot and you might compare it to your own piles and think it's a cinch.  But remember, I work by hand and there is always the possibility something else will come along that sounds better.

Happy New Year!